Regional Dog Variety – The New York Times
SATURDAY PUZZLE — It is been significantly much too extended since we have solved a Times puzzle from both of these constructors, Caitlin Reid and Erik Agard, a pair of puzzle-producing sizzling dogs who collaborated on one more terrific themeless grid about a yr in the past and have been occupied largely in other places in 2021. Welcome again!
This puzzle is genuinely entertaining and vibrant, and I assume it gives much less suffering points than you are sure to hope when you see its formidable byline. I could have figured out some exceptional puns soon after the actuality, but that is wonderful — I’d relatively be gradual to get a joke than stare at an ocean of empty squares, any day.
Challenging Clues
This is the vibe we get in wonderful Saturday grids, references to Shakespeare and “Scandal,” French movie awards and African anthems, “Les Mis” and SKA. If this puzzle ended up a street it would be a great just one for people today-watching (BEALE or Orange would do nicely).
I had a few of small misdirects — “kois” for NITS and “sold” for SPUN, that kind of thing. There are some conversational debuts, but as extensive as none of the trivia sits in your personalized blind spot, the artwork of the fix nowadays is decoding eccentric clues. I identified them positively scintillating but was struck by the selection of negatives in the clues and entries — I counted 6 “no’s.” (Not counting the a single in VOLCANO, but which includes NOVAS, which makes me believe of the Chevrolet product, even though apparently I shouldn’t.)
15A: This puzzle might say NO NO NO, but we solvers say “Yes!” and plow forward. This is my most loved, and it is a debut: When anyone expresses regret but no accountability for something, which is referred to as a NONAPOLOGY, which also goes by “regretoric” and “ifpology.” In my encounter, it actually hits the nail on the head. The expression was added to the Oxford English Dictionary a short while ago, in 2016, but there are hieroglyphics on a 4,500-calendar year-outdated Egyptian tomb that read, “Sorry that you positioned your retail store of grain so shut to my cattle.”
33A: One more “No,” in a clue this time, referring to an endeavor to mend fences that can be helpful or infuriating depending on no matter whether it’s preceded by heartfelt regret or “regretoric” — ARE WE Fantastic?
37A: This initialism has diversified above time from “L.G.B.T.,” its 1988 incarnation, to the current L.G.B.T.Q.I.A: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual or ally. It’s significantly a lot more inclusive but nevertheless evolving, and acknowledges that by ending on a Plus Indicator (which is also intended to show myriad human encounters).
50A: I thought of a “staff” to start with as colleagues, then a selfie adhere (which has been an entry a few of times) second guess is a minimal closer to a UNIPOD, a just one-legged tripod.
51A: I will not explain to you the entry, but I will say it’s a debut, and that amazed me.
6D: I figured that “Check” experienced to be a verb and that we had been dealing with the subject of covert surveillance. Instead it is a noun that has absolutely nothing to do with payment, but is a method for stopping “bugs” — INSECT REPELLENT.
20D: A pretty well-concealed sporting activities clue below, referring to the black-and-white “zebra” stripes on a REFEREE.
28D: Probably it was because of a further Shakespeare reference, possibly it was the briefness of the entry, but I was rather primed for IDES. I didn’t know about any Jupiter connection. The IDES come about in the center of just about every month of the year on the Roman calendar, and it was deemed a sacred working day of the Romans’ supreme deity, involving a superior priestess and a sacrificial lamb.
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