Credit: Photo illustration by The Globe and Mail; Alan Zenuk/FOX; AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
This is already my fourth weekly Puzzle Pieces column; please let me know what you think in the comments. And remember: spoilers ahead! As always, I style grid entries in CAPS and clues in [square brackets].
Today’s Weekender, An Apple a Day‚ comes to us once again from recent Western mechanical engineering grad Jeffrey Martinovic. Jeffrey is a prolific constructor whose puzzles can be found in major publications across North America (but we like to think he saves his best work for us.)
Favourite moments in today’s crossword
Did you get caught by the sneaky clue at 31A, [Party address, maybe]? Crossword constructors often use words with two meanings like address to try to mislead the solver. That’s TOAST, an address given at a party, rather than what to type into Waze on your way there.
Something similar is happening at 35A with [Fender-bender impressions]. Opinions about car accidents, maybe? Nope, it’s DENTS – those unfortunate physical impressions.
At 86D, I was sure I’d seen through the ruse, thinking [Chip producers?] was either trying to make me think of Lay’s when the answer was actually Intel, or vice versa. But Jeffrey had a third kind of chip in mind: those made by ICE PICKS.
Breaking down today’s theme
A reminder: Each of our Weekender crosswords has a theme, a gimmick that ties the puzzle together. Themes usually appear in the longest Across entries of the grid, and are often explained via a “revealer” entry (which we discussed last week).
Today’s theme is revealed in the middle row at 69A: DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS, clued as [Medical humanitarian organization … or a hint to the parts of the starred clues’ answers that don’t fit in the grid]. The joke is that while the grid has borders, eight hidden doctors have escaped them entirely.
We find the first “starred clue” at 23A: [*Entire thing, idiomatically (time traveller in a TARDIS)]. At first, the multipart clue is perplexing, and that’s part of the fun. As we work through the grid, we begin to realize that the first part of each starred clue leads to an answer that won’t quite fit. The hint in parentheses points to a doctor that has no borders, i.e., is not seen in the grid. There’s only room in the grid for the answer minus the doctor, or LE ENCHILADA.
(Yes, I know, technically the character himself is simply “the doctor”; in service of the theme we decided this was acceptable.)
This happens seven other times, on alternating sides of the grid, with a variety of stage-name, brand-name and fictional doctors, including:
- 29A: SAN DIEGO PA(DRE)
- 36A: (PEPPER)ONI PIZZA
- 119A: PEE-WEE’S PLAY(HOUSE)
A note from today’s constructor, Jeffrey Martinovic
The idea for this puzzle came (ironically) while I was eating a pear! I realized there were a ton of well-known doctors whose names could be found at the start or end of longer phrases, which allowed the DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS angle to come together quite well. The entire construction process took under two weeks, which may be the quickest I’ve put together any 21×21 puzzle. I hope you enjoyed solving it as much as I did making it. Given that this theme revolves around doctors, I’d like to end on a shoutout to my lifelong family doctor, Dr. Chambers, who is retiring next year – a frequent DWB volunteer, humanitarian, and all-around good guy deserving of a restful retirement.
Cryptic clue of the week
As you’re learning to recognize the various clueing mechanisms used in cryptics, Fraser Simpson’s How to solve The Globe’s cryptic crossword is a great resource that you can return to if you get stuck.
So far in this column we’ve looked at anagram clues and container clues. Today we’ll look at another common cryptic mechanism: the homophone.
At 27A in today’s Weekender Cryptic, the clue is [Advisory group overcome by ennui, they say (5)]. The enumeration (5) tells us we’re looking for a five-letter word, and as always its definition will be found either at the front or the end of the clue.
Right away, I notice “they say” at the end – the telltale giveaway! Homophones are indicated by words that can be interpreted to mean “said aloud.” Look for terms like “declared,” “pronounced” or “as discussed.” Sometimes they’re slightly trickier, like “reportedly” or “on the radio,” or even “to the auditor” or “in audition,” but always indicating sound-based wordplay.
Now that we’ve spotted our indicator, we can be fairly certain that the definition lies at other end of the clue. What’s a word for “advisory group” or “advisory” or “advisory group overcome”… that sounds like a word that means “ennui” or “overcome by ennui”? Do you see (hear) it?
An advisory group is a BOARD, which sounds like bored, which means overcome by ennui. Those are both five-letter words, so be sure to read carefully. Bored is the soundalike, because the indicator “they say” comes after it; the answer to put into the grid is BOARD.