New York Times, Tuesday, August 23, 2016
| Author: | Joel Fagliano |
| Editor: | Will Shortz |
Ice cream swirls today, CHOCOLATE, RUM RAISIN, BUBBLE GUM, and PISTACHO swirling within the puzzle. And what an impressive construction! There have been tons of puzzles done with 2x2 chunks of letters (square D E A L kind of things), but rarely 3x3s. That's because they are so incredibly tough to execute on without resorting to the ugliest (capital Ug) type of crossword glue to hold those areas together. Most 2x2 chunks suffer, so think about how much harder a 3x3 is — I'd estimate it's a factor of 5 tougher.
Joel is one of the best gridworkers in the business, so I always expect a lot out of his puzzles, but this one goes above and beyond. I braced myself in each of those four areas, ready to cringe at some ridiculous random set of letters trying to pass off as a real entry … but there was nothing even creaky! TOI is very minor, and although NEHI will draw some assorted groans, it is a real brand. (Plus, it's Radar O'Reilly's drink of choice!) It's astounding that Joel managed to pull off this ambitious construction so smoothly.
He did have the advantage of flexibility — both in where the swirl started and which direction it went. Both of those seemed a bit random for my taste, but then again, that's how swirls really do appear in ice cream.
I did hitch on pistachio, as it's my favorite flavor of ice cream … and I've never seen a swirl in any pint I've eaten. Looking it up, there do appear to be pistachio swirl cakes, but no pistachio swirl ice cream. Dang it, now I really want someone to make just that! Hopefully Ben or Jerry is a crossword fan (please pass this along to them if you know ‘em) and heeds my desperate plea.
So that is a ding for me — CHOCOLATE, RUM RAISIN, BUBBLE GUM swirls = real things. Sigh, PISTACHIO. I'm not even sure what that would look like in ice cream form, but dang it, I want to know now!
The swirls smack dab in the 9x3 stacks were even more impressive, given the fact that 9x3 stacks in themselves are hard enough to get clean and colorful. To pull one off with a mostly fixed 3x3 chunk right inside is plain insane. EX HIPPIES did feel slightly made-up, but it's a funny enough answer that I decided I liked it. With great stuff like MATCH GAME, NO CONTEST, THAT'S A LIE — and just an ESTS and a TOI / ALII to pay — these are some brilliant sections.
Neat visual (see below for how it looked in print), gold-medal execution = very fun solve.
1 M | 2 A | 3 T | 4 C | 5 H | 6 G | 7 A | 8 M | 9 E | 10 B | 11 A | 12 S | 13 H |
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14 A | L | E | H | O | U | S | E | S | 15 C | E | L | L | O |
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16 N | O | C | O | N | T | E | S | T | 17 R | E | B | U | S |
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18 N | E | H | I | 19 V | A | S | 20 S | A | L | A | G | E |
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21 R | 22 E | 23 N | E | 24 W | I | Z | ||||||||
25 S | 26 I | 27 R | 28 M | O | R | 29 T | 30 G | A | G | E | 31 D | |||
32 I | N | U | 33 L | I | N | 34 W | A | Y | 35 B | U | 36 G | 37 S |
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38 A | R | M | O | R | 39 K | E | Y | 40 L | U | M | E | T |
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41 M | E | O | W | 42 Z | O | E | 43 W | O | B | B | L | Y |
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44 R | E | 45 M | A | I | N | 46 D | E | R | 47 O | S | X |
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48 N | A | P | 49 E | T | D | 50 S | ||||||||
51 I | 52 M | 53 P | E | R | F | 54 E | 55 C | T | 56 C | 57 A | 58 M | 59 P |
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60 S | W | I | R | L | 61 T | H | A | 62 T | 63 S | A | L | I | E |
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64 M | A | N | G | O | 65 R | E | C | O | I | L | I | N | G |
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66 S | H | A | Y | 67 E | X | H | I | P | P | I | E | S |
| Across | Down | |
| 1. Classic TV show with a celebrity panel : MATCHGAME 10. Verbally attack : BASH 14. Taverns : ALEHOUSES 15. Yo-Yo Ma's instrument : CELLO 16. Plea that accepts conviction without admitting guilt : NOCONTEST 17. Picture puzzle : REBUS 18. Soda brand introduced in 1924 : NEHI 19. Feudal status : VASSALAGE 21. Philosopher Descartes : RENE 24. Musical set in Oz, with "The" : WIZ 25. "Aaron Burr, ___" ("Hamilton" song with a rhyming title) : SIR 28. Like Monopoly deeds that are flipped upside down : MORTGAGED 32. Starchy substance found in some plant roots : INULIN 34. Direction : WAY 35. Software issues : BUGS 38. Strong suit? : ARMOR 39. Gift in a relationship that's getting serious, maybe : KEY 40. "Network" director Sidney : LUMET 41. Cat call : MEOW 42. Saldana of "Star Trek Beyond" : ZOE 43. Unsteady : WOBBLY 44. 4, for 19 divided by 5 : REMAINDER 47. Windows : Microsoft :: ___ : Apple : OSX 48. Snooze : NAP 49. Some airport postings, for short : ETDS 51. Flawed : IMPERFECT 56. Counselor employer : CAMP 60. Ice cream feature represented four times in this puzzle : SWIRL 61. "False!" : THATSALIE 64. Chutney fruit : MANGO 65. Springing back in disgust : RECOILING 66. Rural carriage : SHAY 67. Many flower children, these days : EXHIPPIES |
1. Thomas who wrote "Death in Venice" : MANN 2. ___ vera : ALOE 3. Silicon Valley specialty : TECH 4. "Hallelujah!" singers : CHOIR 5. Sweetie : HON 6. Belly : GUT 7. Unfailingly : ASEVER 8. Formation with steep cliffs : MESA 9. Best guesses: Abbr. : ESTS 10. The Devil : BEELZEBUB 11. Duchess of ___ (Goya subject) : ALBA 12. Creature leaving a slime trail : SLUG 13. Garden watering aid : HOSE 15. Bond player after Brosnan : CRAIG 20. Influence : SWAY 22. Sheik's peer : EMIR 23. Prefix with issue : NON 25. Thailand, before 1939 : SIAM 26. About, on a memo : INRE 27. One might start "I heard ..." : RUMOR 29. 11-year old, e.g. : TWEEN 30. Part of L.G.B.T. : GAY 31. Toon that flies with his ears : DUMBO 33. Lethargic : LOWENERGY 36. Hair stiffeners : GELS 37. One hell of a river? : STYX 39. Garden pond fish : KOI 40. Feudal figure : LORD 42. ___ Dingbats (font) : ZAPF 43. Soaked : WET 45. Drug kingpin on "The Wire" : MARLO 46. Separate : DETACH 50. Skullcap? : SCALP 51. Schools of thought : ISMS 52. Sound of an air kiss : MWAH 53. ___ colada : PINA 54. French "to be" : ETRE 55. Party mix cereal : CHEX 57. Et ___ (and others) : ALII 58. Seven Dwarfs' workplace : MINE 59. Mastermind game pieces : PEGS 62. French "you" : TOI 63. Small taste : SIP |
Answer summary: 4 unique to this puzzle, 2 unique to Shortz Era but used previously.
Found bugs or have suggestions?