SATURDAY PUZZLE — This is Robert Logan’s second crossword for The Times, and his first themeless, after a Friday debut last August (First themeless? That’s right. If you can think of a themed Friday puzzle of late, you’re probably thinking of Mr. Logan’s, because they’re as rare as hen’s teeth). This grid is notable for its low word count and its great looks. I think it resembles a symbol for a tropical storm or clothes spinning in a dryer, and I tumbled through it several times before I completed my solve.
I consider a puzzle “clean” when it has an even level of difficulty throughout, or the wordplay is subtle but crystalline, or all the tough clues make perfect sense the moment I figure them out. This puzzle is not that. I flew through some spots, then hit the wall in others, and there are several entries that I still don’t quite understand. But it’s a lot of fun, especially considering the restrictions of a low-word-count construction; there are several great debuts, and I was gratified to survive the turbulence of the hard parts.
Tricky Clues
1A. Right off the bat, I’m not sure of this reference. “Turnovers in a football field, maybe?” has wordplay, evidenced by the question mark, but the answer is still surprising: CARTWHEELS. Is this supposed to make me think of touchdown celebrations, or is it some gymnastic rite of passage people have in places where a football field is available to all? Is this hyper-specific Hagen Meservy trivia?
11A. “Chicken soup and eucalyptus oil, for two,” are HOME REMEDIES; I had “folk” for HOME. I stuck a handful of misdirects in the grid when I was first making guesses, but I was more likely to draw a blank than to take a wrong step in this particular puzzle.
19A/24A. These two little words in the “eye of the storm,” or center of this puzzle, have clues that play on each other and were the last entries in my solve. At 19A, “Measure of inflation: Abbr.” had me thinking of economic data: I chose PPI, then PMI. The “inflation” in this clue applies to a balloon, though, or a tire, and the abbreviation is PSI, for “pounds per square inch.” At 24A, “Inflated,” think “bigheaded” or “puffed up,” which are similar clues that have been used in past crossword puzzles for VAIN.
9D. This “Game with rolling and bluffing” is a new entry, and new to me, but deducible with enough crossing letters (as long as you don’t get distracted by picturesque “rolling bluffs”). This is LIARS DICE, for which there are rules (if you can believe it).
20D. “Some seals” could be pinnipeds, I first thought, then considered lids, adhesives, or gaskets. For a moment I thought “magnets” might be the answer, which seemed odd but possible; then I figured out PSI and VAIN and got SIGNETS, engraved rings or stamps that can be used to “seal” an official document.
27D. With a lot of crossing letters, I figured that “Finds, and fast” would be “rustles up,” the way some people can make a meal out of nothing in a few minutes in the kitchen. This is actually HUSTLES UP, a puzzle debut, which seems to be used the same way: to find or put something together, quickly.
30D. This clue and entry had me searching high and low for an explanation. “Like some cakes and games” solves to ICED. Cakes I get, but games? In hockey, a puck may indeed be ICED, or skittered around the edges of an ice rink as a delaying tactic. In basketball, a player can be ICED if an opponent tries to throw them off during a tense moment, say by calling a timeout before a free throw at the end of a game. Maybe this clue just means that a game is ICED when its result is all but certain, but this doesn’t “click” for me. Maybe it applies to a game of LIARS DICE?
Constructor Notes
“I should try an ultra-low-word-count themeless.”
HA HA Ha Ha Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha …
What in the heck was I thinking? (There wasn’t even any rum involved in formulating that thought. Well … not a lot, anyway.)
Seventeen months, 42,420 gray hairs, dozens of grid variations, a thousand dead ends, case after case of Red Bull (and a few bottles of rum) later …
This one was truly a labor of love — and perseverance. I’m honored that it was accepted. And I’m beyond honored to be sharing a themeless weekend with the esteemed Ms. Weintraub. I’m also a bit nervous. She’s a tough act to follow.
I rather like the graceful curves and flow of this grid. The seed entry was 13-Across. To be clear, it was the eleventeenth seed entry I tried for this particular grid iteration. But it did seem appropriate for the challenge I had laid out for myself way back when, and I’m very happy with the result.
I hope you are, too.
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