Merl Reagle's puzzle in today's Los Angeles Times includes six answers that are portions of a phrase: ABELL, ABUS, ITUP, ONAHOT, ONRED, and UNS (the last part of the dialectic word "young'uns"). Editors used to reject puzzles with such fragments. Today's theme was "Cliché couples, revisited." It is a sequel to a puzzle that Reagle did two years ago and contains two-word phrases that we always use without really knowing why, such as BROADDAYLIGHT, CRASHINGBORE, FLIMSYEXCUSE, IDLERUMORS, PERFECTSTRANGER and UNMITIGATEDGALL. He makes a good point. Why is gall always described as unmitigated? Why is an excuse always described as flimsy? What makes daylight broad? Are there any kinds of bores besides crashing bores?
Reagle used two words that I was unfamiliar with. ULALUME was an 1847 poem by Edgar Allan Poe. The title is believed to refer to his wife Virginia, who had died in January of that year. ANTA was the answer to "Architectural pier." The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ANTA as "a pier produced by thickening a wall at its termination." "Pier" is another name for "pillar." So I've learned a new word...but I doubt I'll ever be able to use it in a conversation.
