Saturday, 11/4

Newsday 7:53
NYT 4:14
LAT 4:12
CS 3:02

(post updated 9:15 a.m. Saturday)

I generally enjoy Rich Norris's themeless puzzles, so I was glad to see his byline on the Saturday NYT. The puzzle struck me as easier than most Saturdays, but it could be that I hit the right wavelength thanks to that book of his puzzles I've been working on. Good longer entries, such as ALL-NIGHTER, THIS JUST IN, SLUGGISHLY, AVERAGE JOE, and CAT'S CRADLE (anyone remember how to play that string game?). [Dickens' pen?] quickly settled into being GAOL, just a few weeks after another NYT crossword had GAOLBREAK; swap the halves of GAOL and you get OLGA, which appears just below it. Never heard of Italian composer LUIGI Boccherini, or the ["Drink to me only with thine eyes" dedicatee] poem by Ben Jonson,, "To CELIA." I can't believe SHRINKAGE was clued with respect to shoplifting rather than this classic "Seinfeld" episode. Nice to see the ANC (clued as [Anti-apartheid org.]) mere days after the death of the pro-apartheid ex-leader of South Africa, P.W. Botha (who refused to release Nelson Mandela from imprisonment). I love the word ARAWAK—clued here as [Antilles tribe]. I'm not sure why, exactly. But I just learned from Wikipedia that the word hammock derives from an Arawakan word, hamaca. Final random impression: The TITI>—[Capuchin monkey relative]—is awfully cute. What's more, after birth, a titi's dad is in charge of caring for the baby and brings it to the mom only for nursing. Clever genus of monkeys!

Updated:

The Newsday Saturday Stumper by "Anna Stiga" (Stan again) is pretty tough, so put your thinking cap on and print it out.