![]() ![]() The objects at the end of each theme entry (20A, 34A and 41A) are a set of extremely powerful magical tools that will immediately be obvious to readers of the series and viewers of the films, and inscrutable to people who have chosen not to engage with the Potterverse. Today’s theme draws on the Harry Potter series, as we learn in the clue for the revealer at 51A. I have always loved the expression “my dogs were really barking” to mean “my feet really hurt.” It’s so evocative! And here, “Dogs’ ‘dogs’” are dogs’ feet, or PAWS. HALOS are “Circles overhead?” in that they are circles that float above one’s head. This is a handy tool that constructors use to ensure that the meaning between the clue and the entry are completely aligned. So “Slip (into)” is actually cluing EASE (into), not just EASE. When you see a parenthetical in a clue like we have in 63A with “Slip (into),” you are being asked to pretend that the word in the parentheses also follows the entry that is being clued. This isn’t necessarily a tricky clue as much as it is a clue format that may be unfamiliar to new solvers. Travis isn’t calling OHIO a “Red state” (if anything, I think our resident political reporters would refer to it as “purplish”) but rather is asking the solver to identify the state that is home to baseball’s Cincinnati Reds.Ħ3A. We’re getting a little risqué here with an explicit drug reference! “Something you might trip on” is the clue for ACID, because if you take LSD you are said to be “tripping.”ģ3A. ![]() (And, as we say on the internet, don’t me I’m not implying that people of non-millennial age won’t also enjoy the reveal!) The discovery of the theme may also be accompanied by some pangs of sadness for some solvers - more on that below - but no one can deny that the entries that make up the theme set are delightful and vivid. Travis’s theme, which is described below in more detail, gives many solvers of a certain age - that is, my age, millennial-age - a burst of clarity that feels, well, magical. Should I be searching for a connection between 4D (PHOTOBOMB), a nice and crunchy Down entry, and 9D (SOFT TACO), a decidedly not-crunchy Down entry? Is there a secret minitheme about baseball at 22D (SOSA) and 33A (Reds state?)?īut no! Mr. ![]() About halfway through the solve, I started to wonder whether the long Across entries were just decoys to distract from a theme hidden in the Downs, or something equally devious. I enjoy themes that come together only when you hit the revealer (although, truth be told, I enjoy most kinds of themes), and this one is particularly challenging to detect before you reach 51A, because the three theme entries appear to have absolutely nothing in common. TUESDAY PUZZLE - Welcome back to Owen Travis, who is making his second appearance in the New York Times Crossword in just over six months! After his debut puzzle (in which he was a co-constructor with Jeff Chen) encouraged solvers to do the limbo, his second outing sends solvers on a quest that may take seven novels to describe. ![]()
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