11.30.07 -- Extinct

24D ONETEN
(Classic Packard model with a numerical name)

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Friday, November 30, 2007

Click here for LARGE PRINT.

Puzzle by Henry Hook, edited by Will Shortz

Exceptionally misleading clues are the main feature of this Friday hodgepodge; and as for entries, there is a fondness for crossing a fabricated corker like GEEYATHINK with the obscure ODERNEISSE.

This fairly tiresome affair has a fair share of unfair clues, including 15A, 17A, 19A, 22A, 26A 32A, 37A, 40A, 44A, 49A, 52A, 55A, 56A, 57A, 58A, 5D, 27D, 31D, 32D, 39D, and 48D -- I’m sure there are more. Not wanting to dwell too long on this attempt to stump the solver by hook, line and stinker, I’ll end it here.

Across: 1. Show signs of improvement; 11. Second in a series; 15. Indication of stress; 16. 1,575-mile river known to some locals as the Zhayyq; 17. “Well, duh!”; 18. Hitch; 19. Supra; 20. Syrup of IPECAC; 22. Caustic; 23. Sci-fi author McIntyre; 25. Bad EMS, German resort; 26. With eyes open; 30. Mr. Levy of 1920s Broadway fame; 3. Holders of big pads; 33. Marker; 34. W.S.J. subjects; 35.”It’s ADATE!” (“You’re on!”); 36. Alt. Spelling; 37. Slam; 38. Dictionary data; 39. Minimal change; 40. Cloth workers?; 42. Big-league; 43. Sculptor Oldenburg; 44. Dive; 46. Game craze of the late 1980s and ‘90s; 49. Direct; 51. Island nicknamed the Gathering Place; 52. Jump the gun; 55. Senior moment?; 56. One who’s happy when things look black; 57. Blunt; 58. Undergo a change of habit?

Down: 1. Olympics item … or the winning word in the 1984 National Spelling Bee; 2. Civilians eligible be drafted; 3. ODERNEISSE Line (German/Polish border); 4. Bitter fruit; 5. Queues; 6. Name on a bottle of Beyond Paradise; 7. Sch. Staffer; 8. French pronoun; 9. Suffix with south; 10. Sparks a second time; 11. Department; 12. Greenland colonizer; 13. “I did it!”; 14. Pianist Templeton; 21. Visual PC-to-PC files; 23. Appearances; 24. Classic Packard model with a numerical name; 26. Pompadour, for one; 27. Prerecorded; 28. Advance; 29. Tentlike dwelling with a conical roof; 30. Like some electric circuits; 31. Be angry as heck; 32. “Nothing to it”; 38. Hybrid fruit; 39. Where cooler heads prevail?; 41. Fritz the Cat illustrator; 42. Paid (up); 44. Locker room habitués; 45. Rain gear brand; 46. Maximally; 47. Pull down; 48. Grand total? 49. Plural suffix with beat or neat; 50. Kind of pronoun: Abbr.; 53. Clause connector; 54. Unduly.

This is a puzzle that projects a need to be inscrutable and overly clever.

Maybe tomorrow.

Oh, by the way, I liked the reference to the Packard.

The New York Times Crossword Puzzle solution above is by the author of this blog and does not guarantee accuracy. If you find errors or omissions, you are more than welcome to make note of same in the Comments section of this post -- any corrections found necessary will be executed promptly upon verification.

Puzzle available on the internet at
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

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