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Notepad

Note: Each italicized clue incorporates a clean, which needs to be full of a letter of the alphabet. When accomplished, the letters so as will spell out a two-word phrase.

Will Shortz notes:

Wyna Liu is an affiliate puzzle editor for The Times, which she joined in 2020. She helps choose and edit clues for the puzzles that seem within the paper. The factor she loves most about her job is "talking puzzles with other people who love them!" (That can be the remainder of us on the video games staff.)

When Wyna isn't working, she makes jewellery and magnetic objects, teaches yoga and spoils her canine.

Wyna Liu notes:

Ever since I found the enjoyment of puzzle hunts and meta-puzzles, I've needed to make a crossword whose theme entries have been related by an extra layer. Today's theme was impressed by a few visible wordplay puzzles I noticed in an previous Games Magazine compilation, and it initially included using footage.

The working title for this puzzle was "Over Here!" The standards I settled on for the themers have been that they have been every three syllables lengthy and that each phase in a theme clue would have a unique spelling than its corresponding half within the reply.

Some early theme entries I thought of, however couldn't use for one purpose or one other, have been "Place for rouge + ___ + Pre-euro German money," "Deadly offense + ___ + Piece of legislation + Happy cat's sound," "___ + Vietnamese noodle soup + Midler's "Divine" persona" and "Martial arts legend Jackie + ___ + Knight's title + Christmas tree." Thanks to Joel for workshopping themers with me!

My favourite clues are for 59-Across and 83-/95-Down; the latter clue combo is a nod to my mom, who loves Disneyland. (生日快樂媽媽! Happy birthday, mother!).

Jeff Chen notes:

Solvers, take a letter! Take ten of them, in actual fact; each part of a phonetic chain that completes a phrase. Sounds good?

I C, U want an instance. [Presses CTRL+P + ___ + Easter egg coloring] may look like cryptic-rebus shenanigans, however it interprets into PRINTS + S + DYE = PRINCESS DI. With some phonetic liberties.

The star of the present was [Rug rat + Magic stick + ___], as a result of it broke TAE KWON DO so unexpectedly. It's simple to attach AWL + AXE + S = ALL ACCESS; far more tough and attention-grabbing to hyperlink TYKE + WAND + O into the martial artwork.

It would have been nice for digital solvers to have someplace to put in writing the lacking letters. Where, although? Having SOUNDS GOOD as the ultimate reply would have been overkill, however it's higher than leaving the door open for solvers to disregard the meta reply or get irritated by having to assemble it mentally.

The print model had an opportunity to shine over its Twenty first-century counterpart. Where are you able to write within the letters? In the blanks inside the clues! However, the pdf is formatted in order that column one of many clues produces SOUND and column two offers SGOOD. With a slight shift, having SOUNDS (all in column one) / GOOD (all in column two) would have been a lot extra elegant.

Although there weren't as many fist-pumpingly superior breaks like TYKE WAND O, I loved experiencing completely different; not merely one more tried-and-true theme kind. The novelty alone will get far more an A than an eh?

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