THURSDAY PUZZLE — Readers probably don’t think of us this way, but The New York Times prizes plain writing. There are certainly occasions when complex verbiage is called for, but in general, writers are encouraged — through gentle, collegial encouragement, and the occasional cattle prod — to make their points clearly and simply.
It’s excellent training, especially for a column like Wordplay. Beginning solvers feel that the puzzle is hard enough; why should they come to a column explaining the puzzle if it’s hard to read?
But Evan Mahnken, who made this puzzle, feels that we should use the biggest, bestest words we know. Or does he?
Tricky Clues
4D. In this puzzle, a “high-hat” is not the drum cymbal, which does not use a hyphen. A “high-hat” in this puzzle is one of those SNOOTy people who use big words when little ones will do.
17A. The ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE was an attempt to raise awareness of and research funding for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS (the answer to 61D). It is also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The challenge went viral, and yes, I did it as part of the Yahoo Tech journalist team. My son never had a better day in his life.
20A. The OKAPI is well known to crossword solvers and has visited our Crossword Zoo, which I like to imagine is a place where the animals visit the resident solvers who are stumped by their names.
39A. “Run a fever, say” for AIL hits a little close to home these days. I hope all of you are safe and well.
66A. Tricky one! “Jabber?” could be a few things. It is a brand name for internet chat and calling software. It is used to describe chitchat. In this puzzle, however, and with that question mark, the answer is BOXER, as in one who throws jabs.
1D. This one made me ROTFL (which is also the answer to 22A), because it reminded me of what is possibly the shortest joke in the world: “Pretentious? MOI?” That’s funny all by itself, but the expanded version is usually told this way:
Harry: I don’t want to hang out with you anymore.
Joe: Why not?
Harry: Because you’ve become so pretentious lately.
Joe: Pretentious? MOI?
It was part of a shtick on the British classic comedy “Fawlty Towers,” and it is also the name of a British goth band.
9D/28D. A bit of sauciness in the puzzle with NO TELL MOTEL and SINGLES BARS. The latter entry emerges from a 40-year nap.
35D. “Spot on the face, informally” is ZIT. Please don’t touch your face. And wash your hands.
42D. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s World War II command was the European Theater of Operations, or the ETO.
Today’s Theme
Mr. Mahnken has seeded his grid with five rebus squares (here is how to enter them on your devices), and each of those squares contains a slang word for “dollar.”
For example, at the first square of 18D (crossing 17A), the slang word BUCK should be entered. That gives us [BUCK]AROO and ICE [BUCK]ETCHALLENGE. Similarly, at the first square of 38A/38D, the slang term CLAM should be entered, giving us [CLAM]OR and [CLAM] CHOWDER. I’ll let you find the other three.
Why five of them, you ask? The revealer at 57A tells us that these are FIVE DOLLAR WORDS. In the context of this puzzle, that’s true: They are words meaning “dollar,” and there are five of them. But FIVE-DOLLAR WORDS is also a euphemism for unnecessarily fancy vocabulary.
Crosswords Live
We are back on the air, thanks to the wonders of technology and our new producer, the tech angel Veronica Yurovsky.
Please tune in Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern on the Wordplay Twitter account or on our YouTube channel as we welcome our special guest, the director Rian Johnson (“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Knives Out”).
If you miss the live stream, I will post it here later in the day.
Constructor Notes
I hope this crossword can be a fun diversion in these troubling times. Stay safe and healthy, everyone!
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.
Trying to get back to the puzzle page? Right here.
Your thoughts?
