Simeon Seigel doesn’t not entertain us.
Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues
THURSDAY PUZZLE — You may have heard the saying “Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three lefts do.” Keep that last bit in mind as you solve Simeon Seigel’s puzzle.
We’re not going to be turning to the left in his puzzle, but the saying is a good reminder to keep your thinking flexible and to try to look at things from different points of view.
But first, a bit of history from our archives:
On This Day in Games History: May 15, 1949
Eugene T. Maleska, the third Crossword editor of The New York Times (1977-1993) and most prolific Times constructor to date, submitted his first grid to The Times. Can you solve this 66-year-old puzzle? https://www.xwordinfo.com/Solve?psdate=5/15/1949
Today’s Theme
Our old friend, the rebus theme, is back. If you are solving online and are not sure how to enter more than one letter in a square, here is a handy-dandy set of instructions.
Mr. Seigel offers a set of four theme entries that each contain two contiguous rebuses. Both rebus squares say NO, which is a DOUBLE NEGATIVE, as the revealer at 39A tells us. The revealer clue is [Statements that can be seen as positive … or a hint to interpreting 17-, 26-, 49- and 62-Across], and now you will learn why I asked you to keep in mind the “three lefts” part of the saying in the first paragraph. Flexibility is crucial here. I had to stare at my finished grid for a while before I understood what the rebuses really meant.
In this puzzle, two NOs make a “yes,” the word we need in order to make sense of the theme entries. For example, at 17A, the answer to the clue [Some colorful apparel] as we need to write it is TIED(NO)(NO)HIRTS, but if we mentally swap out the (NO)(NO) for YES, the answer is now TIED(YES)HIRTS, or TIE DYE SHIRTS. The Down entries must still be read using the (NO)s.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
