Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues
MONDAY PUZZLE — The last week of February brings hope for springtime. Even the generally snowless states have had their share of winter weather, so I’m sure that several cities are looking forward to the thaw. But we mustn’t be seduced by fool’s spring, which gives us the illusory tease of warmer temperatures only to dash us into a cruel and prolonged cold snap shortly afterward.
If you’re looking to practice your skepticism this season, have a go at solving today’s crossword, constructed by Rena Cohen, which is all about not getting thrown off course by false notions. Shall we scrutinize it together?
Today’s Theme
If your solving style is to go Across first and then Down, you’ll notice a pattern of repetition in the grid’s circled letters early on. At 20A, for instance: [Helps with dinner cleanup] solves to WASHES DISHES, with four S’s encircled. The pattern repeats with the letter E in 29A — [Some out-of-office training] is FIELD EXPERIENCE — and again with T at 46A’s [Prepared students specifically for material on standardized exams]: TAUGHT TO THE TEST. (The length of that clue really tested my reading abilities, too.)
Those who solve Down clues first aren’t at a disadvantage, though, because this visual theme relies on a vertical interpretation hinted at by the clue at 54A: [Disabuses of false notions … or a hint to the circled letters] solves to SETS STRAIGHT, which refers literally to the fact that four SETs, spelled by the circled letters, appear in the columns at 6D, 8D, 10D and 13D. (It could also be referring to the sets of identical circled letters running across three of the rows, but that’s beside the point.)
Tricky Clues
28A. I’ve seen this clue and entry pairing before, but it never fails to make me smile: The “bread” in this [Bread machine?] is money, slangily, which can be found in an A.T.M.
52A. [Groove] could mean any number of things — a dance, a divot, a good flow. The correct answer here is RUT, as in a physical groove on a road. How funny: When we talk about being “in a rut,” we’re drawing on a onetime driving metaphor, but we don’t think of that connection when using the figure of speech. (My colleague Tracy Bennett, a puzzle editor, pointed out that the clue could just as easily have been [Not a groove].)
5D/7D. When one clue can’t be solved without the answer to another, we refer to the pair as partner clues. [Call to one with a 7-Down] requires the entry for 7D: A [Fencing blade] is an EPEE, so we can go back to 5D and determine that the call would be EN GARDE.
12D. It’s a little redundant for [… and so on and so forth] to solve to ETC., ETC., since one “etc.” means essentially the same thing. That’s word-flation for you, isn’t it?
48D. I didn’t recognize the concept of a [Business reversal] as something positive, so I got stuck trying to think of the opposite of hiring (firing) or a merger (un-merger?). The answer is UPTURN, which is a term generally used in finance or business contexts to describe improved circumstances.
Constructor Notes
I was excited to find out that this puzzle would be coming out on Feb. 24, because that is my birthday! Hard to ask for a better birthday present. This puzzle was a fun one to make; I love puzzling through tricky grids to execute themes with visual elements. Enjoy!
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