Note to readers: In the past, Wordplay indicated crossword clues with quotation marks. In crossword construction and editing, though, clues are typically indicated by brackets, a practice Wordplay is now following.
SATURDAY PUZZLE — This is the first New York Times Crossword collaboration between Adrian Johnson and Rafael Musa, whom I had just been thinking about because the New York City Pride March is on Sunday, and Mr. Musa made a celebratory Sunday grid last year that was memorably fun. Mr. Johnson, for his part, is coming off a run of four excellent themeless puzzles, the last of which incorporated triple span entries into a gnarly crowd-pleaser.
So, it’s no surprise that we have a winner today. My eye was initially drawn to several chunky musical trivia clues, none of which I knew, which is always a little nerve-racking. After settling in and proceeding in a more orderly fashion, I found other ways of breaking into the grid. It turns out that most of the factoids can be deduced, given crossing letters by more accessible entries. I did experience two misdirections that led to many wrong turns and reversals, but it was still a brisk and enjoyable solve.
Tricky Clues
19A. This is the third entry in a pile of four toughies, it’s a Times debut, and its clue is simply chef’s kiss, once you see it. [Down during difficult times?] starts with a verb, not an adjective, and solves to STRESS EAT.
36A. [Red plant?] is also wordplay — a bit less surprising, but still really clever. The “plant” in question might come with bugs, but it’s a RUSSIAN SPY, not a scarlet begonia.
42A./46A. I made semi-confident guesses for both of these entries that were incorrect. Each had a letter or two in the right place, which completely jammed me up for a little while. At 42A, [Magazine with a “Skater of the Year” award], I dreamed up “Shredder” at first, instead of THRASHER. At 46A, [What a speaker might do if nobody is listening to them], “tap a glass” fit and seemed perfect. Ting, ting, ting! Wrong, but I stubbornly prefer that option to the correct entry, which is a little depressing: TRAIL AWAY.
6D. This deadpan clue — [Play area] — is terrifically vague. I thought of a ball pit at first, and then a schoolyard, but the “Play” in question is on a stage, and the “area” is a city’s THEATER DISTRICT.
10D. Another debut, the [Modern medium for jotting things down] in this puzzle is a NOTES APP. This little digital utility can hide a blizzard of bits and pieces behind an icon on whatever screen you’re using.
27D. I knew this piece of trivia: The [Music style whose name literally means “new trend”] is BOSSA NOVA, a sublimely cool genre that makes me think of João Gilberto and “The Girl From Ipanema.”
31D. I had no such luck with this clue: [Robbins who co-wrote the “Rocky” theme “Gonna Fly Now”] is AYN. She was nominated for an Oscar alongside Carol Connors in 1977 for this piece, which you will probably recognize. I drew a blank on 31A as well, embarrassingly; this [1990 civil rights legislation, for short] is the A.D.A., or Americans With Disabilities Act. I ran through the letters for the crossing square and got lucky with A. A bonus factoid for solvers is that this appears to be the first time AYN hasn’t been clued as the objectivist writer Ayn Rand, who has been the AYN in the crossword 135 times (according to xwordinfo.com).
Constructor Notes
Rafa: I’d been thinking about this offset quad stack layout for a while when Adrian asked about collabing, and he felt like the perfect person to tackle it with. He whipped up the top-left corner in no time, and we were off to the races.
My favorite things about this puzzle are the clue for NEMO (my 10-year-old self contributed!) and the NOTES APP debut (the contents of mine are extremely chaotic!).
Adrian: I love quad stacks, good people and collaborations where each person feels their voice shine throughout. This is a shining example of all three.
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