This is my first shot at this type of puzzle, so it made my brain work overtime and it has now taken to its bed inside my skull. I had so much fun! I was anxious because I did not expect to understand much, but it turned out not to kill me.
But if anyone is still reading this, please can you explain 20D? I see the reference to six, and I see AMEX backwards kind of. I just don't actually get it.
@Mary
if it's not too late, "three amex" anagrams to the answer, which itself means "six syllables"
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@loftyc
Oh, wow, thanks so much for answering me!
@loftyc Hexameter means six poetic feet--not six syllables (necessarily).
Enjoyable puzzle! I understood almost all of my answers when I entered them and finished in good time. I appreciate the explanations of those I "got" but didn't "get" here, like TOY and attEND. The power of the cross was enough to get me through.
As always, I find that I am struggling with an answer
that is not mentioned in the discussion.
I can make no sense of how CAROTENE is derived
from the given clue. Any help?
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@David L CAROTENE (nutrient for young bodies ) sounds like (said to be) (part of the "care a teen" gets.) It's a homophone-type clue.
1
Thank you very much--
Much appreciated: David
Puns and Anagrams is a fun puzzle --- it's always been a simplified cryptic to me and it was the gateway "drug" that started my cryptic addiction. I like today's PANDAS because it uses the cryptic devices of homophone (41a, 48a, 10d), reversal (26a), hidden answers (5d, 45d), and double definition (8d) as well as anagrams.
1
The clue ENTURY and it’s answer have to be the entry of the *ENTURY.
* Now you C it, to borrow a phrase...
1
@Steve L --
A dandy anchor, indeed.
But my favorite clue is the leatherworker, the Jack of ___ trades.
@Steve L
I C what you did there (especially since I did this and Sunday puzzle today after returning from travels).
I got it all but 30 down and 65 across I don’t understand. Good puzzle. Loved longtimenosee.
@Bebop
for 30D, read up (from bottom to top).
for 65A, the clue is all letters after the G. (At leas that is how I read it.)
@Dr W 30D Yes of course. 65 across good find, that I would never have figured out.
@Bebop
G-enders......(H, I, J, K, L, M....etc. Z, are the G-enders)
But.....I didn't "get" it, until I read your comment.
I just fit it with 43 down.....those were my last spots, other than 40 across, middle letter.
1
I catch patterns in the grid as a minor divertissement after the fill. Found several identical vertical-horizontal triplets in this one:
NCA in 17A and 9D
EXA in 29A and 20D
AGE in 34A and 15D
NGE in 63A and 45D
NGE in 34A and 12D
(What are the odds .....)
@Dr W
Not good.
Top 25 Trigram Frequencies for English Letters based on a 1 million-word sample:
the
83,242
and
37,169
ing
35,586
her
23,310
hat
14,565
his
14,401
ion
14,097
ere
13,897
for
13,430
ent
13,352
tha
11,913
tio
11,414
ter
10,787
all
9,540
ver
9,516
ith
9,416
wit
9,172
ati
8,795
ers
7,864
one
7,558
ess
6,923
ate
6,783
rea
6,306
nce
6,231
ave
6,163
@Etaoin Shrdlu
I won't put any money on that....
@Etaoin Shrdlu
PS I forgot to say thanks!!
I remember a couple of funny stories about Encarta.
They were getting some criticism because their article about Madonna the singer came before the article about Madonna meaning the Virgin Mary. They responded that the way they do it, an article about a living person always comes before an article about a dead person.
Then also the phonetic pronunciation for "Niagara Falls" was intended to be "ni ag ra fawlz." But the G and the A in "ag" were accidentally interchanged, so it came out sounding like a racial slur.
P.S. This was intended as a reply to Dr. W below.
17A is ENCARTA.
And yes, I remember the Encarta encyclopedia disc that came with my first personal computer back in 2000.
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@Jerrold
TY!
A nice P&A and amusing as well. I got a good chuckle out of 13D because that person always looked like he could use a very square meal.
Wasn't 17A also the name of some old software or a game?
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I just noticed 48A. Hiding place?
@Jerrold
Homonym for cache.
1
@Etaoin Shrdlu
Homophone.
2
After getting almost none of them and “Revealing” the puzzle, I’m wondering about 61D. What does AT&T have to do with it?
Also, did anybody here do the Saturday mini?
What was that tiny picture among the clues?
I guessed BUG for it, but it turned out to be TWO.
I absolutely don’t understand it.
UPDATE: I just looked at that Mini again.
The clue has been changed to "Shares a key with @".
When I did it last night, the clue was a very tiny, blurry picture, without any words.
@Jerrold
ATTend
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@Etaoin Shrdlu Thanks a lot for this and the other answer!
Whirlpool is always a very enjoyable “middle” puzzle. A large diagram for this puzzle is very easy to make up on paper.
[SPOILER ALERT]
My immediate gimmes were SEETHE/SEE THE LIGHT.
Other gimmes were RECOIL, PARIAH and AIRMAIL.
I got NAIR only from the crossings. And it occurred to me: Isn’t FILING kind of anachronistic by now?
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