By Deb Amlen
TUESDAY PUZZLE — The question about why certain puzzles run on certain days of the week is one that comes up quite a lot here. Most solvers who have been doing The New York Times Crossword for a while know that the presumed level of difficulty “increases” throughout the week, but the fact that it’s not always a straight trajectory is somehow confusing and sometimes objectionable to some.
The truth is, there is no law that I’m aware of that prevents a puzzle editor from throwing a curveball once in a while, just to keep things lively. If that never happened, solvers would grow bored of the predictability. Yes, you would, you know you would.
So today we have a crossword puzzle by Jonathan M. Kaye that is not your “typical” Tuesday. That doesn’t mean that early-week solvers can’t solve it. On the contrary, the cluing is fairly straightforward and, while the constraints imposed by the theme give rise to a good amount of gluey fill, there’s not a lot here that you can’t get by calling on general knowledge or by working the crossings.
Besides, whether you know it or not, the ability to solve this puzzle is in your bones. Why, it’s in your very … well, we’ll get to that.
Tricky Clues
1A: Not sure whether the Halloween costume should be a GHOST or a WITCH? Check those crossings. We have a misdirection at 1D, but with only three letters, it’s not that tough to figure out: “One talking to a driver?” is GPS.
32A: The abbreviation B.S.A. is the Boy Scouts of America. Its groups are called dens or troops.
36A: Fidgeting can be a symptom of certain types A.D.H.D., but there are other kinds, like inattentive A.D.H.D., which don’t manifest in fidgeting. I’m going to guess that it was clued this way since the clue needs to be on the easy side and many people probably associate A.D.H.D. with an inability to sit still.
43A: Fun one. This pair that is kissing are not a romantic couple, but a part of the body: the LIPS.
10D: I’m not normally a big fan of cross-referenced clues (and, as a nod to this entry’s brother, if it gets any hotter, I could use a big fan), but I liked this one. I don’t care how young or old you are, everyone should know about the Marx Brothers and the Sanity Clause in your standard contract:
Today’s Theme
There are a few elements to today’s theme, and I like how Mr. Kaye scattered them throughout his grid. All of the elements relate to the central Down entry, 7D. From a constructor’s point of view, that entry alone is a fascinating feat of derring-do, because it is a series of H’s and X’s meant to represent the twisting DOUBLE HELIX of a DNA chain, which imposes incredible constraints on the fill. In addition, two of the theme elements cross that central long Down entry, and two more theme elements cross the first two. It limits what you can do with the surrounding fill, but that’s pretty breathtaking for a Tuesday theme.
The other theme elements include the following entries. If you need help, click on any of the clues to reveal the answer:
20A: What 7-Down is
BIOCHEMICAL
58A: Shape of 7-Down
DOUBLE HELIX
11D: Creatures with 23 pairs of 25-Down
HUMAN BEINGS
25D: Genetic bundles
CHROMOSOMES
And, of course, there’s the revealer:
66D: Subject of this puzzle
DNA
Constructor Notes
This was my only puzzle submission over the last two years, so I was very pleased to receive an unqualified “Crossword — yes!” from Will and Sam. I constructed this with Thursday in mind, but they felt it would be “an interesting Tuesday changeup.” Here’s hoping that solvers agree, and that they don’t mind being thrown a couple of curves (intertwined at 7-Down) so early in the week.As I clued this as a Thursday, many of my clues couldn’t survive the transition to Tuesday, which needs to be easier. But a couple of my favorites remain: see CHICO MARX and EONS.
The Tipping Point
Almost finished solving but need a bit more help? We’ve got you covered.
Warning: There be spoilers ahead, but subscribers can take a peek at the answer key.
Your thoughts?
Deb Amlen is the crossword columnist. She has been writing the Wordplay column since 2011 and believes that everyone can learn to solve the Times crossword. Even the Saturdays. @NYTimesWordplay
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