![]() ![]() Manifest destiny (E-S-T around the D, manif-EST-d-EST-iny I’m impressed that anyone could find even one example of this kind of expression, because what you need is a repeating set of three letters separated by one unique letter.Ĭreme de menthe (E-M-E around the D, cr-EME-d-EME-nthe) Maybe I don’t have enough experience, but I’ve never seen that kind of motion before in a crossword puzzle. (31-Down is simply clued with a hyphen.) It makes a repeating spiral, one in which three different boxes are utilized twice. Here’s the crazy part: It then goes back to the “T,” back to the “H”, and back to the “I” again before finishing in 31-down with “N-G-O-N.” So it revolves twice around the black square before heading south. It swirls in a counterclockwise fashion here, hitting the “H” first, then the “I”, and then up to the “S.”Ĥ. (Second note: It’s apparently a myth that toilets flush in different directions because of this force, but the storm part is true.)ģ. (First note: In the print and web versions, unlike the Across Lite version I used, there were little arrows to indicate the direction of movement here.) (This is the point where my stunned brain floats off into outer space, never to return.) When Chen named his puzzle “Twisting one’s words,” he meant it quite literally. At that point, the clue “swirls” around the black space, the way a storm moves, or the way a toilet flushes. The first space, occupied by 4-down, is just three letters: I-S-TĢ. In fact, I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t completely understand the theme until I had finished the puzzle. Sunday puzzles are also unique for having a title Chen’s was “Twisting One’s Words.” In most cases, there is one central clue that serves as a guide for the rest of the theme answers, and this puzzle was no exception:Ĥ-Down: Question asked while tapping a microphone On Mondays, there may be just three or four theme answers, but on Sundays there tend to be at least eight. Two days later, I’m still stunned-this is what the word ‘gobsmacked’ was invented for-and I feel an irrepressible urge to share this slice of genius with you.įirst, you should know that every puzzle has an overarching theme, and the answers related to the theme are typically the longest on the puzzle grid. But the puzzle I saw this Sunday, by constructing legend Jeff Chen, is the superlatively greatest of them all. And I have seen good puzzles, bad puzzles, and superlatively great puzzles. An assistant responded that the “theme didn’t excite him quite enough.” (The right call, for the record.) Once, in 2009, in the high fever of infatuation, I even constructed my own crossword puzzle ( so hard) and sent it in to Will Shortz. ![]() The intensity of my love for crosswords waxes and wanes depending on life’s other commitments, but when it’s on the rise, I’m the kind of person who will spend 20 minutes reading the big crossword blogs. I saw the excellent documentary Wordplay, I bought a digital subscription, and as I improved, I set myself the outrageous task of successfully completing a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday puzzle in the same week-a tantalizing goal I have come within one letter of achieving, but that eludes me still. ![]() I was hooked, and within a couple years I had graduated on to the creme de la creme: The New York Times puzzle, edited by Will Shortz. I watched my mother complete them as a child, but my own obsession started in a campus dining hall with the simple, small puzzles that ran in my school newspaper-and which seemed very difficult at the time. Confession: I love crossword puzzles, and have loved them for a little over a decade. ![]()
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