Sun May 26 NY Times Crossword HINTS – Made-for-TV Movies

Theme hint:  Ok, a fairly standard theme:  Long answers ending with a question mark to indicate there’s wordplay afoot.  The type of wordplay is a little unusual this time.  The title tells us its something about TV and Movies.  The first such clue is 23-Across which begins with “TV movie about…”  This phrase really precedes all the long across answers.   The most common wordplay is to give an unusual clue for a common phrase.   That isn’t what’s going on here.   This is more of a portmanteau phrase.  “Portmanteau’s” — amalgams that put two things together that don’t normally go together — are common crossword themes…And that’s what we have here.  Some of the answers are cute, though really nothing spectacular here.  As usual, get one of them and you’ll get the idea that works for all of them.

10 specific hints (since the theme answers are all across, again this Sunday, the hints are all DOWN clues):

3-Down Ones going to Washington:  These “ones” are usually accompanied by lots of larger denomination “contributions,” though occasionally you get some back.

6-Down Whale of an exhibition:  Or “in” or “at” an exhibition.

7-Down Miles Davis ____ (cool jazz group):   A relatively large group for Miles.  Think numerically.

49-Down Start to matter?:   Think prefix.   (Why are people against this stuff anyway?)

95-Down “I never played the game” memoirist:  In Woody Allen’s Sleeper watching this person was believed (in the 22nd century) to have been a particularly cruel form of punishment.  Many people in the 20th century agreed.

83-Down Retro dos:  “Dos”  can be:  1) big parties; 2) notes on a scale or, as here, 3) hairdos.  This big!

100-Down Long-tailed beach fliers:  Can be birds, but some come with strings attached.

35-Down Jerseys and such:  No, not the kind of jersey you wear

13-Down Become lenient:  2 words;  Somewhat deprecatory.  Or:  What may happen to the ice cream after a long shopping trip.

61-Down Standard part of a limerick:  Could be:  a loose  (very loose) homonym for what you don’t say aloud when you say how cute your grandchild is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *