If your pal Al is a little “cool” or unfriendly, an apt last name for him might be OOF, as in “aloof.” To which a solver might also say “oof.”Ĥ5A.
“Cool Al’s last name.” This is a silly one. Now, reverse “port” and redouble the O to get TROOP.ģ9D. The answer to that simplified clue would be “port,” which is the opposite of a ship’s “starboard” side. Reverse this clue to get “OOppoosite oof starbooard” and mentally undouble all of those Os. “draoobrats foo etisooppOO” (which just broke my spell-check!). I could definitely be missing something here.Ĥ0A. As the clue is truncated (“Why a craps game might not be completely fair”), this entry must be short for “One DIE is OFF” (i.e., “ loaded”). “Why craps game not completely fair.” I got this entry entirely on crosses, and it makes some sense: DIE OFF. How refreshing!Īmong the uncategorizable, head-scratching inventions:ġD. We also have “S C (with an X over it) 1111.” The S is straightforward, and the “1111” gives you ONES in between, that crossed-out “C” is NO C. Today we have 12-Down, “AR MS”: Note the space and enter OPEN ARMS. There are always some visual puns, which you read a little like hieroglyphics. 43-Across is pretty basic: “Bo_ing ro_ine_” is RUTS, the letters that can be filled in to get “bo ring ro utine s.” 34-Down was a challenge to me at least: “_i_ ac_oss, as a s_.” I thought this must be “six across,” but it’s not the filled-in clue is “ si t ac ross, as a s addle,” and the entry is STRADDLE. There are also several “fill-in-the-blank” clues, which are popular and can be quite tricky. “Says 50 things,” 49-Down, is another example: What’s the first set of 50 that comes to mind? It can also mean “says.” My favorite of these is 51-Across, “Potentially offensive, as a Mac,” which uses the initialism for both “politically correct” and “personal computer.” The entry is NON PC. “Cast affair,” 22-Across, is an example each word is a synonym for FLING. There are several nice double-definition clues, which provide two meanings of one word that becomes your entry. It has a couple of crossword entry regulars - a film director and a ski resort - as well as a sports figure and a Disney character that were less familiar to me. In this puzzle, there’s a little bit of trivia in the anagrams and hidden words. I think hidden words and anagrams are the most accessible entry points to any cryptic, and I usually consider them first when I approach each clue. I haven’t missed a “PandA” puzzle in years, but they never get easy or stale, and I still encounter at least one or two stumpers every time.įortunately, there are also many straightforward anagrams that require you to find the right word or words and rearrange their letters without any other steps. (If you need a glossary, there are many online this one’s fine.) There are also a lot of wonderfully random puns, which never cease to amaze.
Today’s grid is a good representation of most of the usual types of clues.
Those that don’t become part of a theme eventually coalesce into a puns-and-anagrams puzzle like this one, I guess, and we are the lucky beneficiaries. ACROSTIC - Today’s variety constructor, Alex Eaton-Salners, is a prolific Times crossword contributor who makes a lot of Thursday grids, which demand the type of imagination that must create laundry lists of interesting homophones, word reversals, anagrams and double definitions.