Tina Labadie’s New York Instances crossword, “Letterplay” —Nate’s write-up

We’ve got a New York Instances debut with this Sunday’s puzzle, and gosh is it a multi-layered exploration of all issues “Letterplay.” Apologies prematurely if I don’t catch all of the theme-adjacent content material!

08.07.22 Sunday New York Instances Puzzle

– 25A: AT AN ANGLE [Not true?]
– 68A: TRIPLE A [Top credit rating … or a hint to 25-Across]

– 27A: UNIQUE USER [Visitor to a website, in analytics lingo]
– 71A: DOUBLE U [23rd in a series … or a hint to 27-Across]

– 42A: SAM ADAMS [Beer named for a founding father]
– 52A: TWO AM [D.S.T. starting time … or a hint to 42-Across]

– 97A: HUSH HUSH [Secretive]
– 90A: FOUR H [Club for farm kids … or a hint to 97-Across]

– 115A: VOODOO DOLL [Spelling aid?]
– 89A: FIVE O [Cops … or a hint to 115-Across]

– 118A: OIN OIN ONE [Baseball announcer’s call on a home run]
– 54A: ZERO G [Weightlessness … or a hint to 118-Across]

In every pair of theme entries, the second entry actually described the letter sample of the primary entry: AT AN ANGLE has three A’s (TRIPLE A), SAM ADAMS has two “AM”s (TWO AM), and many others. I’m caught on how DOUBLE U hints to UNIQUE USER since there are three U’s in that phrase, until it’s that it’s a U___ U___ entry, no matter no matter different letters are within the entry. If that’s the case, it feels a tad inelegant, since all the opposite theme pairs spell out how lots of the sure letter are within the different entry, not the variety of phrases that begin with that letter. Or was TRIPLE A for AT AN ANGLE meant to point A___ A___ A___?

I’m guessing that the (G)OIN(G) (G)OIN(G) (G)ONE trick entry (ZERO G!) goes to be polarizing. Some will see it as an exception that justifies the rule, whereas others will doubtless see it as an inelegant entry that doesn’t match the others. I’m unsure the place I land, however I’m glad the constructor went for it!

I’m additionally impressed by the symmetrical placement of the entire above theme entries -that’s not straightforward in a grid like this! This will likely have triggered some compromise to the fill although; I’ll admit that I had a very powerful time filling within the backside left part of the grid, as entries like ELLE, LOBOS, SMOLT, and SAUD slowed me down.

All through the puzzle and clues, there have been loads of different references to letters so as to add to the “Letterplay,” together with:

Theme adjoining content material:
– 19A: SOCIALS [Bees, e.g.]
– 22A: CINEMA [The “C” of AMC Theatres]
– 34A: MASS [m, to Einstein]
– 45A: FORM [W-2, for one]
– 93A: TETRIS [Game with L- and T-shaped pieces]
– 131A: SNORES [Makes some Z’s]
– 5D: RAMA [Commercial follower of “-o-“]
– 6D: SLANG [A-game or b-ball, e.g.]
– 28D: QUIT [Ctrl+Q]
– 61D: BALLOTS [They’re filled with X’s]
– 73D: REF [One calling a “T”]
– 81D: PEAS [Vegetables that make a fitting addition to alphabet soup?]
– 116D: OATS [The “O’s” of Cheerios]

Possibly theme adjoining content material?
– 35A: IDA [B.C. neighbor: Abbr.]
– 40A: SIZE [XL or 11C]
– 99A: SPAS [R&R settings]
– 104A: ELLE [Singer King with the 2014 hit “Ex’s and Oh’s”]
– 130A: NEWER [Like the Xbox One X vis-a-vis the Xbox One]
– 9D: KIT [D.I.Y. buy]
– 10D: OAHU [“Magnum, P.I.” setting]
– 13D: OGRE [D&D monster]
– 36D: DAB [Apply with a Q-tip, say]
– 41D: ENZYME [RNA polymerase, e.g.]
– 111D: ROTHS [Some I.R.A.s]

My favourite non-thematic clue was at 19D: SALADS [Introductory courses]. I appreciated the play on expectations there! What did you take pleasure in about this pangram of a puzzle? Tell us within the feedback under. Congrats once more on the constructor for her NYT debut!