[.puz][PDF][Solution] Difficulty: 3.5/5
Happy holiday weekend! Just a few puzzle world odds and ends to share today.
-First, Natan Last is writing a book that promises to be required reading for the modern puzzle enthusiast!
-The New York Times has paused crossword submissions for the month of July, so if you’re a constructor looking to peddle your wares elsewhere, check out this submission spreadsheet maintained by puzzle maker Matthew Stock.
-Tournament crosswording is right around the corner! You can now officially register for both Boswords (Boston, 7/24) and Lollapuzzoola (NYC, 8/27), at the latter of which you should feel free to approach me for one (1) crisp high five.
Warm appreciation to this week’s test solvers, Mike, Anna-Marie, Dave, and Diary of a Crossword Fiend‘s own Amy! Thoughts and spoilers for “Join the Chorus” below…
With apologies to one of my all-time favorite box-to-box midfielders, the inimitable Toni Kroos, the homophone puzzle genre really only has two essential features.
First, the sounds-like words need to sound pretty ding-dang close. Obviously “Cruz” won’t always be pronounced just like “crus,” but they’re both a lot closer to “crews” than even your average American soccer fan’s pronunciation of “Kroos.”
Second, the pattern needs to have a raison d’être expressed via an apt revealer. In this case, MOTLEY CREWS [Ragtag bunches … and an apt description of the ends of 17-, 25-, 35-, and 47-Across] expresses the base sound *and* unifies the collection of relevant words as, well, a motley assortment. Which they are! Unless, of course, your BOOZE CRUISE happens to be serving nothing but GRAND CRUS, which… sounds like a pretty rough hangover in the making.
Kudos to those of you who noticed the callback to last week’s puzzle with the clues for EAZY-E and CELIA CRUZ. Is there an echo in here?
Happy solving, friends!
-Ross