Each one is clued with only an em dash, -, which certainly doesn’t give a solver much to go on.
There is a revealer at 122-Across: “Secret exits represented five times in this puzzle’s grid.” There are five down entries: 32-, 62-, 65-, 105- and 113-Down. You really have to be on your toes to get this theme, and even that might not save you from a few vertiginous surprises.įirst of all, as far as themed puzzles go, the relevant entries are very well concealed. Think digital, and be careful when you’re the EMAILER trying to send someone a particularly hilarious lolcat - malware hides everywhere these days.
#Shell doesnt crack crossword free
I’m analog, and thought of a “trailer” as having “attachment issues” (breaking free from its tiny hitch and rolling down a highway). Also, the “Pelicans” at 111D are basketball players in NOLA, and a “trophy” that March Madness players can collect is a piece of a basketball NET, ceremonially snipped with scissors after a win.ĩ7D. “One to be dethroned” sounds like a threatened royal, but a challenger can also dethrone a CHAMP. A few sports references toward the end of the puzzle hung me up for a moment. (Of course there are tutorials, for future reference.)Ĩ8D. (There are places with snow on the ground for Halloween, right?) Then I went with round and creepy, so I tried EYES, and, finally, WEBS, with help from crosses. “Halloween decorations that can be made with cotton balls?” I thought of “snow” first. Today marks the 23rd appearance of DORAG.Ĥ3D. The Times crossword has spelled “durag” that way exactly once (kudos to Adam Aaronson, whose clue reads, “Anyone who has ever worn a _ spells it ‘_,’ per a 2018 New York Times article”). On a Tuesday, this entry is prompted by a clue like “How’s _?” or “Something good dogs know.” On a Sunday, you need to reach into your bag of, er, French etymology and remember that “Legerdemain” comes from “ light of hand” and refers to artfulness, skills or TRICKS.Ĩ3A. The name is a rhyme play on a darling of puzzle fill, emo, and a much better choice if you’re trying to add some intensity to your daily jog or find yourself on a field somewhere, feeling frustrated.Ģ9A. After some research, I realize that I know it when I hear it, even though I don’t remember seeing the term SCREAMO before. If you can’t figure out why a particular set of letters doesn’t seem to make sense but must, you’ll most likely find confirmation in the “Today’s Theme” explanation below.ġA. To add to the difficulty today, the theme set includes five down entries that are incomplete words.
All wonderful in the rearview mirror, but when you’re looking for a few letters somewhere, anywhere, to grab on to, clues like “ Goddess in a peacock-drawn chariot” for HERA and “Capital of Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture” for KOBE make for tough going. There is hardly any throwaway fill today - even the clues to the smallest entries seem crafted with love (examples: filling up your TACO at the “shell station” STU, just the type of guy to steadily simmer with worry not just any BRA, but Lady Gaga’s). *That’s rhetorical - please don’t say anything about the state of the world. (See his Constructor Notes for more detail on that.) This is his 48th puzzle for The Times, and his eighth Sunday one a few years ago, he collaborated on a Tuesday grid with his father, Garry Trudeau, the creator of “ Doonesbury.” Ross Trudeau is a writer and puzzle maker who lives in Cambridge, Mass., and whose crosswords also appear in The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal, among other places. It took me several passes through the grid to nail down just what was afoot, and a few more to fill in all my blank spaces. It’s also quite difficult, stuffed with trickery and built around a treacherous theme (with an infernal rebus!). Today’s grid is a doozy: creative, seemingly chaotic, but intricate and precise in its execution. SUNDAY PUZZLE - Say what you will about the state of the world*, but in the little enclave inhabited by the Sunday Times crossword puzzle, 2022 is off to a banging good start.
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