By Tom Toce
Once again we have a puzzle from Bob Fink and Jerry Miccolis. And once again they have expanded my parochial knowledge of wordplay. The device they employ here was new to me. At first I thought there was something wrong, and you might, too, but there’s not. They just use a variation on a standard cryptic puzzle technique. It’ll make you crazy, then you’ll love it. For extra credit, send in the name of the technique if you know it—or find it. And if you’re stuck, send me an email and I’ll tell you what it’s called. Here’s the description from Bob and Jerry…
This puzzle, while not completely straightforward, should be completely self-explanatory.
There are no proper names, and every word in every answer, prior to entry in the grid, is playable in Scrabble. Beware of punctuation, which has been known to deceive.
Thanks to Dan Feyer, cryptic crossword editor for The Browser, and Tom Toce for their expert editorial suggestions.
Across
1 I mop up pie destroyed in Poppy’s smoking device?
5 Spoiled child, stuffing cat, comes around and takes responsibility
9 Tattered components recycled for exchange
10 Movie magic created by animating ET’s cliff escape
11 Awfully scary tie makes for killer look
12 Furrow running east to west near center of pitch held by opponent is a concern for a soccer player
13 Part-timer is Latin, Gale
16 Yes, Gwen can broadcast for AP or UPI
18 Consider me as a subject in a rebus puzzle [This clue may provide a hint to fitting eight other answers into the grid]
19 Sinister scheme, doctoring unpaved soil
21 Tear poster edges off in retaliatory maneuver
23 Northern Territory Republican departs chamber, gets high in car
24 Hot date coy about dental problem
26 Somehow, I’m Mr. Poe’s type for a meaningless commitment
27 High-ceilinged lobbies of US not seen in Central European country
28 Honest heads of sovereign Iraq negotiate currency exchange rate entente
29 Silly, cheery man is primary adversary
Down
1 Supplied missing suit to actor Danson
2 Expresses hearty approvals when lead-off goes from first to third
3 Furious about tight end’s state again
4 After Rod leaves, promise to follow
5 Due to turnover, Rene’s retaining Peg with a bonus
6 Old IT worker half-rises to yield seating on flight
7 Spots supply of THC thief, so oddly situated
8 Type of cut—in the movies, that is
14 Unbalanced young lady happens to drop pence and shilling
15 Break down and convert to cash?
17 Request to a waiter in Sydney, after which someone tips the man?
20 Extract of lilac to season a sugar
22 Everyday experts utter expression of disgust on the radio
23 Opposed to incorporating power booster in sirens
24 The teaching assistant describes a standard argument for trigonometry
25 Monster actress loses the lead portraying leggy bird
TOM TOCE is an FCAS and a seasonal director at KMPG and a member of the Jeopardy Hall of Fame.
Solutions may be emailed to ttoce@nyc.rr.com. In order to make the solver list, you should send him your solutions by Apr. 1, 2025.
Solution to Previous Issue’s Puzzle—Chutes and Ladders
TRAIN—Double definition
BOWELS—Anagram of “blew so”
HALOGEN—HEN (“Lady Bird”) around A LOG (“a diary”)
OSTRICH—Anagram of “To Chris”
ERNE—Last letters of “refuge near Eastern Maine”
STYLE—Homophone of STILE (“subway entrance”)
ANDERSON—Outside “Andrew’s person”
MENTOR—Anagram of “No term”
ONEROUS—ONE + ROUS (“terribly sour”)
INGEST—Homophone of IN JEST (“with good humor”)
STEREOS—Anagram of “So reset”
LEANDER—Anagram of “learned”
MENTHOL—Hidden in “liniment, holistically”
RICHER—Hidden in “eccentric herself”
NEST—Anagram of “Sent”
GENOME—GENO (first letters of “get every nucleotide of”) + ME (“my quirky”)
NOR’EASTER—NOR (“Norway”) + EASTER (“ the Sunday after the first full moon of spring”)
ROUSING—RO (reverse “or”) + USING (“on drugs”)
RAINBOW—Anagram of “Aw, Robin”
ELSINORE—“In or” surrounded by ELSE (“alternative”)
TOREADOR—Anagram of “To read or”
ERRAND—ERR (“mess up”) + “recombinant DNA”
GRAMMAR—G (“Good”) + RAM (“push”) + MAR (“push back”)
ADORER—Anagram of “roared”
HOLOGRAM—HOL (first letters in “hearing of Lourdes’s”) + “Margo reflected”
MARSHAL—MARSH (“swamp”) + AL (“Alabama”)
STAMEN—S (“Soprano”) + T (“tenor”) + AMEN (“that’s all, folks”)
bb. ANDS—Anagram of “sand”
Solvers
There were a number of omissions from the previous solvers list: David and Corinne Promislow, Dean Apps, Lois Cappellano, and Andrew Shewan. I apologize. It’s harder for me to keep track of the list when it’s a puzzle by Bob and Jerry, because they reply to the submissions. But I’ll try to do better.
Steve Alpert, Dean Apps, Bob Campbell, Lois Cappellano, Laura Cremerius, Jared Dashoff, Todd Dashoff, Christopher Dickens, Mick Diede, Dave Dougherty, David Handelman, Pete Hepokoski, Catharine Hornby, Max Jackson, Ruth Johnson, Paul Kolell, Mike Kosciuk, Ken Kudrak, Jim Lamenzo, Ben Lynch, Mat Marchione and Marika Brown, Dave McGarry, Jon Michelson, Joan Moreau, Jim Muza, Alan Putney, David and Corinne Promislow, Ram Raman, Bill Scott, Bob and Shannon Shriver, Sally Smith, T. O. C. E. (Josh DenHartog and Sean Donohoe), James and Betsy Uzzell, Zig Swistunowicz