NYTimes Crossword Reply: On equal footing, in Latin
SATURDAY PUZZLE — It has been greater than three and a half years since we’ve solved a Natan Final puzzle on a Saturday, which is way too lengthy. This constructor is deservedly a favourite amongst solvers, and this puzzle shouldn’t disappoint — a whole lot of nimble wordplay, attention-grabbing trivia and never a single dud or misstep that I can see.
Difficult Clues
I like intellectual collisions with thoughts sweet just like the cross of 7-Down and 27-Throughout on this puzzle. Studying PARI PASSU, which sounds musical however appears to get most of its use as a authorized time period, helped to steadiness out the sugar excessive I hit once I bought THONG SONG. (This was the primary entry within the puzzle that I crammed, crammed, crammed in.)
14A. Neither span entry as we speak is a debut or something terribly obscure, however this clue despatched me astray for a bit. I used to be considering of a substance that one might “substitute for espresso,” like chicory root or yerba mate, relatively than a “substitute for espresso,” an additive like NONDAIRY CREAMER.
43A. It is a charming echo of 27A. Though it’s not clued as a “Warren Mercer 1938 hit,” because it has typically been in previous Instances puzzles, the music nonetheless popped into my head instantaneously. I had no concept that JEEPERS CREEPERS was a “minced oath” (however what an important time period).
3D. Carnegie Corridor practically met its demise in 1962, after the New York Philharmonic departed for Lincoln Middle. ISAAC STERN, the violinist, persuaded New York Metropolis to buy and protect the constructing; in 1997, its major corridor was named in his honor. In case your musical curiosity is piqued, the violinist Joshua Bell is about to carry out at Carnegie Corridor’s annual Isaac Stern Memorial Live performance on March 18.
15D. Puzzle individuals know that wordplay is afoot on this clue — “Juice bins?” — due to its punctuation. Juice has been an idiom for electrical energy for ages, referring both to the movement of an electrical present or to battery acid, so it is sensible that this clue refers back to the CHARGERS we stock round as life assist for our digital requirements.
22D. For those who discovered this poem in class, it most likely burrowed its manner into your reminiscence, because it’s the epitome of catchy and lyrical, with an abrupt and unsettling ending. “We/ Jazz JUNE. We/ Die quickly.” Gwendolyn Brooks’s clarification of her alliterative line, in addition to her studying of her poem, is illuminative.
28D. I relatively suppose that this consummate all-star, HANK AARON, is an echo of 3D (two biblical names, anyway).
