Nothing special in the Wednesday puzzle this week so I'll mention something else delightful about Tuesday's puzzle from Julie Ann Bowling.
I used to kick myself when I misread clues but it gradually dawned on me that many of those mistakes were from intentionally misleading clues. Hardly seems cricket, but apparently crossword constructors have no ethical standards at all. Here's a nice example.
I first read the clue for 30 Down as "Ivory Coast and others" (5 letters.) Well, what does one know about the Côte d'Ivoire anyway? Former French Colony or African Country are both too long. I had no idea.
Only later did I catch my mistake. The clue actually read "Ivory, Coast and others." Note the comma between the first two words. The clue is diabolical because the capitalization works either way, and it didn't even depend on the old first-letter-is-always-capitalized trick to throw you off.
Can you see it? Click here for the answer.
