If you have a sturdy need for non-public space, Ross Trudeau’s puzzle may also appear a chunk invasive, but it presents a pleasant “aha!” second even though. Make sure you assert the “aha!” out loud so the puzzle can listen to you, or you may land up being prodded.
Tricky Clues
5A: “Execs who cope with the green” hints at the people who count number the of cash, and that might be the CFOS.
20A: Out of interest, I seemed into this BUY A PIG IN A POKE expression because who does that? It turns out that the idiom harkens again to the Middle Ages; that is a ton of harkening, in case you ask me.
Anyway, the phrase is an alternative to the Latin word caveat emptor or “Let the client beware.” Back earlier than red meat grew in little Saran-wrapped applications within the meat aisle of your grocery store (and they do grow there; they start as tiny meatball seeds and, with the assist of these misters above the shelf, they develop into wholesome standing rib roasts), human beings would go as much as the farmer and say, “What’s properly inside the poke today? You were given any of that brisket?”
And the farmer could say, “No, however, I have a pleasing pig for you, although you may’t see it.” Sometimes the conversation could give up proper there, with the farmer being burned on the stake for the witchcraft of developing invisible pigs, due to the fact (ironic shaggy dog story beforehand) this changed into pre-net and people didn’t see nuance in addition to we do now. Eventually, they realized that the farmer became truly pulling a fast one on them and seeking to sell the meat that changed into no longer always from a pig. Thus, humans discovered to inspect the real poke and eyeball their dinner to make sure they knew what they had been buying.
56A: I would like to, for my part, welcome the BROCA’S AREA again to The New York Times Crossword after a hiatus of 41 years.
63A: If this clue appears a chunk incomplete to you, worry now not, it is not a typesetting error. “My b” is short for “my bad,” which is a superb synonym for OOPS.
2D: Don’t bother studying approximately the ALOU family of baseball gamers. They don’t arise a good deal.
Kidding! If you’re a beginning solver and aren’t familiar with the ALOUs, you could familiarize yourself with them in this article about sports names that might be suitable to understand to turn out to be a higher solver.
4D: Remember, a foreign language in the clue means an overseas language answer. “Nueva York or Dakota del Norte” is Spanish for New York and North Dakota, so the solution is ESTADO, or “kingdom.”
11D: The “Furry ‘Star Wars’ creatures” on this puzzle are Ewoks; however, permit also takes a second to do not forget Peter Mayhew, who portrayed Chewbacca in the movies, and who died on Apr. 30 at age seventy-four.
25D: At this point of textual content communication, lovers have dubbed the singer Christina Aguilera “XTINA,” presumably due to the fact we are all dwelling in such busy lives that we don’t have the time to kind everything out.
26D: The “Abbr. For exchange” hints at coinage, and CTS is short for “cents.”
Today’s Theme
Mr. Trudeau offers us a fixed of four reputedly disparate theme terms that every one end in the form of contact. For instance, at 20A, the solution to the clue “Purchase something sight unseen” is BUY A PIG IN A POKE. Likewise, and this becomes my non-public favored theme access, the solution to 35A’s “1984 mockumentary with lots of ad-libbed speak” is THIS IS SPINAL TAP. The revealer, at 49A, is FINISHING TOUCH due to the fact the touches are on the stop of the phrase. The non-subject matter fill is a bit gluey, as Mr. Trudeau says in his notes beneath. However, I liked EXOTIC PET, CRAISINS, NOT AGAIN, and O ROMEO.
