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Author Topic: Help!  (Read 7332 times)

JLU

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  • Posts: 23
Help!
« on: February 21, 2012, 03:30:06 PM »
Can anyone think of a clue for:  INMAY.  I have many hours invested in this puzzle and INMAY can't be changed due to theme letters.  AARRGGHH!

midnightmover3

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Re: Help!
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2012, 04:33:28 PM »
I'm sure I'm being painfully obvious but the only possible way to clue INMAY is with some kind of shitty-ass partial. If you haven't looked at the database only SN has used this partial, once, back in 1999. The entry itself would be legitimate; we're talking very bottom-of-the-barrel stuff, however. There's both a book and movie with the title "Seven Days in May" that seem to be relatively famous. Neither is known to me, though that's certainly not a kiss of death. IMO you need some really top-quality fill/theme answers around this partial to justify its inclusion. There's no way you can rearrange theme answers or blocks so as to avoid it? Make sure you're not holding onto some non-theme answer that's forcing you into using INMAY. I would personally be very wary about using this in a puzzle I was submitting to a top-tier publisher like the NYT or LAT.

Here's how you'd have to clue it:
"Seven Days ___" -- With or without a parenthetical explanation after the quotation mark, e.g. (1962 political thriller)

tp

midnightmover3

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Re: Help!
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2012, 04:52:26 PM »
I guess I should add that it's also possible to do something along the lines of "When Memorial Day is observed". At least then INMAY isn't a partial. With that said, I'm not sure that option is really any better than my previous post's. I really don't like INNYC as an entry for "Where the UN is located" either. Do your best to find a workaround.

JLU

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Re: Help!
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2012, 05:07:34 PM »
Thanks Midnight!  I wasn't aware of the book/movie.  I'll have to give this some thought.  I appreciate your input.

SJS

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Re: Help!
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2012, 09:42:09 AM »
In a puzzle with a low number of abbreviations and obscurities, I don't think you'll have any problem whatsoever with INMAY, and the Seven Days clue is more than legitimate. 

There is a Chaucer line "And she was fair as is the rose in May" which might be a fair fill in the blank clue, since even someone not familiar with the line could guess it by a letter or two.  You may be able to find other poetry or song quotes even more familiar, since Spring is a pretty common topic in verse.

It's a partial any way you go, but a 5 letter partial using common words that forms a complete idea is the best type of partial.  Some editors might also like the "When Memorial Day is observed" type of clue too. 

JLU

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Re: Help!
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2012, 06:12:47 PM »
Thanks SJS.  I always appreciate your comments.  I submitted the puzzle yesterday using the Memorial Day clue.  It's a Monday puzzle and I felt the movie from the 60's was too obscure.  Fingers crossed . . .

 


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