This past Saturday, I was a little surprised to see the following clue in Fraser Simpson’s Globe and Mail puzzle:
Escort enters sound bargain with the prosecutor (4, 4)
I stared at it and wondered: could it be it anything but a reference to President Trump’s alleged affair with the porn star Stormy Daniels and the $130,000 his lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid her not to disclose it?
Escort enters sound bargain with the prosecutor (4, 4)
I stared at it and wondered: could it be it anything but a reference to President Trump’s alleged affair with the porn star Stormy Daniels and the $130,000 his lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid her not to disclose it?
It gave me pause because although some setters don’t shy away from incorporating their political views into their puzzles, Fraser Simpson typically doesn’t.
Take the British setter Arachne, for example. She wrote the famous clue Throw shoe! Bugger invaded Iraq! (6,4), the answer to which is GEORGE BUSH. She also, in August of 2012, published a puzzle that offered the messages JUSTICE NOT DONE and DANIEL MORGAN, calling attention to, in her words, “a murder victim whose case was never solved because of appalling police corruption”.
Take the British setter Arachne, for example. She wrote the famous clue Throw shoe! Bugger invaded Iraq! (6,4), the answer to which is GEORGE BUSH. She also, in August of 2012, published a puzzle that offered the messages JUSTICE NOT DONE and DANIEL MORGAN, calling attention to, in her words, “a murder victim whose case was never solved because of appalling police corruption”.
Then there’s Australian setter LR. After U.S. President Donald Trump referred to certain nations in Africa and Central America as “shitholes”, LR pointed out in a tweet that “shitholes” can be anagrammed to “his hotels”.
Anagram-lovers have had a heyday with American politics lately. Right before the U.S. Presidential election, someone I know pointed out that “The lesser of two evils” anagrams to “See this, fellow voters”. Just a few months ago, I noticed a tweet pointing out that “The Trump White House” anagrams to “Tweeter? Oh, Shut him up!”
Perhaps the most famous political crossword entry ever is the one published in the New York Times on the day before the 1996 U.S. presidential election. This was a regular crossword puzzle, not a cryptic crossword, which explains how it was possible: thanks to a series of clues that could be answered in two ways, the crossword puzzle offered two different messages: “CLINTON ELECTED” AND “BOB DOLE ELECTED”.
Perhaps the most famous political crossword entry ever is the one published in the New York Times on the day before the 1996 U.S. presidential election. This was a regular crossword puzzle, not a cryptic crossword, which explains how it was possible: thanks to a series of clues that could be answered in two ways, the crossword puzzle offered two different messages: “CLINTON ELECTED” AND “BOB DOLE ELECTED”.
What’s the best political clue you’ve ever seen?
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