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Solving => Today's Puzzles => Topic started by: magus on September 14, 2014, 09:19:47 AM

Title: Sun., 9/14 Matt Skoczen
Post by: magus on September 14, 2014, 09:19:47 AM
THEME:   intrusive U in movie titles
   
GOOD ONES:     
Title: "You Oughta Be in Pictures" [You = U]   
Formal acknowledgement at the end of the calla season?   A FAREWELL TO ARUMS   
Not a colorful restaurant list?   MENU IN BLACK   
Classy vehicle for actor Elliot?   THE SOLID GOULD CADILLAC [is a Caddy still classy?]   
South end?   ERN   
Groundbreaking discoveries?   FAULTS   
   
BTW:   
A hundred bucks   ONE C [sorry, it's a c-note.  What about: How to spell Skoczen with "with"]   :)   
   
Like D's, gradewise   POOR [from what I read about grade inflation, they are non-existent, so I'd go with "Today's grading system"- or the term "gradewise"]   

   
RATING:    ;D ;D ;D
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun   
Title: Re: Sun., 9/14 Matt Skoczen
Post by: Thomps2525 on September 14, 2014, 04:07:23 PM
Does Merl Reagle visit this site? Did he read my comments about all the two- and three-letter words that appear so frequently in crosswords? Was it just coincidence that his puzzle in last Sunday's Los Angeles Times had no words shorter than five letters?

Today's Sunday puzzle is back to "normal"---Reagle used ABBA, AGE, ARC, DNA, EAU, EGO and ERA. He also used a word that I have never before seen in a puzzle: SNIED. Many times a puzzle maker will wind up with an unusual combination of letters for one answer. Instead of reworking that part of the grid, he'll try to find some way to compose a clue for the unusual word. One example from last week is ATAN. The clue was "____ angle." Today, rather than rework the puzzle to avoid having to use SNIED as an answer, Reagle clued the word by referencing a line from the Beatles' I Am The Walrus: "See how they run, see how they ____." If John Lennon had not made up that word, Reagle would have had no choice but to come up with a different word!