VARIETY PUZZLE — One of my favorite things about writing Wordplay is that it gives me a chance to show you all how smart you are, at least compared to me. Today is going to be one of those days.  Today’s Variety puzzle is called “Fitting Words,” and Will Shortz has run it only once before, on Nov. 20, 1994. We are asked to identify 30 illustrations, and that’s the easy part, although some of them could go by more than one name (Is that 20 percent off drawing a TAG or does it mean SALE? Is that thing on the I-beam a BOLT or a RIVET?) Once you have done that, try to fit one word inside one of the other words to answer the 15 clues. Rosalie Moscovitch, the constructor, and Mr. Shortz throw us a bone by listing the answers in alphabetical order.  The reason you are smarter than I am is that within the time I have allotted for each puzzle before my deadline, I could figure out only three of the answers: CHEAPEST [CHE(APE)ST], FRAGILE [F(RAG)ILE] and SCOWLING [S(COW)LING]. And that was with a good night’s rest and plenty of coffee.  [UPDATE: This is the power of blogging. Just as I was about to file, I got one more: That’s steer’s behind is a RUMP. That makes answer 6 FRUMPISH [F(RUMP)ISH]. So that’s four correct for me.  Surely you got more of them, didn’t you? Show me how smart you are.  I really like this sort of puzzle and would like to see more of them. I just need longer deadlines. And more coffee.
Rosalie Moscovitch and Will Shortz, with the able assistance of Joe Cabrera’s illustrations, bring back a variety puzzle that hasn’t been seen since 1994.