Constructed by: Daniel Jaret
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Symmetry on Steroids
There is a note with today’s puzzle:
Today’s puzzle has an extraordinary quality. Can you discover what it is?
Well, not only do the black squares have 180-degree rotational symmetry, so do the answers! Answers in the top-left of the grid are palindromes of the answers in the bottom right.
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
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Bill’s time: 5m 50s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Fist bump : DAP
The dap is a form of handshake, and often a complicated and showy routine of fist bumps, slaps and shakes. Some say that “dap” is an acronym standing for “Dignity And Pride”.
9 Trippy drug : LSD
LSD (known colloquially as “acid”) is lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist named Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …
12 Fairy tale baddie : OGRE
An ogre is a monster of mythology and folktales that has the appearance of a man, and which eats human beings. The term “ogre” comes to us via French from the name of the Etruscan god Orcus, who feasted on the flesh of humans.
14 Bittersweet Italian liqueur : AMARO
Amaretto is an Italian liqueur with a sweet almond flavor. Even though the drink is sweet, it has a bitterness lent to it by the bitter almonds that are often used as a flavoring. The name “amaretto” is a diminutive of the Italian word “amaro” meaning “bitter”.
15 “Great” primate : APE
The tailless primates known as apes (also “hominoids”) are divided into two main branches: gibbons (lesser apes) and hominids (great apes). The hominids are the great apes, and belong to the family of primates called Hominidae. Extant genera that make up the family Hominidae are:
- chimpanzees
- gorillas
- humans
- orangutans
16 What a bassoon has that a bass doesn’t : REED
Our modern bassoon first appeared in the 1800s and has had a place in the concert orchestra ever since.
The double bass (often just “bass”) is usually referred to as the bass fiddle or bass violin in the world of folk and bluegrass music.
17 Orthodontic device for separating teeth : SPACER
Orthodontics is a branch of dentistry dealing with the straightening of teeth. The name comes from the Greek “orthos” meaning “straight” and “dontia” meaning “teeth”.
18 D.C. insider : POL
Politician (pol)
19 Sparkling Italian wine : ASTI
Asti is a sparkling white wine from the Piedmont region of Italy that is named for the town of Asti around which the wine is produced. The wine used to be called Asti Spumante, and it had a very bad reputation as a “poor man’s champagne”. The “Spumante” was dropped in a marketing attempt at rebranding associated with a reduction in the amount of residual sugar in the wine.
20 Pale lager, informally : PILS
Pilsener (also “pilsner” or “pils”) is a pale lager. The name “pilsener” comes from the city of Pilsen, now in the Czech Republic. It was in Pilsen, in 1842, that the first bottom-fermented lager was produced. A bottom-fermented beer is much clearer than a top-fermented beer, and has a crisper taste. The “top” and “bottom” refers to where the yeast gathers during the brewing process.
21 Woodworking fasteners : T-NUTS
A T-nut is so called because it has a T-shape when viewed from the side.
31 ___ Michaels of “S.N.L.” : LORNE
Lorne Michaels is a television producer who is best known as the creator of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL). We can get some insight into Michaels’ character and demeanor by watching the show “30 Rock”. The character Jack Donaghy, played by Alec Baldwin, is inspired by Michaels.
32 “Now!” : STAT!
The exact etymology of “stat”, a term meaning “immediately” in the medical profession, seems to have been lost in the mists of time. It probably comes from the Latin “statim” meaning “to a standstill, immediately”. A blog reader has helpfully suggested that the term may also come from the world of laboratory analysis, where the acronym STAT stands for “short turn-around time”.
37 N.Y.C.’s Lex or Fifth : AVE
Lexington Avenue in New York City is famous for many things, but my favorite fact is that it was the site of the first ever arrest for speeding in the city. In 1899 a police officer on a bicycle caught up with a cab driver who was tearing down Lexington Avenue, at the breakneck speed of 12mph …
Fifth Avenue in New York City is sometimes referred to as the “most expensive street in the world”. The section that runs through Midtown Manhattan is home to upscale stores, such as Saks Fifth Avenue.
38 Indy 500 vehicle : RACE CAR
The Indianapolis 500 race is held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The race is run around a 2.5 mile oval, hence requiring 200 laps for completion. The first Indy 500 race was held on Memorial Day in 1911. The winner that day was one Ray Harroun. Harroun had seen someone using a rear view mirror on a horse-drawn vehicle, and decided to fit one on his Marmon “Wasp” motor car. Supposedly, that was the first ever use of a rear-view mirror on a motor vehicle.
41 Actress Longoria : EVA
Eva Longoria is a fashion model and actress who had a regular role on TV’s “Desperate Housewives”, playing Gabrielle Solis. Her travel and food show “Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico” premiered on CNN in 2023.
42 “Two thumbs down” and “I hated it!” : PANS
To pan something is to criticize it harshly.
44 Bits of permanent ink : TATS
The word “tattoo” (often shortened to “tat”) was first used in English in the writings of the famous English explorer Captain Cook. In his descriptions of the indelible marks adorning the skin of Polynesian natives, Cook anglicized the Tahitian word “tatau” into our “tattoo”. Tattoos are sometimes referred to as “ink”.
47 Theme park shuttles : TRAMS
A tram is a means of public transportation that runs on rails laid along the length of streets in cities and towns. Trams might also be referred to as trolleys or streetcars.
52 Tomato sauce brand named for a famed restaurant in East Harlem : RAO’S
Rao’s Italian restaurant opened in East Harlem in New York City in 1896. Rao’s also sells a small line of Italian foodstuffs in supermarkets, such as pasta, sauces and olive oil.
54 Place for a yacht : SLIP
A “slipway” or “slip” is a ramp on the shore in which boats can “slip” into the water. This “slipping” into the water is literally the case in a shipyard, where a vessel’s hull “slips” off the ramp after it is coated with grease.
63 Caribou, e.g. : DEER
“Caribou” is the North American name for “reindeer”.
64 Org. established by Nixon : EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was set up during the Nixon administration and began operation at the end of 1970.
65 Suffix for an extravaganza : -ORAMA
The “-orama” is used in advertising and journalism to create words meaning a space or spectacle related to the root word. Examples are “Scoutorama” and “smellorama”. The suffix is derived from words like “panorama” and “diorama”.
67 Ethernet alternative : DSL
The initialism “DSL” originally stood for Digital Subscriber Loop, but is now accepted to mean (Asymmetric) Digital Subscriber Line. It is a technology that allows Internet service to be delivered down the same telephone line as voice service, by separating the two into different frequency signals.
“Ethernet” is the name given to a standardized configuration of local area networks (LANs). An ethernet cable is that one that has a connector on the end that looks like a regular telephone connector, but is about twice as wide. Ethernet dates back to the mid seventies, when it was developed by the Xerox Corporation.
69 ___ thai (stir-fried noodle dish) : PAD
The delicious dish called pad Thai is a meld of stir-fried rice noodles with tamarind juice, red chili pepper plus a mix of vegetables and possibly tofu, meat or fish. It is usually topped with crushed peanuts, coriander and lime. The name “pad Thai” translates as “fried Thai-style”.
Down
1 Bilingual explorer of TV : DORA
“Dora the Explorer” is a cartoon series shown on Nickelodeon. Part of Dora’s remit is to introduce the show’s young viewers to some Spanish words and phrases. Dora’s constant companion is an anthropomorphic monkey named “Boots”, because he always wears red boots. She also hangs out with Isa, an iguana.
3 ___ à manger (ready to eat, in France) : PRET
Pret a Manger is a UK-based chain of sandwich shops that was founded in 1983. The name, more correctly written as “Prêt à Manger”, translates from French as “Ready to Eat”. Founder Jeffrey Hyman chose the name due to its similarity to the French phrase “prêt-à-porter” meaning “ready-to-wear”, as in clothing.
4 South American animal with a distinctive snout : TAPIR
All four species of tapir are endangered. Even though the tapir looks much like a pig, it is more closely related to the horse and the rhinoceros.
5 Lawyer Clooney : AMAL
Amal Alamuddin married celebrated Hollywood actor George Clooney in 2014. Alamuddin was born in Beirut, Lebanon and moved with her family to London when she was a toddler. She is a lawyer specializing in international law, with one of her more renowned clients being the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.
6 Tic ___ (mints) : TACS
Tic Tacs aren’t American candies (as I always mistakenly believed). Tic Tacs are made by the Italian company Ferrero, and were introduced in 1969.
11 Some convention-goers: Abbr. : DELS
Delegate (del.)
13 Holder of over 1,000 patents : EDISON
Thomas Alva Edison (TAE) was a very successful inventor. He held over a thousand US patents in his name. Included in the list of Edison’s inventions is the phonograph, the movie camera and the long-lasting light bulb. He passed away in 1931. There is a test tube at the Henry Ford Museum that supposedly holds Edison’s last breath. Ford convinced Thomas’s son Charles to seal up a tube of air in the room just after the inventor died, as a memento.
22 N.B.A. team whose fans include the Brooklyn Brigade : NETS
The NBA’s Brooklyn Nets were the New Jersey Nets until 2012, and were based in Newark. Prior to 1977, the team was known as the New York Nets and played in various locations on Long Island. Ten years earlier, the Nets were called the New Jersey Americans and were headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey.
24 Abbr. above “0” on some phones : OPER
On the buttons of a phone you often see TUV on the 8-key and OPER (for “operator”) on the 0-key. Well, you used to …
25 What A.I. is trained on : DATA
Artificial intelligence (AI)
26 Funky bass technique : SLAP
Slap bass is a playing technique commonly used in funk, jazz, and rock music that involves hitting the strings with the thumb and popping or slapping them with the fingers to produce a percussive sound.
27 Exploding star : NOVA
A nova (plural “novae”) is basically a star that suddenly gets much brighter, gradually returning to its original state weeks or even years later. The increased brightness of a nova is due to increased nuclear activity causing the star to pick up extra hydrogen from a neighboring celestial body. A supernova is very different from a nova. A supernova is a very bright burst of light and energy created when most of the material in a star explodes. The bright burst of a supernova is very short-lived compared to the sustained brightness of a nova.
28 ___ Ishii, Lucy Liu’s character in “Kill Bill” : OREN
Lucy Liu is an actress from Queens, New York. Liu’s big break came when she was chosen to play the Ling Woo character in “Ally McBeal”. I liked her in the 2000 film “Charlie’s Angels” but as I am no fan of Quentin Tarantino, I did not enjoy the movie “Kill Bill”. I do enjoy one of Liu’s more recent projects in which she plays Joan Watson, one of the two lead characters in the TV crime drama “Elementary”.
“Kill Bill” is a 3-part Quentin Tarantino movie (I haven’t seen it, as I really don’t “do” Tarantino). “Kill Bill” started off as one film, but as the running time was over four hours, it was split into two “volumes”, released several months apart in 2003 and 2004. There has been a lot of talk about making “Kill Bill: Volume 3”.
29 Leaves in, editorially : STETS
“Stet” is a Latin word meaning “let it stand”. In editorial work, the typesetter is instructed to disregard any change previously marked by writing the word “stet” and then underscoring that change with a line of dots or dashes.
32 Plea for money from a foreign prince, perhaps : SCAM
A stereotypical fraudulent email scam promises West African riches from a Nigerian prince.
34 Roman emperor famed for his debauchery : NERO
Nero was Emperor of Rome from 54 to 68 CE, and he had quite the family life. When he was just 16-years-old Nero married his step-sister Claudia Octavia. He also had his mother and step-brother executed.
35 Bard of ___ (Shakespeare) : AVON
William Shakespeare is referred to as the Bard of Avon, as he was born and raised in the lovely town of Stratford-upon-Avon in the English Midlands.
40 Seized vehicle, for short : REPO
Repossession (repo)
43 British W.W. II weapon : STEN
The STEN gun is an iconic armament that was used by the British military. The name STEN is an acronym. The letters S and T come from the name of the gun’s designers, Shepherd and Turpin. The letters EN comes from the Enfield brand name, which in turn comes from the Enfield location where the guns were manufactured for the Royal Small Arms Factory, an enterprise owned by the British government.
46 End of a rugby match : NO SIDE
Rugby is a town in County Warwickshire, England. It is a market town, and is also home to the famous Rugby School, one of the oldest private schools in the country. The school gave its name to the sport of rugby, as the laws of the game were first published by three boys at Rugby School in 1845.
50 Heeds a red light : STOPS
The first traffic lights date back to 1868 when they were installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London. They resembled the signals already in use for trains, with semaphore arms and red and green gas lamps for nighttime use. That first system was operated manually, by a policeman at the base. Sadly, one police officer was killed just one year after the light’s installation, when the gas system exploded.
51 Postlarval : PUPAL
A pupa is a stage in the life of some insects. All four stages are embryo, larva, pupa and imago. Pupae can look like little dolls, hence the name. “Pupa” is the Latin for “doll”.
55 Leader in Tibetan Buddhism : LAMA
The Buddhist tradition has two major branches. The Theravada is “the School of the Elders”, and the Mahayana is “the Great Vehicle”. The Theravada is the older of the two schools, whereas the Mahayana split from the Theravada around the 1st century CE.
57 U. of Maryland athlete : TERP
The sports teams of the University of Maryland are called the Maryland Terrapins, or “Terps” for short. The name dates back to 1932 when it was coined by the university’s president at the time, Curley Byrd. He took the name from the diamondback terrapins that are native to the Chesapeake Bay.
58 Genesis console maker : SEGA
Genesis is a video game console sold in the US by the Japanese company Sega. Genesis is sold as Mega Drive in the rest of the world, as Sega couldn’t get the rights to the Mega Drive name in the US.
59 14-time M.L.B. All-Star, to fans : A-ROD
Baseball player Alex Rodriguez, nicknamed “A-Rod”, broke a lot of records in his career, albeit under a shroud of controversy due to his use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. When he signed a 10-year contract with the Texas Rangers for $252 million in 2000, it was the most lucrative contract in sports history. In 2007, Rodriguez signed an even more lucrative 10-year contract with the New York Yankees, worth $275 million. Rodriguez retired in 2016.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Fist bump : DAP
4 British bye-byes : TA-TAS
9 Trippy drug : LSD
12 Fairy tale baddie : OGRE
14 Bittersweet Italian liqueur : AMARO
15 “Great” primate : APE
16 What a bassoon has that a bass doesn’t : REED
17 Orthodontic device for separating teeth : SPACER
18 D.C. insider : POL
19 Sparkling Italian wine : ASTI
20 Pale lager, informally : PILS
21 Woodworking fasteners : T-NUTS
23 Fly like an eagle : SOAR
25 Abysses : DEEPS
26 Does some detective work : SNOOPS
29 Bright : SMART
31 ___ Michaels of “S.N.L.” : LORNE
32 “Now!” : STAT!
33 “___ to it!” : SNAP
37 N.Y.C.’s Lex or Fifth : AVE
38 Indy 500 vehicle : RACE CAR
41 Actress Longoria : EVA
42 “Two thumbs down” and “I hated it!” : PANS
44 Bits of permanent ink : TATS
45 Register, to Brits : ENROL
47 Theme park shuttles : TRAMS
49 Egg race utensils : SPOONS
50 Treadmill setting : SPEED
52 Tomato sauce brand named for a famed restaurant in East Harlem : RAO’S
53 Shameless publicity move : STUNT
54 Place for a yacht : SLIP
56 Lead-in to gift or miracle : IT’S A …
60 Hack (off) : LOP
61 Summarizes : RECAPS
63 Caribou, e.g. : DEER
64 Org. established by Nixon : EPA
65 Suffix for an extravaganza : -ORAMA
66 Therefore : ERGO
67 Ethernet alternative : DSL
68 Occupied, as a table : SAT AT
69 ___ thai (stir-fried noodle dish) : PAD
Down
1 Bilingual explorer of TV : DORA
2 Eons : AGES
3 ___ à manger (ready to eat, in France) : PRET
4 South American animal with a distinctive snout : TAPIR
5 Lawyer Clooney : AMAL
6 Tic ___ (mints) : TACS
7 “Rules ___ rules” : ARE
8 Mailroom job : SORTER
9 Drink, like a cat : LAP UP
10 Parking places : SPOTS
11 Some convention-goers: Abbr. : DELS
13 Holder of over 1,000 patents : EDISON
17 Places to be pampered : SPAS
22 N.B.A. team whose fans include the Brooklyn Brigade : NETS
24 Abbr. above “0” on some phones : OPER
25 What A.I. is trained on : DATA
26 Funky bass technique : SLAP
27 Exploding star : NOVA
28 ___ Ishii, Lucy Liu’s character in “Kill Bill” : OREN
29 Leaves in, editorially : STETS
30 PC alternatives : MACS
32 Plea for money from a foreign prince, perhaps : SCAM
34 Roman emperor famed for his debauchery : NERO
35 Bard of ___ (Shakespeare) : AVON
36 Mates : PALS
39 Somewhat : A TAD
40 Seized vehicle, for short : REPO
43 British W.W. II weapon : STEN
46 End of a rugby match : NO SIDE
48 Post-mortem meetings, in business-speak : RETROS
49 Drains : SAPS
50 Heeds a red light : STOPS
51 Postlarval : PUPAL
52 Try to tear : RIP AT
53 Winter conveyance : SLED
54 “Begone!” : SCAT!
55 Leader in Tibetan Buddhism : LAMA
57 U. of Maryland athlete : TERP
58 Genesis console maker : SEGA
59 14-time M.L.B. All-Star, to fans : A-ROD
62 Noted time period : ERA
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16 thoughts on “0606-23 NY Times Crossword 6 Jun 23, Tuesday”
Comments are closed.
Every answer is the reverse of it’s “rotational” mate, from DAP at 1A to PAD at 69A, and LSD at 9A to DSL at 67A. Same with all the Down answers! Until you get to dead center, where 38A RACECAR and 29D STETS are the same forwards or backwards. Extraordinary indeed!
Until I saw JamesG’s note, I did not realize the word reversal symmetry worked in both the across and down /up directions. Insanely brilliant puzzle!!
After reading Bill’s explanation, and the above comments, I reviewed the completed grid with a new sense of awe and admiration. Beautifully constructed.
However, I took a DNF on this. Couldn’t remember George Clooney’s spouse, never heard of AMARO, and the temptation to enter what I was thinking for “Pale lager, informally” when I had PI_S filled was too much to bear.
If only SSIP were a word …
Wow. That was an incredible construction. Kudos to the setter! Luckily @BruceB, I did know Amal Clooney. Didn’t know AMARO, but got it with crosses. 9:45, no errors.
6:59. Definitely a “wow”. Can’t add to what has already been posted so I’ll just say “ditto”
Best –
9:19, no errors, and you can add my name to the “awestruck multitudes” list … 😜. One for my personal hall of fame … 😀.
15:08 and since everything that could be said about the puzzle has been said, I gotta five BruceB props for making me chuckle on his potential answer for “pale lager”👍
Cruciverbalist Daniel Jaret is a genius!
No doubt about it!
9:24 no errs.
4:40, no errors. Good example of a constructing stunt that really wasn’t that noticeable on the solving quality end of it. Though very few and far between.
Wow. Didn’t realize how much went into this. I was amazed after reading Bill’s explanation. Then even more after I read people’s notes.
Made all the ‘never heard ofs’ pointless.
extraordinary quality: too many alcohol references, and too many naticks. extraordinary
All the above! After discovering the “theme” I used it to clean up a square or two. So, no errors? Doesn’t matter. What a grid.
@Glenn – in response to your post of yesterday, yes, the Seattle Times on-line puzzle interfce doesn’t allow for the “automatically go to next word” when you’ve completed a word. The NYT site does. I find the ST on-line interface to be among the crudest.
My own rule of thumb is that “auto” can speed up your time by at least 30 seconds. So all the “good solvers” that use the NYT should add about 30 seconds to their times to compare to Glenn – LOL! Of course at my stage of development I’d need a calculator to match my score against Glenn …
On a similar note, the LAT interface is absolutely the BEST because:
– It “autos”
– It won’t jump to the next word until you’ve completed the current word.
– The backspace works as one would expect – yes, it you type ahead in the wrong direction you can actually backspace out of your error. I never found another CW interface that did this correctly.
Be Well,
lou lu
This is one of the most AMAZING crossword puzzles I have ever seen.An incredible amount of work must have gone into constructing it.It was a pleasure to solve it.