Cut the Cards, Perhaps
SATURDAY PUZZLE — This is Ryan McCarty’s 21st Saturday grid for The New York Times. He is one of our weekend regulars and a reliable constructor of the right kind of themeless workout, in my book. There are a handful of chewy debuts, great trivia and misdirection. There are also many touches, like dueling Romance languages in the southwest corner and thundering herds close to the center of the grid — little inside jokes that make me feel so clever for noticing (as if figuring out each entry in the first place isn’t cerebral enough). Each of us may pick up on something different — I see at least four more echoes and coincidences — and they’re all signs of the high art of puzzle-making.
Tricky Clues
14A. This “‘Squid Game’ actress,” HOYEON Jung, makes her debut in the Times Crossword. I got every letter of her name on crosses, but I initially had it wrong at 9D because “Word said in passing?” has two logical answers, in my opinion. I went with “ave,” which admittedly is usually clued as an “Ancient greeting” or “Greeting in old Rome,” instead of AYE, a vote used when passing a bill. Just me?
23A. This is a misdirect. “Not working, in a way” solves to ON STRIKE. I had the far more innocuous “on a break” for a long time, until a critical mass of crossing letters steered me right.
36A. This debut is a longer version of a slangy entry that shows up now and again. “‘Don’t make me laugh!’” solves to OH PUHLEASE, a phrase that I can’t say to myself without rolling my eyes a little bit, reflexively.
Source: The New York Times
