ADAM GOPNIK, A PURIM STORY — Old, Henny Youngman-style jokes... apparently circulate permanently in the lower grades of New York schools, like Mercury space-program debris circulating in... orbit. ... "Waiter, what's this fly doing in my soup!" "The backstroke."
| A. | Comic strip created by Bob Montana | ARCHIE |
| B. | Third-longest river in Europe (after the Volga and the Danube) | DNIEPER |
| C. | Device deployed in a wreck (2 wds.) | AIRBAG |
| D. | "Tamburlaine the Great" playwright | MARLOWE |
| E. | New Mexico's Shakespeare, today (2 wds.) | GHOSTTOWN |
| F. | Not in good humor; slightly ill (3 wds.) | OUTOFSORTS |
| G. | "It's a sin in ___ to land a soft punch" (Alf Landon) | POLITICS |
| H. | Virtually even (hyph.) | NECKANDNECK |
| I. | Well under way (3 wds.) | INFULLSWING |
| J. | Wet blanket, party pooper | KILLJOY |
| K. | Ornate cupboard or clothespress | ARMOIRE |
| L. | Capital in which Kim Il Sung Stadium is located | PYONGYANG |
| M. | Cornfield-to-condominium trend (2 wds.) | URBANSPRAWL |
| N. | Blot on the psychological landscape? | RORSCHACH |
| O. | Too ready to share a confidence | INDISCREET |
| P. | Cutter of sugar cane | MACHETE |
| Q. | Protean plaything (2 wds.) | SILLYPUTTY |
| R. | Play in which Ferdinand falls in love (2 wds.) | THETEMPEST |
| S. | "Sure thing" (hyph.) | OKEYDOKEY |
| T. | Extracts the juice from | REAMS |
| U. | Actor who told interviewers "Just call me a nice, clean-cut Mongolian boy" (2 wds.) | YULBRYNNER |