Matthew Stock takes us on a trip.
THURSDAY PUZZLE — I have not traveled around the United States as much as I would like, but I intend to change that in the near future. There are so many interesting places to see.
Matthew Stock has done the traveling for us, and he wants to show us a vacation picture. In some cases, that may be cause for us to smile beatifically and feign interest (“Here’s Aunt Mildred in front of the sign … and here’s Aunt Mildred in back of the sign …”), but his puzzle is a fun one. And the place he visited is now on my bucket list.
Tricky Clues
21A. This was a tricky one, and I think it’s very clever. “Love of texting?” could mean that you just can’t wait to put your thumbs on your smartphone and reach out to your friends. Mr. Stock is really looking for a synonym for “love” as it could be rendered in a text. The answer is BAE.
31A. The “Low power?” in this puzzle has nothing to do with battery life. It refers to mathematical powers, and a low one would be a SQUARE.
41A. The “Keys on a piano” is the musician ALICIA Keys. This is known as a veiled capital clue. Ms. Keys’s surname is placed at the beginning to hide the fact that the clue refers to her proper name.
10D. Nice misdirection here. I found this tricky because there was no hint that the answer would be in Spanish, but I think that OLE is common enough that most solvers will know it as a “Big whoop?”
20D. I knew this one; mentioning it here is just a shameless plug for slow cookers. I love mine. You can throw a bunch of ingredients in, stride briskly away and come back to a prepared dinner. Oh, and a house that smells wonderful. I’ve never made any POT ROASTS in mine, but I use it for soups and stews quite a bit.
Today’s Theme
Some of you may not have noticed this, but in most cases, a crossword grid tends to be square. That means that it has four corners, which sets us up well to solve Mr. Stock’s theme.
I love a visual theme, even if it does contain rebus elements. We’ll talk about the rebus in a moment, but if you are new to them and are not sure how to add them to your online puzzle, the article below gives you step-by-step instructions.
Mr. Stock has constructed a grid that represents the FOUR CORNERS, a southwestern region of the United States where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona meet at a single geographic point.
The states are represented in the puzzle by their postal abbreviations — UT, CO, NM and AZ, when read clockwise from the northwest — and each one has to be written into a single square. That’s your rebus element.
Each state is in its proper geographic location, and Mr. Stock has cleverly placed the revealer, FOUR CORNERS, in the center.
Constructor Notes
This puzzle was accepted in February 2021, and I’m excited to finally share it today! When I laid out this grid, I wanted to emphasize the “four corners”-ness of the theme as much as possible. At just 70 words, this grid might more closely resemble a Friday puzzle than your average Thursday. I hope this helps increase the difficulty in order to complement a relatively straightforward rebus theme.
Outside the puzzle world, I just finished my first month as an eighth-grade math teacher in Gainesville, Fla., where I’m hoping I can teach my students to love puzzles and problem solving as much as I do.
Want to Submit Crosswords to The New York Times?
The New York Times Crossword has an open submission system, and you can submit your puzzles online.
For tips on how to get started, read our series, “How to Make a Crossword Puzzle.”
The Tipping Point
Almost finished solving but need a bit more help? We’ve got you covered.
Spoiler alert: subscribers can take a peek at the answer key.
Trying to get back to the main Gameplay page? You can find it here.
"Love" - Google News
September 08, 2022 at 09:00AM
https://ift.tt/4jBOAZt
Love of Texting - The New York Times
"Love" - Google News
https://ift.tt/keSCMoX
https://ift.tt/f81xqVR
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Love of Texting - The New York Times"
Post a Comment