08.29.13 — Eye of the Storm

A water vapor satellite image of Superstorm Sandy

on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, Stu Ostro/Facebook

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Thursday, August 29, 2013

Puzzle by Timothy Polin / Edited by Will Shortz

So, we’re to imagine that this clever, but overly-complex and challenging Thursday crossword resembles a cyclone or hurricane, reminding us this is the season for same.  EYE appears in the unnumbered center square.  The answers for the upper half and the right half of the puzzle are reversed, the lower half and left half are not — wordage intending a “circulation” around the aforementioned word, EYE.  Two fifteen-letter answers are key:  RETRAC ENACIRRUH (17A. Exonerated boxer who is the subject of a Bob Dylan song) and BROOKLYN CYCLONE (55A.  Minor leaguer whose team is named after a Coney Island roller coaster).

The reversed and unreversed sections of the puzzle are fairly well divided by LONDON [EYE] (7D. Giant Ferris wheel on the Thames), GIMLET [EYE]  (34A. Piercing gaze), [EYE]  OPENER (43D. Enlightening experience) and [EYE]  OF NEWT (35A. Ingredient in a witch’s potion).

Reversed — ANIRTAK and the Waves (“Walking on Sunshine” band), CES, DECA, DEMYHR, DROL, ELI, ELIOTE, ENIL WOHC (36D. Mess hall queue), ERDNA, EUGES, HTUOM, LEA, LOC, MIR, NAMO, OSHO, RAOS, REHCO, SEVE, STIFEB, STIMO, STOT, TA GNIREEL (26D. Ogling wolfishly), TSE, TSYRT, TTA, WEDYENOH (37D. Green, juicy fruit), YORLIK (11D. Name in old graffiti), YHT (14A. Your substitute?).

Straightforward — AIG, ANT, APO, AT THE GYM (3D. Where to work out), BORNEO, BRIDE (45A. Name dropper, often?), CHE, DNA, EIRE, EKG, ELY, ENRON, EWES, GLENS, GLOM, HOV, INSEAM, “I PUT a Spell on You”,  KEA, KRYPTO (31a. Superman‘s dog), OILY, OMERTA, ONE, OTOH (32D. “That being said, “in textspeak”), RABBI, RACES, REUSE, ROLE PLAYS (18D. Uses sock puppets to talk to a therapist, say), ROTS, STEPPE, TUTORS, THESAURI (2D. Hustling is the same as cheating, according to these authorities), Walt Disney World’s TYPHOON Lagoon, TYRO.

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Puzzle available on the internet at
THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.