Cryptics are the best. If you like the Cox/Rathvon puzzles check out their weekly offering in Canada's National Post.
http://natpostcryptic.blogspot.com
Thank you for making today's cryptic crossword significantly easier! I can usually get about half but it takes me all week, and I just have two left. It was really fun, thanks.
Thanks for OAK LAIR -- just couldn't figure that one out. Nice puzzle.
21A, 26A, and 17D stymied me in the Cryptic.
SIMILE-ARITY, clever as it was, had to take much longer to create than to solve.
@Etaoin Shrdlu
The explanation for 26 A was posted below by Dante2d and I can’t improve on it.
Michelle O posted the answer for 21A, which is comprised of two definitions (toll=ring and dropped sharply = dove) which together comprise a bird I never heard of until today.
17D has STIES (pens) bracketing EVEN (equal) which will yield SEVENTIES (range of numbers).
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Yes, thank you. What I meant was that I threw in the towel (or owlet, as the case may be) after studying those three clues for more hours than I'd care to reveal.
@Etaoin Shrdlu
Sometimes you need to walk away and get a fresh perspective. By the way, the definition is always at either the beginning or the end of the clue. Of course, that doesn’t always help a lot because it’s still hard to distinguish it from the word construction “recipe.” But it gives you a start.
What did I think? I loved it, I stopped doing anything else in my life til I finished and if cryptics ran more often my brain would burst. Just a great puzzle!
After learning how to solve the cryptics, I went back and finished all the ones in the archive. Now I eagerly await new Sunday cryptics. This one didn't disappoint, though I admit that I have never heard of a RINGDOVE before and had to Google it to check my work. I loved the clue for 30D!
Except for wasting too many minutes looking for Moe or Curly before getting enough crosses to unravel 2D, I thoroughly enjoyed this gem by Emily and Henry. Always do.
"Hypnotic writing of a snake": Manafort considering flipping, or his pythonic jacket?
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@jan Funny is funny and that is funny. Rule number one in my "How to be human" list. I feel bad for Manafort, snake coat and all.
Not about the Cryptic, but about the Spelling Bee. Does anyone know where to leave comments or discuss that puzzle?
One of the answers is clearly TUTEE. What really burns is that we miss that one every week, and now it's not in the answers.
FRANK LONGO, why? Why do you do this to us?
@Lisa We have been told that Comments for the “A Little Variety” puzzles may be left here on this blog. My own Comment on “Simile-arity” is here on this thread.
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loved it -- very clever, especially INK PAD and MAGNET and SEVENTIES. My last answer was STREEP, tidily hidden.
Simile-arity was a completely new and challenging
“middle” puzzle.
[SPOILER ALERT]
My only absolute gimmes were BLIND AS A BAT and CLEAN AS A WHISTLE.
The answers that I got last were SOBER AS A JUDGE and HAPPY AS A CLAM. In each case I had to search to verify if such a phrase actually existed.
1
@Jerrold
I had quite a few gimmes. Mostly I read down the left column and got about half right away. then I read down the right column for some more. Last to fall was QUIET AS A MOUSE for whatever reason. enjoyable Patrick Berry as always.
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Is it only my imagination, or does this Cryptic have more black squares in it than a Cryptic would normally have?
Anyway, I continue to have a great deal of respect and admiration for the people who can actually solve these puzzles.
I couldn’t get beyond BIG BANG, TRIAL and SHOWS HOW.
Also, could anybody please explain the “revealed” 4D and 29A?
Also can anybody explain 26A? Impressionist?
@Jerrold
4D: zero=nil, with "e" for energy, thus Nile
29A: the hint is "we hear", so Eau Claire can be pronounced to sound like "oak lair", or wood hideout (a stretch, I think)
26A: Manet is the Impressionist, and "captures" the first letter ("face") of girl, so "drawer" = magnet
Anyone have a different explanation for 29A?
3
OK, thanks!