Wall Street Journal, 4/9/10

“Moral Compass” by Brendan Emmett Quigley – 16:40400017803944

Today we get a timely quote puzzle from Brendan Emmett Quigley.

Yes,  the Brendan Emmett Quigley who has three great puzzles weekly at his own site, www.brendanemmettquigley.com , including a contest today. Don’t forget, that’s Brendan Emmett Quigley.

WSJ Apr 9 10

April 15 is Tax Day in the USA (it’s [its?] April 30 in Canada).

Theme Quote: THE BEST MEASURE OF A MAN’S HONESTY ISN’T HIS INCOME TAX RETURN; IT’S THE  ZERO ADJUST ON HIS BATHROOM SCALE – 83A. [Science fiction author and source of the quote] – ARTHUR C CLARKE [Love the wild “RCCL” action]

Quote puzzles live and die on whether you are amused by the quote. I say yes on this one, but I’m a tax guy and I have a bathroom scale. Remember – the IRS (or the CRA) won’t come after you for an inaccurate scale.

Music:

5A. [Like Weird Al songs] – PARODIC. Party like it’s [its?] 1699.
12A. [1976 ABBA hit] – FERNANDO. Mamma Mia fits nicely here. Can you hear the drums?
21A. [Instrument with finger holes] – OCARINA. I first learned this word in an ACPT puzzle my first year at the tournament. Got it wrong. Never again forgotten.
63A. [Beach adjacent to Copacabana Beach] – IPANEMA.
78A. [“The Jungle Book” bear] – BALOO
93A. [“Lovergirl” singer ___ Marie] – TEENA
106A. [Line dance] – CONGA
11D. [Like a hit song] – CATCHY. Let’s put  Walking on Sunshine in your head all day.
42D. [Price performance] – OPERA
62D. [Verdi’s “___ Miller”] – LUISA
71D. [Bernie’s longtime songwriting partner] – ELTON
98D. [“When the Snow Is on the Roses” singer] – ED AMES/ 109D. [Dutch export] – EDAM. There’s a theme puzzle waiting. Remove ES and get cheese.
81D. [Dance mentioned in the Beatles’ “Revolution 9”] – WATUSI . 6:33 into the video.
86D. [“Freak on a Leash” band] – KORN
114D. [The ___-Mags (classic punk rock band)] – CRO

Variety like that you won’t find on any radio station.

Other stuff you might not have known:
29A. [They come out in the rain] – TARPS. On the baseball field.
30A. [Generic comic strip diner] – JOES. Do you have an example, Brendan of www.brendanemmettquigley.com ?
46A. [Beagle or Bounty] – SHIP. Beagle:Darwin. Bounty:Bligh
55A. [Accouter anew] – REFIT. Accouter: To outfit and equip, as for military duty.
57A. [Aces’ are low] – ERAS. As in baseball pitchers.
59A. [Forest of Fangorn creatures] – ENTS. Lord of the Rings trees.
69A. [Ohio college] – OBERLIN. Some college in Ohio, I’m guessing.
79A. [Discover competition] – VISA. Credit cards.
101A. [Where Oceanic Flight 815 originated, on “Lost”] – SYDNEY. Oops, I wrote Sidney, as in Sidney, British Columbia. Home of Tanners Books, with a good puzzle book section, like the Diagramless by Brendan Emmett Quigley.
103A. [Minor adjustment] – TWEAK. TW words are fun.
117A. [Twaddle] – UTTER ROT. See?
1D. [Maker of Pixi phones] – PALM. Well, I don’t know this one.
2D. [Beagle biter] – FLEA. A giant flea bites the Beagle in “Darwin Meets Godzilla”
3D. [Battlefield protection] – FLAK JACKET. I’m wearing one after that last joke.
5D. [Fertilizer compound] – POTASH. Come to Canada for all your potash needs.
16D. [Certain Gillette razors] – ATRAS. I use them. Its [it’s?] all about me.
25D. [Curly friend] – MOE. Stooge alert!
27D. [Pearl Prynne’s mother] – HESTER. From “The Scarlet Letter”
32D. [With 39-Down, young peas] – PETIT 39D. [See 32-Down] – POIS. PETIT POIS is french for little peas. See how that works?
35D. [Subject of many fraudulent photographs] – YETI. And a few real ones.
38D. [Forest plant with delicate fronds] – OAK FERN. Does anyone know a forest plant with indelicate fronds?
41D. [Words mouthed by some athletes] – HI MOM! Hi Brendan!
51D. [Close to face value, as a bond] – NEAR PAR. You knew this. After all, you’re reading the Wall Street Journal.
64D. [Letter-shaped plumbing fitting] – P-TRAP. Also known as a P Doody.
66D. [1994 NL Manager of the Year] – ALOU. Felipe Alou, manager of the 1994 Montreal Expos who went 74-40 before the strike ended the season in your world, and went 105-57 and won in the World Series in the world I prefer to live in.
69D. [“Dreams From My Father” author] – OBAMA. Obscure authors. Has he written any new books lately?
75D. [Raconteur] – TALETELLER. L’s and e’s all over the place.
85D. [Polished gemstone] – CABOCHON. A gemstone which has been shaped and polished as opposed to faceted. The resulting form is usually a convex top with a flat bottom. I didn’t know. Do I look like I know everything? I’m not Orange.
97D. [Cell formed from two gametes] – ZYGOTE. Zigote fits nicely here.
108D. [“Jane, you ignorant ___” (old “SNL” line)] – SLUT

The puzzle ends with a mysterious headline:

118A – 122A: –  TEARFUL DEAN SHORTENS ESCORTS’ ARMS

Thanks for a great puzzle, Brendan of www.brendanemmettquigley.com !

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9 Responses to Wall Street Journal, 4/9/10

  1. Charles Darwin says:

    BEAGLE : FITZROY :: BOUNTY : BLIGH

  2. Jeffrey says:

    Sorry, Charlie. I knew that analogy didn’t work but figured nobody alive reads this anyway.

  3. Evad says:

    Are we in heaven? Or something worse? I suspected something was up when I opened that recent April Fool’s puzzle from Lee G. where the clue words were all jumbled up.

  4. Howard B says:

    Nice quote, Brendan, and and you even managed to fit SLUT into the puzzle, via the more palatable old SNL skit. Not an easy thing to do.

    Thanks for the Weird Al video, Jeffery, always welcomed. I remember it well.

  5. ArtLvr says:

    Generally, I don’t care for Quote puzzles (sorry, Brendan) but this one was okay. I did get a kick out of UTTER ROT! And the whole was quite timely with our INCOME TAX RETURN due date looming, oh drat. As to the BATHROOM SCALE, my own is merely household decor: I just eat less and check my progress at the doctor’s office now and then: it works for me, as I’ve shed over 25 lbs this year! Now I should probably wean myself from over-frequent wordplay, but this would be more difficult… After finishing this puz, it did strike me that ARTHUR C CLARKE was a rather unexpected source for the quip? Fun discovery!

  6. Jonas Wisser says:

    I suspect the intersection of OBERLIN and OBAMA was no coincidence:

    http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/02/oberlin_conservatory_of_music.html
    http://www.oberlin.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/ocreview/20090904.php?a=n_obama_nominates&sec=news

    But then, I’m an Oberlin alum and current staff member, and was quite pleased to see the college represented.

  7. Jeffrey says:

    Thanks Jonas. I note at the end of the first article that crossword favorite Yoko
    Ono is mentioned.

Comments are closed.