SUNDAY PUZZLE — That is the primary collaboration between two makers of memorable Sunday puzzles, though they’ve been in contact since assembly at a crossword competitors in 2018. Finn Vigeland is a transportation planner in Washington, D.C.; Matthew Inventory works for a math training nonprofit in East St. Louis, Unwell., and is shifting to Florida subsequent month to show eighth-grade math.
I’m all the time up for a diverting film theme — there could also be solely seven plots, however there are infinite variations of wordplay on movie names. It is a good one, and it has a very neat “bonus” ingredient that I hope is observed by solvers.
Difficult Clues
At the moment’s theme is so voluminous that it touches practically each entry within the puzzle, however there’s nonetheless lots of nice stuff within the fill. Within the Acrosses, I famous some geography trivia — YPSI, which is making its debut within the New York Instances Crossword (and used in real life, should you had been questioning), and LIMA PERU. Within the Downs, I famous meals clues — “smelly” TOFU and “massaged” KALE.
86A. You may first consider work whenever you learn the clue “Labor class?” However it refers back to the intense labor of childbirth and the training offered by the LAMAZE technique. Though the respiration methods and routines established on this coaching are a long time previous, this entry has solely been within the Instances puzzle through the twenty first century.
114A. For those who image “ … ” whenever you learn “Pair in an ellipse,” you may consider letter areas; the reply right here is FOCI, which lie throughout the space of a geometric ellipse alongside its principal axis.
5D. I figured this clue — “First songwriter to win an Oscar for a James Bond theme” — should check with Simon Le Bon or someone else in Duran Duran, however “A View to a Kill” isn’t the theme in query. (The band was robbed, truthfully.) As a substitute, it’s ADELE, who wrote the theme tune for the 2012 film “Skyfall.”
95D. Right here’s one other debut that’s, sure, truly a factor — apparently, you’ll be able to decide the devotion of individuals you “may discover on the hyperlinks” by the intensity of their GOLF TAN.
At the moment’s Theme
There are eight film titles on this puzzle that rework into pun entries with the addition of 1 letter. This sounds easy, however the clues for these puns are so out of left area that I wanted a great deal of crosses to determine what movie I used to be on the lookout for (at which level I’d abruptly get the joke).
The movies are all fashionable and well-liked, and ought to be recognizable to most solvers. There are a number of licensed blockbusters, together with the primary theme entry that I accomplished, at 69-Throughout: “Winter put on for a stegosaurus?” It is a forehead-slapper; how did I not see this straight away and consider the reply, JURASSIC PARKA? And but.
The instance that I assume will be the most obscure of the bunch is considered one of my favorites, for quite a lot of causes. I like the movie it’s primarily based on, and the clue is disarmingly goofy — it jogs my memory of a selected “Far Side” cartoon. That clue is at 36-Throughout, “Twisted denims legs?” I don’t blame anybody for needing each crossing letter to get PANTS LABYRINTH. I imply, discuss “twisted”! Acceptable, too, for this unusual film. However I frankly acquired an enormous kick out of this whole theme set; there’s actually one thing for everybody.
Followers of subversive comedy will respect the highest two entries, which appear relatively anticapitalist, and really humorous. At 28-Throughout, “Rodeo Drive rebellion?” is a potshot on the 1 p.c, and solves to an Eddie Murphy comedy, plus one letter: BEVERLY HILLS COUP.
The clue at 19-Throughout — “What you’ll hear after-hours at a sports activities automotive gross sales lot?” — solves to a basic of the horror-suspense style, modified to incorporate a reference to a contemporary icon of conspicuous consumption. When the engines aren’t purring, you’ve acquired THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBOS. Hannibal Lecter would adore it.
One other scary film makes an look at 116-Throughout, “Marketing campaign to persuade British P.M. Tony to vary events?”
At 94-Throughout, “Tire-puncturing means throughout a river?” solves to a Chilly Struggle blockbuster directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks.
Lastly, there are two clues with bodily humor — as in anatomy jokes, not pratfalls — that play on two well-liked music motion pictures. At 61-Throughout, “Staunch dedication to at least one’s higher leg train routine?” solves to a romance starring John Cusack. At 102-Throughout, “Introduction to a chiropractor’s makeshift toolkit?” solves to a rockumentary, or mockumentary, that turns this puzzle proper as much as 11.
For those who’re the sort who stays till the tip of the film to observe the post-credits scene (also referred to as the stinger, a brand new one for me), you get a cute Easter egg that makes the title for this puzzle, “Bonus Characteristic,” make sense. Beginning on the prime, learn the additional letter from every theme film, and you’ll spell an apt description for these letters, in addition to what generally contains an aforementioned stinger — a veritable ouroboros of a meta-layer on this thrilling theme.
Constructor Notes
Matthew and Finn: Glad Sunday! We’re so excited to be sharing our first byline within the New York Instances Crossword. The preliminary concept for this theme got here to Matthew nearly three years in the past, and we loved taking our time getting the puzzle into its closing type.
A very good chunk of the work got here throughout an extended Zoom session final summer time, after we determined on the final minute to stretch the primary and final theme entries to 21 letters every. This upped our concept to a whopping 128 theme squares — each down entry within the puzzle besides for 2 (45-Down and 79-Down) intersects at the least one themer! — however we thought these entries had been value the additional constraint. We discovered that opening up these northwest and southeast corners and permitting for longer down entries truly made the fill course of simpler.
We hope you benefit from the puzzle and discover the hidden meta reply! If this evokes you to observe a film this week, Matthew recommends Taika Waititi’s “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” (2016) and Finn recommends, within the spirit of Pleasure Month, “And Then We Danced” (2019).
Shedding It on the Motion pictures?
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