44a. The “fruity red” referred to here is not a type of wine but a color: CERISE (from French for “cherry”).
63a. EURO AREA appeared Only once before in the New York Times Crossword and was completely foreign to me as “currency territory”. I didn’t even know there was such a thing! (what currency do they use in “Twilight ZoneDo you have to open it with a key? category? i’m done; I will stop.)
1 d. Standing for the sound made by rain or a light footfall, “Pit-A-PAT” makes for a beautiful, albeit impossible to guess, vocal conversation. I suspect that, like me, some of you have been thrown away by the invisible hyphen or having alternate forms like “pitter-pat.”
11 d. You really have to sit with the “flat sign, maybe” before you realize that the “apartment” in question is an apartment, and the “sign” in front of it will read “TO LET”. (I’ve spent far too long trying to figure out a rebus that would turn this entry into a TOiLET – as if that answered the clue in any way.)
15 d. The use of Japanese “straw mats”, known as TATAMIS, goes back to the past to Japan in the eighth century. In the 21st century, not only are these mats a popular form of decor, but they’re also a handy word for Spelling Bee whenever you find yourself with a T, A, M, and I.
46 d. As I kiss my “Hi, Mom!” Is the correct spelling here, it wasn’t the first thing that came to mind. The scene I consider most “stereotyped” for a Jumbotron is the Kiss Cam, in which a candid camera forces spectators to lock lips at the behest of a screaming crowd.
Creator Notes
not shiny: I’m excited to see this puzzle worked on my birthday! After a previous Times puzzle, Victor wrote to me interested in building crosswords and had no shortage of theme suggestions. After he identified expressions like “pig in a blanket,” it occurred to us that we could represent those expressions using the Across and Down crosses.
Since the last puzzle, I’ve started graduate school in architecture and hope to find more time to create crossword puzzles.
Victor: This puzzle is dedicated to the memory of my father, Gilbert Sloane, who passed away peacefully on May 24 at the age of 94. While he did not see the puzzle in print, he knew it had been accepted. When we visit, we’ve been working on the puzzle side by side. I got the idea for the theme from a book on English curiosities, and realized there were a number of animal expressions in the same form. Matt kindly agreed to work with me. I learned a lot in our collaboration.
I am a rheumatologist with the Peace Corps (I was a volunteer from 1981-1983). This October, my wife, Sandra Gong, and I will celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. We are proud parents of two adorable daughters, ages 24 and 19.
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Note: Submissions will be temporarily closed from July 3rd and will reopen on July 17th. Puzzle editors will review puzzles that have already been submitted during that period, so you may still hear from them while submissions are closed.
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