Harper’s October ‘23 “Theme and Variations”

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CromsFury
Posts: 169
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2022 5:00 pm

Harper’s October ‘23 “Theme and Variations”

#1

Post by CromsFury »

The October Maltby is now online!!!
Good Luck and Enjoy!
:ugeek:

Personal Side Note:
The first cryptic that Sondheim did for New York Magazine (April 1968) was a "Theme and Variations" puzzle. I know this because I started working my way through the Stephen Sondheim's Crossword Puzzles book in order this weekend, and just finished that puzzle.
Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo. - Virgil
Quand on lit trop vite où trop doucement, on n'entend rien. - Pascal
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Tom Wilson
Posts: 394
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:07 pm
Location: South Williamsport, PA

#2

Post by Tom Wilson »

Ohmigosh, thanks for the links to the Sondheim puzzles. I've happened upon several over the years, but this is the mother lode. The new Maltby helped me pass a Monday morning, but these will occupy more than a month of Mondays!
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oldjudge
Posts: 1634
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:16 am
Location: Pasadena, CA

#3

Post by oldjudge »

This one seemed more straightforward and better clued than most Maltby puzzles. LOL, maybe I am just getting used to them. Thanks to Tom for forwarding this along.
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ChrisKochmanski
Posts: 2199
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:51 pm
Location: Saline, Michigan

#4

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

oldjudge wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 4:35 pm This one seemed more straightforward and better clued than most Maltby puzzles. LOL, maybe I am just getting used to them. Thanks to Tom for forwarding this along.
Yes, relatively speaking, for a Maltby, I whipped through this one.
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Nino
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2019 2:51 pm
Location: Massachusetts

#5

Post by Nino »

Yes, for me, this was one of the quickest solves of a Maltby. The last fill was 26A. With the four crossing downs in place, I then determined the two letters that gave a solution that works with the word play.

However, I don’t know how it works as a definition.

Did others have a similar experience. Did you work it out as a definition?
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Richard B.
Posts: 547
Joined: Sat May 16, 2020 1:58 pm
Location: upper west side, NYC

#6

Post by Richard B. »

Nino wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 1:31 am Yes, for me, this was one of the quickest solves of a Maltby. The last fill was 26A. With the four crossing downs in place, I then determined the two letters that gave a solution that works with the word play.

However, I don’t know how it works as a definition.

Did others have a similar experience. Did you work it out as a definition?
I took the definition to be “scruples.” See definition number one — https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scruple
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Nino
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2019 2:51 pm
Location: Massachusetts

#7

Post by Nino »

Thank you very much

(And thank you for placing it under the Spoiler link.)

As it turns out, I had guessed right as to which word was being defined, but I had not consulted that particular online site (which did a much more robust job with that word than the other major online dictionary/thesaurus, which I had checked.)

Thankfully, I can put this puzzle aside now, without having it on my mind until the solution is published weeks from now.
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