This puzzle kicked my heiny! Or however you spell that...
This is the most asinine, meta puzzle I’ve ever seen. I will give my left ‘nut’ to whoever solved the theme without reading this.
I'm new to crosswords. I've never had the patience for them. But I recently started after getting tired of mindlessly watching television or scrolling through social media feeds.
The comments on this puzzle seem mixed, but I didn't see it as anything other than a challenging puzzle. Some clues seemed deliberately abstruse (e.g. no Russian suggestion for UKASE, "the most frightened" for ASHIEST), but overall, I enjoyed the theme and thought it made for a fun if frustrating set.
Cool puzzle but shouldn’t both peas be under a shell?
didn't like it at all! not interesting! IF I see the steinberg name again, I will throw it in the recycle bin where it belongs.
Agree totally. Rebus are the biggest chests in crosswords I can think of
Loved this puzzle’s theme! At first I thought I would be screwed because I didn’t know what a shell game was off the bat (I thought it was a computer text adventure game), but once I figured out it was those street scam games everything fell into place. Finally figuring out the PEA rebus swap was sooo satisfying (didn’t remember that it was called a pea, so I just kept trying to seap the different contents of the squares under the top walnut with the bottom walnut). I wonder if there was a better way to indicate the relationship between the top circle and bottom one. All in all, I loved it!
1
Loved this puzzle. It was more challenging than the usual Sunday. Very clever theme. I groaned out loud for SHORTE. Will not soon forget this puzzle.
1
Well, I finished it, so you'll hear no complaints from me.
1
Where is Sunday's Acrostic?
I love challenging Sunday puzzles—not enough tough ones for my taste—but the theme for this one was just too obscure. The puzzle itself wasn't that tough, but my frustrating, and ultimately unsuccessful, attempt at figuring out the theme removed the fun from the experience.
8
Sorry, but I have to agree with the naysayers on this one. One of the year's worst on my scorecard. Convoluted theme perfectly deserving the "too clever by half" label. Worse than the notably panned Beatles-themed one we had a few months back. Fill ranging from obscure [OMOO, KRESGE, LOMON] to not-even-trying [ATTACKWITHAPAW, GOAWOL, GOLAME]. And as per usual, this constructor found a way to sneak in a signature ASSES-like reference. I'm not an expert, but puzzles like this really make me appreciate the artwork of contributors like Patrick Berry and Bruce Haight, to name a few.
6
...Glad to see my timely comment above from around 1:30pm yesterday finally made its way into the mix a mere 20 hours later.
The online version said that the second PEA was wrong and was really an F ... I cry foul - I got scammed out of my streak!
1
Catching up on yestercomments, which made me think of the perfect descriptor:
Scameleonesque.
Thank you, DavidS. I was very taken by it.
https://usercontent2.hubstatic.com/3927615_f520.jpg
Would have been perfect if the pea stayed a pea and the bit about the "scam" had been removed.
1
I’m fairly new to this and did okay considering but I have to ask.... Low = MOO? I just don’t get that one.
"Low" is a verb, and means to moo.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/low
1
As in "...the cattle are lowing, the dear baby sleeps..."
1
Hard, but fun. BTW other than in a botanical illustration has anyone ever held or even seen a real cashew shell?!
Very clever and I really enjoyed it. I figured out the PEA just looking at the puzzle... and having watched Popeye cartoons. However, I thought bunnies are lop eared, not flop eared.
3
I've done the NYT Crossword for years and read Wordplay for quite some time, too. I've never written in before, but this puzzle really got my goat! If the theme, which I didn't get, has to be explained so carefully, it's too obscure. I finished the puzzle, and didn't understand the theme until I read the explanation a couple of times.
8
My thoughts exactly. Thank you.
I’m not a happy camper with this one. Sorry.
3
I’m completely frustrated by this puzzle. Busted a two-plus month streak despite solving the whole grid (and I’m sorry; I still don’t get the single, random rebus of ‘pea’ in one circled square while the other circle was just an ‘f’. I’m all for interesting Sunday puzzles, but this one was indeed too clever by half.
11
The CYCLE in baseball isn't just a 4-hit achievement, in baseball lingo. It's 4 specific hits: single, double, triple and homer in one game. You'd think the newspaper of record might know a thing or 2 about baseball, considering the winningest World Series team is in its backyard.
3
I read a whole bunch of complaints over at Rex's site about this clue/fill pairing. I don't follow the baseball, but every single complaint has named the FOUR hits that it takes to ACHIEVE the "cycle." In what way is hitting the cycle _not_ a FOUR-hit ACHIEVEMENT? The complaints don't add up.
3
(By which I mean, very specifically, that the clue did not say "Four hits gets you this." That clue would merit complaints.)
2
So if you see a clue like "Dickens title character" (as we did a couple days ago) and the answer is DORRIT, are you bothered because DORRIT is not the only Dickens title character?
A cycle is a four-hit achievement in baseball. It doesn't have to be the only one to fit the clue.
5
"Too clever by half" is a perfect way to sum up this puzzle. While the "nutshells" were cleverly constructed, the whole PEA/F thing is so absurd as to make it an ultimately unsatisfying finish.
20
The original version of the puzzle I submitted did not have a circle around the F. There is no significance to this F, and in my opinion, the circle shouldn't be there. Sorry for any confusion this caused! For more about the puzzle, please see my Wordplay/XWord Info constructor notes.
13
I think the circle for the letter F is right. I mean it totally threw me for a loop at first, in part because I try to solve a puzzle without long (themed) clues and then guess what my own clues should be. Like mine better than Shortz usually. And the fake pea became a scam answer, and after I worked the puzzle after seeing the theme clues, it gave me a good laugh
2
I get what you mean about the 'F' not getting circled, since it's, you know, nothing, where you expect a 'PEA.' But I think I needed the extra help knowing which square should have had the 'PEA.'
4
Hey, WIll and Joel? Does the puzzle look different from under the bus?
6
Did this early this morning, but didn't have time to come here. I was really determined to relax, take my time, think things through and let things come to me. And then I didn't. I was doing ok for a while, but I was completely in the dark about the theme and especially the two cross-referenced clues, which had me stymied in the middle.]
I got that the circled letters were sort of associated with 'shells,' but I somehow never stepped back and thought about an actual shell game - I guess I assumed that was sort of a vague reference. Like others, I still don't get the 'F' but there was a whole lotta other stuff I didn't get before that. Took me a long time to un-furrow my brow after I gave up.
One note ( not that important) - there is a significant distinction between AWOL and desertion in the military, so even with the 'in a way' in the clue, I thought that was an odd choice.
1
Oh, and a music link, for those old enough to remember what KRESGEs used to be:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-G97zFduGw
I know Bing Crosby did the original but I've long preferred this version.
1
Woot. Solved it but was still in the dark about the circled clues. Missed the hidden "pea". Too clever by half!
Loved it!
4
Took longer than usual to finish this Sunday puzzle. Weird layout, with both shaded squares and circles. Put it all together eventually, although I'm among those wondering "why F?" Seems arbitrary, but apparently that's the point.
Despite the different pronunciations, I like the overlap of LOMOND and ALMOND.
80s new wave giants New Order with "Shellshock" from the "Pretty in Pink" soundtrack, 1986:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdQW9eXJ4yY
3
I love a quasi-Schrödinger puzzle as much as the next gal, but what the F is that F doing in square 128? Despite Leapy's linguistic gymnastics, it makes no sense to me. Perhaps it would've worked better if both circled squares were F/PEA. Still, kudos to the enfant terrible of Cruciverbia, David Steinberg.
ASHIEST - a word widely used in morgues.
ALOES - almost as widely used in the plural as ASHIEST.
GO LAME and GO AWOL should have been avoided.
BUST RIP - (workout for your pectorals) crossing BUST?
Hi Wags,
When is your next opus coming out?
Cheers!
My comment is that I wish constructors of puzzles and Mr. Shortz would stop using "system" to refer to ASL (American Sign Language). While it's true that languages are systems of sorts, signed languages are the only ones regularly referred to as such, setting them apart as something other than linguistic. They are distinct languages, at all levels of analysis, from the spoken languages of their respective countries, not merely alternate codes for them.
I enjoy the puzzles so much that I wish I didn't have to hold my nose every time the answer is intended to be "ASL".
3
I agree. Gallaudet is obviously a university for the Deaf, so ASL is the language of choice there. Had to get all of the crossings and groan when I realized the answer. I was hoping to learn of a grading system or educational/learning system used there.
1
Additionally, I agree that ASL is not a “system” but a language in its own right. To call it a system is, in my opinion, demeaning.
2
Language is system. Without system, it couldn't be used to communicate.
1
I never pay much attention to the theme, which is often a useful clue that shouldn't be wasted. In any case, I wouldn't have finished this one without spoilers and these puzzles are no fun if you cheat (so why do I always cheat). Anyhow, shell games are also a cheat so it all comes out in the wash. No fun for me but I'm glad other people liked it.
1
Mr. Steinberg really had me going on this one. The theme didn't become clear until the very end, when I was busy getting PHISH and EGAN and LUTES from crosses. But finally it all came together. AMAZINGISNTIT! I kept wanting to plug in satire writer or something similar for SWIFT, given the FRY/ARCTICEXPLORER connection, and obviously that didn't help. But finished in less than an hour, and had a few yuks along the way. Thanks, David.
1
I’d really like to be annoyed about the PEA/Fthing, but the simple fact is that I was paying attention to the wrong thing.
3
Loved it. Kudos.
3
I had no problem "solving" the puzzle except for the PEA in the bottom circle. I had no idea what the heck I was supposed to do there (and I had no prob figuring the top circle needed to be PEA. I never thought of a re-PEAt.
It's been a long time since I watched anyone play a shell game. Maybe that played against me, or maybe I'm just clueless!
1
A good candidate for worst puzzle of the year.
8
Oh, come on...it's healthy for our egos to take a little fun razzing now and again, no? Like our waistlines...gotta have the occasional ice-cream sundae....preferably on a Sunday!
1
Strongly disagree. Very clever in many ways. I say bravo. Or as Jeff would say, “Pow!” Great puzzle!
2
Technical problem - I solved this online through the nytimes.com website. The last letter I had to fill in was the "pea". I typed a P and the software filled in the rebus "PEA" for me. That was very nice of it, but I would have preferred to figure it out myself!
Very entertaining and enjoyable. I googled "bunny images," however, and most have erect ears. The clue is, therefore, about fifty percent anatomically correct.
Whew!! What a workout! 1:35:14 - finally solved over 4 sessions.
I loved the design - really clever and fun puzzle. Thanks for a great Sunday, Mr. Steinberg. :)
4
Put me in the LTP ("Loved This Puzzle") column. Multiple layers of sophistication -- definitely to be solved after breakfast, with a cup of coffee and cream and Kahlua. David Steinberg, like Beethoven, is only beginning to show us what is possible.
Back when I drove a CTA bus in the South Side, there were shell games at the back of the bus all the time.
5
Loved the puzzle, loved the game. The two circled squares, PEA vs. F, did indeed give me pause, but once the light went on it was glorious.
While struggling in the west, I kept wanting to enter SHORTZ at 41D. Something illogically touching on egg shells/shell game/masthead above the puzzle's title. I was simultaneously relieved and disappointed to get to SHORTE.
3
Today I broke my rule to skip Sunday puzzles. After painstakingly filling the grid with minimum assistance and checked and rechecked it until an exasperated “check puzzle” revealed a typo, I was much too tired to try to figure out the theme, let alone how the circled PEA became an F.
Admittedly, there were many fun clues and I had quite a few mini-Aha! moments along the way. I also concede that the theme is clever – now that it has been explained to me. Nevertheless, solving at my snail’s pace was too time consuming and the amount of trivial information that I had to acquire and will soon forget is excessive.
Many weeks will pass before I break my rule again.
Loved it, thank you!
As for the F debate, I disagree that there should have been nothing 7nder the shell. The F is simply the background, with no PEA present, we simply see SWIFT/FRY and pay our money to the con man.
6
WOOT! WOOT! Steinberg strikes again with this AMAZING ambitious, imaginative shell game.
This reminds me of the old times when a Sunday puzzle really made me think, really made me work at it. Loved it!
Vintage solve for the ages.
Thank you, David!
15
At the end of the day, a puzzle with a single rebus feels like a cheat. If you swapped two full words, that would have felt more clever. This just felt like jamming an answer in that didn’t otherwise fit.
A puzzle that was over-clever and under-enjoyable. Just felt like a slog, even though I completed it.
4
But Roy, a scam is a cheat. I had to give Steinberg that one since I had not seen the whole game until I was almost finished. This was a new one to me!
3
Quite a workout -- only 5 googles. Agree with most comments and amused at nitpicking over baby accents earlier. Took my mind briefly from the gross debacle occurring in the Senate.
69A has the flavor of a double entendre.
129A is what I go to the hardware store for.
Question for the F-PEA switch discussion: what is the significance of oil in 128D if PEA is used?
1
I agree that F seems random, creating something of a shell game, but that a blank box signifying the absence of a pea would have been more appropriate. Still, I really enjoyed the puzzle and appreciate the craftsmanship of clueing answers that would have been!
I wonder if Mr. Steinberg will attempt a Shrodinger-themed puzzle one day. He might want to wait until we've forgotten about this one and it's impossible to know whether I'd be alive or dead when that day comes.
2
Interesting. . . you could find a set of words that for one set of clues the letters used would be LIVE and another set of clues that would use DEAD or some similar pair that better fits the construction. . . hmmm
I recall we actually did have a Schroedinger-type puzzle within the past coouple of years but I can't remember more than that. Jeff Chen comes to mind in that one.
2
CLINTON/BOBDOLE? That was more than a couple of years ago, but then tempus fugit...
With TONIC and COKES in the same puzzle, it reminded me of one of the earliest uses of the Web for social research. People all over the country would go to a web page and enter their zipcode and the word they use to describe a soft drink (coke, cola, tonic, pop, etc). And turned it into a dynamic map which has changed over 20 years as people move around and assimilate. . . .
http://www.popvssoda.com/
4
"They have long necks and round bodies"
my brain yelled OSTRICHES but that didn't fit.
3
Way too obtuse!
4
Totally didn't get the F/PEA thing until after I solved the entire grid. Clever, clever stuff...kudos!
3
I got the theme, got the rebus, read the column, but I still seem to have an error I can't find.
I had the same problem. Maybe you put "Pea" into the shell-game square at the bottom, instead of F? I was putting both of them in, thinking we were supposed to; but if you put the F in at that square, and understand that the "pea" is only hypothetically there ("IF this weren't a scam," as the clue goes), then the error message disappears.
The puzzle is too tricky for its own good.
4
Amen. I think the scam element was an unnecessary obfuscation.
3
Good tip, and I did try the lower circle both ways, but it turned out it was entirely my own fault - I'd put TAUPES for 1a; POUT seemed like it worked well enough, but I should've caught that Britain and Spain didn't fight over TEA! Streak maintained in the end.
First, the positives...
I like this theme. If only every puzzle could be this brilliant.
Having said that...
ALCOPOP is way too racy for a Sunday puzzle. I was sitting next to my three year old when this clue came up. I had to angle my screen away from him as I typed in the answer. It made me feel secretive, like a Panamanian dentist.
Also, I won the music award in grade 8 AND grade 12. I’m not saying this makes me a music expert, but if you think I am, I won’t try to change your mind. So you can imagine my utter frustration and dismay with 117D. A lute has a pear-shaped body, not round. The opportunity to tie this clue into the PEA(R) theme - wasted! It upset me. Also, the neck isn’t long. Most of us know that the ratio of lute neck to body is 5:8. I guess the word “long” is subjective, like a Welsh aromatherapist.
Also, I had to Google who PEARY was because I don’t know American history.
6
If your 3-year old can read, decipher individual words from a crossword grid and knows what alcopop is, maybe just count your blessings you have a likely genius in the family and stop complaining about clues referencing 5% a.b.v. drinks...
17
Love it!!!!!!
4
Hi CrossNerd! Would you know Scott as the Brit Antarctic explorer? He finally pulled a disapPEARY act.
Thanks for you 'secretive, like a Panamanian dentist'. t absoLUTEly made me laugh like a Transylvanian jongleur.
3
Sorry, way, way, way too hard today. I give up.
2
Pronunciation-based clues--ugh! Merriam-Webster says the e in egg can also be pronounced as a long a. As a Midwesterner prone to those weird, twangy vowel transformations, I protest the short e clue on principle (cf the a in bag, etc.).
4
I got the "nut" thing pretty quickly, but because I was expecting 6 different nuts (instead of 3 each repeated). I got totally hung up until much later. Was not expecting the rebus for "Sweepea" and had to do a "reveal" which I try to avoid at all costs. Also, I thoight maybe there was an "arctic explorer" surnamed "Fry."
Very clever
1
The puzzle clock is well past 3 hours, most of the marathon runners have finished. I was congratulating on all the nut shells I found and the lone rebus. If I hadn’t read the blog could never gotten 65a or 86 a.
Oh, well. Clever puzzle. The timer has just gone past 4 hours. What’s with SHORT E?
DS is amazing with clever and fun puzzles. Where does he find the time to attend classes and do assignments? I would imagine the crosswords take quite a bit of time to complete.
1
Maman before MADRE - got the idea of the shells fairly early on and was expecting to have the PEA rebus in both circles, but it didn't make sense in the second one. Had to read the blog to understand what was going on in Mr. Steinberg's mind. It's added twists like this that keep puzzles interesting.
6
I'm surprised at the kvetching in the comments. I enjoyed this very clever puzzle. Thanks!
15
There is much confusion in the comments as to what is actually going on in this puzzle's theme. I saw it as a simple story in which the shells are shifted around, and it's a scam game because after the shift, the pea ends up in none of them (so whatever guess the mark makes will be wrong). It's a lovely puzzle-as-story, that, as with many stories, requires some suspension of disbelief.
Regarding the solve, well, there was much cleverness and misdirection in the cluing, plenty enough to get my brain off the couch, and that always makes for an excellent solve -- and this was.
12
You are more generous to the puzzle constructor than I. There's something very illogical about the "story" you have constructed: if the "mark" (which I guess means any of us who are trying to solve the puzzle) looks in the bottom square, he or she should find—NOTHING. Why the letter "F"? It would be empty.
Added to this: in visual terms the black squares under some of the "shells" make it hard to see the game concept.
3
and Elke
In a NUTSHELL : this drove me NUTS.
I will have some PEANUTS and CHAMOMILE TEA now.
2
Aha! In the Android app, the clue for SHORTE was "Egghead?" not "egghead?". Now it makes sense.
Good puzzle, once you get your mind around it, which took me a while (this one isn't going to lower the average). Peary / swipe at, OK, makes a kind of sense, so what's troubling me? Oh, right, the fact that the rebus answer wasn't needed -- the F was adequate both ways, which never happens with a rebus. But it was the second circle, so it had to be another rebus. All right, agreed. The takeaway: don't do Mr. Steinberg's puzzles last thing at night.
Incidentally, here's my Christmas wish. Somebody think of a better name for multi-letter squares than "rebus." A rebus is a very old form of puzzle and not at all connected to the way we use it.
7
Totally agree about the (mis)use of the word rebus.
Somebody think of a better name for multi-letter squares than "rebus."
I had suggested SQUISH here several months ago, but I think it's too late. Deb's new Guide acknowledges that there are "other types of rebuses;" it would have been nice to acknowledge there that the meaning of the word has been stretched fairly recently to fit it crosswords. Earlier rebuses in crosswords were actually rebuses (i.e. * for star).
2
How about omnisquare?
I liked the the theme a lot, and got all of those bits correctly. I did have a few problems elsewhere. ;)
1
I've read Deb's explanation and the constructors notes, and I still have zero idea of why there is an F under a shell. It either should have been PEA again, or it should have been a blank.
10
Completely agree! The puzzle is clever but inconsistent; when we are asked to solve tricky riddles, we like the answers to make a kind of "aha!" sense that this one completely lacks.
1
The F came as a lovely Aha for me. It was almost the last thing I got, and suddenly four clues at once clicked into place.
2
The shell game got us--my wife and I had to look through the blog, and even then, we couldn't figure out where our error was. I guess we should avoid any three-card monte games in the future.
For those who are puzzled by the answer and looking for some kind of explanation, I think the logic is this: the crossword itself is a shell game, and in a shell game, there is never a pea under the shell. (If I'm wrong, someone please correct me, because I had to work to figure out the answer here, even when the author told us what it was in the comments.)
2
This must be the most ridiculous Sunday puzzle I have seen in decades of NYT crosswords. You provide no meas of knowing the structure or key to the puzzle. There is an unspecified multiple-letter box, some kind of trick to substitute that word, "pea" for some letters, circled letters without any clue to the purpose of circling, and a confusing circular reference to other clues. Instead of trying to show how devious you can be, how about letting readers eventually solve them? The comments today by Rex Parker are very much on point but, if anything, not sufficiently damning. It's time fora new editor or a reincarnation of Margaret Farrrar. Please get out of the way!
-Gerald Pomper
1
I found the Pomper circumstance to be my delight.
POV, eh?
2
OK. We'll get off your lawn!
3
Not sure why, but my fingers typed EN BANC before EN BLOC. SNEAK before SNAKE.
I feel so old but I remember when our S. Kresge turned into one fo thr first K-Marts (or as the effete like to say, K-Marché). APU and MOE in same puzzle. . . DAD and MADRE intersect. . .
Is GEOcaching more widely known than I thought it would be?
NAG could also have been clued "bug" to give three bugs in the puzzle.
A local Duke-UNC bumper sticker: You can't spell UNCOUTH without UNC.
7
Terrific post, RMP, and hand up for ENBANC first.
1
"(or as the effete like to say, K-Marché)"
Hadn't heard that one, RMP, but I *have* heard the "French pronunciation" of Target.
3
S.S. Kresge, no?
1
The F / PEA business was too clever by half. Sorry.
The rest of the puzzle was fun.
12
did puzzle without much trouble. got the rebus with PEA. shell game still a bit obscure!
1
Can someone please explain to me why “one caring for a bébé” (French word) is a “madre” (Spanish word)? I was sure the answer was “maman” but some of the crossings didn’t fit. I thought that since “bébé” is a French word the answer would also have to be a French word.
1
In Spanish too.
http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/el%20bebe
2
My version shows "bebé" (one accent), which is the Spanish spelling. Are you sure you have two? Which version is that?
9
It took me an inordinate time to notice there was only one accent, and wondered whether MADAM was minding the children. Later on, noticed that elsewhere it was I, MAMAN.
3
Fun puzzle! Finished with a few wrong, so I kept fiddling and was not quite sure wether the lower circle should be PEA or F. But I got it eventually to keep my streak alive.
I think it should be "Egg head?" with a space, no?
6
This was one of the best puzzles ever. The Aha! moment was v. satisfying.
3
On the app I use on my iPad there were NO shaded squares. I got the rebus but no shells and needed Deb's explanation to make sense of the cross references.
2
My iPad showed the shaded squares. Maybe look for an update to your app
4
"Who uncovers a shell and finds an F?"
A very poor marine biology student.
(I've tried to post this twice as a reply; now I'll try it as a new post.)
16
Nice!
Definitely Schrodinger-ish! I found the SWIFT-SWIPEAT/FRY-PEARY crossing to be somewhat strained, and pondered for quite a while which way to go at the 128 square. Of course, I picked the incorrect one. I don't know what I would have done differently in creating the puzzle, but I felt like it just didn't quite work. Other than that, it was fairly challenging for a Sunday and definitely interesting! And it was great to see ZAGRAB CROATIA there!
4
As Jeff Chen said on his blog, the second circle should have been blank. That could easily have been accomplished by changing SWIFT to SWI_T (Actress Loretta), SLAYS to SLAMS (poetry events) and FRY to _RM (Part of hosp.)
That's the only way a shell game makes sense. Who uncovers a shell and finds an F?
9
I saw it differently. I saw it as a sham shell game in which the pea ends up under none of the shells, so everything is as normal, and being that this is a crossword puzzle, you put the letters in there that normally would be in there.
Jeff asked why it's an F as opposed to any other letter (as did Rex), and given my interpretation above, I think any letter could have gone in that bottom circle, with no need of justification.
3
No, Lewis, no, no. I wrote my comment before Rex came out, and we know he doesn't like anything, but his rant makes more sense than most of what he writes.
He's absolutely correct. The F in the circle is a total failure. There have been puzzles where a blank space or spaces have been the correct solution. It's not beyond possibility. That's what it should have been.
@Barry--very cute.
3
Thanks, Steve. And I totally agree that the lower circle should have been blank. I thought the clue/entry changes you suggested last night to accomplish that were spot on.
Funny puzzle. I finished it and the software declared I had solved it, but it wasn't true. In fact I was about to write a note about "flopred", but I went back to the file to check for other issues and there was the answer. Clever.
2
Cromulent. Had to google that.
2
I solved this in a little over a normal Sunday tome, but I needed Deb to 'splain it all to me. Thanks.
12
I had no idea either. Finished at par for the Sunday puzzle, 20 minutes below par for the week.
Didn't get the trick. Thanks for that!
3
OK, there's the crossword puzzle, which has its merits and demerits. And then there's the shell game, which requires three identical shells so you cannot keep track of which shell hides the pea. Different types of shells may make the puzzle more interesting but they don't work for the shell game.
Three card monte, anyone?
5
(Not to mention that a halved almond shell would be hard put to house a pea, and a halved cashew shell can easily produce a skin rash similar to that of poison ivy...)
I saw that it went from p to f, and, being a musician by trade, kept wanting that to have a musical meaning.
2
The shell is a weird protrusion from the bottom of the main fruit, the cashew "apple." The Portuguese who colonized Goa had learned from their other colony in Mozambique that you can ferment the apple, which is otherwise poisonous, to make a beer. Since Goa was an island of good Catholic drinkers in a sea of Hindu India, they went one better and distilled the foul cashew apple beer. I got a bottle of the resulting rotgut, called cashew fenny, in Goa in 1986 and have managed to get through about half of it. The locals drink it with "Campa Cola," which in 1986 was the equally foul native Coca Cola ripoff. Perhaps now this Cuba Libre from hell has been updated to use real Coke. Fenny has a bouquet of Crayola crayons. Campa Cola is a lot like shoe polish. Hey. Alcohol is alcohol.
Strange animal, the cashew.
4
I thought having three types of shells was a lovely way to show that the shells have been shifted around. This puzzle is a story, and we suspend disbelief all the time in stories.
17