Thu., 4/16 Jeffrey Wechsler

[magus]

Theme: words describing chairs entered in the form of chairs (L) on the grid.

Good Ones:
Furniture designed for portability {& theme)   FOLDING CHAIRS
Choose not to pick?   STRUM
Computer outlet supply   MICE [I continue to think first that MICE refers to vermin.]
Has an ace up one's sleeve   CHEATS

BTW:
Not sure how a BARBER chair, like a FOLDING CHAIR, is portable.

 

[Thomps2525]

Ah, that explains why a thread about the April 16 crossword was started on April 15. Mister magus, perhaps you can find out why the middle "c" of "Connecticut" is not pronounced. Tomorrow I will stick in my thumb and pull out aplomb and give my thoughts on the April 16 crosswords. We will look for your return on Friday.

Of course it is already April 16 in New Zealand. Anyone who needs help with the April 16 Dominion Post crossword can go to http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/culture/puzzles/crossword-solutions/67685202/crossword-solutions-thursday-april-16

[Thomps2525]

Today's crossword by Jeffrey Wechsler includes six sets of circled letters, with each grouping in an L shape. "Furniture designed for portability" is FOLDINGCHAIRS. Those six sets of circled letters contain the names of folding chairs: BERBER, DECK, LAWN, SEDAN, ROCKING and WINDSOR. "Folding." Get it? A clever idea---but 42 black squares. Forty-two!

"Computer outlet supply" is MICE. I haven't decided if the plural of that computer accessory should be "mice" or "mouses." What does everyone think?

And "Relatives of emus" is RHEAS. Oh, really? Emus are native to Australia and RHEAS are native to South America.

[Thomps2525]

Many times a crossword's theme answers will be missing a word. Today's Daily News crossword is the first I've seen where a word is missing from the answer which reveals the theme. Sixteen answers are missing the word "fire." Among them:

Failure: MIS
Rat-a-tat-tat: GUN
Feature of a big outdoor party: BON
Meataphor for quick-spreading success: WILD
Risks disaster: PLAYSWITH
Impossible to fail: SURE
Building safety feature: EXIT
Start shooting: OPEN

54-across is "Warning before a detonation...and a hint to 16 of this puzzle's answers. The answer is INTHEHOLE. The phrase is actually "fire in the hole." So the 16 theme answers, as well as the answer which reveals the theme, are missing the word FIRE. Woo, tricky!

Recently, many crossword clues have been more clever than the theme answers. Today's puzzle includes "Double doubles?" for HOMER and yesterday's included "Something that just isn't done at the dinner table?" for RAREMEAT.