Tuesday, November 1, 2022, Bruce Haight

Happy All Saints Day! I'm happy to say that once again I get to review a puzzle by Dr. Haight, always a pleasure.

Our theme today is revealed at 59A: Grammatical connector like "is" or "seem" ... or a connector found literally in 16-, 24-, 35- and 49-Across (LINKINGVERB). I'd never heard this term before, but it is straightforward in its definition: a verb that connects the subject directly to an adjective. Thus, "the sweater is red" uses "is" in this way. "The wood feels unsanded" uses "feels" in this way.

Dr. Haight has hidden the word VERB in four phrases in such a way that it connects the two words in the phrase. All four are in common parlance and very recognizable. And even though the letter string is always split the same way (VER-B), the initial word is different in each phrase. NEVERBETTER is the best of the bunch, but I like COVERBAND and OVERBUDGET as well. RIVERBASIN is the most plain of the four, but I'm not complaining. I'm happy to say that I didn't see the revealer coming, so that was a nice "aha" moment.

VOLGA River

I feel like the northern half of the puzzle is woman friendly, with MADAM, ADELE, ALTO, and ADELINE. My "sweet" woman of song is typically Caroline, but not in a barbershop quartet setting. I suppose Juliet's sleeping potion trick gone sour in ACTIV is a little less female supportive.

Things go a bit sour and masculine as you get into the southern segment. Gordon GEKKO and DRNO are neither of them exemplars of feminist allies. And then there's that OGLED. Even the simple HUG gets a little suspect in this company.

Just kidding! Reading too much into the fill, once again. Fortunately, there's the lovely sound of LUTES to tide us over to tomorrow's puzzle.

- Colum

* This article was originally published here