SATURDAY PUZZLES — It is becoming that we have had some scorching Saturday barbecues this scorching July; right this moment’s isn’t any exception. I used to be optimistic at first after encountering a number of raids, however I obtained hopelessly caught at a central level. The tip outcome was a sluggish decision time that was as sluggish as after I get a few quick padding bits after which stare at a puzzle for some time.
John Lieb has been doing puzzles for The Occasions for almost a decade, nevertheless it’s been a couple of 12 months since he final (one other difficult saturday, in collaboration with Brad Wilber). At present’s grid has a reasonably low phrase depend and is open, that means there are massive swaths of strong white squares that make issues difficult for each builder and solver. There’s additionally an entrance I do not assume I’ve seen earlier than, which does not occur fairly often to this veteran.
deceptive clues
15A. It is pretty how this entry, with the clue “Monodon monoceros, extra familiarly”, crosses 5D, “An animal whose title actually means ‘nostril'”. We all know {that a} nostril job is a rhinoplasty, and we all know that RHINO (5D) is brief for “rhinoceros.” So “monoceros” is, er, “one ceros” (“one horn”). Curiously, “Unicorn” matches into 15A, however the entry right here is NARWHAL, that arctic whale with the flamboyant fang.
31A. This aviator, the “first particular person to fly alone around the globe (1933),” has been featured in The Occasions’ riddles through the years, however solely partly, by his first title. WILEY POST is a debut. One other reality about Mr. Publish is his well-known loss of life: in 1935, crashed a aircraft in Alaska that actor Will Rogers was additionally carrying, killing them each.
37A. I acknowledged this clue, “Circuit Constructing Block”, as computational, however got here up with “logic board”, which is shut however not fairly proper. The right reply is a debut and refers to one of many quite a few switches in a digital circuit that deal with a number of inputs, a LOGIC GATE.
13D. It is a good twist! I obtained the entry for “Reverse of chopping” at crossroads and was stumped – ATTEND. “Minimize”, on this case, refers to skipping college, say, to observe a Cubs recreation.
22D. There will likely be solvers within the viewers who will pounce on this monitor, “Music Training Technique.” I should have minimize that class. I figured I would ultimately determine it out, which did not, or get it in crosses, which it did, although I needed to search on-line to examine my work and discover the origin of SOLFÈGE, which left me speechless.
I observed the phonetic components “sol” and “fè”, which may very well be “fa” as in “do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do”, however did not consider that as a result of the sequence was backwards. (“sol fa” as an alternative of “fa sol”). It seems that SOLFÈGE, or “solfeggio”, is a type of solmization, or assign a particular syllable to a corresponding musical observe. This follow dates again at the very least a thousand years, to an Italian monk who selected syllables that shaped a mnemonic for a hymn (which did not embody a stag, a doe, an extended, lengthy working path, or a needle pulling a thread).
Builder’s Notes
Over the previous few years, I’ve admired and loved unthemed puzzles with open heart sections, significantly Ryan McCarty’s (he is obtained numerous superior grids!), and wished to attempt writing one myself. Additionally, getting an unthemed puzzle accepted nowadays, with so many builders writing such fantastic puzzles, has been a problem, so I believed I would attempt one thing I hadn’t performed earlier than. (My rejection pile is effectively populated with 70-word no-topic riddles…)
Making the grid took for much longer than common, however I used to be fortunate to have flexibility within the NW and SE corners by having the ???SCIENCE and ALPINE????? letter patterns. work with. As a long-time AP Statistics professor, he was glad that a kind of areas grew to become DATA SCIENCE. Additionally, for a very long time, the WHO’S THAT entry was WHO’S THIS, and fortunately, the primary one led to a lot cleaner, extra attention-grabbing filler. I hope this offers a enjoyable Saturday problem for solvers!
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