New York Times, Tuesday, August 18, 2015
| Author: | Bill Thompson |
| Editor: | Will Shortz |
The idea for this theme came to me when I was solving another crossword and noticed that the word "east" was hidden in the center of ADELE ASTAIRE. I found it surprisingly difficult to find other suitable theme entries meeting this criterion. I was on the fence whether to include the two theme entries across the middle of the grid — they are outliers both in terms of length and consistency (E-A-S-T in the answer is pronounced as "east," and it does not break across two words). In the end, I decided the puzzle was better with them than without them.
My favorite part of constructing puzzles is cluing. In researching ways in which an entry might be clued, you pick up a lot of interesting information. Two of my favorites in this puzzle are 3-Down (WANG) and 46-Down (PAC MAN). On 3-Down, I expect some solvers were looking for a five letter answer (APPLE). And the limitation in 46-Down's clue exists because the game implodes at level 256 (binary 0001 0000 0000). The game's level register has only eight bits, and the software does not make allowance for going beyond level 255 (binary 1111 1111).
MIDDLE EAST interpreted as "phrases with EAST smack dab in their middles." Bill's elegantly chose themers which are both colorful and have EAST exactly in their centers. With so many phrases containing EAST in various places, that exact centering is a much-appreciated bonus.
Speaking of bonuses, kind of fun to have YEASTY and FEASTS. Normally I don't care for themers shorter than the surrounding fill (like FOUL TIP and IMPASSE), but having them in the center of the grid sort of fits with the theme. Thumbs up.
YAWP is an interesting word to kick off the puzzle. I personally think it's hilarious and love it, but I was surprised when Ben Tausig commented that it was probably his least favorite entry in one of my recent puzzles; an oddity. It's good to remember how much subjectivity there is in the crossworld.
With four long themers and two shorties, I appreciate how much thought Bill put into his grid. Not only does he work in some nice long fill in SUGAR PEA and SKILL SET, but he uses the 7-letter slots well, giving us FOUL TIP and PERSEUS. Best of all, the short stuff is relatively smooth and clean. I don't care for the forgettable DR. T role, and A FLY and FREI aren't great. But the latter two are necessitated by the bonus themers, YEASTY and FEASTS, so I think that's an okay trade-off.
At first I thought having ESTE, the Spanish word for EAST, was inelegant. But it's 1.) another trade-off for getting in those two bonus answers, and 2.) there's something kind of cool about where it's placed in the grid: in the east.
And a great piece of trivia about PACMAN, a game that can be played "perfectly." (This factors into "Ready Player One," one of my favorite reads in recent memory. Can't wait for the movie.)
All in all, some little trade-offs but all reasonable, given how much extra material it allowed Bill to work in. If "SHE Bangs" had been clued to the awesome William Hung "She Bangs" meme, I might just have given it the POW!
1 Y | 2 A | 3 W | 4 P | 5 P | 6 A | 7 P | 8 A | 9 S | 10 S | 11 A | 12 S | 13 S |
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14 O | P | A | L | 15 A | L | E | T | A | 16 U | T | N | E |
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17 G | O | N | E | 18 A | S | T | R | A | Y | 19 G | A | E | A |
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20 A | P | G | A | R | 21 S | H | E | 22 A | R | A | L |
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23 S | T | 24 A | 25 G | E | A | S | 26 T | R | I | K | E |
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27 J | 28 O | 29 S | E | 30 F | O | U | L | T | I | P | ||||
31 A | R | C | 32 I | L | O | S | T | 33 R | E | 34 E | 35 S | 36 E |
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37 Y | E | A | 38 S | T | Y | 39 F | E | A | S | T | S |
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40 Z | O | N | K | S | 41 H | 42 E | 43 A | R | D | 44 P | A | T |
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45 I | M | 46 P | A | S | S | E | 47 A | N | T | E |
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48 A | 49 D | 50 E | L | E | A | S | T | A | I | 51 R | E | |||
52 L | O | L | L | 53 C | T | A | 54 U | N | 55 T | 56 I | 57 E |
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58 U | R | I | S | 59 M | I | D | 60 D | 61 L | E | E | A | S | T |
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62 M | A | Z | E | 63 A | M | O | R | E | 64 I | K | E | A |
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65 S | L | A | T | 66 N | E | S | T | S | 67 D | E | E | S |
| Across | Down | |
| 1. Complain loudly : YAWP 5. "Proud" ones with cigars : PAPAS 10. Cheek : SASS 14. Iridescent stone : OPAL 15. Prince Valiant's love : ALETA 16. ___ Reader : UTNE 17. *Left the flock : GONEASTRAY 19. Greek earth goddess : GAEA 20. Kind of test for newborns : APGAR 21. "___ Bangs" (Ricky Martin hit) : SHE 22. ___ Sea, victim of Soviet irrigation projects : ARAL 23. *Walk out : STAGEASTRIKE 27. Tenor Carreras : JOSE 30. Catcher's catch off a batter's bat : FOULTIP 31. Part of an oval : ARC 32. Competitor's lament : ILOST 33. Kyle ___, "The Terminator" hero : REESE 37. *Like baking dough : YEASTY 39. *Sumptuous spreads : FEASTS 40. Crashes, with "out" : ZONKS 41. Got by word of mouth : HEARD 44. Word that, spelled backward, can be a clue for itself : PAT 45. Stalemate : IMPASSE 47. Prefix with diluvian : ANTE 48. *Half of a brother/sister dance duo : ADELEASTAIRE 52. Laze : LOLL 53. Inits. for Windy City commuters : CTA 54. Loosen, as a knot : UNTIE 58. Leon who wrote "The Haj" : URIS 59. World hot spot ... or a hint to the answers to the starred clues : MIDDLEEAST 62. Labyrinth : MAZE 63. "That's ___" : AMORE 64. Mass-market furniture company : IKEA 65. Furniture strip : SLAT 66. Homes for warblers and wasps : NESTS 67. Two of diamonds? : DEES |
1. Exercise discipline : YOGA 2. Individually : APOP 3. First computer company to run an ad during the Super Bowl : WANG 4. Entreaty that may follow "pretty" : PLEASE 5. Faux ___ : PAS 6. PC key : ALT 7. Slayer of Medusa : PERSEUS 8. Stopped : ATAHALT 9. Speak, in the Bible : SAYEST 10. Legume with an edible pod : SUGARPEA 11. Game company with a Japanese name : ATARI 12. Weasel : SNEAK 13. Bobby who co-founded the Black Panther Party : SEALE 18. The "A" of MoMA : ART 24. Wouldn't hurt ___ : AFLY 25. Wet gunk : GOO 26. Hackneyed : TIRED 27. Rapper born Shawn Corey Carter : JAYZ 28. Product first released by the National Biscuit Company in 1912 : OREO 29. Survey with binoculars, say : SCAN 32. Informal identification : ITSME 34. Sister company of ABC : ESPN 35. Runs, hits or errors, for short : STAT 36. Villa d'___ : ESTE 38. Everything one can do : SKILLSET 39. Without cost: Ger. : FREI 41. Isn't at the deadline yet : HASTIME 42. Tabasco and Chihuahua, in México : ESTADOS 43. Cool ___ cucumber : ASA 46. Game with a "perfect score" of 3,333,360 : PACMAN 47. Source of the Trojan horse story : AENEID 48. Grads : ALUMS 49. Miami golf resort : DORAL 50. Slave woman in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" : ELIZA 51. "The Murders in the ___ Morgue" : RUE 55. Grab : TAKE 56. "Mm-hmm" : ISEE 57. Data for airport chauffeurs, for short : ETAS 60. Richard Gere title role : DRT 61. French article : LES |
Answer summary: 4 unique to this puzzle, 1 debuted here and reused later, 1 unique to Shortz Era but used previously.
Found bugs or have suggestions?