22D Inner Circle This miniature is of circular design, with a central emblem figuring Helios in his chariot. There are several circles surrounding this emblem and all are subdivided into twelve segments. The inner circle has twelve small naked female figures, six light- and six dark-skinned. Outside that are twelve numbers in Greek (henceforth called 'labels'). Outside that twelve clothed male figures representing the twelve months. Outside that are written the month names in Greek (indicating a specific date in the month) and on the very outside of the figure one may see the emblems of the zodiac signs.
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Wednesday, June 20, 2007 Puzzle by Bonnie L. Gentry and Victor Fleming, edited by Will Shortz Standard crossword puzzle with a gimmick -- 20 of the 225 letter entries are in circles, all of them being the letter “T” -- four of the circled “T”s are in the four corners of the grid and the remaining 16 circled “T”s are in a diamond shape in the center of the grid. It appears the intent was to evoke a draftsman’s T-Square -- the contrivance of outlined letters gives the solver a few extra clues once the circled letter is identified. I am partial to gimmicks in crossword puzzles as their skeleton adds depth to the grid and interest for the solver.
"Battle of the Amazons", Alte Pinakothek, Munich
The remainder of the puzzle’s 205 letters include two eleven-letter entries -- INNERCIRCLE (22D Influential group) and AMERINDIANS (10D Iroquois and others). Some of the seven-letter entries include OILWELL (13A Crude structure?), AREAMAP (15A Tourist’s aid), YESISEE (16A “Understood!”), MANLESS (17A Like a band of Amazons), LOCKSIN (55A Commits to, as an interest rate), BUELLER (56A Ferris in film), ALLEARS (60A Intent, as a listener), ALGEBRA (61A Field of unknowns?), and six-plus six-letter words including PALACE (9D Guard’s workplace), PALADE (20D 1974 Medicine Nobelist George _______), ANACIN (21D Bayer alternative), DIONNE (29D Quints’ name), EASYON (30D Hardly strict with) and EVOKED (44D Brought forth).
A slight delight for Wednesday.
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Further comment on the "T"s at Madness...Crossword and Otherwise.
The New York Times Crossword Puzzle solution above is by the author of this blog and does not guarantee accuracy. If you find errors or omissions, you are more than welcome to make note of same in the Comments section of this post -- any corrections found necessary will be executed promptly upon verification.
Puzzle available on the internet at
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games
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4 comments:
I didn't notice until someone pointed out (somewhere?) that the only Ts that appear in the puzzle are those in the circles.
Yeah, I like these different puzzles : )
Linda,
The only reason I noticed is that I counted the number of T's for my commentary and then said, oh -- none outside the circles, that's how I wound up naming the post CIRCLES, along with the entry INNERCIRCLE -- strange how everyone sees these puzzles differently -- that's why I am always preaching tolerance!
I believe they are like Rorschach ink blot tests -- depends upon who's looking at the thing -- so when I'm told what I should see, I look further.
Get ready for this weekend bunch of puzzles because, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were already kickers -- Will Shortz is ratcheting it up this week!
Ok, enough rambling!
Have a good evening!
I'm partial to the 39 letter entries that are filled in with black ink. That's where the Rorschach is.
You're absolutely right!
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