Today’s crossword at USA Today had this title clue and answer, which I managed to get by getting all the other letters in words I felt sure of. But this clue/answer has me stumped.
Under what conditions will “star” be “left of zero”?
If the typewriter keyboard is meant, mine has 9 or ( between the two.
If the phone keypad is meant, mine has the # between, and the * is to the right.
What am I missing?
Whooshed in advance…
On my phone keypad at work, the three bottom keys are (from left to right) *, 0, #. I believe this is the old Bell standard. Yours isn’t?
On the phone here at work, star is in the bottom left position and the pound sign on the bottom right.
I wondered about this one too, and couldn’t figure out what it meant until your post.
Look again at your phone keypad. Unless it’s a really non-standard model, the bottom row should be
*** 0 #**
Thus, the star is to the left of the zero.
Is the answer “QWERTY”? (Though you’re right, the 9 is between them).
Thanks for the help, gang. I do indeed have a funky telephone in my view, and didn’t bother to go check the more up-to-date units in the house.
The rectangular array on the cordless ones are as you say: * 0 #
The funky phone I was looking at is meant to emulate the old rotary dial things. Its display runs counter-clockwise with the 1 at the 3:00 position, 4 at 12:00, 7 at 9:00, 0 at 6:00, # at 5:00, and * at 4:00.
As for the QWERTY being a possible answer, the answer was “star.” I wouldn’t have guessed it from the clue, but got it by filling in the other letters in words I knew (or figured out).
Thanks again. Mystery solved.
Some of them clues is bitches.
Today’s was “Cook book” (four letters)
COMA
And the logic to the answer:
Decades ago a trashy SciFi book named “Coma” was written by Robin Cook