[.puz][PDF][Solution] ➡️↗️⬆️ Difficulty 4/5
I started work on this puzzle about two years ago at the height of my obsession with being a 60-Across. Posting it now is somewhat bittersweet, since I have actually been a 60-Across in practice since before the pandemic. A couple of quick hits before we dig into “Movin’ On Up”:
Parker and I are running a live, in-person How to Make a Crossword workshop here in Cambridge on October 4th at the Lamplighter Brewery, roughly coinciding with the release of their latest batch of Wordplay beer. The can is adorned with a crossword by yours truly! If you’re a Boston local, sign up here!
Speaking of October 4th, don’t forget to sign up for the Boswords Fall Themeless League! They’re kicking off on Monday evening, 10/4 as well — you’ll have time to get home from Lamplighter!
A couple of thoughts and feelings (SPOILER ALERT) about “Movin’ on Up” after the jump!
This puzzle was *hell* to put together. I was dead set on keeping each of the theme answers in symmetrical horizontal rows, but the nature of the hard left turn made placement super inconvenient. It would have been easier to wrangle if I’d had more thematic material to choose from, but I was also set on each theme answer not just being an answer slot that CLIMBS THE WALLS, but also itself be a person/character/thing that itself climbs walls. Finding subsequent down answers that moved through the O-K-C and Y-V-I strings was limiting. Ultimately I needed to go to 16 wide, with CLIMBS THE WALLS rather than CLIMB THE WALLS in order to intersect the T of ENTRY VISA with the T of CLIMBS THE WALLS. *YEESH*
Anyway, the intersections and variably-oriented theme answers required more glue than I tend to like–ADV, ONE-O, CHOC, in particular–but ultimately I felt like it was smooth enough to share with you here.
Happy solving, friends!
-Ross
I’m now looking forward to your Sunday puzzles to cleanse the palate after some of the more frustrating NYT Sunday puzzles. Thanks for the brain balm!
Might you call it a … solve salve? Glad to have you, Rich!
Loved 38D clue!
My journalist parents both lodged a complaint… I’m going to tell them you approved and that’ll settle the matter.
As it should. BTW, speaking of the professional humorist’s opinion, as I tell my wife, puns are NOT a form of humor – they are a demonstration of intelligence.
Okay, per the Cambridge Dictionary, I see that you’re technically allowed to clue 9d as you did, but since that’s a both rare and etymologically dubious, why why why didn’t you go for “Prefix with -oholic”? Prissy unyielding grammarians need to know!
I meant “that’s both”, not “that’s-a both.” Don’t. Just don’t.
I think the short answer is that if I can reasonably stir the prescriptivist pot, I’m almost always going to choose to do so! It’s just good sport 🙂