06.16.13 — TEETH


Sunday, June 16, 2013 — Father’s Day 

QUESTION BOX, Puzzle by Mel Rosen / Edited by Will Shortz


This clever but cumbersome Sunday crossword displays the following note:  ABOUT THIS PUZZLE — When this puzzle is done, take the answers to the 10 starred clues and arrange them across and down in crossword fashion in the central 5x5 box. Due to software limitations, Across Lite and our other apps can only accept one solution, but two possibilities exist. The resulting five-letter word spelled out diagonally by the circles will answer the question asked at 23-, 34-, 91- and 107-Across.

The trivia question is contained on four across lines — IF A GIRAFFE HAS FOURTEEN MORE THAN A WALRUS AND A SQUIRREL HAS HALF AS MANY AS A PIG, WHAT ARE THEY?  With that yawning non-quote, short answers rendered by vague clues, divided areas of solve, meager passage from one to the other rife with nooks and crannies and the unnumbered box in the center, it’s a long way to go for the finale, TEETH.

Other — ARAPAHO (65A. Rocky Mountain tribe), ARGUING, BY A MILE, ELOPERS, FRINGES (78D. Features of some cowboy shirts), GIFT TAG, India’s MALABAR Coast, RATS OUT, RESPIRE, SIBERIA (52A. Symbol of remoteness), SPIKE TV, THROATY (80D. Guttural).


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For Father's Day...






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

1 comment:

swac said...

On top of everything else, if you do the puzzle on a mobile device, there's only one way you can fill in the centre square to get it correct, even though they acknowledge that there's more than one way to make the words fit and still get the diagonal TEETH.