Sunday, June 15 - Jeremy Newton

Did you get the memo? It's Father's Day...so be sure to lavish a bit of attention on all of the father figures in your life. And a Happy Father's Day to all out there to whom the greeting applies.

Did you get the memo? It's also a clever title for a clever puzzle by Jeremy Newton. I thought I'd have time to blog this morning while Don slept in, but he's up and about. I'll be back after we share a cup of coffee and some morning chat.

***

That was longer than I expected, but I need to make this brief so we can get on with Father's Day as Don wants to celebrate it...a walk along the river trail, followed by a leisurely coffee break at his favorite spot.

I don't recognize Jeremy Newton's name, but I sure enjoyed his puzzle. The seven (UPDATE: Oops! There are eight) theme answers are all in-the-language phrases, clued to be the subject line of a memo:

23A: Memo about Stephen King's "Christine"? (repossessed auto).

32A: Memo about an inveterate perjurer? (relying on instinct).

48A: Memo about a dating guide? (repair manual).

64A: Memo about where tariffs are imposed on incoming ships? (report for duty).

71A: Memo about stores for animal appendages? (retail outlet).

82A: Memo about a religious outpost for prisoners? (recon mission).

101A: Memo about why to buy an air purifier? (remote possibility)...it was hard to choose a favorite, but I think I'll go with this one.

114A: Memo about a lyricist? (reverse engineer). This was inadvertently left out of the original post.

Looking over the grid, I discovered some interesting crosses and placement. In the northwest, 26A: Drop from the invitation list, say (snub) and 4D: Hoity-toity type (snob). In the northeast, the delicious junk-food cross of 22A: Alternatives to Yodels (Ho-Hos) and 16D: Candy bar whose name is an exclamation (Oh Henry!). The southwest has the four-legged side-by-side 93A: Bearded beast (gnu) and 94A: Source of wool (llama). Not particularly in the southeast, but over on that side...67D: HDTV maker (RCA) with its rival 86D: Discman maker (Sony) right below it.

Favorite clues (including some of the more difficult) and answers...55A: Board (meals)...that took forever to see, 61A: Loon (nutcase)...not a bird, 70A: Apple gadget (corer)...nothing electronic, 74A: Falls on the border (Niagara), 112A: Ready to roll?...or not ready to roll? (tired)...the best clue, 8D: Inflexible, as some rules (cast iron)...I could only think of cast in stone, which wouldn't fit, 17D: It may be used for banking (pool cue), 21D: 1958 hit whose B-side was "La Bamba" (Donna)...a favorite of mine back then, 33D: All of a crowd, maybe (extras), 36D: Whaling adverb (thar), 85D: How a ringtone may be set (on silent)...I'm doing that more often these days, 88D: Like many non-animated Disney films (PG rated), and 100D: Filet type (mignon)...yum.

Things I didn't know and needed crosses to get...38A: BBC : Britain : : __ : Italy (RAI), 11D: __ Malfoy, Harry Potter antagonist (Draco) and 66D: Grand __, setting for "Evangeline" (Pre). I took a wild guess at 50D: LeBlanc of "Joey" (Matt). I haven't been much of a sitcom fan for the last fifteen or so years.

The last answer to fall for me was 109A: Lightly moisten (bedew)...a word that I've never used in my life. My geographical impairment didn't help much with 95D: Isr. neighbor (Leb)...and AcrossLite just wouldn't accept redew. I finally looked at a map and saw that...sure enough!...Lebanon was right there by Israel.
Thanks again for your encouraging emails this past week and a half. It was a very satisfying project to complete, but like building our own house...something I wouldn't want to do a second time.

Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G