Erik Agard (born 1993) is a crossword solver, constructor, and editor. He is the winner of the 2016 Lollapuzzoola Express Division, the 2018 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT), a frequent contributor to the New York Times crossword puzzle, a crossword constructor for The New Yorker, the former USA Today crossword editor, and a former Jeopardy!contestant. He is currently a crossword editor at Apple News+.This was a very Agardian puzzle as Erik pulled a lot of rabbits out of his cluing hat. I acquired a very hard earned "got 'er done"!
Across:
1. Coagulate: CLOT.
5. Batter's boxful?: CAT TOYS - That's taking a lot of latitude with the noun batter!
12. Not giving anything away: MUM.
15. Rather blue: RACY - The old blue laws banned controversial items such as RACY ones.
16. Puzzle out: UNRAVEL - A skill all of us solvers need
18. Say too much?: OVERESTIMATE
20. Actor Beatty: NED.
21. "They had our number": WE LOST.
22. Mani-pedi option: GEL.
23. April option: E-FILE - I E-FILED my tax returns and got my refunds a month ago
25. Mile High horses?: BRONCOS.
27. Jerk components: SPICES. ๐
28. Up-front stake: ANTE.
29. In descending order: MOST TO LEAST.
33. Hi-__: RES - We who have been around computers a long time remember the early Lo-RES games
34. Targets of biannual battery replacements: SMOKE ALARMS - It's recommended they be changed when we change from and to daylight savings.
35. Flash the Dolphin or Splash the Whale: BEANIE BABY.
36. High-flying Iรฑupiat tradition: BLANKET TOSS - Originally, this practice was used to boost scouts high enough to spot whale migrations or other game over sea ice.
38. Significant figure: VIP.
41. Jab in a one-two combo?: BOOSTER SHOT ๐ - Ya got me at first Erik, but I had a DOH! moment when I saw this had nothing to do with boxing.
42. Bona __: FIDE - Latin for "in good faith"
43. Releases, in a way: UNTIES ๐
44. Reduced: SMALLER - I enjoyed the 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage where a four-person vessel was reduced to travel through the human body.
47. Basis of some protein powders: PEA ¯\_(ใ)_/¯ This is bona fide Saturday cluing for PEA
51. Scooby-__: DOO.
52. Structure that's built to scale: CLIMBING WALL - Gotta love this use of the word scale.
55. Head up: RUN - If you head up an organization, you can be said to RUN it
56. Box on a table: ELEMENT - The table of ELEMENTS
57. Mahjong piece: TILE.
58. Timeline divs.: YRS.
59. Starting point: SCRATCH ๐
60. Translucent chalcedony: ONYX - This is the stone I chose for my high school ring.
Down:
1. Source of leverage: CROWBAR.
2. Actress Cox: LAVERNE - Yeah, I thought of Courtney first
3. Animals with spots: OCELOTS.
4. Erykah Badu's signature song: TYRONE ¯\_(ใ)_/¯
5. Builds specially: CUSTOM MAKES.
6. Insect in the family Formicidae: ANT - Formica is the Latin word for ANT
7. Calc prerequisite: TRIG.
8. Get under control: TAME.
10. "However ... ": YET.
11. Places where days of rest are observed?: SLEEP LABS.
13. No help: USELESS.
14. "Don't be so __": MODEST - What we all say to C.C.!
19. Letters above a tilde: ESC.
24. Passionate: FIERY.
26. Later alternative: SOONER.
27. A few weeks out?: SO LAST MONTH ๐ Things can fall out of fashion in a hurry
30. Interludes on some hip-hop albums: SKITS - ¯\_(ใ)_/¯ SKITS are short, often humorous or narrative-driven interludes on hip-hop albums that enhance thematic atmosphere, deepen storytelling and provide brief, conversational respites between songs. You're welcome.
31. Enforceability metaphor: TEETH - Talk's cheap, there needs to be some TEETH in the enforcement
32. Social prohibitions: TABOOS.
34. "No." and others: SENTENCES - Wow!
35. Nevada's Great __ National Park: BASIN.
36. Cannes opener: BONJOUR ๐ I really liked this when it hit me!
37. Ash removers: LOTIONS ¯\_(ใ)_/¯ I had to look this one up after it filled. The ash is an ingredient in the LOTION used to remove blemishes not the substance being removed. ๐ณ
38. Heavy: VILLAIN - Claude Akins came to my mind
39. If all goes well: IDEALLY.
40. Throw: PERPLEX - Erik has a real talent trying to throw solvers
41. "Why ask why?" beer: BUD DRY - ¯\_(ใ)_/¯ Only in production from 1990 to 2010 when it was losing money. It was brewed using a special fermentation method designed to let the yeast consume more sugars for a "drier" profile, rather than just watering it down. You're welcome.
42. Reached by air: FLEW TO - The Earth is not flat and the shortest distance between two points might take you in what seems to be an odd route on a flat map.
45. "Lust, Caution" director Lee: ANG ¯\_(ใ)_/¯
47. Docking station: PIER ๐
48. 1815 novel set in Highbury: EMMA - A first-edition of this novel that shares my granddaughter's name would run me about $1,700.
49. Support: ABET.
53. Business letters: LLC and 54. Business letters: INC.
6 comments:
It all made sense,
eventually . Though it took me over an hour, I finally solved this knotty puzzle.
FIR, so I’m happy.
This puzzle really showcases Erik’s talent in CW construction, a very impressive 16X15 grid affording a lot of long fill, the stack of five elevens, and two more in the verticals, a couple of twelves, and by my count, sixteen sevens. I thought the cluing was also masterful, (other than the one for DJINN which warrants a nomination for worst of the month, but it would have been ESP no matter the clue). Other DNKs too numerous to mention. I whittled away at it, some friendly perps and a couple correct WAGs, allowed for a FIR w/out help in 26:54. Thank you Erik for the challenge, outstanding work on this one! Also thanks to HG, always look forward to your take on the puzzle, and I always learn things along the way.
Yooper Phil ⬆️⬆️⬆️. Not sure why I’ve become another anonymous ๐คท♂️
Nope, nope, nope. Saw Agard's byline and decided to skip this one.
Forgot to congratulate Sir Michael Caine on his 93rd birthday. One of my favorite TROuPERS.
Insanely good cluing on this one. And the quintuple stack is surprisingly clean.
Most of the difficulty came from sticking with SO LONG instead of SOONER which seemed way too easy. I finished in the SW where I thought for sure that 36D had something to do with the film festival.
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