Today's puzzle included SSTS, clued with "Former fliers." In the past month, this is the fourth puzzle to use SST or SSTS. The clues for the other appearances of SST were "Bygone boomer," "Orly bird, once" and "Former Mach 2 flier, briefly." I wish puzzle makers were as good as coming up with different answers as they are at using the same answers far too often and coming up with different clues.
NOHOW was clued with "'Forget about it!'" The word is substandard English and the clue doesn't even make sense. Another clue was "Previously in print" and the answer was ABOVE. If a passage in a published story or article contains a reference to something that had already been mentioned, the passage might include the word ABOVE in parentheses, but only if the second reference appears on the same page and in the same column. The clue is inappropriate because the word "previous" usually refers to an earlier time or to a former condition. The clue could have been "Aforementioned in print" but it still would not make sense unless a second mention of something appears beneath the original reference. A front-page story may mention an SST and the page-7 continuation of the story may mention the SST again, so we can say that the first reference was "aforementioned" but it is certainly not "above." Yes, I'm picky. I know. Let's forget the whole thing and change the clue to "Buck Owens hit, '____ & Beyond.'"
