Sid Sivakumar and Matthew Stock return and swing at us with their light sabers.
SATURDAY PUZZLE — Today we get a really intricate grid that looks like a flattened bit of origami to me, with that small central hub that radiates into each cardinal direction (revolving around the cunning III at 30-Down, ay ay ay). Each quadrant has at least one debut or true oddity, but there are enough accessible entries that the puzzle as a whole is doable, I think, although I got stumped a few times. The interesting combination of a low word count without that many long entries might have helped.
This is Sid Sivakumar’s and Matthew Stock’s second collaboration — the first was an excellent Thursday grid from earlier this year. (Mr. Stock came along shortly thereafter with the karaoke Sunday puzzle, which was fun — we’re still waiting on Mr. Sivakumar’s first Sunday. It’ll happen.) Although a few of those debuts and oddballs sent me scurrying to the virtual reference shelf for confirmation, in the end, I can look sideways at only one hard entry today (as it tries to smack me on the head).
Tricky Clues
There’s a healthy sprinkle of wordplay throughout this grid that make the small entries fun — LEG refers to a relay race, AXON is anatomical, IRON is a golf club, POOPED means tired, and so on. I am strictly science fiction peripheral but ICE PLANET is deducible and enjoyable, as are the rest of the pop culture and cinematic references here.
31A: This terminology is new to me, which seems strange since these terms are always so buzzy. Members of GENERATION ALPHA are still being born for a few years to come, at which point Generation Beta will begin, and so on, so we won’t have to worry about coming up with any snappy monikers until 2470 or thereabouts.
47A: Wave your monocles at me, curmudgeons, if you knew the purported origin of this term. (You were waving them already? Fair enough.) H.L. Mencken is credited for coining BOOBOISIE in “The Dial” in 1922, but apparently there is a slightly earlier citation from The Washington Post (under a pseudonym? Could be — Mencken had several).
48A: I finally remembered that IPOD “touches” were a thing at the very end of this solve. Misremembered, because iPod touches ARE a thing — they’re like iPhones without the phone, because who needs that noise? This is such a hard clue, making us transfer a verb to a noun to a tech product, and we get no help at 49D. I figured that to be “bonk” pretty early on, and not only have I never heard the term DONK before, but it also commonly refers to a customized Chevrolet from the 1970s, the act of giving someone a ride on the handles of a bicycle in Australia, and a type of bet placed in a poker game. That last one reminds me of something, which is that I thought that REPO was “redo,” which led my grid to briefly include “doker” rather than POKER PROS at 8D. Oh, and (of course) DONK is a debut.
4D: I had to look up this entry after the fact for verification, which makes it meta and made me feel a little sheepish. When do people say OK GOOGLE?, I typed into, um, Google. Turns out, people say it all the time — typing is so old-fashioned (OK, boomer!).
32D: This is a trompe l’oeil entry — the reference is to the American Film Institute and its many AFI LISTS, but I still see something that might rhyme with “idealist,” spoken in the Deep South.
Constructor Notes
Sid: This puzzle owes its existence to a grid design technique I associate most strongly with Robyn Weintraub. Robyn often places her double and triple stacks just inward from the edge of the grid, using small “fingers” of black squares to partition the outermost rows and columns into three each, instead of two. Short entries at the border of a grid are usually easier to wrangle than long ones, so this strategy offers more flexibility to the constructor, and consequently, more interesting fill to the solver. Here, Matthew and I extended the technique by creating domino-shaped “fingers” all around the perimeter and placing triple stacks in each quadrant. We hope the result makes for a pleasant and smooth solving experience. It was fun to get GENERATION ALPHA into this grid. I enjoy including entries that represent the youngest segment of our solving audience, like Matthew’s students. It’s also exciting to debut 3-Down, a not-so-subtle homage to the brilliant crossword podcast “Fill Me In,” hosted by puzzle luminaries Brian Cimmet and Ryan Hecht. (Sorry it took so long, guys! I’d been trying to get you in at 3-Across all this time.)
Lastly: I recently started editing the new crossword feature for The Juggernaut, a digital publication focused on stories relevant to the worldwide South Asian diaspora. Our goal is to publish puzzles with themes, entries and clues that highlight South Asian culture, emphasizing cultural elements that are rarely seen in other crossword venues. If you liked seeing MAHARISHI in this Times crossword, and want to see more brown representation, the Juggernaut puzzles are for you! And if you’re interested in constructing a puzzle for The Juggernaut, please get in touch — we’re committed to publishing newer constructors, especially folks with South Asian cultural backgrounds.
Matthew: Thrilled to share this funky puzzle with y’all! I haven’t worked much with lower-word-count themeless grids (almost all the themeless constructors whose work I admire mostly live in 70-to-72-Wordville, and I spend a lot of time emulating them), but working on this inventive 64-worder with Sid was a treat. I’d like to think we’ve each improved our cluing chops since dropping this one in the mail last year, so I’m extra thankful to the Times team for coming through with some great edits, including 23-Across, 48-Across and 40-Down. Happy solving!
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.”
Need an oasis?
Subscribers can take a peek at the answer key.
Trying to get back to the puzzle page? Right here.
What did you think?
"start" - Google News
May 22, 2021 at 09:00AM
https://ift.tt/3vaZYIR
Start of a Modern Inquiry - The New York Times
"start" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2yVRai7
https://ift.tt/2WhNuz0
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Start of a Modern Inquiry - The New York Times"
Post a Comment