Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues
WEDNESDAY PUZZLE — In order to get their flaky, pull-apart texture, certain pastries (such as croissants) must be prepared using a technique known as lamination. Through this process of repeated rolling and folding, the dough develops layers exponentially.
Maybe I’ve been watching too many cooking shows, but I’d call the above an apt analogy for the theme of today’s crossword, which was constructed by Peter A. Collins and Bruce Haight: Its layers are many, and awe-inspiring once detected. I’ll confess that I hadn’t appreciated all of them until I received the constructors’ notes, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles — or the way the pastry flakes, I should say.
Today’s Theme
İçerik Tablosu
Rather than rely on a revealer clue to divulge their crossword’s theme, Mr. Collins and Mr. Haight opted to conceal a monogram in the center of their grid using black squares. (N.B.: Isn’t monogram a funny word for something that uses two letters? Should we call it a digram? I digress.)
The initials H.H. carve out our theme set in a few ways:
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17-, 34-, 45- and 63-Across and 10- and 46-Down are expressions whose initials are H.H. The metaphor for “Harsh rule” (17A), for example, is a HEAVY HAND. Most of these entries are straightforward, save for 34A’s “Hybrid genre of country” and RAP (33A), which felt even more obscure to me than last week’s lesser-known musical genres. It’s called, somewhat pejoratively, HICK-HOP.
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All of today’s clues, both Across and Down, begin with the letter H.
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Beyond the themed entries, no other H’s appear in the puzzle! Now, t-at’s impressive.
Tricky Clues
9A. An entry almost always matches the number of its clue, but in the case of “‘Hallelujah!’ singers” a collective CHOIR satisfies the need for a plural.
24A. Whenever a clue ends in a question mark, its answer is bound to be a misdirect of some kind. For “Hummer’s interior?,” we’re meant to interpret the “interior” as a reference to the word “Hummer’s” itself (as opposed to what it describes). The answer is two EMS.
44A. The crossword gods have deemed it fit for TEC to stand as an abbreviation for detective, per this entry for “Hercule Poirot, e.g., for short.” Elementary it’s not — but it’s a good bit of crosswordese to retain, nonetheless.
62A. “Heat center of the 2000s” does not refer to some kind of massive warming location from the early aughts. (Oh, you didn’t think it did? I see your brain is working better than mine.) The clue refers to the former center for the Miami Heat, Shaquille O’NEAL.
8D. “Helter-skelter scrambles” solves to a two-word phrase, MAD DASHES. I lost a little time trying to hear this as a single word (for anyone wondering, “maddashes” rhymes with “radishes”).
22D. The city that’s “Home to more than 20 million Pakistanis” is KARACHI.
36D. You’ll be hard-pressed to find this “Homemaker from Mayberry” playing house anywhere on television today: BEE TAYLOR was a character on “The Andy Griffith Show,” which aired from 1960 to 1968.
Constructor Notes
Peter A. Collins: Greetings! This is my first published New York Times puzzle in almost two and a half years. Where have I been, you ask? Let me put it this way: The escape-proof pod on the alien spacecraft wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It’s good to be back.
This puzzle started several yeas ago with the H.H. grid art. Our original version had several famous people with the initials H.H. (Hulk Hogan, Helen Hayes and so on). The editorial staff thought that all the names made the theme too “know it or you don’t,” so we shelved it until about a year ago, when I thought we’d take the H.H. and apply it to regular phrases instead. We were able to squeeze in six such entries. As an added degree of elegance, there are no other H’s in the grid. Having all of our clues start with the letter H was the brainchild of the editors. Did you enjoy it? Here’s hoping!
Bruce Haight: This puzzle was mostly Pete’s idea, but I