Construction question re: the partial phrase rule

[brittlestar]

NYT guidelines say not to "use partial phrases longer than five letters (ONE TO A, A STITCH IN, etc.)..."

Two questions:

1- Does this partial phrase rule apply to titles and place names or just to common phrases and expressions?

Would the following be acceptable:

clue: ____ Tears (National historical site)

answer: Trail of

2- Does this tend to be a hard and fast rule, or is there some give depending on the creativity/overall ummm, goodness of the clue and answer.

[sonofagun]

brittlestar- TRAIL OF will not be accepted. The rules aren't stretched or broken for place names and titles.