SATURDAY PUZZLE — What did Simeon Seigel do to us here in his debut Saturday construction? Maybe it’s no coincidence that he has mainly specialized in Thursday grids. This puzzle includes eight unchecked squares, typically a crossword no-no. Each of them sports a circle, which indicates some sort of theme, which is typically a Saturday no-no. Oh, and every black square in the entire grid is disconnected from every other black square, even on the diagonal, which is typically, well … considered impossible? Rarer than rare, perhaps.
Elaborate, yes, but also completely fun: Those circled squares make a cute revealer, and the puzzle is packed with entertaining trivia and wordplay. It’s all very celebratory.
Tricky Clues
İçerik Tablosu
4A. “Source of intelligence” is the kind of clue that Saturday solvers should be all over, right? I mean, it’s us, we’re the “Source of intelligence.” In this case, though, the “intelligence” isn’t encyclopedic knowledge of Indian musical instruments, the women of “The Faerie Queene” or characters in “Game of Thrones”; it’s the kind of strategic information obtained on a RECON mission. Note the circled and unchecked “C” in RECON.
8A. “They work in meters” brought to mind any manner of adherents to the metric system, but the actual answer didn’t occur to me until I had all four of the crossing letters in place. The meters in question are in verse, worked up by POETS. Note the circled and unchecked “O” in POETS.
36A. “Rarer than rare” solves to ONCE IN A LIFETIME. I can’t recall finding a span entry that has been in more New York Times Crossword puzzles — this is its 22nd appearance since its debut in 1954, the clue for which cited a “Hit play of 1930.” (I like to think of the Talking Heads whenever possible, so that’s what I did.)
63A. This is a little revealer for this little theme: “Event suggested by this puzzle’s circled squares, read clockwise from the top.” I deduced this from crossing entries: It’s a PARTY, and the “T” is circled and unchecked.
64A. A little political nostalgia for the end of a pre-election year, eh? This “Cabinet resignee of 1988” was President Ronald Reagan’s attorney general, Edwin MEESE. The second “E” in MEESE is circled and unchecked, you will notice.
1D. This is difficult; the entry is an unusual debut, and on top of that it has a circled letter. “Part of a turntablist’s headgear, for short,” is a DJ MIC, or “disc jockey microphone.” The “I” in DJ MIC is circled and unchecked.
8D. I adore this clue, which I was sure had to do with hair or pastry. But no! “Twists can thicken it” refers to a PLOT, of course. This is a perfect pun for a suspenseful puzzle.
27D. For “Fit,” think of everyone’s resolve around now: Get strong in the new year, get TONED. The “N” in TONED is circled and unchecked.
32D. This one is simple, perhaps to make up for DJ MIC. For “Terra _____,” the entry is COTTA, not “firma.” The first “T” in COTTA is circled and unchecked.
52D. Here’s another relatively mild bit of trivia, a reference to a crossword stalwart (45 prior appearances in grids). “Violinist Zimbalist” is EFREM; the “F” in EFREM is circled and unchecked.
Have you put this puzzle’s pieces together? If so, time for some Champagne and ticker tape! Starting at 4A, the circled letters read clockwise give us a New Year’s Eve party fixture: CONFETTI.
Constructor Notes
This puzzle (like so many) was born of idle speculation: “It would be neat to spread isolated blockers all around. … Is that even possible?” At some point, I stumbled upon Patrick Merrell’s amazing Times grid from Dec. 2, 2005, which did exactly that. So I tried a slightly different approach to spread the blockers out as evenly as possible. This left isolated squares along the edges, which would need some justification. The unusual grid looked like snow or stars … or like the eight-letter word that managed to fit into those lone spaces. Months and dozens of iterations later, almost by luck, I happened upon a way to reference the “hidden” word with the clue at 63-Across. The result isn’t really a Thursday-style theme, but it’s also not quite as wide open as a typical Friday or Saturday themeless. So I was pleased that the editors saw it as a celebratory opportunity and sneaked it into the holiday weekend. They tweaked a bunch of clues nicely to double down on that idea. Happy New Year!
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