For all of our readers who enjoy a late morning nap, today's puzzle is for you. But not because it's boring!
The revealer comes at 59A: Accommodation for a long train trip ... or a hint to entering a certain letter 14 times in this puzzle (SLEEPINGCAR). The letter in question is Z, as it turns out, and the trick is that each theme answer has a car manufacturing brand hidden inside, and those letters have been replaced with the snoozing sound of a gently snoring individual.
Thus, 17A: Worth discussing, as an issue (UPZZZZEBATE) is missing "Ford." 3D: Technological breakthrough first seen on "Jeopardy" in 2011 (IZZZATSON) is missing "BMW." Boy, this one took me a long time to get! Nice job hiding that one. 37A: Snowbird or Steamboat (SZZZREA) is missing "Kia," and 34D: Classic 1934 novel written in the form of an autobiography (ICLZZZZUS) is missing "Avdi."
Just kidding! It's actually "Audi." We used to call the television series "I Clavdivs" because of the Roman letters.
Fun concept, and well carried out! Only one of the four car brands is not broken up across multiple theme answer words, but it's still well hidden. I wonder if other brands could work as well.
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| OZMA of Oz |
Tricky clues today include:
23A: Crown cover (ENAMEL)
8A: Something you might pick up from a restaurant (AROMA)
50D: Hop aboard? (OLLIE) - referring to the skateboarding trick.
And in case you're wondering, the UNO country in Africa where español is an official language is Equatorial Guinea.
You're welcome.
- Colum
This was fun. It took me a long while to realize that they were makes of cars under the Zs! Nice aha moment when the ol' engine finally engaged. And the grid looks insane with all the Zs all over the place.
ReplyDeleteAgree! Fun and tricky and took me forever to finish.
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