Kathy Bloomer and Jeff Chen have their first Times collaboration.
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WEDNESDAY PUZZLE — My first instinct as I wrote my introduction to today’s crossword, brought to us by Kathy Bloomer and Jeff Chen, was to use the phrase “mixed feelings” as a witty play on the puzzle’s theme. But to use that expression risked muddling my true impressions of the puzzle, which were hardly halfhearted. My solving experience was unequivocally delightful.
If you have any other witty summaries to offer for Ms. Bloomer and Mr. Chen’s theme, I hope you’ll share them in the comments section, also known as a place where we mix feelings.
Today’s Theme
At 28-Down, we get a [Description of this puzzle’s circled letters, and a clue to what they spell]: IN ONE SENSE.
Now, follow along carefully. Each circled letter in this puzzle appears IN ONE SENSE of the bodily kind. The entry at 5-Down, REHEARSING, places its circled S within a gray-shaded HEARING. At 23-Down, the [Appliance with a door and a crumb tray] is a TOASTER OVEN, and its circled O appears inside the word TASTE. A similar pattern places the first R of FREELOADERS (24D) inside FEEL, the first T of HANGS TIGHT (10D) in SIGHT and the A of SAM ELLIOTT (30D) in SMELL.
Not only do the circled letters appear within human senses, but together they spell the word SORTA — an expression that can be used in lieu of IN ONE SENSE. (Now, see what I meant about “mixed feelings”?)
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
