Wild Country

SATURDAY PUZZLE — Hopefully you don’t feel like the themeless Saturday puzzle can be old hat, but if you do, Sam Trabucco has slipped in a sneaky theme today to shake things up, or shake us down, depending on your solving experience.

Tricky Clues

Some of the small fill in this puzzle was harder than usual to me — I’m thinking of DAM (turns out my moat knowledge is full of holes, har har), AARE (Yser made more sense), EES (for Electrical Engineers, O.K., fine), ETRE and certainly PAR. The clues for HEM, ACE, CPR and ROAD, among others, were unexpected and clever; others, like those for USES and FENCED, seemed designed by Mr. Trabucco to be a little tortuous.

26A: My hunch here was “chai teas”; I’d never really thought of an alcoholic brew as spicy, except for some sort of mulled winter drink, perhaps. I didn’t really know from RYE BEERS, but it certainly makes sense that the same grains that we get bread from could all make their own beers. Don’t know how people develop a taste for beer, but fortunately it’s not a critical food group — for everyone. No offense to the WET among us …

… who was clued as “One not abstaining,” at 16A. Meanwhile, at 31A, “Ones not abstaining” refers to VOTERS, who are most critical. We need voters like we need air and water.

34A: This much-seen and much-loved Best Picture winner, THE ARTIST, was also the only modern silent film to win an Oscar. Don’t know if this scene is really the “funniest” but both of these actors won Oscars as well, and the magnetism between them is really something.

53A: I settled on “bore” for this clue, “Lamebrain,” which is not what I think of when I think of BOZO, the television clown. But there’s been a panoply of insults used as clues, in the past, for this entry — “dumdum,” “chowderhead,” “doofus,” “schmo” … Alas, poor BOZO.

1D: I fear the response to this entry from solvers, but to each their own — I found HAND BRA hilarious. I first fixated on “fig leaf,” several of which could also be helpful, but it’s true, when all else fails, you’ve hopefully got your hands to protect at least part of you. There’s a TV show that this clue brought to mind, called “Naked and Afraid.” I haven’t watched it but suspect that there’s probably more pixelation than physical concealment going on to get past the censors. Unless you’ve got people who are afraid to be naked on this show. (“Naked and Afraid: Aversion Therapy”?)

11D: The comics world can be very complex — this character, who starts out as one of the good guys, comes to exemplify duality after getting attacked, scarred and mentally bifurcated by an acid attack. Known as TWO FACE, once Harvey Dent, he is a figure in at least some of the Batman movies.

28D: It’s been a while since Kerri STRUG appeared in the puzzle; I vaguely remember how extremely dramatic the U.S. women’s gymnastics competition was in that 1996 Olympics. It doesn’t seem like a movie was ever made but the “Magnificent Seven” won gold in what must count as one of the most nerve-racking competitions, narrowly beating the Soviet team, back when there was still a frisson of Cold War in the air — oh, and when people didn’t even blink at an imposing male coach screaming at his minuscule athletes. Bad old days, right? Anyway, apparently Kerri Strug works for the Department of Justice these days.

29D: This term is not quite a debut — Kameron Austin Collins got to it first back in 2015, and it’s secured a foothold in the vernacular, as far as I’m concerned — so I’ll be curious to know if you’re familiar with the FRIEND ZONE.

35D: This one had me scratching my head and I realize I’m part of a pretty big crew, at least in New York City, who’s unrepresented in Mr. Trabucco’s world. He may think that to “Commute in the afternoon” means to HEAD HOME, but I’m usually doing the opposite and slogging into the office as the sun starts to go down. The news never stops, people!

Today’s Theme

There’s usually more than meets the eye in a theme puzzle, but today’s falls on the opposite side of the spectrum. You actually have to try a little less hard to get it — but that doesn’t make it easy.

There are four across entries — 18, 23, 50 and 56 — each with clues that refer (“literally”) to a down entry — 10, 7, 8 and 1, respectively. If you’re working off crosses, you may be able to fill in each of these across entries without making much sense of the trick — especially if you start with 23A, like I did: “With 7-Down, literally, neither wins nor loses.”

The entry at 23A is simply BREAKS. The clue for 7D, “Buffoons,” didn’t seem to have anything to do with anything, and it solved to the equally unhelpful OXES. What could that have to do with BREAKS? What would make BREAKS mean “neither wins nor loses?” That’s actually pretty easy: You’re looking for some way to say BREAKS EVEN — what else could that be. But where would we get the EVEN from?

Well, if you look at 23A, it crosses 5D — PRESS EVENT — at that second S in PRESS. If you continue BREAKS into that down entry, you get BREAKS (across) and EVEN (down). So where on earth does 5D come in here?

It doesn’t. Neither does OXES, for “Buffoons,” at 7D. Take another step back to the clue at SEVEN down. You’re quite “literally” using the number SEVEN, running down. The clue itself has nothing to do with it.

Let’s look at the one at 50A, “With 8-Down, literally, one just taking up space.” Don’t even look at the clue at 8D — we’ve learned our lesson. What phrase fits the clue and ends in EIGHT? How about DEAD WEIGHT? Sure enough, 50A is DEADWE — crossing, at the end, SLEIGHT (or “Dexterity”) at 44D, and borrowing that entry’s EIGHT to complete the trick.

Constructor Notes

Many solvers enjoy cross-references in their puzzles, but I know that many others detest them with some sort of burning passion I can’t relate to. My hope is that this puzzle presents a “worst of both worlds” situation — solvers who like them will be disappointed, and solvers who hate them will have their days ruined before discovering the trick! I’m equal opportunity like that.

Of the numbers which were possible to use, SEVEN was (of course) the most constraining since I didn’t want to cross two *S EVEN phrases. Luckily, there were actually two options I could find in the slot — apologies to JESSE VENTURA for the exclusion!

Hope you enjoyed!

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