Jeffrey Wechsler has produced quite a few crossword containing familiar phrases that are missing one letter. Two examples: PROPERNUN and FURONTHEFLOOR. In his crossword today, he omits an entire
word from eight answers. Here are the clues and answers for three rows of today's puzzle:
Row 1:
Sparkling wine: COLD
Classic Chinese dish: PEKING
Defeated incumbent: DEAD
Row 6:
Toon with a speech problem: DAFFY
Goner: DEAD
Charmed one: LUCKY
Row 9:
Bath toy: RUBBER
Fictional uncle of triplets: DONALD
"Organizational process implied by eight answers in this puzzle" is GETTINGONESDUCKSINAROW. "To have one's ducks in a row" is an idiom meaning to have all one's preparations finalized before beginning an activity or project. The earliest known use of the phrase appeared in 1932. It is an allusion to a mother duck leading her ducklings in an orderly single file.
"Tres y cinco" is OCHO, which is not used in English. "Debussy subject" is LUNE, which is not used in English. "Just issued, in Innsbruck" is NEU, which is not used in English."Martinique, e.g." is ILE, which is not used in English.
"Lawgivers" is SOLONS. "Solon" is an eponym, a noun named for a person. Solon (630 BCE-560 BCE) was an Athenian statesman and reformer and one of the so-called Seven Wise Men of Greece. You can learn about his political reforms, economic reforms and code of laws at
https://www.britannica.com/biography/SolonI can't end this discussion without a dumb joke -- and here it is: A man goes into a pet store to buy a duck. He tells the clerk, "Send me the bill." The clerk says, "Sorry, you'll have to take the entire duck."
