SATURDAY PUZZLE — Ryan Judge has constructed two prior puzzles for The New York Times, both of them themeless — one ran on a Friday and the other on a Saturday. For all the solvers who enjoy guessing which day a puzzle should fall on based on its difficulty, today’s began as a Friday but was upgraded to a Saturday. I think it’s a good example of what a fine line there is between the two days. Truth be told, I often wonder what would happen if a themeless puzzle that was discernibly easier ran regularly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of later in the week and then Friday puzzles came with difficult themes.
This is a pretty grid that separates itself into five barely connected patches, which makes for its own challenge, as it is easy to get stranded. Each area includes at least one bit of difficult trivia and a couple of clues designed to throw us off. I think it’s well done and rises to the difficulty of a Saturday.
Tricky Clues
13A. You either know this one or you don’t, I think; I had to put it together letter by letter from crossing Down entries. The [Incan emperor captured by Pizarro’s forces] was its last leader, Emperor ATAHUALPA, who ruled for just a year before the Spanish overran the entire region.
16A. The pun in this clue — [In-tents dining experience?] — had me thinking of all the outdoor dining structures that were a fixture in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic. The answer isn’t specific to a place or time, though: It’s a STREET FAIR.
30A. I have absolutely no idea who this is, nor have I heard of the game in the clue, and it’s also a debut Times crossword entry. [_____ Aran, protagonist in Nintendo’s Metroid] solves to SAMUS. After a moment of research (how do you even pronounce SAMUS?), I learned that Metroid and the character in question have been around since 1986, so I don’t know if this is really arcane trivia or if it’s canon that I should be embarrassed not to have known.
33A. With a few crossing letters, most solvers will get this joke: [Snack items that can go to your head] are POT BROWNIES. They’ve been in the Crossword a few times before, with similarly wry cluing ([Delectable made with grass], for example).
49A. This clue confused me to no end, probably because it’s a golf reference: [Performed exactly as expected, in a way] solves to PARRED, which is another way of saying “made par.” Par is a difficulty rating determined by distance and some strange things like wind, elevation or whether you’re playing the links on a Friday or a Saturday (just kidding).
26D. This is an interesting term and another crossword debut. [Familiar injury in football and soccer] is TURF TOE, a sprain of the big toe that occurs during running, jumping and cutting back and forth on a playing field. The “turf” is a reference to artificial grass, which was apparently blamed for an epidemic of this problem in the 1970s.
34D. [Big sucker?] is a somewhat unexpected way to clue a WHIRLPOOL, but that is indeed what one is. I think the average person rarely sees one of these outside of their own plumbing fixtures (although there was one in Brooklyn in 2023), but the largest examples in Earth’s oceans are being studied as a sort of analogue to black holes in space, which is interesting.
36D/37D. These entries make good neighbors because 36D, the [Wailer of folklore], is a perfect illustration of 37D, [Strong and lively, as language]. What’s more evocative than a BANSHEE, whose name comes from the Irish for a “woman of the fairies,” and whose loud, nocturnal laments are said to predict a listener’s demise? What a robust, PUNCHY term.
Constructor Notes
I made this puzzle in the summer of 2023 and I’m happy to finally see it out in the world.
This was originally slotted for a Friday, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was moved to a Saturday — because, of course, that means it’s harder! Thanks to the editors for beefing up some of the clues (I especially liked their approach to 35-Down). I was glad that my clue for 1-Down survived, but, alas, my “Latte Larry’s” reference for 3-Down didn’t make the cut.
Hope you enjoyed the puzzle!
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