SATURDAY PUZZLE — This puzzle has a little something for the neophyte, and a little something for the grizzled vet. Anyone interested in a juicy solve that’s vibrant and likely to build your confidence rather than tear it to shreds? Well, walk this way.
For you jaded Saturday solvers, an artful detail: This grid, as silken as it is, comes with but 58 entries — the lowest word count we have had in a Times puzzle in several years. That constraint typically makes a puzzle much harder to construct, and translates to longer entries throughout, i.e., more and bigger verbal fireworks.
Tricky Clues
İçerik Tablosu
13A. Oh, OCTAVIA! The “Wife whom Marc Antony deserted for Cleopatra” has appeared in the crossword a few times (as well as in Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra,” for a moment or two). I had forgotten her, and I never knew that she cared for the children of the emperor who jilted her, after his and Cleopatra’s deaths.
14A. With a few crossing letters in place, I felt confident that this “Physical feature of the god Pan” was “hooves,” rather than his jaunty GOATEE. The origin of this term is certainly caprine, but people started using it many centuries after Pan first blew his pipe.
8D. We need to bring back the use of this one-word clue, “Mountebanks,” in common conversation — it rolls off the tongue deliciously and applies to so much modern behavior. The origin of the term isn’t modern at all, but then, neither is the behavior, come to think about it. It goes back to at least the 1500s, and comes from the Italian for “mount on bench,” as a snake oil salesman or charlatan might do, to attract a gullible crowd: the type targeted by CON ARTISTS.
10D. This “Cartoon superhero with an ‘A’ on his chest” is a character in the Yogi Bear franchise (or ursaverse, if you will), ATOM ANT. Apparently a morning ant, his catchphrase is “Up and at ’em, Atom Ant!.”
23D. The “Targets for censors” here are DIRTY WORDS, not “swear” or “curse” words. Solving it took me three tries, is what I’m trying to say (any options I missed?).
35D. Looking for wordplay because of the question mark in this clue, “Web browser?,” I thought of spider silk before I thought of the internet. The answer, though, is about browsing online: They’re a NETIZEN.
Constructor Notes
I’m thrilled to have a puzzle appear on 11/11, which evokes two things I appreciate: Armistice Day and the MGMT album 11•11•11. They’re both underrated in their ways.
Every puzzle involves language curation. But the lower the word count (58 here), the more that curation requires accepting or rejecting entire sections of the grid. A certain set of answers in one corner may leave only one fill option for another whole quadrant. It’s a balancing act, and I’ve often filled three-quarters of a grid, only to find that the last bit has only one, unacceptable, option. Back to Square 1.
It’s small synchronicities that tie themeless puzzles together, and they often emerge in the cluing. Getting Put on a pedestal / Put on a pedestal / Pedestals for three consecutive clues felt fortuitous. And I stumbled into pairing the last two Across clues. “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” has been on my to-read list for two years now (it’s long!), but it was the first thing that came to mind with SONGS. The Du Bois clue that followed (I think) salvaged an otherwise not-outstanding entry.
Favorite clue: 8A: Burns at the steak?
Want to Submit Crosswords 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 series, “How to Make a Crossword Puzzle.”
Keeping the Censors Busy?
Subscribers can take a peek at the answer key.
Trying to get back to the puzzle page? Right here.
What did you think?