07.18.09 -- Quadrupuzzle V

BARCODE (37A. It’s machine readable)

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Saturday, July 18, 2009

Puzzle by Joe Krozel, edited by Will Shortz

Today's crossword is essentially four small puzzles joined in the center by a few letters. Divided by four big black "hammers", each quadrant needs to be solved separately. This is the fifth New York Times crossword of this type over the past two years -- See 12.01.07 -- Quadrupuzzle and 09.20.08 -- Quadrupuzzle III with the same diagram; 12.22.07 -- Quadrupuzzle II, a close variation; and most recently 10.17.08 -- Quadrupuzzle IV, the last being the least cubically claustrophobic.

Puzzle 1 (Upper left): Across -- 1. Rears, DUFFS; 12. Like theater seating, IN ROWS; 16. Coming from both sides, STEREO; 18. Writer of “Commentarii de Bello Gallico”, CAESAR; 20. Watching Letterman or Conan, say, UP LATE; 22. Not merely thought, SPOKEN; 24. Partition, SEVER; 26. Grasping things more slowly, DENSER. Down -- 1. Get into, DISCUSS; 2. Potential, UNTAPPED; 3. 1960s catchphrase, FREE LOVE; 4. Like a foundling, FORSAKEN; 5. They’re often packed away for the summer, SWEATERS; 13. Theologian Kierkegaard, SOREN.

Puzzle 2 (Upper right): Across -- 6. Jurist who wrote “A Matter of Interpretation,” 1997, SCALIA; 14. Delivering a tirade, SPOUTING; 17. Kind of gland, PROSTATE; 19. Makes privy to, LETS IN ON; 21. Medical inspiration?, INHALANT; 23. The Bucharest Buffoon of the court, NASTASE; 25. GET A clue. Down -- 6. Prophesy, SOOTHSAY; 7. Verbally run down, CUSS AT; 8. King who infamously demanded half of Rome’s Western Empire as a dowry, ATTILA; 9. Rain forest flora, LIANAS; 10. Cantillate, INTONE; 11. One may act for an actor, AGENT; 14. Long, thin strip, SPLINE; 15. Before coming out?, PRENATAL.

Puzzle 3 (Lower left): Across -- 33. Boldness to a fault, GALL; 37. It’s machine-readable, BARCODE; 42. “Dig in!”, HAVE AT IT; 44. Indications that things have changed?, ERASURES; 46. Like a pleasant aroma, ENTICING; 48. Precede, LEAD UP TO; 50. Job woe, STRESS. Down -- 25. Inclination, GRADIENT; 27. Star treks?, EGOTRIPS; 34. “On your feet!”, LET’S GO; 37. Charlie of swing, BARNET; 38. Embodiment, AVATAR; 39. Stay, RESIDE; 40. Party get-together, CAUCUS; 42. They’re tough to run in, HEELS.

Puzzle 4 (Lower right): Across -- 28. Muhammad’s favorite wife, AYESHA; 35. Western wear, CHAPS; 41. Breaker of the 400-meter freestyle world record at the 2000 Olympics, THORPE; 43. Bandleader with the #1 hit “Blues in the Night”, HERMAN; 45. Baseballer Fernando Valenzuela’s nickname, EL TORO; 47. Crybaby, MOANER; 49. It turns over before it runs, ENGINE; 51. They branch off, SECTS. Down -- 29. Levels, ECHELONS; 30. Supply-and-demand problem, SHORTAGE; 31. Consonant, HARMONIC; 32. Ostensible, APPARENT; 35. Serape sporters, SENORES; 41. Writer’s development, THEME.

Go four it!

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