Thursday, August 31, 2017

NYT Crossword 08/31/17 (Thu.)

Cruciverbalist: Zachary Spitz
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 24:18 (Southwest corner gave me fits)

Puzzle uniqueness:

Two answers, CORNER and OFFICE, are clues to the fact the each corner of the puzzle is a rebus (More than one letter in a square) with a word that precedes OFFICE. Example:  1-across BOXCAR with the clue "Transporter with sliding doors" across and 1-down BOXSEATS with the clue "Luxuries for theatergoers." Hence, "box office."

Words I hadn't known until now: 

YAKITORI - "Japanese style of chicken"

Trivia I didn't know: 

MAMIE - "First lady with a popular recipe for 'million -dollar fudge'" (Eisenhower)
BRANDI - "Soccer star Chastain with two Olympic gold medals"
DIANE - "Rehm of public radio"
FUNHOME - "Alison Bechdel memoir made into a hit 2015 Broadway musical"
ALONSO - "King in 'The Tempest'"
NAS - "Rapper who famously feuded with Jay-Z"

Junk answers:

IMET - "'How ____ Your Mother'"
INC - "Business add-on?"
REN - "Kylo ___ of 'The Force Awakens'"
NAS - (See above)
NCO - "Base fig."
ENO - "'Music for Airports' composer"

Clever clues:

GASOVEN - "Pilot's surroundings"
FDAAPPROVAL - "Need for drugs" (One of the corner rebuses, OVAL)

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

MAMIE - (See above)
NONET - "Odd group of musician's?"

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