SQP153–Alphabetical Jigsaw

[oldjudge]

A Steve Mossberg puzzle that was advertised as harder than normal and, at least for me, played that way because I found a few of the wordplays somewhat questionable. Specifically, I had issues with:

Resume playing metal covers? Quite the opposite—they’re revolting (9)
That’s that frat character—very loud, small assistant (4,4) —just the last word here

Also, not a huge fan of “Steve almost flips past floor dancers (9)”


Otherwise, nice concept and, despite what I note above, I enjoyed the puzzle. I just think it could have been even better.

[ChrisKochmanski]

Much enjoyed!

Though was there a mistake in the letter count for the very first clue’s entry? I entered a six-letter word, not seven.

[oldjudge]

The very first clue entry was listed as 6, at least in the pdf

[ChrisKochmanski]

The very first clue entry was listed as 6, at least in the pdf

Really? The clue that starts “Many fly back with …”? I’m looking at my printed off (and written up) copy, and after “Napolitano”, the number I see in parentheses is 7. Weird!

I’m sure there’s a simple explanation. Maybe Steve corrected the PDF just after I downloaded and printed it?

Whatever. Sorry to have made something of this. Fun puzzle!

[oldjudge]

Weird! Here is what mine has:

Maybe fly back with some salami Napolitano (6)

[ChrisKochmanski]

See photo …

Weird indeed!

I’ll remove it soon, so it doesn’t give anything away.