Brad Wiegmann figures he can trick us. And he does.
Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues
WEDNESDAY PUZZLE — For better or for worse, the New York Times Crossword is tailored to an American readership. This can lead to frustrating moments for international solvers, and I sympathize: Even after 15 years in the United States, I am likely to stumble upon a tidbit of trivia that is as mundane to my U.S. colleagues as it is alien to me.
Such was the case in today’s crossword, which was constructed by Brad Wiegmann. The last of his themed entries played on the name of an American organization I’d never heard of, resulting in several minutes of utter discombobulation. Did this entry stump you, too? Or was this just one of those days when I’d have done better by staying under the covers?
Turn on your headlamps, and let’s shed some light on this grid.
Today’s Theme
One might say that Mr. Wiegmann is counting on your confusion with his themed clues, each of which seems to provide nothing more than a pair of names.
“Nicholson and Nicklaus, e.g.?” (19A) refer to two celebrities with the first name JACK. We can refer to these men, wittily, as ONE-EYED JACKS, because each of their last names has only one I — phonetically spelled as EYE — in it.
In the case of “Soren Kierkegaard and Chris Isaak, e.g.?” (26A), the double A’s are evident. Since these men don’t share first names, we can just call them DOUBLE-A GENTS. Yuk, yuk.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
