New York Times, Wednesday, May 17, 2017
| Author: | Paul Hunsberger |
| Editor: | Will Shortz |
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This one all started because I really liked the idea of creating a word chain that could be hooked back to its beginning. But it didn't take long to realize that this was a difficult idea. The first challenge was to find ten consecutive in-the-language phrases that would accomplish this (and that were of course also symmetrical). The second was cluing the theme; how to best indicate the chain (with each word overlapping in two different phrases) and the looping aspect to the solver? I'm happy with how it all turned out, but with five theme phrases essentially unclued, thought it might have been destined for a Thursday… hope that not too many Wednesday-lovers were annoyed with this one!
In the original version, I was determined to use RUBBERCHICKEN. This led to RUBBERCHICKENCURRYHOUSE… etc. but when Will Shortz didn't like CURRYHOUSE enough, I realized that the RUBBERCHICKEN may have been too much of a stretch (sorry). As it turns out, this led to the serendipitous discovery of CLOSEDCIRCUIT instead, which seemed to make for the perfect (unclued) middle to my word loop.
I'll admit, I had no idea what was going on until well after I filled in the last square — those [… X / Y …] clues befuddled me. But, a nice click when I realized that Paul put together a great word chain, using strong base phrases.
Here's an example: DOUBLE BACK and COURT CASE are both peppy phrases. But so is BACK / COURT … as hinted at by the last part of DOUBLE BACK's clue, and the first part of COURT CASE's clue! I've seen plenty of word chains in crosswords, but I don't remember this cluing mechanic. Entertaining (once I finally grokked it!).
I liked that Paul worked in so many bonuses in the fill — that way, if the theme didn't appeal to you, some of SATCHMO, DRUM PAD, MIX-A-LOT, I HEAR YOU, TOMMYROT might. And as a huge "Parks and Recreation" fan, I love PAWNEE.
A couple of dabs of crossword glue to make it all happen, though. Those "parallel downs" (EPISODIC / CULTURAL and I HEAR YOU / TOMMYROT) are tough to pull off without some compromises. I don't mind a bit of TYRO to get the latter two fantastic entries. The price of IPUT and CFL does seem high for the more neutral EPISODIC and CULTURAL though.
(Paul is Canadian, so I did smile a little at CFL … once I remembered that it stood for the Canadian Football League.)
It's so tempting to incorporate parallel downs, especially when you can make one side work as great as the lower right. They're so hard to do both smoothly and snazzily, that it's not uncommon for one side to pale in comparison. It can be such a constructor's dilemma — feature one great side at the price of a less-than-stellar other side?
Finally, MIMEO (outdated), IN PEN (a bit partialish), and EIN in one region wasn't great. But thankfully, that was the only area with such a high concentration of goop.
Nice spin on a word chain, though — I like it when someone takes a tried and true idea and makes it a little different.
1 P | 2 E | 3 C | 4 S | 5 M | 6 E | 7 T | 8 R | 9 O | 10 H | 11 E | 12 R | 13 A |
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14 I | P | U | T | 15 E | C | R | U | S | 16 A | V | I | S |
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17 G | I | L | A | 18 D | O | U | B | L | 19 E | B | A | C | K |
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20 S | T | R | 21 A | I | T | 22 O | X | I | D | E | S |
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23 C | O | U | R | T | C | A | 24 S | 25 E | 26 O | T | E | R | I |
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27 F | D | R | 28 M | I | X | A | L | 29 O | T | 30 S | S | N |
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31 L | I | A | 32 M | 33 T | H | A | I | 34 S | ||||||
35 C | L | O | 36 S | 37 E | 38 D | C | I | R | C | U | 39 I | 40 T | ||
41 S | A | R | A | H | 42 E | H | O | 43 W |
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44 E | 45 W | 46 E | 47 D | R | U | M | 48 P | 49 A | 50 D | 51 E | M | O |
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52 M | E | S | 53 S | I | 54 B | O | A | R | D | 55 G | A | M | E |
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56 B | E | S | T | E | 57 D | 58 W | A | T | E | R | Y | |||
59 O | V | E | R | S | E | 60 E | 61 I | N | G | 62 T | Y | R | 63 O |
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64 S | I | N | E | 65 M | I | M | E | O | 66 T | O | O | K |
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67 S | L | E | W | 68 I | N | P | E | N | 69 O | U | T | S |
| Across | Down | |
| 1. Muscles worked by bench presses : PECS 5. Transport de Montréal : METRO 10. Queen of the Greek gods : HERA 14. "Hmm, how shall ___ this?" : IPUT 15. Hosiery shades : ECRUS 16. Alternative to Thrifty or Dollar : AVIS 17. Tributary of the Colorado : GILA 18. ... for a loop, say / Area that an N.B.A. team has eight ... : DOUBLEBACK 20. Passage off Gibraltar, e.g. : STRAIT 22. Laughing gas and rust, for two : OXIDES 23. ... seconds to clear / Successful detective's ... : COURTCASE 26. "S.N.L." alum Cheri : OTERI 27. "Fireside chats" monogram : FDR 28. "Baby Got Back" Grammy winner Sir ___ : MIXALOT 30. Fig. on a W-9 : SSN 31. Hemsworth of "The Hunger Games" : LIAM 33. Asians who play elephant polo : THAIS 35. ... declaration / Critical computer ... : CLOSEDCIRCUIT 41. John's running mate in 2008 : SARAH 42. Website for D.I.Y.ers : EHOW 44. Merino mother : EWE 47. Thing to practice percussion on : DRUMPAD 51. Angsty music genre : EMO 52. Soccer superstar Lionel : MESSI 54. ... component / Dreaded words in a video ... : BOARDGAME 56. One-upped : BESTED 58. Like light beers : WATERY 59. ... arcade / Knocked ... : OVERSEEING 62. "Noob" : TYRO 64. ___ wave (oscilloscope output) : SINE 65. Obsolete repro machine : MIMEO 66. Helped oneself to : TOOK 67. Did in, as a dragon : SLEW 68. How confident solvers may solve : INPEN 69. Results of sacrifices : OUTS |
1. Eat, eat, eat, with "out" : PIG 2. Like soap operas : EPISODIC 3. Like some international exchanges : CULTURAL 4. Beatle who sang "Octopus's Garden" : STARR 5. Ruling family of old Florence : MEDICI 6. Levy on polluters, e.g. : ECOTAX 7. Play about Capote : TRU 8. Marinade alternative : RUB 9. World capital on the 60th parallel : OSLO 10. Something to kick, maybe : HABIT 11. Gives the slip to : EVADES 12. Utensils for making hash browns : RICERS 13. Invites for tea, say : ASKSIN 19. Kind of dancer : EXOTIC 21. Drive-up convenience : ATM 23. Grid org. with a 110-yard field : CFL 24. "Hello, Dolly!" singer, informally : SATCHMO 25. For grades K-12 : ELHI 29. Dory propeller : OAR 32. Crooks' patterns, to cops : MOS 34. Be litigious : SUE 36. Nicknames for 41-Acrosses : SADIES 37. Muff : ERR 38. Apply sloppily : DAUB 39. "Roger that" : IHEARYOU 40. "Horsefeathers!" : TOMMYROT 43. Hand-wringer's emotion : WOE 44. Adorn with raised designs : EMBOSS 45. Cotton planter's headache : WEEVIL 46. Dead Sea Scrolls writer : ESSENE 48. Oklahoma tribe : PAWNEE 49. Home to Henry VIII's Catherine : ARAGON 50. Pesticide banned in the '70s : DDT 53. Scatter, as seeds : STREW 55. Succeed in annoying : GETTO 57. Moore of "G.I. Jane" : DEMI 60. "Ich bin ___ Berliner" : EIN 61. Prank-pulling sort : IMP 63. Good-to-go signals : OKS |
Answer summary: 5 unique to this puzzle, 1 debuted here and reused later, 2 unique to Shortz Era but used previously.
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