Sunday, August 20, 2017

NYT Crossword 08/20/17 (Sun.)

Cruciverbalist: Ruth Bloomfield Margolin
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 27:38

Puzzle uniqueness: "Found In Your Inbox"

Using "Re:" as pun for phrases beginning with "re". Example: "Re: ____ (Song lyricist's subject line) with answer being VERSECOURSE - "Reverse course"...get it?))

Words I hadn't known until now: 

FAUVE - "Matisse, e.g., stylistically"
APERCUS - "Pithy observations"
DACAPO - "From the top, to a musician"
HOSTA - "Lilylike plant"

Trivia I didn't know:

STPIERRE - "The first pope, to French speakers"
EVAN - "Hansen of a 2016 Broadway hit"
ESTER - "Perfume compound"
ARP - "'A Navel' artist, 1923"
VERDE -     'Mesa _____, National Park"
ORSAY - "Paris's Musee d'_____"

Junk Answers:

CHIS - "XXX"
ROWA - "Seats by the orchestra pit, perhaps"
KAL - "Carrier to Seoul, for short"
ORDS - "Municipal regs."
ESTS - "Repair shop figs."
TKOD - "Eliminated by a ref's decision"
ANUT - "'Are you some kind of ___'"
EOE - "Want ad letters"
STAC - "Short and detached, in music: Abbr." (A music major critiquing this elsewhere claims the actual abbreviation is "stacc.")

Clever clues:

BASSES - "The lowest of the low"
SOAPS - "Bathday cakes"
FOG - "Thick coat on a cold day"
UNARM - "Take the heat from?"
RAIL - "Third one's a harm?"

Obscure (i.e., really reaching) words: 

FAUVE - (See above)
APERCUS - (See above)
ESTER - (See above)
HOSTA - (See above)

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