By Tom Toce
The idea for this puzzle came from two sources. One was a lively exchange I started on Facebook, after I made a post expressing surprise that REALTOR was not playable in Scrabble. I never knew “Realtor” was a trademark name! A number of people went off on how “realtor” is a made-up word, hard to pronounce (although, so is “nuclear”), and there is no reason to use it instead of “real estate agent.” (That comment came from a “person who practices law,” which under the same logic renders the word “lawyer” superfluous.) And it represents corporate greed, the degradation of the English language, etc.
In creating word puzzles, I frequently have to deal with questions of what is a word and what isn’t. I tend towards the descriptive: usage dictates acceptability. I fax and xerox things (well, not so much anymore), and I use a lot of words that wouldn’t be found in Noah Webster’s first dictionary. One can play FAX and XEROX in Scrabble. I bet that someday “realtor” will make it into the Scrabble dictionary, and we won’t be any the worse for it. Who knows?
Anyhoo (another friend complained about that word being acceptable in Spelling Bee, although so far it is not acceptable in Scrabble), people have strong opinions about what makes something a word. I was on vacation with my daughter and her eleven year-old son, and we started discussing slang. I decided to construct a puzzle using slang terms from the past hundred years. My grandson wanted to fill the grid up with slang he’s heard over the past year, but I decided to branch out. I especially wanted to explore words and phrases that started as slang, but have become standard (or at least “playable in Scrabble”) over time.
All the across entries are related to the theme, slang from the last hundred years. None of the down ones are, at least not intentionally. Some of the words are neologisms, others existed as words or phrases before 1924 but not in the usage I employ here.
The interesting thing is that except for the hyphenated word at 31A, all the across entries are playable in Scrabble. It’s not clear that 25A is playable per the definition I use here, though it is acceptable under another definition. So let’s call 25A a proper noun. The two-word answers at 13A and 19A are of course not playable in Scrabble, though their components are.
Among the down answers are six proper nouns, one common foreign abbreviation, and two words that probably were considered slang back in the day, that day being prior to 1924. There is an unusual word at 22D and a not-so-widely known proper noun at 17D.
Everything else is, dare I say, playable in Scrabble, unlike REALTOR. For the record, you can still do okay with those tiles, because RELATOR is playable.
Thanks to Bob Fink and Jerry Miccolis for test-solving and editorial suggestions.
Across clues
1. Sure, some pastry for Donald Trump, iconically
4. A long time ago, taking over an empire through male bonding
10. Glimpses of admirers
11. Admirable at first, but our daughter amassed considerable debts
12. You might say I know how Disney’s margins can be very good for appearance’s sake (two words)
13. Do quite well with leadoff hit by Jackson (two words)
16. Nonsense, exploit the woman’s throaty sounds right from the beginning
19. Things had aggressed at the Center over fisticuffs and dissing (two words)
24. Poke fun at Astor’s novel
25. One hundred jam in Benin
29. A sexy movie star as matador? Be more imaginative in casting
31. Good to atone after being corrected (hyph.)
32. Outside of children howling, just taking it easy
33. Swimming across Sound can earn some of these trophies
Down clues
1. Wow, the old retaining pipe crumbled
2. A little bit of tranquility, I hear
3. Mensa is irritated with certain specifications
4. Some would say go easy on marketing
5. Go with a straddle, no need for second thoughts at the outset
6. Be in a pitching match the Scottish play
7. The one questionable one
8. Phony Eastern tzars maneuvering
9. I make an offer, as mentioned earlier
14. Dressed after two and weary
15. Boycott Gerwig’s last hit
17. Gosh, each has its own little ice cube
18. Flop and swing wildly after losing the first fifty
20. Best director (Robbins) in the middle of a gem
21. Hey there, voodoo sounds like great fun
22. Pertaining to controlling pupils, one starts to register improvement daily in class
23. Likes one of the marches in the highland’s past–uplifting!
26. The lion’s share of thefts are Newt’s
27. Complain to a Lin-Manuel MIranda juggernaut
28. Physicist having a natural talent
30. One manning the line as both ends split
TOM TOCE is an FCAS and a senior manager at EY. He is a member of the Jeopardy Hall of Fame. Solutions may be emailed to ttoce@nyc.rr.com. In order to make the solver list, you should send him your solutions by October, 2024.
Solution to Previous Issue’s Puzzle—For Your Amusement
Across
1. UNF(O)UNDED—“no fun, dude” anag.
6. LASS(O)ES—L(atin) + A(merica’s) + S(ecret) + S(ociety) + O(f) + E(nglish) + S(peakers)
9. ST(O)RING—R (middle of “April”) inside “ingots” anag.
10. FLAMING(O)—FL + N (Naples’ earliest) inside AMIGO
11. ALL(O)Y—“loyal” anag.
13. TAR(O)T—A inside TROT
15. METE(O)R—“remote” anag.
17. CAN(O)E—“ocean” anag.
18. AB(O)UT—A + BOUT
20. T(O)ILED—“old tie” anag.
23. (O)RANGE—ORANG(utan) + E
24. M(O)USE—MOUS(s)E [delete S]
25. ENV(O)Y—EN [J—>V] OY (Jersey’s primary)
26. O)RALLY—(m)ORALLY
29. BES(O)T—Abe’s other
32. V(O)ICE—VO + ICE
35. R(O)USTING—S inside ROUTING
36. T(O)ASTED—TO + A + S + T + ED
37. H(O)ARDER—HOAR + DER
38. RING TOSS—“grits son” anag.
Down
1. NATAL—NAT + AL
2. UNITY—Shogun I typed
3. DIGIT—DIG + IT (Mitt in the gut)
4. DEFER—“refed” rev.
5. LEAD—“deal” anag.
6. SLICE—Double Definition
7. EAGLE—(b)EAGLE
12. LINEN—L + INEN (“nine” anag.)
14. ALBUM—AL + BUM
15. MATE—Double Definition/Pun
16. RUDDY—R + (b)UDDY [delete B]
17. CURER—CUR + ER
19. TUSKS—T(r)U(e) S(i)K(h)S
21. LANAI—Alan airbrushed
22. DEWY—DEW(e)Y [delete E]
27. ATRIA—ATR + IA (“art” anag.)
28. LASED—“lazed” homo.
30. EAGER—(y)EAGER
31. TITAN—TIT + A + N(ightingale)
32. VISIT—VIS + IT
33. CREWS—“cruise” hom.
34. TIER—“REIT” rev.
Solvers
Steve Alpert, Dean Apps, Steven Berman, Bob Campbell, Lois Cappellano, Laura Cremerius, Jared Dashoff, Christopher Dickens, Mick Diede, Deb Edwards, Bruce Fuller, Phil Gollance, Steve Gunter, David Handelman, Pete Hepokoski, Max Jackson, Joe Kilroy, Paul Kolell, Mike Kosciuk, Ken Kudrak, Ben Lynch, David McGarry, Jon Michelson, Josh Parker, David and Corinne Promislow, Alan Putney, Danny Rhodes, Jay Ripps, Bill Scott, Sally Smith, Zig Swistunowicz, James and Betsy Uzzell, and Bonnie Veenschoten.
