If my wife and I are doing cryptics in "The Listener" (NZ), and she's reading the clue, as soon as I hear "Who played.?" I groan audibly and then shout "Next!" Non-American TV is a (near) complete mystery to me.
You started losing me at "1990s," and by the time you got to "sitcom," I was absolutely lost.
On Sundays, I like to go crashing into open parts of the puzzle when I solve those big theme answers. This made it hard to blow through the grid. Otherwise, this puzzle's theme is clever, and tricky in that you have to build the answer from crosses - it's unlikely you could just look at the blanks in the clue and get it. What in the world is a "BOARD FOOT?" OMG, when I google I get a glossary of lumber terms.Ī unit of cubic measure for lumber, equal to one foot square by one inch thick.Īm I alone in not knowing this? All the other two-word phrases in this chain are very familiar, common, in- the- (nonlumberjack)- language phrases, that BOARD FOOT stands out like a thumb that is sore after you tried to drive a nail through a BOARD FOOT and hit your thumb instead. I got the theme easily, but I have to say that if I had started with 25A: CIRCUIT BOARD _ ROOM SERVICE (foot locker) instead of 23A: FOOD COURT _ CIRCUIT BOARD (case closed), I would have been completely flummoxed. At any rate, I wonder if other people experienced similar bafflement. I think my explanation and his subsequent message indicating he'd figured it out crossed in the mail. Got a frantic email from the a senior editor at a Major publication last night asking me to explain the theme of today's puzzle. Chain is composed of two-word phrases that interlock - FOOD COURT, COURT CASE, CASE CLOSED, etc. In front of each clue we have added its number and position on the crossword puzzle for easier navigation.THEME: "Chain Reaction" - theme clues are part of a long word chain that links all theme answers. If you are done solving this clue take a look below to the other clues found on today's puzzle in case you may need help with any of them.
This clue was last seen on NYTimes JanuPuzzle.