TUESDAY PUZZLE — In the world of crossword puzzle construction, having a byline in The New York Times is considered to be a real feather in one’s cruciverbal cap. Of course, with the rise of popular indie puzzles, there are many more feathers to be had now, and they are also well-deserved and prestigious. But for many constructors, The Times is a goal unto itself.
That’s why this puzzle by Byron Walden is special. This is his 100th crossword for The New York Times, made over a span of 19 years and that amounts to roughly (counts on fingers) 5.25 puzzles per year. I’m entertaining myself right now by imagining that all of those 0.25 puzzles were Minis.
Anyway, 100 New York Times Crossword bylines is nothing to sneeze at, particularly when a majority of those puzzles were late week forays into Mr. Walden’s twisted, Zolaesque mind.
Congratulations, Mr. Walden. Here’s to the next 100 puzzles.
Tricky Clues
52A. It’s dark, but a question mark clue about things that are “passing” or “passed” is usually going to be about OBITS.
9D. I honestly had to guess this one, and fortunately, I was right. “Columbia, the GEM of the Ocean” is a song. I’ve heard the melody but was not aware of the title.
11D. These “Counters with beads” are not store counters, but things that count. ABACI (the plural of abacus) use beads to count.
Today’s Theme
Mr. Walden takes us on a virtual trip to the gym, or REC CENTER, as the revealer at 33D tells us. Instead of lifting dangling participles or tossing out Oxford commas, however, we are tasked with finding the actual REC CENTER itself in the grid. That’s my kind of exercise.
The REC we are looking for is in the CENTER of the five theme entries, and Mr. Walden has done this in a very elegant way. For one, all of the theme entries except for 10D are 15-letters and have the REC in the center, with six letters on either side. IMPRECISE, at 10D, has only three letters on each side, but it was still a nice symmetrical balance to the revealer, and I think I would have missed it if it had not been there.
Second, note how Mr. Walden managed to interlock these theme entries, with the crossing of PRESSURE COOKERS and HOME FORECLOSURE at the REC being the stand out, because it is actually in the CENTER of the puzzle, like a guiding star.
That’s a lot for a Tuesday theme, and one of the things I like about Mr. Walden’s puzzles is that he doesn’t try to overload his grids with “tricks.” Some new constructors might be tempted to gild such a lily by, say, filling around the theme with high Scrabble scoring letters and trying for a pangram as well. That’s almost always the way to wind up with junky fill, and, to be honest, it would take away from the shine of a well thought out theme like this.
I compare it to painters who wonder if their paintings are “finished” and keep adding to them, possibly obscuring their original intent. Mr. Walden knows when he’s got the best possible outcome for his puzzle, and while there is one “crosswordese”-like entries (ADIN and EMBAR), for the most part he just dabs his paintbrush lightly around his theme. That’s what making more than 100 puzzles (he has been published elsewhere, of course) will do for you.
Constructor Notes
If there were proper bets on crossword puzzles, I wonder what the odds would have been that my 100th puzzle in The Times would have been on a Tuesday. (Hmm, maybe 98:1.) Thanks to Will and crew for giving me the opportunity and all of the fine editing over the past 19 years.
Since it was a pretty straightforward theme, I was hoping to jazz it up a bit by interlocking the theme entries. I worked on a different combination for a long time. All I can remember was that SOFTWARE COMPANY was originally at the bottom rather than the top. Eventually, I gave up on that and managed to get this one to work.
Hope you all are safe and well and enjoy a bit of diversion with the puzzle.
The Tipping Point
Almost finished solving but need a bit more help? We’ve got you covered.
Warning: There be spoilers ahead, but subscribers can take a peek at the answer key.
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December 01, 2020 at 10:00AM
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