Sure, tumescent is a more familiar cousin, but who doesn’t love the -id adjectives? Perfervid, turgid, stupid, torpid, et al.-and their -or noun forms. I suspect it’s still tricky to figure out if you’re not well attuned to recording artists’ names. I got as far as parsing HIRED ROSES as HI + RED ROSES (uh, no). When I test-solved this puzzle, the missing-word hints weren’t included in the theme clues and boy, I had no idea how the theme worked. Hired guns, the band Guns N’ Roses featuring Axl Rose, Slash, and friends. Valentine’s Day gifts that have to go back at the end of the night? (-Guns)], HIRED ROSES. Big band leaders were all the rage back in the day, and Big & Rich are a country duo. Ellington rolling in dough? (-Big)], RICH BAND LEADER.

Iron deficiency can lead to anemia, and apparently Iron & Wine is a single bearded singer-songwriter.

Horror of horrors! Better visit the local wine emporium and restock. Shortage in the cellar? (-Iron)], WINE DEFICIENCY. Kid ‘n Play were a hip-hop/comedy duo about 20-25 years ago. Shakespearean drama set in a dojo? (-Kid)]. Here, phrases that include an X word are changed to include the Y word of a musical act, and then they’re clued accordingly. There are plenty of “X & Y” musical acts, although they’re not all duos. You’ve got your OTOS, NEOS, AGA, YMA, OVI-, -ISH, -ETTE, ACRO- -lots of words and fragments that most solvers rarely use in any context other than filling a crossword.īen Tausig’s Ink Well/Chicago Reader crossword, “A Few Seconds of Music” Women of puzzledom! When you go to the salon, are you seeing many “rinses,” or just shampoos and conditioners and product? Because my stylist never pulls out anything called a “rinse.” (Much prefer to see this word clued as a verb.) What? Nestlé Quik isn’t a thing anymore? Apparently the brown powder I grew up with is no more, but you can get bottles of Nesquik in addition to Nesquik powder. ) a crossword-grade term? It feels shy of the mark to me. I call it stuffing (though it is never stuffed into anything). (I know, the double-V is bogus, but I was trying to stretch it to 15). We would also have accepted THANKSGIVVUKKAH.

Okay, I never think about squash rackets, and we never eat squash at our family Thanksgiving dinners. This would also give the constructor the advantage of getting distinct attention from friends and family for each puzzle instead of melding the two publications into one event. The current theme is time-sensitive, but the previous one could easily have run months ago or be held for a few more months. Markey, but I am surprised to see his byline a mere six days after his previous puzzle. NY Times crossword solution, 11 27 13, no. I can’t wait to dig into the book-and work the puzzles. This is perhaps the wildest and widest selection of crosswords ever gathered in a single volume.īen discusses all sorts of issues in the crossword world-gender, themes, the breakfast table test, the business angle, mentoring relationships, indie crosswords, and more. A Merl Reagle puzzle from a non-ACPT tournament in the ’80s, a Matt Gaffney “Saturday Stumper” from Stan Newman’s Crossworder’s OWN Newsletter (1994), a Trip Payne puzzle from GAMES magazine in the ’80s, Maura Jacobson puzzles from New York magazine, the diamond-shaped crosswords from nearly a century ago? All sorts of blasts from the past, along with more recent puzzles in the indie vein. I have barely had a chance to look through it yet, but have already marveled at the crosswords that Ben chose to illuminate the topic. Hearty congratulations to Ben Tausig on the publication of a gorgeous new book, The Curious History of the Crossword: 100 Puzzles from Then and Now.

Ragtime dance crossword clue