Day: March 13, 2022

Stumbles for speak___ [3]

This clue doesn’t need to be a fill-in-the-blank, but it’s sort of cute that you can complete the clue with the answer (speakERS). There are some puzzle types that do this on the regular; for me, this is about the extent to which I like this type of gimmick: restrained and complete. Speaking of verbal sounds, nice to see some love given to this show, especially since this quote is a pretty good motto not just for the AVCX Mini expansion in general, but for all crosswords in search of a voice: Web series “where we talk about whatever we want because it’s our show and not yours,” per hosts Katya and Trixie Mattel. Please, fill your puzzle with references to drag, Ace Attorney, and Brazilian music and food. It’s your puzzle, we’re just here for the ride: UNHHHH indeed!

by Aaron Riccio

THEME: Commercial: “Book your vacation to this bird watcher’s field; it’s the ____!” [10]

It’s hard to call out an individual clue that’s part of a theme set, particularly one that has a gimmick, but this one’s well-worth it. What’s happening here is that there’s a Software extension that’s not working in four across answers in this puzzle [9], which is to say that in each of these items, an unblocked AD intrudes (and is meant to be ignored by the crossing downs). Each clue is for the modified entry, which leads in this case to the very apt, very punny CAT’S ME[AD]OW. I don’t know that there’s a way to clue that or “Flyer: Enroll in this class on ______, the science of cooking!” without shenanigans, but that’s certainly one way to ensure you’ve got fresh, fun fill like MARIN[AD]E BIOLOGY. (For what it’s worth, the standard entries are good too, especially Name on an Acknowledgments page, which threw me at first–you could literally put anybody’s name there–until I realized “Name” was sneakily operating as a verb, yielding THANK.)

by Aaron Riccio

O’s, but not P’s or Q’s [4]

One of my favorite all-time clues is H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O?, which is a sort of word-soupy rebus for the letters H to O, or WATER. That’s not quite what this one is doing, but it has the same sort of free-association arrangement where you’ve got three sequential letters, one of which has another meaning. Well, actually O’s are quite versatile and have a lot of different uses, but in this case, they’re symbols that appear on American football play charts, signifying members of your TEAM and not the opponent’s X’s.

The other reason I love that clue is because it elevates short, common fill. You see that time and again in this grid, with Letters that might change your mind? for LSD, the delightful What babies do faster than college students for GROW, the humorous (or accurate, depending on your mindset) Some posers for YOGIS, and Fly around Africa? which is a nifty way to hide that biting TSETSE. Maybe it’s the collaboration, maybe it’s the perspectives of these comparatively fresh constructors, but clues like this demonstrate the rut that many puzzles–especially Sunday-sized ones–can fall into. Pepper enough entries like this into your puzzle and the whole thing feels fresh.

Christina Iverson and Katie Hale, The New York Times, 3/13/22

by Aaron Riccio