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READER'S GUIDE
New York Times, Sunday, December 26, 1948
Author:
Thomas Meekin
Editor:
Margaret Farrar
Rows: 23, Columns: 23, Words: 160 , Blocks: 85 , Avg Word Len: 5.55 , Missing: { B F Q Z } , Scrabble score: 602 (avg 1.36)
1
E
2
L
3
M
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I
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R
6
E
7
A
8
P
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I
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T
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A
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D
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S
22
S
E
A
C
A
T
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V
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N
D
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T
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T
R
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O
M
25
C
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N
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M
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U
N
C
O
V
E
R
S
27
R
I
P
O
S
T
E
28
O
S
I
D
29
P
30
A
L
M
A
31
E
R
I
S
32
T
I
C
33
S
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T
A
34
P
U
T
35
P
E
R
S
E
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S
P
E
A
K
E
37
R
38
G
E
R
39
E
R
O
40
S
E
41
O
E
N
42
E
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U
44
S
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E
L
L
E
46
H
47
A
N
D
Y
48
T
E
U
T
O
49
N
S
50
A
N
T
51
S
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I
R
53
W
I
N
54
E
P
E
E
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O
R
D
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A
56
L
57
S
58
A
N
I
59
M
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U
61
S
62
A
63
N
64
G
E
L
S
65
M
U
N
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T
I
O
N
66
S
67
R
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T
U
N
E
68
G
A
R
R
E
T
69
A
T
E
N
70
C
R
O
W
71
E
D
72
A
D
D
A
73
G
R
E
E
D
74
M
O
R
D
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75
S
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W
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L
L
76
D
U
O
77
E
G
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R
78
M
I
M
I
79
L
E
S
E
80
S
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L
T
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R
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N
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O
N
A
G
83
E
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R
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A
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M
I
T
A
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C
H
E
A
T
88
O
L
E
89
A
90
S
T
O
G
I
E
91
N
O
N
E
92
C
H
A
S
T
E
93
S
E
S
S
94
E
S
95
S
E
R
E
96
N
A
D
E
R
97
R
E
N
T
E
R
98
E
S
T
A
T
E
99
R
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L
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100
J
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N
101
D
O
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102
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D
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O
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N
105
E
X
P
O
106
U
107
N
108
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C
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A
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R
O
N
112
M
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A
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S
L
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116
T
117
E
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118
E
N
N
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A
119
E
V
E
120
S
121
P
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D
E
R
122
S
123
R
A
S
124
E
R
125
I
S
M
126
N
E
C
127
K
128
E
G
O
I
S
T
129
S
130
T
I
G
E
R
131
A
C
T
S
132
T
R
E
A
133
T
E
R
134
N
E
O
P
135
H
Y
T
E
136
A
137
R
C
O
L
E
138
E
N
S
L
A
V
E
139
E
N
L
A
U
R
E
L
140
S
O
R
R
E
L
141
R
O
S
A
L
E
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142
D
E
A
R
N
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S
S
143
E
M
E
N
D
S
© 1948, The New York Times No. 359
Across
1
Orgon's wife in "Tartuffe." :
ELMIRE 7
15
22
23
Theme of Mérimée's "Colomba." :
VENDETTA 24
25
26
27
28
29
31
33
Heroine of Hindu epic. :
SITA 34
"___ Yourself in His Place."—Reade. :
PUT 35
36
Rep. Rayburn, come January. :
SPEAKER 38
39
41
King whose son slew the Calydonian boar. :
OENEUS 45
"___ et Lui," by George Sand. :
ELLE 46
48
Invaders of Caesar's Gaul. :
TEUTONS 50
52
Shaw of "The Young Lions." :
IRWIN 54
55
58
62
Guardians in "Paradise Lost." :
ANGELS 65
67
Adjust an instrument. :
RETUNE 68
Smike's room in childhood. :
GARRET 69
Disk deified by Ikhnaton. :
ATEN 70
What Chantecler did at dawn. :
CROWED 72
73
Père Grandet's vice. :
GREED 74
75
Hero of Howells' "The Minister's Charge." :
SEWELL 76
77
78
She loved the poet Rodolphe. :
MIMI 79
80
81
One-tenth bushel in Japan. :
RIN 82
Animal tamed by the Swiss Family Robinson. :
ONAGER 85
87
Word applicable to Pecksniff. :
CHEAT 88
90
A smoke from Pittsburgh. :
STOGIE 91
Finis of "Ten Little Indians." :
NONE 92
93
95
The barber's side line: "Gil Blas." :
SERENADER 97
98
Up for sale in "The Abbé Constantin." :
ESTATE 99
100
101
104
105
109
Real name of author of "Le Barbier de Séville." :
CARON 112
115
School gear in Huck Finn's day. :
SLATES 118
119
"___ of St. Agnes."—Keats. :
EVE 120
123
125
126
Where Macduff sunders Macbeth. :
NECK 128
George Meredith wrote of one. :
EGOISTS 130
"The Lady or the ___." :
TIGER 131
132
134
136
Scene of Napoleonic victory, 1796. :
ARCOLE 138
139
In the Pythian games, to crown. :
ENLAUREL 140
The Hester in "Adam Bede." :
SORREL 141
Order of plants, including apple, plum, etc. :
ROSALES 142
143
Down
1
2
3
Great Spirit of American Indians. :
MANITOU 4
5
Its horn makes the shophar. :
RAM 6
7
8
9
Empire in Prescott's "History of Peru." :
INCA 10
"Much ___ About Nothing." :
ADO 11
12
13
Johnnie Skunk's is white. :
STRIPE 14
On Tom Brown's academic cap. :
TASSEL 15
16
"What ___ Glory?" :
PRICE 17
18
19
20
Marked like Doyle's "Speckled Band." :
DOTTED 21
Adhesive or viscous, as wax. :
SMEARY 30
32
Gold piece for the bride: India. :
TALI 35
37
Where Alberich the dwarf guards gold. :
RHINE 40
42
43
De la Motte Fouqué's heroine. :
UNDINE 44
47
Girl in Phillips' "The Deluge." :
ANITA 49
51
53
Mr. Pickwick's friend. :
WARDLE 55
56
57
59
60
61
Animal with most valuable of all furs. :
SEAOTTER 62
63
64
65
66
71
Wagner's princess of Brabant. :
ELSA 74
What Priscilla gave to John Alden. :
MINT 78
"___ from an Old Manse." :
MOSSES 80
83
Landfall east of Gander. :
EIRE 84
Danced by Rory O'More. :
REELS 85
Schnitzler's "Affairs of ___." :
ANATOL 86
87
89
92
The Southern Cross. :
CRUX 94
96
100
One of the James boys. :
JESSE 102
People in "A Tale of Two Cities." :
EMIGRES 103
106
Animal mentioned in the Book of Job. :
UNICORN 107
108
109
110
111
113
114
116
117
Leading lady in "Rain." :
EAGELS 121
122
124
127
Cage bird of India. :
KALA 129
Part of Crusoe's raft. :
SPAR 130
City besieged by Saladin. :
TYRE 131
133
135
137
Carmen's husband's title. :
ROM
Answer summary: 6 unique to this puzzle , 43 debuted here and reused later , 7 appeared only in pre-Shortz puzzles .
Analyzing...
Analysis
There are 0 circles, 0 rebus squares and 4 cheater squares.
The grid has both 90- and 180-degree symmetry.
It has 6 words unique to this puzzle:
It has 43 additional words that debuted in this puzzle and were later reused (total number of puzzles in brackets):
These words have only appeared in pre-Shortz puzzles:
These 52 answer words are not legal Scrabble™ entries, which sometimes means they are interesting:
Grid has an unusual size: 23 rows x 23 columns.
Note: average values here are based on Shortz Era stats. Pre-Shortz puzzles didn't vary consistently by day of week.
Distribution of answer words by length
Letter distribution
Scrabble Score: 1
2
3
4
5
8
10
Thumbnails for 12/26/1948
Various thumbnail views are shown:
Standard view shows the grid pattern most clearly
Open Squares (those which don't touch any block, even diagonally) are blue
Vowel distribution
Scrabble score uses the same color key as above
Freshness view shows unique answers in red (see colorized grid below)
With answers
Shortz Era puzzles that may be similar to this one
Crosswords that share the most words with this one:
Unusual or long words that appear elsewhere:
Identical grids
Other puzzles with the same block pattern as this one:
Topologically similar grids
Other crosswords with exactly 85 blocks, 160 words, 176 open squares, and an average word length of 5.55:
Colorized grid (based on pre-Shortz, Shortz Era and Variety word frequencies)
In this view, unusual answers are colored depending on how often they have appeared in other puzzles.
Unique answers are in red, red overwrites orange which overwrites yellow, etc.
Cheater squares are indicated with a + sign.
Unique
1 other
2 others
3 others
4 others
Freshness
How common is each answer word?
This chart shows the number of puzzles each word has appeared in across all NYT puzzles, old and modern.
Found bugs or have suggestions?
Crosswords published prior to Nov. 21, 1993 are provided by David Steinberg and The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project .