Addison Snell’s New York Times crossword, “Sending a Message” —Nate’s write-up
So, I’ll admit that I usually grimace a bit at tribute puzzles, however I actually loved at the moment’s Sunday NYT due to how multi-layered it was. The indisputable fact that the puzzle is in tribute to one in every of my final queer icons didn’t damage both (and, in truth, I PRed my clear up!).
Let’s see what we have now for “theme” solutions:
10.30.22 Sunday New York Times Puzzle
– 48A: JITSU [Brazilian jiu-___]
– 55A: EASED [Gradually slid (into)]
– 64A: LOOKS [Appearance]
– 67A: EVERS [Civil rights leader Medgar]
– 69A: CLUNK [Troublesome engine sound]
– 74A: BY SEX [One way to segment demographic data]
– 84A: PINGS [Troublesome engine sound]
– 92A: AVERS [Forthrightly asserts]
Flavortext: “This completed puzzle contains a 114-Across, comprising the eight shaded answers. Put these in order, one after the other. Then, use this key to get a line spoken by 25-Across in “The 40-Across”: A = R, B = I, C = J, D = P, E = A, G = H, I = O, J = C, Okay = L, L = U, N = T, O = Z, P = Y, R = M, S = E, T = D, U = S, V = G, X = N, Y = Okay.”
Taking these seven symmetrical entries and subbing out the letters as instructed, we get:
JITSU EAS E DLOOKS E VERS CLUN KBYS EXP INGSA VERS
CODES ARE A PUZZLE, A GAME JUST LIKE ANY OTHER GAME
This code-breaking meta reply is said to the opposite “theme” solutions on this tribute puzzle:
– 25A: ALAN TURING [English computer scientist who pioneered the breaking of ciphers generated by the 98-Across]
– 40A: IMITATION GAME [2014 movie portraying the work of 25-Across, with “The”]
– 98A: ENGIMA MACHINE [W.W. II-era encoding device]
– 114A: CRYPTOGRAM [Sort of encoded message found in this puzzle’s grid [SEE NOTE]]
Perhaps it’s as a result of I simply completed watching the model new CBC documentary “Across and Down” concerning the significance of variety and illustration in crosswords, however having this Sunday NYT puzzle rejoice one of the essential homosexual males in fashionable historical past make me extremely proud. I hope you loved it too, even for those who didn’t get to share in that side.
(As a hilarious meta facet notice, NYT lately stopped publishing .puz variations of its puzzles in order that it may concentrate on the cool transformations it may accomplish in its personal crossword app. I actually favored that fixing the puzzle within the app instantly resulted in a translation of the cryptogram… however that made it powerful to display seize a picture of the unique (non-translated) puzzle! Just a bit an excessive amount of of a great factor, I reckon.) 🙂
