WEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Completely happy Wednesday, solvers! We’ve received a Thursday-ish providing immediately from Ori Brian, a constructor who’s making his seventh look within the New York Occasions Crossword. For those who haven’t solved this puzzle but, you should definitely learn the observe on the prime of the interface for those who’re fixing on-line. And if you’re fixing the old school approach, effectively, you’ll most likely discover one thing just a little completely different immediately. Extra on the theme under, however first, some breaking information for aggressive solvers and people occupied with exploring the competitive-solving scene.
Competing From House
I’m delighted to say that the Boswords 2022 Winter Wondersolve is now open for registration. The Wondersolve is basically a mini match that consists of a day of on-line fixing, going down on Sunday, Feb. 6, from 2 p.m. to five:30 p.m. Jap time.
This can be a nice alternative for brand spanking new solvers to check out the world of aggressive fixing as a result of it’s shorter than an everyday match and completely on-line, so that you compete from the consolation of your individual dwelling. And solvers who wrestle with Saturday puzzles needn’t skip the occasion: There are additionally two ranges of problem for the Wondersolve’s themeless puzzle. The constructor roster is great, the hosts are entertaining and the modifying of the puzzles is top-notch. Test it out!
Tough Clues
In honor of immediately’s theme, I’ll listing the difficult clues solely by their numbers:
16. “Ones with loads of pull in agriculture” are OXEN, for his or her position in plowing.
18. The clue “Checks held by Santa?” refers to not financial institution checks despatched to the North Pole however to the REINS Santa makes use of to manage, or verify, his reindeer.
30. “Did some crunches at lunch?” might be my favourite clue on this puzzle. It’d make you consider somebody doing belly workout routines throughout a lunch break, however no! It’s referring to somebody crunching on meals. So, for those who “did some crunches at lunch,” you ATE.
39. I assumed “Issues taken in school” is perhaps exams or exams, however in actual fact they’re NOTES.
50. “A Lead-in to a culinary attribution” is À LA, as in pie à la mode or rooster à la king.
63. The “Creator of macabre tales, in short” is E.A. POE, brief for Edgar Allan Poe, who wrote such tales as “The Inform-Story Coronary heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado.”
69. I am keen on the wordplay within the clue “Ones tending to brood?” It refers to not moody youngsters (or adults) however moderately to HENS, who are inclined to have a brood of chicks.
At present’s Theme
This crossword, because the observe on the prime of the net fixing interface factors out, is a “uniclue” puzzle, through which all clues that share a quantity additionally share a clue. In print, that is rendered as one lengthy listing of clues that aren’t damaged into Acrosses and Downs. On-line, this works (barely much less elegantly) with a observe on all Down clues that share a quantity with an Throughout clue, pointing the solver again to the identically numbered Throughout. This can be a neat theme extra generally seen in difficult Thursday puzzles, however the cluing is mild sufficient that the editors should have determined that this puzzle deserved to run a bit earlier within the week.
From the solver’s perspective, every of the shared clues has a two-word, alliterative reply. As an illustration, at No. 1 (which is admittedly 1A and 1D), the clue is “Reposition an icon, possibly.” The entries that go along with this clue are DRAG (1A) and DROP (1D), which may be learn collectively as DRAG and DROP, a standard approach of shifting an icon round a pc display screen. There’s a difficult wordplay clue at No. 5: “Key inspiration?” is the clue for STARS (5D) and STRIPES (10), alluding to Francis Scott Key’s inspiration for writing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” One other instance is at No. 10 (“Style with a Corridor of Fame in Ohio”), which is ROCK (10A) and ROLL (10D). Altogether, there are seven such alliterative X-and-Y pairs within the puzzle.
Though uniclue puzzles have run before, they’re fairly uncommon, and so they make a pleasant change of tempo. See Mr. Brian’s notes under for a connection to a different uniclue puzzle that ran simply over a 12 months in the past.
Constructor Notes
This grid was sitting untouched on my pc for just a few years earlier than I remembered that I had it. It’s practically equivalent to that authentic puzzle, aside from some welcome adjustments to the upper-right nook — my due to the editors for his or her enhancements.
I wish to shout out this puzzle by Eric Bornstein, which makes use of the identical idea. At present’s puzzle was accepted earlier than Eric’s puzzle was printed, so it’s cool to see how our puzzles formed up otherwise.
Need to Submit Crosswords to The New York Occasions?
The New York Occasions Crossword has an open submission system, and you can submit your puzzles online.
For tips about easy methods to get began, learn our sequence, “How to Make a Crossword Puzzle.”
The Tipping Level
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