By Tom Toce
Some say puzzle-solving is good for the brain and may stave off dementia. Others say that puzzle-solving is only good for helping you get good at puzzle-solving. I’m happy either way, contributing to the common welfare or to time-wasting.
Puzzle-creating definitely helps the brain. I believe I have developed a superpower through shuffling words around, finding hidden meanings, and inventing intricate diagrams. I’ve recently learned that I can now predict the future! On November 3, 2020, our country will hold a presidential election. The entry at 17A calls for the winner. The election itself, to say nothing of the date when the winner is actually announced and accepted by all, occurs well after the publication of this magazine. How then am I able to reveal the winner, without risking a “Dewey Defeats Truman” moment? Solve the puzzle, is all I ask. If you do it correctly before November 3, you can amaze your friends.
There will be four proper nouns entered into the grid. (Another word could be a proper noun but doesn’t have to be.) There are two foreign words. Everything else is playable in Scrabble. Ignore punctuation, which is intended to confuse. Thanks to Bob Fink, Eric Klis, and Jerry Miccolis for test-solving and editorial suggestions.
Across
1. Brains do swim unusually
5. Outlaw spoke
8. Complicated if Steve is gay
11. Mature herb pruned
13. Crazy fact, Ian–crazy
14. Kind of elite, maybe?
15. Holy Ohio city?
17. Winner of the 2020 US presidential election
19. A yarn manufactured in Rome
24. Occupation of Letterman for some time
27. Put Jackson or Derek in, it may have an effect
29. Play “Runaround Sue”
30. Remember fall is coming back, exhibiting vivid imagery
31. To Marx, the less fortunate in recession
32. Salt on boiled claws
Down
1. White hat is how much?
2. Strongly inclined with no time to move slowly
3. Murder is wrong
4. Nub fitting in the ear
5. Podcast loop on Munch
6. Pain-in-the-ass singer turned enthusiastic
7. Before close, core reorganized to make money again
9. Nosy stranger, given a little shot, becomes condescending
10. Amobarbital is used finally in prescriptions like this
12. Gory, thrown-together sandwich
16. It accompanies every other piece of Stravinsky, Poulenc, Penderecki, Liszt, Ives, and Hook
17. Ejected, with half of a law degree decided
18. What Cicero heard with Ares in ruins
20. Film director Kazan offering a lie indiscriminately
21. Standard units of nonconformists
22. Border patrol on permafrost
23. Bio dissection Tuesday, with a brief summary of what it all meant
25. Roue upset Mark’s replacement
26. Messages cut short in the kitchen
28. Killer whale disgorges rare tuber
Previous Issue’s Puzzle—Cryptic Corners
Across
1. DEPTH—DEPT (“Commerce or State”) + H (“have for starters”)
4. SATES—STATES (“cases”)—T (“time”)
5. ANODE—AN (“A”) + ODE (“dedicated passage”)
7. UNHOLY—UN (from United Nations, “WHO’s parent”) + HOLY (homophone of WHOLLY, from “altogether”)
10. SINUS—Anagram of “sun is”
12. LARGESS—LA (“Los Angeles”) + first letters of “rookie gamely executes suicide squeeze”
17. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED—Anagram of “boys squirmed, seem real”
18. TARGETS—TAR (“Sailor”) + GETS (“achieves”)
19. REPEL—Reversal of LEPER (“pariah”)
22. WHEEZE—WHEE (“Hooray”) + ZEBRA—BRA (“ref loses support”)
23. ASIDE—Anagram of “aides”
24. THEIR—T (“true”) + HEIR (“beneficiary”)
25. LARGO—Double definition
Down
1. DISMAY—DIS (“insult”) + MAY (“Spider-Man’s aunt”)
2. PATHOS—PATH (“NY/NJ rapid transit” + OS (“operating system”)
3. HASTEN—HAS (“takes in”) + TEN (“Hamilton”)
6. DIMMER—Reversal of MMI (“2001”) inside RED (“communist”)
7. UPSET—UPS (“big brown truck”) + ET (“little green man”)
8. HOMER—Double definition
9. LEAVE—LEAVEN (“add yeast”) omitting “the last”
11. STYLES—Double definition
12. LEER—Reversal of REEL (“stumble”)
13. ROUGH—Homophone of RUFF (“sound from a dog”)
14. EERIE—E (“empty”) + ERIE (“lake town”)
15. SIDLE—S (“Small”) + IDLE (“useless”)
16. ASKS—TASKS (“duties”)—T (“taking 20% off the top”)
20. PASTEL—Anagram of “petals”
21. LINEAR—Inside “metal in earth”
22. WEIRDO—Homophone of WE’RE DOE (“female deer identifying themselves”)
Cornerstone
BELT—Double definition
HOWE—HOW (“what state”) + E (“error”)
APEX—APE (“Gorilla”) + X (“crossing”)
DUES—Homophone of DOS (“parties”)
LADY—LAD (“boy”) + Y (“health club”)
TOES—Reversal of every other letter in “seen out”
HEAR—Anagram of “hare”
TUNE—Homophone of TOON (“Jessica Rabbit”)
Solvers
Correction: I inadvertently omitted Todd Dashoff’s name from the list of solvers last time.
Team AALO (Kristen Bischoff, Danny Clark, Kristen Detwiler, Alec Pirritano, Zach Gerth); Steve Alpert; Anthony Amodeo; Dean Apps; Jack Brauner; Bob Campbell; Lois Cappellano; Todd Dashoff; Mick Diede; Deb Edwards; Bob Fink; Mendy Friedman; Phil Gollance; Pete Hepokoski; Catharine Hornby; Max Jackson; Ruth Johnson; Eric Klis; Paul Kolell; Mike Kosciuk; Ken Kudrak; Ben Lynch; Dave McGarry; Jon Michelson; Jim Muza; David and Corinne Promislow; Alan Putney; Jay Ripps; Leaor Schwartz; Bill Scott; Andrew Shewan; Karen Skoglund; Zig Swistunowicz; Team KT (Katie Anderson & Megan Taylor); T. O. C. E. (Josh DenHartog and Sean Donohoe); Betsy and James Uzzell
