04.08.07 -- IN OTHER WORDS...

Read this -- don’t waste your time doing this nasty Sunday construction which is more akin to a big-grid Saturday with an ort of a theme thrown to the solver -- after struggling through numerous coy clues and arcane answers my postganglionic neurons were flat on their back.
“In Other Words” (title of puzzle) indicates anagrammed words -- the long answers have one or two un-anagrammed words mixed with an anagrammed word or words that relate to two other anagrammed word(s) which cross each other in the four corners of the grid. Each of the four long answers indicate the elusiveness of the anagrams with the words "masked", "in disguise", "undercover" and "secret".
50D MASKEDAVENGERS = 96D ENGRAVERS and 123A NERVEGAS,
67A BLESSINGINDISGUISE = 127A BSINGLES and 91D GLIBNESS,
76A UNDERCOVERFBIAGENT = 23A BEINGFAT and 19D FANGBITE,
93A SECRETADMIRERS = 24A = DISARMER and 5D MARRIEDS
Hanging dead-center of the puzzle there is REDRUM (11D clued as "reverse mantra of 'The Shining'"), which is an anagram of "murder", and an antigram ("red rum"), dangling from the top of the work like a dagger and presiding over this slice-and-dice, mix-and-match clever construction like a monstrous clue.
There, I’ve spoiled it! Be glad! -- unless you have nothing better to do this Easter Sunday (hey, there’s a subject for a “theme” -- but no!). Hell, you may want to unearth some words that no one ever uses, such as AMARANTH, ENTRAINS, ECUS, NAIAD, CARNELIAN, AITCH, DELED, TAVERNER, MOLOCH, and VENTI. Maybe devious cluing is your FORTE (Piano’s counterpart), then you’ll enjoy “It begins here” AITCH, “pommes frites accompanier” SEL, “what goes to your nose to make noise?", ANI. Maybe initialed answers like BGIRLS, BSINGLES, FTSMITH, FBIAGENT, TBAR, UPENN, ALGEBRAI or just initials themselves, EMI, LGA, RNA, LBJ, MGM, PAC, DSL -- oh, how’s your grasp of the other languages to help you with HAUS, ESTADOS, SEL, NISI, CIELO, and places like the SAONE, or obscure gods and actresses? -- they're all right? Well, if they are, then don't read this! -- for the love of Heaven, do the puzzle!!!
Illustrations: 11D (Reverse mantra of "The Shining") REDRUM, and 99A (Caravaggio’s “The Sacrifice of _____“) ISAAC . Left click to enlarge.
Puzzle by Byron Walden - Edited by Will Shortz

10 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 8, 2007 at 6:54 PM

    Thanks a lot!

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  2. AnonymousApril 9, 2007 at 12:44 PM

    Thank God I found you!

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  3. DONALDApril 9, 2007 at 5:25 PM

    Well thank you too! Just started last month, but will continue if I find out anyone's reading it! So leave a note once in a while!

    Thanks!

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  4. StanApril 15, 2007 at 5:00 PM

    Nicely done, Donald .. love the snark.
    Your commentary matched my feelings on this crossword.
    5D: I clung to MRANDMRS for a long, long time.
    31A: throw in RKO ...which makes 19D: NECKBITE ! and proceed downhill from there.
    65D: KENNEL and 12D: AYE ... sweet clues (oh! groan)
    All in all, I found this crossword obscure and annoying, mostly because anagrams are not my thing. I mostly finished (after spending far too much time on it) and then had to find a completed puzzle (your site) to understand what I'd filled in! On my campus we have Starbucks and multi Tim Horton's (with their VENTI's and GRANDE's and whatevah..)When I get coffee, I rebel; whatever you call 16oz, that's what I'll have.
    cheers ..

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  5. AnonymousApril 15, 2007 at 9:31 PM

    Naughty puzzle. Typically the common word is 'ceramicist' 'ceramist' is hardly ever used. Lots of very obscure words in this one, as well as names of celebs running down next to each other, yuck! The mantra of "The Shining" is 'redrum' so the reverse mantra would be 'murder'. I think he slept on that one. I still don't get how fangbite (red holes or bite mark woud be more of an impression) or beingfat have anything to do with undecoverfbiagent. And finally the longstanding textile city of France is Paris with the famous Gobelin Tapestry Factory. Ok it was tough, but I found it sloppy.

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  6. DONALDApril 18, 2007 at 8:08 AM

    Ger -- wanted it to be RKO also.- agree good clues for AYE and KENNEL. Hope I don’t get investigated for having never been to a Starbucks -- I’d better go to one while everyone still thinks I‘m normal! Do hope you’ll visit again, help keep me on my toes!

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  7. DONALDApril 18, 2007 at 8:16 AM

    Anonymous -- yes, it was a bit that (naughty) -- thinking maybe that the “reverse” part of the clue was an adjective, not a noun (as in reverse of) -- it’s a point. FANGBITE is another anagram in this puzzle and it is anagram of (undercover)FBIAGENT and BEINGFAT -- didn’t know Paris was the location of the Gobelin Tapestry Factory -- France has quite a few textile towns, each one seems to specialize -- NIMES is known for denim, and the manufacturing of pants.

    Thanks for stopping by!

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  8. AnonymousSeptember 23, 2007 at 9:51 AM

    I am only just now getting around to doing this puzzle, and I did not enjoy it. Too many clues I had to Google (actresses' names etc), and then I found your blog, thank goodness! I still don't get how "once across the Rio Grande" turns out to be "Eleven" and not "una vez". Thanks for posting this!

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  9. DONALDSeptember 23, 2007 at 5:38 PM

    September Anonymous:

    Once = Eleven in Spanish.

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  10. AnonymousJuly 10, 2011 at 6:29 PM

    The worst NY Times puzzle ever!

    (Thanks for the help!)

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