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TUESDAY PUZZLE — Humor, in the estimation of some of the earliest philosophers, is a reaction to perceived incongruity: Aristotle wrote that a humorous effect is produced when “the word which comes is not what the hearer imagined.”
This is a fairly dry assessment of what makes for good comedy, but it’s the theory that came to mind as I was solving today’s crossword puzzle, constructed by Jeffrey Martinovic. The game of opposites in Mr. Martinovic’s grid asks us to hear common words and phrases in a different way from what we might have imagined. It scrambled my brain a little, and I loved it.
Shall we bend an ear together?
Today’s Theme
A 15-letter phrase describing “Some grammatical no-nos,” at 38-Across, doubles as “a description of four pairs of answers in this puzzle.” As a reformed stickler, I know there are endless ways to make mistakes in English — things “up with which I will not put,” as some say (or don’t). Let’s take a look at a couple of themed entries first and see if we can make them do a little legwork for us.
According to a pair of clues, “Cease fighting” (16A) is purported to be the opposite of a “Simple exercise” (61A) and vice versa. Well, let’s see: How is an order to STAND DOWN the opposite of a SIT-UP?
If we split the expressions, we see that STAND is the opposite of SIT, and DOWN is the opposite of UP. In a way, then, these are neat opposites. Here’s another: To “Cut communications” (25A) is to GO DARK, which is somehow the opposite of a “Traffic regulator” (63A). Any guesses? Go for opposites: STOPLIGHT.
These are DOUBLE NEGATIVES (38A) — “grammatical no-nos” in a different context — interpreted as such because they are pairs of words that negate each other.
Tricky Clues
15A. I used my crossings to figure out who “One living south of the Sooner State” might be since I didn’t know what or where the Sooner State was. It’s the state of Oklahoma, south of which you’d find a TEXAN or two. (Sooners were so called because they raced into the territory before the designated starting time for a land run in 1889.)
34A. Now, this was clever. The answer to a “Place to find gold … that’s not yours?” is MINE. This confused me at first — how could the entry be MINE when the clue explicitly claimed that it wasn’t? Then I noticed the question mark at the end of the clue, which indicates a twist in its interpretation: “Yours” should be read as a word asking for its opposite — thus, MINE.
67A. You’re unlikely to find a “Promotional event at a dealership” called a SELL-A-THON, but the ubiquity of one oft-memed sale with a similar name makes this entry doable, if a bit stretchy.
7D. “Coke vs. Pepsi” is an example of an AD WAR. I won’t choose sides here — but I will freely admit that I prefer fountain soda to the canned variety, any day.
30D. RIGAMAROLE is such a marvelous word for an “Annoying process” that just thinking about it relieves part of my annoyance.
52D. What makes this “Party person?” fun to be around may surprise you: The entry is VOTER.
58D. AGHA is a “Turkish title of respect” that means “ruler” or “elder brother.”
Constructor Notes
Happy New Year! Glad to be back in The New York Times so soon.
The genesis of this puzzle came while I was studying for exams last April. So many great ideas come at the most random times. I noticed that “Hell, yes” and “Heavens, no” were two-word phrases made up of pairs of opposites, and a theme idea was born. A quick search turned up DOUBLE NEGATIVES, and I knew I had to go ahead with the puzzle. Dozens of iterations later, this was the one arrangement that finally fell into place.
Here are a few amusing pairs I found that didn’t make the final cut: meltdown/freeze up, in front/outback, first day/last night, uprise/downfall, stop short/go long. Hopefully, all these DOUBLE NEGATIVES had a positive effect on your Tuesday!
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