Three cheers for solvers trying to understand how the clues relate to the fill. That's the spirit! It really makes me happy to think more people are getting more enjoyment out of these cryptics.
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I really liked this puzzle. Had pacecar before race car which slowed me down a bit. I know that 27a is lance but can't parse the clue. Please help.
Insert the abbreviation for "new" into the word for a "fine fabric"...
Technical comment.
I cannot get access to the Comments on today's (Monday) puzzle.
No great matter, as I have nothng of value to add, but I thought it worth mentioning.
I see that it has been corrected.
Fine cryptic. It took me a while to solve.
My only remaining problem was 1D. I had no doubt about the answer, but did not understand the clue. It is EVIDENCE of my lack of familiarity with narcotics.
It was not only the E that I missed (thanks, David), but I also misinterpreted the "joint" as being in the same context.
I printed this out, but erased to many attempts, so solved it online. But here's the thing: when I printed it, 13 across read," Tell stories about a player in St. Louis, etc", not "Los Angeles". Did anyone else find this, or a correction?
Evidently the puzzle was created when the Rams were still in St. Louis and it never got updated after they moved.
Still can't figure out the clue for 1D (EVIDENCE as the answer) and 10D (ANGELIC). Help, please.
Not exactly sure with 1D, but DIVE is the joint, written from positons four to one, + ENC(losure)... where the last E comes from I can't figure out.
As far as 10D, Account (AC) plus (inside) no good (NG) + Ivy leaguer (ELI):
A+NG+ELI+C .
"with drug" indicates adding E, the slang name for the drug ecstasy.
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Thank you! Should have figured out 10D on my own if I weren't being mentally lazy but probably would not have gotten 1D. So, appreciate the help (combined with David Connell's explanation for E).
Superb cryptic (and cryptics are my favorite puzzles).
I really had to work to see how the components of several clues worked, even after I had what I knew had to be the entries: EARNING, LAMBENT, GALLIC, TROPE. But they all eventually became clear.
Except PASSION. I don't get ION as [the first]. What am I missing (or misconstruing)?
Stellar production, Richard Silvestri. Thank you.
To relay is to PASS ON. Insert an I for first. Heat is the definition.
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Hi Deadline,
I read that clue as PASS ON (relay) includes I (the first) = PASSION.
[Headslap!]
I just read the [relay] part as PASS.
And I'm supposed to be good at these things! The shame!
Thanks, guys.
I think my favorite word in this puzzle is "bellicose". That could be because I never use the word "lambent."
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Cavan someone explain trope?
A figure of speech is a trope, created from the last of sonnet (T) plus ROPE, the meaning of line.
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Fun, as usual, now that I've figured out how to do them. I gave up on 8D very early, as I had no idea who astronaut Collins was. I'd also like to point out that the palindrone RACECAR at 19A was a "oh wow, that's cool," moment. Also, the clue for it was great.
Could someone explain in 14A how N = cut
thanks
The major mobster is not a capo, it's CAPONE, so you cut the E off, and you get CAPON, which is a cut (neutered) chicken.
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I just "Revealed" it out of curiosity.
It seems that what he had in mind was [AL] CAPONE, not CAPO.
If you "cut" the last letter, you have CAPON.
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Yep, "Capone" is cut, not the chicken. Or rooster, formerly. That reduces the ickiness level of the clue several orders of magnitude.
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Sports error alert!
13 Across: the Rams are no longer in St. Louis.
Just wanted to be the first to chime in on this.
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Not an error. In all crossword clues, "former" may be omitted. It would be very tedious to have to clue every deceased celebrity with a signal as to his or her "ex-ness," for instance.
In his case, LARAMIE contains the string LA RAM. The clue could have been rewritten to omit St. Louis, but it would have made for a very trivial clue. Consider "A player, that is, a western city." To avoid "LA" from being part of the wordplay, the "past is present" rule was invoked, -- cleverly, I thought.
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I'm not following you, Martin.
I made it that [Tell tales] = LIE, and [a player in St. Louis] = A RAM.
Thus L A RAM IE.
Of course, I didn't know there were RAMs in St. Louis, but I don't know sports. Anyway, I didn't see anything about LA in the way I read the clue.
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Ooh, that was a very nice cryptic. I doubted that I'd be able to finish, but very slowly it came together. LAMBENT and EILEEN were not things I really knew but they had to be right, clue-wise.
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Deb, I always love reading your piece, even though I could never DO one of these. So today I noticed that "ARITAL" is not exactly an anagram of TRIAL, because an extra "A" has been added.
Then I realized he must have meant that MA means mother, and that
MA plus the anagram RITAL make MARITAL.
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Whoops, thanks, Jerrold! I've updated it in the column.
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