New York Times, Wednesday, March 14, 2018
| Author: | Jeff Chen |
| Editor: | Will Shortz |
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It's kind of ironic that I made this puzzle, given that my idea of cooking MARINARA is:
- Buy jar of Ragu
- Open said jar
- Find spoon
- Eat sauce
It makes so much sense! You don't have to wash a bowl. You don't use any oven/microwave power. And then you can just lick the spoon and put it back into the drawer. Easy cleanup!
I hope my wife isn't reading this.
I so badly wanted the mixed-up ingredients to go vertically, each one intersecting MARINARA SAUCE (which would run horizontally across the center of the puzzle). How cool would that have been, like each ingredient being dropped in! But it was not to be — I had a limited pool of options for each ingredient (ONION, TOMATO, GARLIC, HERBS, in case you didn't figure them out), and I couldn't get the symmetry to work out.
Gol durn crossword symmetry!
I even tried different "recipes" to get such a fortuitous interlock — PESTO SAUCE with BASIL, PINE NUTS, etc. was the closest to maybe possibly sorta kinda iffily working — but nothing would fully cooperate. Dratted PEN I STUN. Er, PINE NUTS.
To those who have never played ZORK, you have not lived. Okay, maybe you have, but still, ZORK was such an integral part of my childhood, a sort of augmented Choose Your Own Adventure that got me obsessed with computers and programming.
BTW, apologies to those who scratched their heads at the PROSODIC / ZORK crossing. I figured whether you're a techie or a fuzzy (engr/sci vs. humanities), you'd likely know one of them. (PROSODIC is related to "prose," so you should be able to suss it out, yeah?)
I always try to work in a bunch of bonus entries, pushing and pushing, hopefully stopping before having to hold the puzzle together with a bunch of ugly crossword glue. And although my efforts to draw from different areas so that there's something for everyone — MAKES BANK, MON CHERI, INKBLOTS, ARGONAUT cover a lot of ground — I couldn't resist putting in MC HAMMER, even though I had already worked in AEROSMITH.
What can I say, I love me some Hammer pants.
1 R | 2 C | 3 A | 4 U | 5 M | 6 P | 7 S | 8 M | 9 O | 10 K | 11 Y |
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12 A | R | E | 13 Z | O | R | 14 K | 15 S | E | C | U | R | E |
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16 Z | E | R | 17 O | I | N | O | N | 18 A | S | H | T | O | N |
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19 O | D | O | R | 20 C | S | I | 21 N | Y | 22 A | I | N | T |
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23 R | O | S | S | 24 H | O | T | O | A | 25 T | M | E | A | L |
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26 M | O | 27 O | E | D | 28 W | H | A | M | ||||||
29 R | 30 B | I | 31 K | R | I | 32 S | 33 R | E | 34 M | 35 U | 36 S |
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37 A | R | T | 38 I | F | I | C | I | 39 A | 40 L | G | R | A | S | S |
41 J | O | H | N | I | 42 T | R | E | E | 43 K | E | N |
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44 K | N | 45 O | 46 T | 47 G | O | T | 48 M | E | ||||||
49 B | 50 A | 51 R | B | E | R | S | 52 H | O | P | 53 A | S | 54 P | 55 S |
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56 I | D | O | L | 57 S | A | U | N | A | 58 I | B | E | T |
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59 R | O | B | O | 60 T | O | 61 M | A | R | 62 I | N | A | R | A |
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63 C | R | E | T | I | N | 64 S | U | D | S | 65 N | S | C |
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66 H | E | S | S | E | 67 T | S | P | 68 K | E | Y |
| Across | Down | |
| 1. Early maker of color TVs : RCA 4. Stereotypically "blind" official, for short : UMP 7. Like a cigar bar's atmosphere : SMOKY 12. "___ we there yet?" : ARE 13. Pioneering text adventure game : ZORK 15. Impervious to hackers : SECURE 16. Take dead aim at : ZEROINON 18. Kutcher who played Steve Jobs in "Jobs" : ASHTON 19. Locker room emanation : ODOR 20. CBS series that starred Gary Sinise : CSINY 22. Colloquial contraction : AINT 23. "Friends" character ___ Geller : ROSS 24. Breakfast order often containing cinnamon : HOTOATMEAL 26. Made a cattle call : MOOED 28. "Kapow!" : WHAM 29. Result of a successful squeeze bunt, for short : RBI 31. Jenner of reality TV : KRIS 33. Storytelling uncle of fiction : REMUS 37. Indoor stadium surface : ARTIFICIALGRASS 41. First in a line of 23 popes : JOHNI 42. Ancestry.com diagram : TREE 43. Jennings who wrote "Brainiac" : KEN 44. Garden hose annoyance : KNOT 47. "Hell if I know" : GOTME 49. A cappella genre : BARBERSHOP 53. Hieroglyphics snakes : ASPS 56. Fanzine favorite : IDOL 57. Spa amenity that originated in Finland : SAUNA 58. "Su-u-u-ure it is" : IBET 59. "Mr. ___" (1983 Styx hit) : ROBOTO 61. Sauce made from ingredients mixed up in 16-, 24-, 37- and 49-Across : MARINARA 63. Simpleton, disparagingly : CRETIN 64. Brewski : SUDS 65. Pres. advisory group : NSC 66. German state with Wiesbaden : HESSE 67. Recipe meas. : TSP 68. C major, for one : KEY |
1. Whisker whacker : RAZOR 2. Words to live by : CREDO 3. Rock band fronted by Steven Tyler : AEROSMITH 4. Submachine gun designer ___ Gal : UZI 5. "My darling," in France : MONCHERI 6. Pertaining to the rhythm of speech : PROSODIC 7. French possessive : SES 8. "U Can't Touch This" rapper : MCHAMMER 9. Less common of two belly buttons : OUTIE 10. Icelandic money : KRONA 11. Cross-dressing role for Streisand : YENTL 14. Like a cardigan : KNIT 15. Request by someone with a tongue depressor : SAYAH 17. Words akin to "-ish" : ORSO 21. E.R.A.-backing grp. : NOW 25. Chain whose mascot is named Bullseye : TARGET 27. "All right, you win" : OKFINE 29. Indian-born character on "The Big Bang Theory" : RAJ 30. Dude : BRO 32. Plop down : SIT 34. Rakes in the dough : MAKESBANK 35. Put into play : USE 36. 123-45-6789, on a sample doc. : SSN 38. Symmetrical images in psychological tests : INKBLOTS 39. One of Jason's crew : ARGONAUT 40. Preyers on antelopes : LEOPARDS 45. Game show regular ___ Bean : ORSON 46. Org. with millimeter wave scanners : TSA 48. Major water line : MAIN 49. Source of bark for canoes : BIRCH 50. Be all googly-eyed over : ADORE 51. Choir attire : ROBES 52. Plays a kazoo : HUMS 54. In itself : PERSE 55. Keach of TV's "Man With a Plan" : STACY 60. Impossible Super Bowl outcome : TIE 62. AOL or MSN : ISP |
Answer summary: 6 unique to this puzzle, 1 unique to Shortz Era but used previously.
Found bugs or have suggestions?