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Constructing => General Discussion => Topic started by: sdgorrell1 on August 05, 2016, 07:46:02 PM
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I'm restarting this from a previous discussion. The rule in the NYT spec sheet is:
"Do not use partial phrases longer than five letters (ONE TO A, A STITCH IN, etc.)"
However I see many examples in recent NYT puzzles that violate this rule, for ex:
This means _ (9 leading-letter partial phrase, 7/7/16)
What I don't see (at least in my limited sample) are examples of partial phrases with more than five trailing letters. An example here would be "_ _ _ pray" (Now let us)
And since the examples are all leading, I'm not sure if it applies to trailing ones at all.
This is starting to feel like more of a guideline. If anybody has any insight on this, I would appreciate it.
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The five-letter limit applies to what's in the blank (not the clue). This means WAR.
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And just to clarify further, the five-letter limit only applies when it is a partial phrase (not a single word). So ___ pray, would be OK if the answer is LET US, but not OK if it is NOW LET US.
For a single word, there is no restriction. Washington ___ (MONUMENT)