February 23, 2006

Föstudagur (that's Icelandic for Friday)

I loved Manny Nosowsky's NYT puzzle. Of the 20 longest answers (7 to 10 letters apiece), I'd say I really liked at least 16 of them. Did SEIJI OZAWA give a KARATE CHOP to his ESCRITOIRE because it was UGLY AS SIN? If so, did he cut himself, experience SHEER AGONY, and end up with SCAR TISSUE? The clues are great, too—there were about a dozen that stood out for me (too many to list, really), whereas many puzzles have a standout clue count of zero to one.

In the Sun, Randolph Ross boxes us in with the rebus puzzle, "Squaring the Square." Ten rebus squares in symmetrical locations seems like a lot—anyone know of any puzzles that can match that feat?

Updated:

Friday at last! There's another Manny puzzle in the Wall Street Journal featuring a checkers theme; a field of COWs in Merl Reagle's Philadelphia Inquirer weekend puzzle; a catty quip in Bob Klahn's CrosSynergy puzzle; and a shindig theme in Doug Peterson's LA Times puzzle. They're all good puzzles.

NYS 5:31
LAT 4:51
NYT 4:50
CS 4:37
Newsday 4:08 (on paper)

Reagle ?:?? (oops—forgot to start the Across Lite timer)
WSJ 7:52