Ivanhoe, Avalon, and Camelot all splash around in my head together whether they're supposed to or not. Also, off that V, I kept trying to fit "Ivanhoe" for AVALON. "Ovian" before OVATE, "ave" before TIA, and "in a rut" before IN IDLE. Thanks for explaining that, K.) So I filled those in and then went ahead and put in the N, S, W, E letters in the et al – me too for "pewit" and thinking of M&A. Knowing that Jeff was involved, I guessed correctly that the rebus squares would be symmetrical. From the get-go, I filled in the tiny letters the way Rex is talking about, and thought it was just so damn elegant. Both the UNSER/TAUPE and ACORN SQUASH/ORSON WELLES crosses were screaming at me, so I left those squares blank and then moments later saw the compass trick with SENSEI/TWEEN. I knew we had us a rebus almost out of the gate. Since I really dropped the ball on Puzzles of the Week over the summer, I'll direct you to Matt Gaffney's survey of his favorite puzzles for August (and July). It will take you ten times longer than most puzzles take you, so your buck will go a long way. Puzzle of the Week this week is the one I mentioned on Friday- Patrick Blindauer's brutal "Bi-curious" (an American Values Crossword production). The puzzle in general felt clean and pleasant. So that was some kooky fun (real answer: SATAY). With -A-A- in place at 92D: Stick on the grill? I went for KABAB.
DEVICES IN ATOMIC CLOCKS NYT CROSSWORD TV
And it was! Thought 11D: Expensive Super Bowl purchase was an AD SPOT, not a TV SPOT. Where was I? Um … MASER! That was the one part of the puzzle where I got every letter from crosses, then double-checked all the crosses, then just crossed my fingers that that was a thing. NORTHERN LAPWING is 15 letters long, in case you're interested in that sort of thing, you crossword constructor types. I had it as a PEWET for a bit, perhaps confusing it with a godwit or … oh, no, my confusion is much more reasonable, as there is in fact a bird called a PEEWIT (or PEWIT). A PEWEE ( 53D: Small flycatcher) is a bird, right? Yes. That, and the fact that I couldn't parse the compass points right the first time I threw ORSON WELLES in there (I put the "NW" in one square instead of the "WE"). Mary QUANT rings only the faintest of bells-she's a big reason that section of the grid took me longer than any other. PALEO DIET is great (as an entry, not as a diet). There's some very nice fill, including a bunch of stuff I've never seen before.
After that, the theme squares were mostly easy to uncover (with only one little hiccup-see below). Then I went back and cleaned house in the NW. I'd written in TEEN, but couldn't get SENSEI to work in the Down … and then something clicked. Hmmm, now that I look at the grid, I think I actually figured out the cardinal point thing with the westernmost theme square, i.e. But no-"NS" occupied the single square, so the right answer worked after all. Naturally, this caused alarm in the Grid Patrol region of my brain, as I figured the puzzle had a major clue/answer correspondence error. I first grasped, or semi-grasped, the theme with CLEANS HOUSE, when I knew that had to be the answer, but then it looked like actual answer was going to be CLEAN HOUSE. So the unchecked squares are kind of crucial today, as they give you a large-scale vision of what each individual theme square is supposed to look like. In front of each clue we have added its number and position on the crossword puzzle for easier navigation.It's weird-as I was solving, I thought, "OK, so you've got all the cardinal direction letters in those theme squares … WE in the Acrosses, NS in the Downs … seems kind of arbitrary …" And herein lies the only problem with this theme, which I now think quite ingenious: you have to write really, really tiny to make it work visually (and if you're solving on screen, as I do, the fact that the letters are actually laid out like a compass doesn't register visually at all). If you are done solving this clue take a look below to the other clues found on today's puzzle in case you may need help with any of them.
This clue was last seen on NYTimes FebruPuzzle. Two or more clue answers mean that the clue has appeared multiple times throughout the years. Both the main and the mini crosswords are published daily and published all the solutions of those puzzles for you. The NYTimes Crossword is a classic crossword puzzle.
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