For "Show & Tell" today I brought in this USA TODAY crossword puzzle by Kay Puttnam. I was not impressed. There wasn't really a theme but the four long answers were BABYBOOMER, FLOORBROKER, LOSSLEADER and SHAREHOLDER. The puzzle included the overused words ABET, AREA, EDIT, EKE, EMU, ETNA and IRA and the foreign words ETAT and ETRE. It also included five fragments of phrases: HITA ("'____ homer!' - kid's shout from the stands), INST ("'Meet Me ____ Louis'"), ISME ("Words after 'woe'"), ITAN ("'I'd consider ____ honor'"), ITNO ("'Pay ____ mind'") and SEC ("'Hold on just a ___.'"). Also among the answers was CEE, which is an unnecessary spelling of the letter C. The simple letter C works just fine without adding "EE" to it. "Panting" was the clue for AGASP, which I don't think is a real word. And REBAS for "Belonging to singer McEntire"? Horrid! For next week's "Show & Tell" I hope to find a better puzzle.
