Faculty Meeting
by Randolph Ross
edited by Mike Shenk
November 20, 2009


Full answers available on WSJ's crossword puzzle page or with the following week's puzzle on WSJ's online Lifestyle page.


Theme: Professions, people, & things reinterpreted as teaching staff.
ENGLISH TEACHER {22A} Faculty member at Eton?
PROOF READER {30A} Member of the math faculty, at times?
RHODES SCHOLAR {40A} Faculty member with expertise on a Greek island?
DRILL INSTRUCTOR {62A} Faculty member at a dental school?
SEMI(-)CONDUCTOR {85A} Part-time music faculty member?
GRAVE MARKER {93A} Serious faculty member when it comes to grading tests?
MORAL AUTHORITY{109A} Faculty member who advises theology majors?
PRIVATE TUTOR {13D} Faculty member working for the U.S. Army?
PAST MASTER {15D} Faculty member in the history department?
CROSS TRAINER {58D} Angry member of the athletic faculty?
STAGE COACH {68D} Member of the drama faculty?
Snaps to ENGLISH TEACHER for being in common use in both senses: a teacher of English who is an English person. Few puns are fully true in both interpretations. One usage is usually an amusing stretch.


Word of the Week: TWEE {116A Affectedly dainty}
Such an annoying, squeaky little word for such an annoying, squeaky little concept.


Wild Guesses: 2
I guessed right but the wildness of said guessing bleeds out any satisfaction.

MEL OTT {35A Giant star} A two-word baseball hero, clue indicating team; not a one-word astronomy/Hollywood enigma, clue indicating magnitude/fame. No word-splitting difficulties can ever be as embarrassing as the amount of time I once spent over CASIN { __ cat}. I have five of the critters. I should know this. A new breed? A literary reference? A metaphor for how deeply I have repressed my initial struggles with A as in Apple, B as in Boat, and their ilk?

MOTETS {54A Sacred compositions} Emphasis on composition over sacred.

Baseball & music. I never had a chance.


Commentary: For the previous two weeks, I have been blaming a cold for my poor performance. Well, the cold is over and I'm still stupid. In *Gridlock* (Thunder's Mouth/Avalon 2006), Matt Gaffney is depressed (p1) about the prevalence of sudoku, “Though sudoku is popular with the general public, it gets the cold shoulder from some crossword constructors,...” (p17) Call me a logic slut, I like both. However, sudoku is an even harsher measure of ability. You can con yourself into thinking that the hundreds of variables make this week's crossword puzzle harder than most. Switch to numbers. I am slowly working my way through the books from the World Sudoku Championships. If I aced a puzzle on the recto last month, it's hard to say that the puzzle on the verso represents a different sensibility. Furthermore, it's one thing to fail because your logic is twisted. Putting the two of the same number in one box is just wrong. Fortunately, errors of this suddenness and volume are not permanent. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The Jonesin' crosswords Gaffney talks about in chapter 5 are here.


Katherine Walcott
Puzzle Fan