Sunday, April 18, 2010
SPIRAL, Puzzle by Will Shortz
Will Shortz, the master of the spiral word puzzle has created a brilliant little gem for aficionados of this delightful genre. STELLA Kowalski, along with a BARONESS and the former New York Times crossword editor Will WENG start us out on our inward journey to the center of the puzzle where Samuel Becket’s “Waiting for GODOT” twists itself for the way out with a fragment of Shakespeare, e.g., TO DO GRACE, which I at first parsed as “to dog race”! Woof! Well, as we race to the exit, DOCTOR SEUSS gives us a bit of wacky wisdom, CATNIP beats out a catnap, and we finally flee home free with BALLETS. Getting there is half the fun!
INWARD: 1-6. “A Streetcar Named Desire” woman, STELLA; 7-14. Noblewoman, BARONESS; 15-18. Former New York Times crossword editor Will WENG; 19-25. Capital of ancient Assyria, NINEVEH; 26-31. Tugboat, for example, TOOTER; 32-36. Frequently, OFTEN; 37-42. Presented without bias (hyph.), NO-SPIN; 43-49. Touch-related, TACTILE; 50-56. Turns quickly (through), RIFFLES; 57-63. Good things to have when you have a cold, TISSUES; 64-67. Campus military program, for short, ROTC; 68-73. Texas city next to Midland, ODESSA; 74-84. Lagging, as an e-mail (hyph.), TIME-DELAY; 85-88. Dream: Fr., REVE; 89-95. Leader of the Indianapolis 500? (2 wds.), PACE CAR; 96-100. “Waiting for GODOT”.
OUTWARD: 100-91. Reflect credit upon, in the words of Shakespeare (3 wds.), TO DO GRACE; 91-83. Island country off the African coast (2 wds.), CAPE VERDE; 82-79. School since 1701, YALE; 78-70. After-dinner serving, DEMITASSE; 69-59. Who wrote “Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.” (2 wds.), DOCTOR SEUSS; 58-53. What history repeats?, ITSELF; 52-46. Like campgrounds at night, typically, FIRELIT; 45-40. It may make Frisky frisky, CATNIP; 39-34. Browning specialty, SONNET; 33-25. Incisor, FORETOOTH; 24-14. Program hosted by Brian Williams or Katie Couric (2 wds.), EVENING NEWS; 13-8. Lady abroad, SENORA; 7-1. Stage performances, BALLETS.
Click on image to enlarge.
Puzzle available on the internet at
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