29 A. “Bad plan!”, in Southern slang, replaces an expression closely associated with the political effort to be popular, and that’s what I thought when I discovered that dogs don’t hunt. I originally wrote “won’t” for “won’t” because several presidents have put it that way, incl Lyndon B. Johnson And Bill Clinton. However, both terms appear in references.
38A/38D. These two entries make for a sticky crossing point on the first character. In 38A, “specific score notes” are resolved to RESTS, symbols (“notes”) in sheet music. I looked through the alphabet and sure enough “best” (eg final result) and “exam” (something to do with “grade”) could work. “Turn the screwdriver?” For this in 38D I visualized the “wind” as a spiral swirling motion. The entrée here is BEEF, like the orange slices that garnish Screwdriver cocktail.
11 d. This entry is a delightfully sarcastic comment, and I’m surprised we don’t hear it more often – we must be swimming in enough neuroses to make it relevant. If someone does something that lands you on the psychoanalyst’s couch, “Paging Dr. Freud!” Try to lighten the mood by saying.
32 D. If you have not been exposed to remote gathering in recent years, this entry may not apply to you. Anyone who’s used to hanging out on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Hangouts knows that when a person “gets ready to talk” in a modern meeting, they tend to get muted. And hopefully you remember to unmute yourself before you mutter something else!
Notes about the creator
Sohn: In crossword puzzles, you rarely see words with 11 to 15 letters. The shortest allowed word consists of three letters. So in a two-word line with a black box, the maximum possible length is 11 characters, and one-word lines are often only 15 characters long. I custom made this grid with 15, 14, 13 and 12 character spaces and started filling them with PAGING DR. Freud.
My first draft of this grid had some duplication and was poorly filled out, so I posted it online to see if anyone could help (thanks Crosscord Discord). Julian redesigned the top half of the grill and improved it significantly. We didn’t meet in person until months later! I’m always happy to connect and collaborate with other creatives, and I’m grateful for the online communities that make this possible.
Julian: Thanks to my dad for telling me all about the BOKEH effect on my phone, which is not only a great addition to my sound list but also makes my pictures doubly good. While filling in this grid, I noticed that BOKEH was an option for 5-across slots and prayed that I could make it work without using crossword glue to fill in the surrounding area. I was lucky it went very well.
Many thanks to Ben, not only for his kindness and openness to cooperation, but also for helping me since I started making puzzles. He gave me an honest and encouraging review of my first puzzle about two years ago and continues to give me great advice when I have ideas for a theme or unthemed grid. It’s an honor to make my New York Times debut with her!
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