Seth A. Abel weaves some tasty long entries together.
FRIDAY PUZZLE — When constructors make a puzzle, they are faced with a choice: They can use an already established grid design — some puzzle-making programs come with a library of premade grids — and fill around it, or they can choose to design the grid themselves.
Generally, the second choice is more common with themed puzzles, because the constructor has to fit the black squares around the theme. I don’t know whether Seth A. Abel designed his own grid or took it from a premade set, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it before. That’s not a bad thing, mind you. It is perfectly fine to pick out an empty, predesigned grid — especially for a themeless — and see whether or not your creativity and your word list can make the magic happen.
In Mr. Abel’s case, he started with a phrase that he placed center stage: the 15-letter answer from Siri, HERE’S WHAT I FOUND. What I liked about his design was the way in which he wove that together with the five other 15-letter entries, most of which are very lively.
I mean, LAH DI FRICKIN’ DAH is about as out there as the New York Times Crossword gets, and it made me miss Chris Farley, who used that phrase in his “Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker” sketches on S.N.L.
But when you cross that with ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, you’ve hit my sweet spot. The band Blondie was my jam back in the day, and so that was a “gimme” for me. (While we are on the subject, how is Debbie Harry 76 years old?! In my mind, she will forever be the young goddess of ’70s New Wave music.)
Are there weaknesses in the fill? Sure. I’m not a huge fan of the plural LOAMS or the entry ONE ARM (it’s clued about as well as it can be, but without the clue, it feels random.) I was uncomfortable with the clue “Threat that’s hard to take seriously” for I MEAN IT THIS TIME. The entry itself is great, but why make it a “threat?” And of what? Violence? Suicide? The constructor Joe Krozel clued it as “Dubious claim after crying wolf,” which is far less troubling. LAWDY was also an interesting choice as an entry. I see evidence online that it is used casually by both Black and white people, and has been in the titles of popular songs, but it hit me weirdly in 2021 as clumsy and inappropriate.
Those long entries, though? Nice.
Tricky Clues
1A. Googling right at the beginning of the solve is how you know it’s Friday! I had to look this one up. We have seen SLOE in the puzzle 486 times, but I had not heard of the liquor called patxaran. It is almost exclusively made and drunk in the Navarre region of Spain. Patxaran is apparently the spelling in the Basque language, as opposed to pacharán, although that would not have helped me. It sounds delicious, though. I may have to find a recipe for that and make it at home.
29A. “The end of time?” is referring to the contraction O’CLOCK, which is put at the end of the hour, as in “Is it 5 O’CLOCK yet?”
39A. This was the last entry that went in for me, but I liked it a lot. We are not supposed to be thinking about posters that hang on the wall, we are thinking about people who post things online. The “Poster impostor?” is a BOT.
2D. The “Old Hollywood actress born in Austria-Hungary” was Hedy LAMARR. She was also a brilliant inventor.
15D. A partner clue! Haven’t seen one of those in a while. When you see a “Partner of ___” clue, you are being asked to come up with a word that would normally be seen with the word in the clue, but separated by the word “and.” In this puzzle, the “partner of all” is not everyone’s partner, but the word ALL, as in “any and ALL.”
18D. Wow, I taught my kids to behave themselves, but I would not want to take my kids to a pediatrician who thought they were a pain. I guess an IMP might be hard to handle.
28D. In this puzzle the letter “n” does not mean a numerical amount. It’s an abbreviation meaning “AND,” as in “you ‘n me.”
47D. This one cracked me up. This “lobster catcher?” is not a trap, but a BIB.
Constructor Notes
The seed entry for this puzzle was 32-across. One evening after dinner, we asked Siri a trivia question and got a typical response: “Here’s what I found …” with a few web links. (Wouldn’t it be nice if she just gave you the answer?)
While we searched through the suggested web pages to see who was correct, I realized her response was 15 letters long and hadn’t yet appeared in a New York Times crossword. So I added it to my notebook of interesting debut phrases.
Getting it to play nicely with five other 15s was challenging, and required a few compromises on the fill, but I was generally pleased with the result.
Thanks to Will and the team for stepping up the cluing. I hope you enjoy the puzzle!
Want to Submit Crosswords to The New York Times?
The New York Times Crossword has an open submission system, and you can submit your puzzles online.
For tips on how to get started, read our series, “How to Make a Crossword Puzzle.”
The Tipping Point
Almost finished solving but need a bit more help? We’ve got you covered.
Warning: There be spoilers ahead, but subscribers can take a peek at the answer key.
Trying to get back to the puzzle page? Right here.
Your thoughts?
"fruit" - Google News
August 06, 2021 at 09:00AM
https://ift.tt/3xq3Ru4
NYT Crossword Hints: Patxaran Fruit Flavorer - The New York Times
"fruit" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2pWUrc9
https://ift.tt/3aVawBg
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "NYT Crossword Hints: Patxaran Fruit Flavorer - The New York Times"
Post a Comment