Christopher Youngs’s theme spotlights one of the toughest types of clues.
Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues
THURSDAY PUZZLE — In 2017, I was asked to write a comprehensive guide to how to solve the New York Times Crossword, and my task was to show readers how to think about the different types of clues. As we know, there are a lot of them, which is why I won an unofficial award from the production desk for the longest Times guide in existence, along with a polite suggestion that I never do that again. It wasn’t a Pulitzer, but it was nice to be recognized for something.
I bring up the guide because it may help some solvers understand Christopher Youngs’s revealer at 58A. The entry utilizes one of my favorite facets of the English language to bamboozle people, and I discuss this trick in the theme section below. Seeing this concept used in an entry instead of a clue is a nice twist, and it makes today’s crossword a worthy foray into Thursday puzzles for Mr. Youngs.
Today’s Theme
Mr. Youngs’s theme played out for me in the way he probably intended. I solved the puzzle, including the rebus (here’s an article on how to enter more than one letter in a square), and then I looked back at the revealer at 58A. It took a minute for the penny to drop, and when it did, I laughed out loud.
There are four HAND rebuses in this grid, and solvers can enter either the entire word or just the first letter, H, to be marked correct. For example, at 17A, the answer to the clue [Mixed drink with an alliterative name] is SCOTC(H AND) SODA. The rebus works for the Down entries as well: The answer to 5D’s [ “Let me go, you brute! “] is UN(HAND) ME.
Now let’s talk about heteronym clues and entries. Heteronyms are two or more words that are spelled the same way, but they are pronounced differently and have different meanings. The revealer clue at 58A is [Part of a clock depicted four times in this puzzle?], and the answer is MINUTE HAND. While it’s true that the word HAND is part of each of the answers, why are we focusing specifically on the HAND that indicates the minute?
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
