Ryan McCarty’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 1/11/25 – no. 0111
Did this one off the clock, freshly hooked on a Netflix show. For the longest time, the top right quarter was nearly empty, with some dead-end entries blocking any progress. The fruit-filled 24a DATE BREAD played at being a PANETTONE for too long, with 25d TEAMS making sense for the BLOCS clue. There were musical bits that would’ve helped me make way if music were my thing, but KATE SMITH and BIZET weren’t sure things in my head. 40a DOT, [Note extender, in sheet music], also a mystery to me.
Fave fill: COME CLEAN, explorer JAMES ROSS (but primarily because there was a James Ross in my 5th grade class with a phenomenal fro), FEMINISTS, WORD DOC, NUMETAL, CARAMEL LATTES, PANTSED.
Not entirely sold on NERDSPEAK and AA CELL as things people say. “D-cell batteries” sounds familiar to me, but not with the multi-A battery size.
That wide-open diamond in the center of this 62-word grid is impressive to behold. 3.75 stars from me.
On the NYT, I was led into the wilderness for a while, because I had “confess to” at 27A, which worked nicely with 24D “domed roof”— but was, of course, wrong.
Good Saturday puzzle, pitched, I think, at the right level of difficulty.
Amy,
I never call a 1.5V cell a battery. If you open a 9V battery, you’ll find six little cells, making it a battery. So, yes, I say AA cell.
BTW, I know that people call single cells “batteries,” and the dictionary documents the usage, but I don’t have to like it.
My vote for the batteries… I would say double a or triple a. As in, “the remote is out of battery could you grab a couple double as.”