Er, in other words – The New York Times

Toddle to: Tricky Clue | currently's theme

Sunday Puzzle – Will Shortz, in his print introduction to this grid, writes: “John Kugelman is a instrument engineer and musician from Gainesville, Virginia. He has worked in cybersecurity for many years. 'I don't know one of these thing,' says John. “I admire things that are complex and puzzle-like. Any engineering grief is charming to me.” (And after all, what is crossword building but the engineering of words?) Right here’s John's second crossword for The Times – every Sundays.”

Mr. Kugelman's first movie, which ran closing July, coined his words thru a swap of letters known as Spoonerisms, after the Oxford don and minister who famously The words were tousled. This day's theme uses bubbling to fabricate its puzzles and chain reactions to gorgeous perform.

currently's theme

There are seven entries in the theme space currently; Six are at 20-, 22-, 37-, 60-, 71- and 95-across, and the seventh and closing instance is a two-parter at 113- and 117-across. They’re all riddled with questions that elicit short solutions, all of which consist of a minimum of one two-letter interjection at the side of one other that means to the entry.

A clear instance is in 60-At some stage in, the build the clue is exclusively “Farmer?” Is. And the answer is rooster tenders. The term can negate to poultry, but it surely's more acquainted because the name for those crunchy, boneless small meat morsels that don't resemble accurate chickens at all (except you imply dinosaur-taking a overview chickens). Elevate out no longer aquire). The precious ingredient for editing that means is the er in tenders, which makes the title of the puzzle a fulfilling tip-off: “Er, in somewhat about a words…”.

Some somewhat about a clues are refined. “Erotic artist?” 22-At some stage in has a arrangement to the junk drawer, a field the build you doubtlessly can get tape, loose screws, and musty packets of soy sauce have to you haven't been there lately. But sensual? Ah, but this “artist” goes to “paint” your “junk”: deem “Monumental” shall we embrace. 71-At some stage in – “Switch Hitter?” – Is specifically resplendent. The answer is a flicker of gentle; Somewhat than a baseball, deem the motion musty with a wall swap.

annoying clue

52A. “Anthony Hopkins received it with handiest 16 minutes of show time” gave the Handiest Actor solution and mentioned his position as Hannibal Lecter in “Silence of the Lambs”. It sounds as if the movie's director Jonathan Demme used to be also enormously bowled over by Hopkins' nomination for Handiest Actor in preference to Supporting Actor, but years later, the moments he spent with Hannibal Lecter remain hauntingly memorable.

55A. “Any individual hitting the sector bar?” Made me deem a form of typewriter monkeys working on Hamlet (are you able to have confidence how somebody would possibly perhaps perchance well fabricate a complete model, factual by collectively along with your complete words collectively?) As an alternate, this. The clue solves for an alien, that means it's a reference to the Mos Eisley cantina, I factor in.

14d. Umm, did anybody else initiate up seeing “er”erYeserI? I did, HerE, and this makes for a fun twist of fate – this clue is no longer piece of the theme space. But “The Indigo Girls' song with the chorus 'The sum of a esteem that's correct / Multiply existence by …'” ends in the power of two, which when modified the utilization of this theme rule becomes “Two's Becomes “strength”.

70D. This entry mirrors 14D and includes one other “er”, which I chanced on conspicuous whereas struggling to resolve “no longer delivery to enchantment as a court docket option”. I significant quite loads of letters to imperfect out the entries to advance up with PEREMPTORY, which derives from Latin for “closing” or “decisive” and marks the origin of the Times crossword.

79D. “Law Enforcer in the Harry Potter Universe” is an AUROR, also a predominant-time entry; Renowned AURORs consist of Aleister “Wrathful-Ogle” Sad and Kingsley Shacklebolt, neither of whom is yet in the puzzle. (It’s doubtless you’ll well well shock if we'll ever bustle out of most modern Harry Potter minutiae, and the answer, curiously, is rarely.)

86D. This entry has seemed 16 events since 1959, always with virtually the the same two clues – “all collectively,” as on this puzzle, or “as a complete.” On the origin that clue alive to “Father”. to sign French, but that indication has since stopped, indicating that EN BLOC is belief of as general ample to be piece of English conversation.

Constructor Notes

Crosswords is a Discord server for folks (join us!). I've realized from the discussions there that no longer all individuals likes wacky issues with prolonged, torturous leads. Many such puzzles are popping out – Whats up, I like them! – I belief it’d be vivid to swap gears. Right here's the tip consequence: practicing restraint. What would possibly perhaps perchance well even be carried out with the most realistic, most economical clues?

Wide congratulations to Bob Weiss and Ken Stern who came up with the closing two theme entries. Aren't they big? They're the closest with correct reason.

I'm also ecstatic by the grid produce with the dusky pyramids on the tip and bottom. Stacks of prolonged entries would possibly perhaps perchance well still add a bit extra excitement to the origin and discontinuance of of us's choices.

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