New York Times, Thursday, December 3, 2015
| Author: | Patrick Merrell |
| Editor: | Will Shortz |
- It probably makes little difference, but my submitted clues for the five theme entries represented a multimedia smorgasbord: a record album, movie, book, comic book and TV show.
- I like Will/Joel's clue for RADIO: Medium for Biggie Smalls.
- A Roman numeral bridges two words in each entry. It's a bit different for CATWOMAN, being just one word. But since it's a compound word with the Roman numeral bridging the two word parts, that felt the same to me.
And, for anyone who hasn't already heard me blab about it, here's a book I created for kids — with a super-tough puzzle hidden in it for adults!
Neat idea, requiring two steps to figure out what was going on. After uncovering the IV in the central themer, I had a feeling Roman numerals were somehow involved, but it was a neat a-ha to discover that IV was interpreted as FOUR, which is part of FLAGS O(F OUR) FATHERS. Sort of a multiple-square rebus in a way, but also sticking to the usual one-letter-per-square criterion. I can't remember seeing something quite like this since Francis Heaney's incredible FLAG DAY puzzle, so I really enjoyed the novelty.
I've fixed up the database entries below, so you can see exactly what the themers are, post-decoding.
Because the idea was so interesting, I liked getting five themers, each one a treat to figure out. It was nice that Patrick managed to work in a little bonus fill too, TRUE GRIT being an incredible movie (and book — highly recommended!) and PELICANS pretty colorful too.
I would have liked more order in the themers, though. While having a random set of numbers (not in sequence) does make the puzzle even more challenging, the idea of going from I to II to III to IV to V (in order) is so appealing. I suppose THREE is a pretty tough string to incorporate into a phrase, as is FIVE. Even having random numbers but going in ascending order would be nice.
I also would have liked the four corners to be less cut off from the rest of the puzzle. The NW and SE are better, since two answers flow into each, but the top right and the bottom left have only one entry in. Although I love AZIZ Ansari ("Master of None" was a surprisingly moving series), I can see how that corner, especially the crossing with ZZZ, might cause some solvers to get really stuck and frustrated. Interesting fact that [Last entry in the Random House Unabridged Dictionary] is ZZZ — "a representation of the sound made by somebody sleeping or snoring, often used in cartoons." Curious that it's actually recognized as a word!
Loved the concept here, and as with most all of Patrick's puzzle, strong execution. Very enjoyable trick to uncover.
ADDED NOTE: Patrick mentioned that he had a different "order" in mind — one "trick" square in the first themer, followed by one, two, two , and then three. Clever idea; lulling the solver into thinking that maybe there was just a normal rebus going on.
1 S | 2 T | 3 R | 4 A | 5 P | 6 O | 7 R | 8 G | 9 Y | 10 L | 11 U | 12 T | 13 Z |
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14 T | H | E | M | E | 15 M | E | R | E | 16 A | Z | I | Z |
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17 A | R | I | E | L | 18 E | M | I | L | 19 D | I | T | Z |
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20 R | U | N | N | I | 21 N | G | I | M | P | 22 T | Y | |||
23 C | O | A | X | 24 O | D | 25 E | 26 T | 27 S |
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28 O | 29 P | 30 E | 31 R | A | S | 32 D | 33 A | X | I | G | H | T |
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34 F | I | T | I | N | 35 L | 36 I | A | M | 37 R | I | A |
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38 F | L | A | G | S | 39 O | I | V | F | A | 40 T | 41 H | E | R | S |
42 I | L | L | 43 V | E | S | T | 44 R | O | S | S | I |
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45 C | A | I | 46 I | 47 M | A | N | 48 G | U | E | S | T | S |
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49 E | R | A | T | O | 50 P | 51 L | I | E | ||||||
52 C | B | 53 V | 54 I | I | I | N | G | 55 N | 56 E | 57 W | 58 S |
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59 J | 60 O | 61 S | H | 62 I | N | X | S | 63 R | A | D | I | O |
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64 A | L | O | E | 65 S | C | A | T | 66 I | P | A | S | S |
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67 W | E | N | D | 68 E | A | R | S | 69 T | E | M | P | O |
| Across | Down | |
| 1. Tie that binds : STRAP 6. Occasion of overindulgence : ORGY 10. Skater's leap : LUTZ 14. Many a party has one : THEME 15. Plain and simple : MERE 16. ___ Ansari of "Parks and Recreation" : AZIZ 17. Disney character who sings "Part of Your World" : ARIEL 18. Jannings who won the first-ever Oscar : EMIL 19. Airhead : DITZ 20. Almost out of energy : RUNNINGONEMPTY 23. Inveigle : COAX 24. Group Theatre playwright of the 1930s : ODETS 28. Works of Carl Maria von Weber : OPERAS 32. Time to get a babysitter, maybe : DATENIGHT 34. Conform : FITIN 35. One of the acting Hemsworths : LIAM 37. Shoreline opening : RIA 38. Patriotic Clint Eastwood movie : FLAGSOFOURFATHERS 42. Volunteer's first word : ILL 43. Bit of SWAT garb : VEST 44. Carlo ___ (wine brand) : ROSSI 45. DC Comics character with a whip : CATWOMAN 48. Hotel fillers : GUESTS 49. Lyre player of mythology : ERATO 50. Move often preceding a pirouette : PLIE 52. Rather informative program, once? : CBSEVENINGNEWS 59. Kid : JOSH 62. "Suicide Blonde" band, 1990 : INXS 63. Medium for Biggie Smalls : RADIO 64. First-aid gel : ALOE 65. "Out! I said out!" : SCAT 66. "That's not for me" : IPASS 67. Travel : WEND 68. Antennae, so to speak : EARS 69. Band director's concern : TEMPO |
1. One of 12 in the European Union logo : STAR 2. Kind of street, informally : THRU 3. It can pull a bit to one side : REIN 4. Emphatic agreement : AMEN 5. Expert divers : PELICANS 6. The end : OMEGA 7. D.J.'s play : REMIX 8. Not looking good : GRIM 9. Distress call : YELP 10. Part of the "wedding of the century" : LADYDI 11. Strong arm : UZI 12. Little bird : TIT 13. Last entry in the Random House Unabridged Dictionary : ZZZ 21. Rebuffs : NOS 22. Food safety subj. : TOX 25. Way out : EGRESS 26. Craving : THIRST 27. Equilibrium : STASIS 28. Microsoft product : OFFICE 29. Important member of a group : PILLAR 30. String substitute? : ETALIA 31. Fix : RIG 32. Loco : DAFT 33. Doc bloc : AMA 35. Financial claim : LIEN 36. They're often stuck in the I.C.U. : IVS 39. The origin of species? : OVA 40. Coen brothers Best Picture nominee : TRUEGRIT 41. Help with making the bed? : HOE 46. Hankered : ITCHED 47. Pitchfork wielders, perhaps : MOB 48. Certain spirit : GIN 50. "Cars" producer : PIXAR 51. Has a bias : LISTS 53. Clincher : VISE 54. Sun worshipers : INCA 55. It might get hot under the collar : NAPE 56. Town whose exports are waxed : EDAM 57. Bit of smoke : WISP 58. O.K. : SOSO 59. Part of a 53-Down : JAW 60. Charge call : OLE 61. ___ of God : SON |
Answer summary: 3 unique to this puzzle, 1 unique to Shortz Era but used previously.
Found bugs or have suggestions?