9 two-word e book titles have had their two phrases swapped, creating books with unusual plots.
- 22A: [William Makepeace Thackeray novel about a so-so bathroom cabinet?] is “FAIR VANITY,” primarily based on “Self-importance Honest.”
- 24A: [Kurt Vonnegut novel about felines in a baby’s bed?] is “CRADLE CATS,” primarily based on “Cat’s Cradle.”
- 40A: [John Steinbeck novel about an enchilada wrap eaten in a British apartment?] is “FLAT TORTILLA,” primarily based on “Tortilla Flat.”
- 55A: [Willa Cather novel about a wagon train traveler’s copy of a Winfrey-based magazine?] is “PIONEER’S O,” primarily based on “O Pioneers.”
- 66A: [Charles Dickens novel about commanding comedian John to do a 1960s dance?] is “TWIST, OLIVER,” primarily based on “Oliver Twist.”
- 78A: [Anne Brontë novel about actress Moorehead when she appears to be ashen in color?] is “GREY AGNES,” primarily based on “Agnes Gray.”
- 91A: [Charles Frazier novel about a sickness one suffers from hiking up Everest or Kilimanjaro?] is “MOUNTAIN COLD,” primarily based on “Chilly Mountain.”
- 110A: [S.E. Hinton novel about a melee between aquatic schools?] is “FISH RUMBLE,” primarily based on “Rumble Fish.”
- 113A: [Orson Scott Card novel about the final buzzers and whistles?] is “GAME ENDERS,” primarily based on “Ender’s Recreation.”
Of all these books, I’d most likely learn “Fish Rumble” first, with “Cradle Cats” a detailed second. A battle between faculties of fish is simply too attention-grabbing to go up.
A couple of wacky flipped titles I disregarded embody “PASTORAL AMERICAN” by Philip Roth, “ISLAND SHUTTER” by Dennis Lehane, “GAMES PATRIOT” by Tom Clancy, and “TIMES HARD” by Charles Dickens. The truth is, TIMES HARD really was in my first accomplished draft of the puzzle, however I spotted it had a few issues after I constructed it in. One difficulty was that it could have been a second Dickens title alongside “TWIST, OLIVER,” which can not have been a deadly flaw, however I figured it could be higher if all 9 books had completely different authors. The extra vital difficulty was that I couldn’t consider the best way to clue it in an honest means. [Charles Dickens novel about a person who measures people with a stopwatch quite seriously?] was my first thought, however shouldn’t that title be one thing like TIME HARD or TIMING HARD? The TIMES made the grammar appear too weird. [Charles Dickens novel about the instances when a certain New York-based crossword puzzle is difficult?] was one other chance, however that felt like an odd Tarzan-like means of expressing the concept.
Ultimately, I changed TIMES HARD with PIONEER’S O, which felt a lot simpler to clue, plus it gave me an alternative choice to together with two Dickens titles.
Another solutions and clues:
- 20A: [Origin of the sport kilikiti] is SAMOA. Kilikiti is just like cricket, however has some variations. You’ll be able to view a information report about it right here.
- 29A: [Where Prince Albert could be found, per an old crank-call joke] is IN A CAN. The joke was that somebody would name a drugstore asking if that they had the tobacco model Prince Albert in a can, then when the clerk stated the did, the punchline was “You then’d higher let him out!” I bear in mind listening to this joke for the primary time whereas watching this scene from the 1990 TV miniseries model of “It.” Tim Curry’s supply was so hilarious that I couldn’t determine how this was presupposed to be a scary movie.
- 61A: [“The Devil’s Advocate” actor Reeves] is KEANU Reeves. I picked this movie as a result of Tom Riis Farrell, my uncle, had a small function in it as a priest. You’ll be able to hear him talking within the background initially of this funeral scene (forgive the uneven video high quality, that was the one clip I might discover).
- 70A: [Studi of films] is WES Studi. He’s a Native American actor who had a serious function as Magua in “The Final of the Mohicans.”
- 104A: [“Fawlty Towers” writer and actress Booth] is CONNIE Sales space. “Fawlty Towers” was one in all my first intros to British comedy once I was a child, even earlier than I discovered about Monty Python.
- 121A: [Range tops?] is PEAKS, as within the peaks of a mountain vary.
- 13D: [“All I ever wanted was to sing to God. He gave me that longing and then made me mute” speaker in “Amadeus”] is SALIERI. One in all my favourite movies. Salieri delivers that line after we see Mozart humiliate him by performing a extra dynamic model of Salieri’s personal track on the spot and proper in entrance of him.
- 23D: [Parliament : owls :: committee : ___] is VULTURES. I hadn’t realized till penning this puzzle that one of many collective names for a bunch of vultures is a committee. I’m starting to wonder if the individuals who selected “parliament” for owls and “committee” for vultures had been the identical folks and whether or not they had been all authorities staffers.
- 52D: [Jersey number that no NBA player has ever worn during a game] is SIXTY-NINE. Dennis Rodman as soon as requested that quantity when he briefly performed for the Dallas Mavericks, however the NBA denied the request, so he went with 70 as a substitute.
- 53D: [Start of a literary orphan’s request] is “PLEASE, SIR,” from “Oliver Twist.” Within the e book “TWIST, OLIVER,” it’s certainly “SIR, PLEASE.”
- 63D: [Party platforms, perhaps?] is TV TRAYS. My favourite clue at this time.
Right here’s a heads-up that subsequent week’s puzzle has a meta. Good luck.
