[ad_1]
Jump to: misleading clues
FRIDAY PUZZLE: When builders mention starter entries for their unthemed puzzles, they’re referring to words or phrases they love so much that they choose to build entire crossword puzzles around them.
These entries are usually placed on the grid first, just as a gardener plants a seed in the ground. The rest of the fill is introduced into the grid around that seed, the clues are written and then the entrance is well watered. With diligence, a well-timed dose of fertilizer in spring, and a little luck with the weather, a builder can expect a decent crop at harvest time.
Sorry, I digressed. What I meant was that these initial entries can sometimes be the most interesting answers on the grid. While today’s puzzle from Ryan Judge is no different, it also includes plenty of other animated details and clues for us to enjoy.
misleading clues
1A. This “Sky-high” is an emotion more than a place. The answer is IN ECSTASY.
15A. My brain has been trained to look for any detours in the trails, to the point that sometimes I think about them too much. I thought “act solo?” It could have something to do with Solo glasses, the ubiquitous party events. In this riddle, it is an actor’s solo and the answer is MONOLOGUE.
17A. She knew that the “Shoe with distinctive yellow stitching” was from the Doc Martens brand, but she had never seen her refer to it as DR. MARTAS. A visit to his website showed me that that is actually the official name.
Oh, while I’m here, builders, remember that if you include the Doctors from “Doctor Who” in your puzzles, you will never, ever be “Dr. Who,” even if you have a five-letter space that can’t be filled with anything else. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
20A/9D. You’ve got to love a pair of crossover tracks. The answer to 9D, “Nod,” is YES, and the answer to 20A, “He gave a 9 down,” is OK.
38A. This “thrifty competitor” is not frugal. It’s ALAMO, a competitor of the car rental company Thrifty. This is called a veiled capitalization clue, where a proper noun is placed at the beginning of the phrase to take advantage of the fact that the first letter must be capitalized.
56A. Seattle Slew (with a capital S) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the tenth winner of the American Triple Crown. “Seattle killed?”, with a question mark and a lowercase s, hints at a series of things you’d find in Seattle: RAINY DAYS.
4D. The “Things to keep in mind?” in Mr. Judge’s puzzle there are COATS, which can be stored in a restaurant cloakroom.
5 D. “In short, some offerings from Olympus” does not refer to delicacies for the Greek gods; is hinting at the cameras that the Olympus company sells, and those are SLR.
8D. The SUNK COST FALLACY is “a psychological barrier that ties people to failed efforts simply because they have committed resources to it,” according to investopedia.
12D. It took me a moment to fully appreciate this, but “Some Instagram stats, appropriately?” It’s a very clever track. The answer is METADATA. Instagram is owned by Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s company.
33D. This was another great clue. The “dough” in “A Way to Make Cookie Dough?” is slang for money and the answer is BAKE SALE.
Builder’s Notes
Hello everyone, I’m thrilled to debut in the New York Times today! I am currently a junior at Carnegie Mellon University, where I study music and mathematics.
I made and submitted this puzzle in July and it was accepted at the end of September. This was the first unthemed puzzle I’ve made, so I’m delighted to see it published. My seeds were 33-Across, which was the top seed, and 8-Down, which I chose after I decided I wanted to cross two wrenches down the middle.
I’m a big fan of having entries stacked in the corners, as I did in each section of this puzzle, and I’m happy that I was able to include so many strong entries. My favorite tracks I wrote are 12D and 30D; My editors’ favorites are 56A and 33D.
Big thanks to Frisco and my mom for solving this puzzle, as well as my dad for helping me with some of the clues! I hope everyone enjoyed it. Here’s the next one!
Join our discussions about other games
Want to be part of the New York Times gaming conversation or maybe get help with a particularly thorny puzzle? Here are the:
Spelling Bee Forum
Wordle Review
Connection buddy
Improve your crossword solving
Work your way through our guide, “How to Solve the New York Times Crossword.” It contains an explanation of most of the types of clues you’ll see in the puzzles and a Practice Mini at the end of each section.
Want to submit crossword puzzles to the New York Times?
The New York Times Crossword has an open submission system and you can submit your puzzles online.
For tips on how to get started, read our “How to Do a Crossword” series.
The inflection point
I’m almost done solving but I need a bit More help? We’ve got you covered.
Spoiler alert: Subscribers can take a look at the answer key..
Are you trying to return to the main game page? You can find it here.