As I said in the last blog post, this week’s puzzle (and the next one, on Feb. 19) would be a little strange. I even included a note in the electronic version of today’s puzzle saying that it’s really best to print it out and solve it on paper, since neither Across Lite nor the browser solver on the Post’s website can replicate the special squares as I wanted them to appear. So for this blog post, I’ll be using the clue numbers from the print version.
Just looking at the blank puzzle grid, you’ll notice something strange: There are several larger-than-normal squares. They each intersect with two crossing answers rather than one. I’ve written rebus puzzles where you jam multiple letters into a single box, but this time, I did the opposite: I gave you the chance to write one large letter in what’s essentially multiple boxes. The answers that consist entirely of big squares are each two-word phrases, but you have to imagine that BIG is the first word for each of them:
- 21A: [Septet of stars called the Plough in the United Kingdom] is the (BIG) DIPPER.
- 23A: [Subject of creation science?] is the (BIG) BANG. This works for creation science, but not Creation Science, if you follow me.
- 58A: [General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, collectively] is the (BIG) THREE.
- 63A: [Major commotion] is a (BIG) SCENE.
- 98A: [“Nobody cares”] is “(BIG) DEAL.”
- 101A: [Top dog] is a (BIG) CHEESE.
- 5D: [One lacking in frugality] is a (BIG) SPENDER.
- 13D: [Fast-food staple invented by Jim Delligatti in 1967] is the (BIG) MAC.
- 46D: [Literary symbol of mass surveillance] is (BIG) BROTHER, from George Orwell’s “1984.”
- 87D: [Feline that roars] is a (BIG) CAT.
The answers that go through those big squares share a letter with them, so 1D: [Earned] is MADE and 2D: [Pierce portrayer] is Alan ALDA, with both intersecting the D of DIPPER.
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One effect of tossing in so many big squares is that it cut my total word count way down. Instead of 144 answers as I normally have, there are 122 in this puzzle, and excluding the theme answers, they’re all eight letters long or shorter. So, maybe not much in the way of flashy fill, but hopefully it’s still fun to work out those big answers. Go big or go home, as they say.
Some other answers and clues of note:
- Adjacent near-echoes with 18A: [Cast member, at times] for EXTRA and 19A: [Cast member, at times?] for ARM., where a person’s broken arm would be in a cast.
- 65A: [Copy writer?] is a STENO, short for a stenographer. My favorite clue this week.
- 71A: [Fighter who boasted, “I should be a postage stamp; that’s the only way I’ll ever get licked”] was Muhammad ALI. Could that guy turn a phrase, or what?
- 14D: [Figure that has come in Sun Set Malibu and Shaving Fun varieties] is a KEN DOLL. I spent more time looking up varieties of Ken dolls to write this clue than I care to admit.
- 34D: [Mythological character who served as an inspiration for the musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark”] is ARACHNE. Another effect of having fewer clues to write is that I got to make several of them pretty long. That gave me a chance to toss some useless info at you that you may have otherwise not previously known.
- 80D: [Scoreboard abbr. for New England’s Super Bowl LI opponent] is ATL. I wrote this puzzle just before the down week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, and had no way of knowing at the time whether it would be the Super Bowl LI winner or loser. Good thing I didn’t try to guess, because for most of that game, it looked like it’d be the former.
See you next week and — second reminder — it’s gonna be another weird one. I expect it’ll be a bit tougher, too.
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