Thursday, June 28, 2007

Friday, June 29 - Mike Nothnagel

In the past month, I've given Mike Nothnagel an award for his best themed puzzle, as well as one for his best themeless. Today, he earns the award for the hardest puzzle.

There are others out there who will get through this puzzle with no difficulty. Some will have to Google to finish. Some will Google and still won't finish. I fall in the last category.

I thought that knowing 35A: 2002 sci-fi role for Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) would blow the grid wide open. It didn't.

Other answers I knew:

1A: Sitcom character with a leather jacket that's now in the Smithsonian (The Fonz). Who else?

17A: Have no dinner companions (eat alone). A good guess, and it panned out.

19A: They're numbered in golf (irons). So are woods and holes, but I got it from the cross of 4D: Glazed dessert (flan).

33A: 1974 Chicago hit (Call on Me).

39A: Teacher's request of a publisher (desk copy).

60A: Treats similar to Mallomars (S'mores).

9D: Bygone carnivore (TRex).

25D: Player of Dr. Kiley on "Marcus Welby, M.D." (Brolin).

That's all I knew, and I needed crosses to figure some of them out. I Googled some of the more obscure (to me) films and managed to fill in a bit more...

Including 14D: Omaha and Spokane were once in it (Kentucky Derby). But that still wasn't enough help. After all of that, I still had several blanks. And it's getting late.

I still think the world of you, Mike, and I love your puzzles. You and Friday were just too much for me.

See you tomorrow.

Linda G

2 comments:

cornbread hell said...

i babysat a 1 year old today, so i got to work on the puzzle off and on all day long. no computer to google the obscure stuff and i still finished it. woot!
(yes, i'm proud of myself.)

Linda G said...

Man, you should be proud! I couldn't even finish it with Google. I guess it's possible that the one-year-old gave you some answers ;