News Letterplay

Letterplay

You’ll in all probability run into, and clear up, theme entries in random order — I definitely did. The primary one which I knew for positive was at 42-Throughout, “Beer named for a founding father,” which is SAM ADAMS and which I assumed was simply regular, innocuous fill. This clue occurs to be fairly close to its paired entry, which is 52-Throughout: “D.S.T. beginning time … or a touch to 42-Throughout.” Nothing struck me there. I acquired to 90-Throughout, “Membership for farm children … or a touch to 97-Throughout,” and figured it needed to be “4-H.” If the entry hadn’t been 5 letters lengthy, I’d have in all probability tried HHHH; as an alternative, I sat on it for a bit and tried 97-Throughout, “Secretive.” Due to some crossing letters, I acquired this entry proper: HUSH-HUSH. Or, I spotted, HUSH-HUSH — these 4 H’s should imply one thing.

Due to the location of OAHU, QUIT and JACUZZI, I discovered 27-Throughout subsequent. “Customer to an internet site, in analytics lingo,” is UNIQUE USER. Its companion clue is at 71-Throughout, “twenty third in a sequence … or a touch to 27-Throughout.” We’re coping with “Letterplay,” so the sequence that involves thoughts is of course alphabetical, however what does “W” (the twenty third letter) should do with the entry at 27-Throughout? Aha — UNIQUE USER incorporates two U’s, or a DOUBLE U.

DOUBLE U acquired me attuned to learn how to reply 68-Throughout: “Prime credit standing … or a touch to 25-Throughout.” That credit standing (for company bonds) is AAA, or TRIPLE A. What might that should do with 25-Throughout, “Not true?” Thanks, crosses! This one made sense solely once I reverse engineered it; a line that’s “not true,” or straight, could be AT AN ANGLE. There are your TRIPLE A’s.

So what about 90-Throughout? “Quadruple” doesn’t match; the entry is FOUR H. And what about 52-Throughout, that “D.S.T. beginning time …”? That’s TWO AM, referring to the TWO “AM”s in SAM ADAMS.

There are two extra examples — one glorious pair of puns at 89- and 115-Throughout and a variation at 54- and 118-Throughout — that make the bounds of the numerical sequence. (It’s nearly a sequence, anyway. It’s lacking “one,” or “single,” and as an alternative goes ZERO — TWO — DOUBLE — TRIPLE — FOUR — FIVE.) That ZERO entry is a coup de grâce. 54-Throughout, “Weightlessness … or a touch to 118-Throughout,” is ZERO G. 118-Throughout is “Baseball announcer’s name on a house run.” What’s that they are saying? “It’s outta right here?” On this case, it’s a extra suspenseful assertion, that, with ZERO G’s, reads, OIN OIN ONE.

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