Wednesday Morning Papers Didn't Come

I don't like sequels. I never have. I refuse to patronize any movie with a numeral at the end of its title. I haven't seen a James Bond movie since "Dr. No."I'm the same way with books too, so I have no idea what happened to Harry Potter after the Sorceror's Stone. To me, a sequel is just an artist's admission that he has run out of ideas and has now sunk so low he's plagiarizing himself.


And as much as I hate sequels, that's how much I fear geography clues. They are the definite chink in my crossword armor. I can never tell Rhine from Rhone or Yser from Oise. Whenever there is a geographic clue I skip it, and even if the clue were "Street where Robert Loy lives" I would skip it.

So you would think that a sequel to a geographic puzzle would not be my cup of tea. But love is stronger than hate or fear, and I love puns and wordplay. And I love Capital Pun-ishment The Sequel by Alex Boisvert.

The first Capital Pun-ishment puzzle was in last Wednesday's sun and you can read about it here if you've forgotten) and it used only U.S. capitols, but Boisvert has expanded his realm now, and now we've got world capitals.

(Warning: Hardcore wordplay ahead. If you don't agree that a groan is at least as good as a chuckle, proceed with caution!)

The punishers are as follows:

16A: Carillon classification for competitive people (TAIPEIBELGRADE) (Type A Bell Grade.)

23A: Secure an auto mausoleum (ANKARAKHARTOUM) (Anchor a car tomb)

With 36A: Get under an animators skin (HANOIDAKARTUNIS) Boisvert pulls off a triple capital pun. I am a big fan of sequential art, and I have done my fair share at comic conventions of hanoi-ing da kartunis.

51A: Shout when a costume part grows twofold (DAMASCUSDUBLIN)

And my favorite, 58A: (Mother's heifer razzed a nudnik) MOSCOWBUDAPEST.


To get such great entries in the puzzle requires a lot of three-letter words. We've got presidents (DDE) and congressmen (SEN), body parts (EAR) Roman numerals (CDI), exclamations (OOH) and notations (IRR), top of the line cars (XKE) and bottom-of-the-barrel celebrities (URI), but that's the price you pay.

One clue stood out for all the wrong reasons. 45D: Short-legged rodent (MARMOT). That doesn't really narrow it down much. Are there any long-legged rodents?
But all in all, I liked this puzzle so much I hope there'll be a sequel to the sequel, call it: The Return of the Son of Capital Pun-ishment: With a Vengeance