Margaret Seikel’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 9/28/24 – no. 0928
Hey, hey! A Saturday puzzle with a proper level of difficulty, lots of good stuff, and a woman’s name in the byline.
Fave fill: FUN RUNS (my husband’s last untimed race was the “ready to run” 20-miler; the Chicago marathon’s coming up in two weeks and he will not be wearing TOE SHOES), TECUMSEH, HORCHATA, SIT-DOWNS, pretty WISTERIA (didn’t know it was a [Flower in Japanese heraldry]), PLUMBERS, BEE POLLEN, “LET’S DANCE” (better clued as a song than a generic phrase), “TRUE THAT,” SEED CAPITAL, adorable HIGHLAND COW, REACTION GIF, and ST. ANTHONY (thought this was going to be STAND-something).
Clue that mystified me needlessly: 35a. [Pancake topper], PAT. Before you pour on that hot SYRUP you want to start spreading that pat of butter.
Neat word to learn: 60a. [Silviculture is the science of maintaining them], FORESTS.
Not wild about 36a. [Speckled steeds], ROANS, but the singular ROAN has a fresh new cluing angle with singer Roan Chappell, whose “Good Luck, Babe!” was a big hit this summer. She opened for pop star Olivia Rodrigo on tour, which gave her a big new audience. I know many of you are vocal about your disdain for pop culture, but for god’s sake, just make a mental note of the name Roan Chappell so you’re ready when it pops up in a crossword. This isn’t rocket science.
Four stars from me.
NYT: Enjoyed the puzzle, and it seemed about right for a Saturday.
New to me: HORCHATA and BACNE.
Troubles in the NE slowed me down for a bit. Kept “Act casual” for too long at 10-D. Went with AORTAs in stead of AORTAE. Had the damnedest time parsing STANTHONY – needed to think a little more carefully about “intercessor.”
Didn’t know the David Bowie album. LET’S DANCE put me in mind of Kevin Bacon in “Footloose.”
Excellent, challenging NYT. As I struggled with it, I thought it would take forever, but I ended up being only a few minutes slower than my average Saturday time.
NYT: A fun, breezy puzzle-solving experience that would have been under 10 minutes but for AtrA before AFTA, ON the set before ON SCREEN and rear before RUMP.
I loved seeing HORCHATA (which I haven’t made in a while) and the great MOE Tucker. (But please, no more BACNE. Ever. Really.)