Dropping the Name – The New York Times

The first sign of any shenanigans I noticed was in 94D, “Like England in the late sixteenth century.” I had a hunch about what the entry might be (incl specific queen), but I couldn’t make out what was going on until I got to 92D, “the 2004 Don Cheadle movie set in Africa.” Here’s another specific bit of trivia I was sure of: the movie is Hotel Rwanda. But the entry at 92D is only six letters long, and the ones that fit are the first six letters: HOTEL R. “Dastardly Expression”, at 121A, resolves to SNEER, and subscribes to R in HOTEL R, so there’s no indication of a rebus – just a few Additional letters, WANDA, drop from the bottom of the puzzle.

This was enough information for me to know that 91D, “the one who handles casting and lines,” was FLY FIS, with HERMAN as additional letters. I realized that this entry was in the same column as 18-Down, one of the five shaded-square entries, and that there were several crosshairs entered, some in the shaded area. The clue in 18-Down, “Reeked” didn’t make sense until this point, when I mentally filled in the S-gaps h _ _ Master’s _TANK with E, R and N of HERMAN to get S.Hermann tank. about “Ricked?” Look at it this way: if you He falls Hermann From this entry, you are left with a STANK.

With fresh eyes, I looked at 19-Down, which runs in the same column as 92D, HOTEL R (WANDA). “Check, as a book,” resolves to BOW and ARROW. He falls Wandaand you get to borrow.

Once I figured out “name-dropping” here, the rest of the examples were deductible (though 110D took a minuteThen she cracked me up).

difficult evidence

47a. I found this difficult and unfamiliar, but it’s actually the most common way this entry has been spelled out in crossword puzzles, plural or singular, since the 1940’s. “Curved edges formed by intersecting vaults, in architecture” are GROINS, which Create strong supports in a vast area They appear in many medieval churches.