MGWCC #111

crossword 5:56
puzzle 0:15
hello, everyone, and welcome to the 111th episode of matt gaffney’s weekly crossword contest, “Zulu Nation.” in this week’s puzzle, we are tasked with finding a relevant eight-letter adjective. okay, then. what are the theme answers?

• {Mix of reverberations at the Taj Mahal?} is an INDIA ECHO TANGO. uh, maybe. i’m not quite sure which part of the clue gets at TANGO. maybe “mix”?
• {Sheen’s nickname for being a great Thanksgiving turkey carver?} is CHARLIE NOVEMBER. as nicknames go, he’s a notch below reggie jackson but definitely ahead of dave winfield. (RIP, steinbrenner.)
• {Where nominees’ fathers stay during the Academy Awards?} is the OSCAR PAPA HOTEL. when i was still missing the last five letters of this answer, i really wanted it to be PAPARAZZI, despite that having nothing to do with anything.

so what’s going on here? the theme answers are not puns on some base phrase; instead, they’re zanily strung-together words from the NATO phonetic alphabet. you know, alpha bravo charlie delta etc. well, except that E isn’t etc, it’s ECHO. and in fact, it’s hardly a random sampling: the eight words in the theme answers are the codes for the letters I, E, T, C, N, O, P, and H, which are in fact the letters in phonetic. so that’s the eight-letter adjective we’re looking for. as for the title, i’m not sure what “nation” is doing, but zulu is the phonetic Z, and in fact ZULU is often clued as such in crosswords. (i know i’ve done it, and, much more recently, so has mike nothnagel.)

the crossword was pretty knotty. i guess we’re into the third week of july, so that’s only to be expected. roundup:

• right off the bat, {Time to remember} is a great, evil clue for WAKE. usually this is one of the many ways to clue the most common answer in crosswords, ERA. but this turns the clue on its head: it’s not a time that should be remembered, it’s an occasion to remember someone. elsewhere, {Period} is EPOCH, which is also occasionally clued as {Time to remember}.
• {Don who was a wide receiver in six Super Bowls} is bills great BEEBE, who featured prominently in one of the greatest and least meaningful plays in super bowl history. i don’t know enough about him to tell you what team he played for in the other two super bowls, though.
• {Confederate money maker} is KING COTTON. i tell you, i spent some time thinking this was going to be some kind of mint in richmond.
• {1997 NL Rookie of the Year} scott ROLEN was, improbably, an all-star again this year. you know, he’s had a great career. there are guys worse than him in the hall of fame.
• {He defeated Alekhine in 1935 to become World Chess Champion} is max EUWE, one of the least-remembered champions, at least by me. he’s ahead of only … what’s that guy’s name? smyslov, right.
• {Nelson Mandela’s native language} is XHOSA, which is a wonderful name for an awesome language. i’m no linguist, but click consonants are the best.
• {Word form with “leaks” or “travel”} is, apparently, WIKI. somebody fill me in.
• odd crossing: {Military and political rival of Obote}, idi AMIN, crosses {“Let’s do it”}, I’M IN. “i’m in, amin. deal the cards.”
• {Part} is a frustratingly vague clue for SAY GOOD-BYE. luckily, the phrase emerged with a few crossings.
• {Isn’t quick on the uptake} clues LEARNS SLOW. this doesn’t feel remotely like a crossworthy expression to me. i’m not even sure it’s grammatical. this doesn’t feel like one of the cases where you can use SLOW as an adverb.
• {Attractive older man, in slang} is a SILVER FOX, apparently. not really familiar with this expression, and i have to confess it seems like it should be a marvel comics character, a web browser, or both.
• {Words before “Gently” and “Amadeus,” in #1 song titles of 1974 and 1986} is the six-letter partial ROCK ME, but you know what? i loved this answer, maybe because the falco song is so great in a campy 80s way… although not as great as stop the planet of the apes, i want to get off!.
• consider these three clues: {First word of a Schwarzenegger catchphrase} HASTA, {Hemingway title word} WHOM, and {Part of a Texas city’s name} PASO. don’t they seem like they should go together somehow?

and on that note, i’ll sign off for the week. hasta whom paso, baby.