Dan Schoenholz’s initial idea for his theme was different.
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THURSDAY PUZZLE — This is the 29th crossword Dan Schoenholz has published in The New York Times. He is currently two days short of “batting for the cycle,” or having at least one puzzle published for each day of the week.
I don’t know whether that’s a milestone that Mr. Schoenholz wants to achieve, but he’s just missing puzzles for Friday and Saturday. Maybe his next one will be a themeless toughie.
Today’s Theme
When solvers *encounter (NEGATIVE) a theme like the one in Mr. Schoenholz’s puzzle, they are often required to *deconstruct (DRUM UP) the clues in order to crack the entries.
Not sure what I’m talking about? Do you now suspect that I have finally gone completely off the rails? That’s entirely possible. But what if I told you that solving this puzzle boiled down to nothing more than reading the clues slightly differently from how they are written?
The hint I gave in the first sentence of this theme explanation may have spilled the beans, but if you missed it, here’s the David Attenborough version:
Here we see a lone Thursday theme clue, perched high atop the clue list, in search of a solver. Its elegant markings — the designation 17A and an asterisk — suggest to all who may encounter it that it is ready to be written in.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
