Will (Still) Shortz Women?
May 9, 2014
This past Sunday(May 4, 2014) on NPR’s Sunday Puzzle, Mr. Shortz announced a creative challenge once again, which was to define / describe a six-letter word wherein the word’s letters are found in exact sequence. (As usual, winners selected subjectively on elegance of wordplay, rules of grammar, syntax, etc.) Now, I may have missed one, but I believe this is the first of his “subjectively determined winner” sorts of challenge he’s proposed to listeners in many, many months. [cf. http://kat330.tumblr.com/post/16424412555/puzzling-why-will-shortz-women and http://kat330.tumblr.com/post/16778983910/shortz-cuts-spoonerisms ]
I indicated in those past posts I would not submit entries to these creative posers any longer, which were the only Sunday puzzles I had any interest in entering in any event, but would post them here instead. I noted I’d rather do it like this than submitting under gender-neutral or obviously male aliases to prove my “women never win -- nor ever are read on air even as runners-up" observation. Because it's been such a long interim, however, I decided to test the waters again this go-round by submitting under male /gender-neutral pseudonyms to Shortz' current creative challenge. The three entries I sent under aliases are included among those below and were entered at the WESUN site on May 6th. I realize there is scant chance my "under cover" effort will bear out the empirical evidence of Shortz' sexism across the years, especially since I was emailed this info-nugget back in 2012, paraphrasing: "Winners and runners-up in these Will-fully decided creative challenges are exclusively picked from a wide circle of puzzlers/ friends whose names are already familiar to him in some capacity." Thus, I anticipate aliases of any gender remain outside the Shortz list of entrants and can expect equal opportunity of being overlooked and ignored. SEANCE: A way to raise ancestor. <-- sent as only a 2-word description -- Raise ancestor -- under alias "Samuel Flot." While my entry of WESUN record is a nice economy of words, this version has admittedly superior syntax. MONDAY: A common day to hate. <-- sent from JT's email on my behalf. RUEFUL: Showing true, full-blown regret. FULMAR: Graceful marine bird. TRASHY: Style unsuited for extra shy person. STRIFE: A time most rife with struggle. FINALE: The final element of a musical play. TRAVEL: Activity where extra velocity comes in handy. CATSUP: Never chic at supper condiment. <-- entered aka "Ken Martin" SHRIVE: Attempt to wash river of sins away. SHOVER: Person that will push over another. SHTICK: A bit for providing brash tickle of the funnybone. EDITOR: Final edit ordainer.
