LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
Missing body parts was the link among last week’s six theme entries:
16-a [No fan of Pan] = CAPTAIN HOOK (missing a hand)
22-a [Man with a parrot] = LONG JOHN SILVER (missing a leg)
30-a [He died in a plane crash along with Will Rogers] = WILEY POST (missing an eye)
39-a [Egyptian attraction, casually] = THE SPHINX (missing its nose)
44-a [“Bedroom in Arles” painter] = VINCENT VAN GOGH (missing an ear)
56-a [“You never let a serious crisis go to waste” speaker] = RAHM EMANUEL (missing a finger)
What U.S. senator, past or present does this point to? There are several famous ones missing a limb, but take a look at the six starred clues:
10-a [*”Eeny, meeny, miny ___…”]
19-a [*”Glee” song by Jordin Sparks “No ___”]
26-a [*Foreign capital, to non-Qataris]
62-a [*Eosin, e.g.]
34-a [*Haydn musical genre — not!]
45-a [*Auer the actor died in this country in 1967]
Some odd phrasings there, which may lead you to notice that the first word of each of these six clues anagrams, minus one letter, to one of the six missing body parts in the theme:
Eeny minus N = eye
Glee minus E = leg
Foreign minus O = finger
Eosin minus I = nose
Haydn minus Y = hand
Auer minus U = ear
Anagram those subtracted letters and you’ve got meta answer Daniel INOUYE, longtime senator from Hawaii, who lost an arm in Italy in the final months of World War II. And who went by “Dan,” important to wordplay fans because “Dan Inouye” is supervocalic (including the Y) in just nine letters.
Golem writes:
So I guess JOHNWAYNEBOBBITT is too long for the grid?
Peter Gordon asks:
Why is 21-Across plural?
The clue there was [Unpleasant bumps] for STYE. I originally had the clue as simply [Unpleasant bump] but after a (disgusting, do not attempt) Google Image search I convinced myself that a STYE consisted of multiple bumps, not just one. But for the sake of not being confusing I should have kept the clue in the singular.
Leo suggests an alternate theme entry:
Tycho Brahe was also missing his nose! Way more awesome than the Sphinx.
And finally, Gwinns quips:
A fine addition to your body of work.
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 253 correct entries received, is Victor Chubukov of San Francisco, Calif. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Victor will also receive a copy of Matt Jones’ new puzzle series, “No Holds Barred Crosswords.” Check out Matt’s Kickstarter campaign here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/166613892/no-holds-barred-crosswords
MAP UPDATE:
Jeff Gellner writes that his Where in the World Are MGWCC Solvers? map continues to grow:
We now have 162 entries from 35 different states (plus DC), 5 Canadian Provinces and 10 other foreign countries. (Australia, Austria, China, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, United Kingdom)
New York is the top state with 28 entries followed by California (19), Massachusetts (14), and Ohio (7).
If you’d like to rep your city/state/country/continent, send your info to Jeff (click on “Read Me First” at the link below for instructions):
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/viewer?mid=zcaIxHc1B2hU.k91ZSGz8GkfY
INTERVIEW WITH MERL REAGLE:
Check out my interview with one of my crossword idols, Merl Reagle. Among other things, Merl reveals that he sang in a psychedelic band in the 1970s, and we get audio of their best song!
http://gaffneyoncrosswords.com/?p=160
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is the only one of the five in the grid. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Wednesday at 3PM ET (Note extra 27 hours to make up for the delay in posting). The submissions form disappears from the site promptly at 3 PM on Wednesday.
To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,109 members now!) here.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.