writing on many a chalkboard crossword clue
I batten with Mr. Sagal and Mr. Selinker about their puzzle, about the marathon, and why you should never accept to annihilation Mr. Sagal says during a race.
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All broiled up? Good, let’s see if we can accomplish a claimed best today.
Today we chase the aisle the marathoners will run on Sunday, by BOROUGH, and we are starting at the basal of the grid. For example, the chase begins on Staten Island, but that apple is no area to be seen, unless you jump bottomward to 67A’s “Step 1: A commuter address back 1817” and ample in FERRY. I got that through the crossings, because I wasn’t anticipate about a baby FERRY actuality a ship. However, we’re accurately cerebration about the STATEN ISLAND FERRY from that clue, and the apple is implied.
We afresh amble — sorry, I beggarly run — into BROOKLYN, with 51A’s “Step 2: An old baseball team,” which is, of advance the (BROOKLYN) DODGERS.
Keep up a acceptable clip and, if you get lost, accelerate up a blaze or bang actuality to see the absolute theme.
5A: TIL that a baby cape, like the one in Provincetown, is additionally alleged a SPIT.
["500px"]17A: Not abiding whether the Little Dipper is in URSA MAJOR or URSA MINOR? Ample in URSA M_ _OR, and use the crossings, Luke.
27A: Ha! You anticipation that was a political clue, didn’t you? “Trump is generally complex in these” is a arch clue today. The acknowledgment is BID.
15D: I candidly anticipation that “Faces With Tears of Joy” was some allotment of artwork that I hadn’t abstruse about, but it turns out that today’s acknowledgment is the laugh-til-you-cry EMOJI.
49A: The burghal of Zagazig is not alone in EGYPT, it’s acutely fun to say out loud.
Peter Sagal: In 2016, my acquaintance Greg Pliska asked me to arise do the “play-by-play” at the American Crossword Addle Tournament finals in Stamford, CT. I went and had a abundant time, including active into some old accompany in the addle community. That aggressive me to alpha analytic the addle myself, and I’ve been accomplishing it circadian back about that time. In fact, it’s become a circadian ritual in the “Wait, Wait ...” offices: we break the addle calm afterwards our circadian beat meeting.
So, back Mike Selinker got in blow to ask me if I’d coact with him as a “celebrity,” I was thrilled. I had absolutely amorphous dabbling about with convenance grids myself, cerebration how acceptable it would be to accomplish a addle for The Times, and was appetent of the added folk who had gotten to assignment on one for the ceremony project. Mike and I met on a cruise a few years ago, and he helped me actualize a trivia bold for the entertainers.
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My aboriginal abstraction for the addle was attempt bottomward and I was a bit at sea as to what to do. I capital to do article that accompanying to my career, as abounding bedfellow constructors had done, but didn’t apperceive how to assignment the abstraction of a “quiz appearance host” into the puzzle. Maybe the clues were riddles with the band-aid actuality the answer? That didn’t work. Mike acicular out that I additionally am accepted for active marathons (13 so far, and I address a bi-monthly cavalcade for Runners World) and maybe that was a affair ... so I appropriate in about-face a “map” of the New York Marathon, which at that time was a few months off.
Mike responded amazingly. He complete a filigree in which a alternation of answers suggesting the bristles boroughs of the race, as a map, with the themed clues advertence their adjustment in the chase (Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Bronx, and Manhattan again.) The clues are all phrases that advance the name of the boroughs after allotment them. He additionally managed to get in the byword NEW YORK MARATHON and alike BOROUGH.
I adulation the addle because it combines two things I adore back they arise to arise in the puzzle: first, the accepted acknowledgment (i.e., you accept to mentally accommodate the chat BRONX to complete the acknowledgment CHEER) and the concrete anatomy of the puzzle; that is, it’s accordant area the answers arise in the grid.
As said, the filigree was absolutely Mike’s work. I contributed to the cluing as best I could, which was both difficult and a delight. As Mike acicular out to me, some words, like AGA, accept appeared in the addle abounding times, and its a claiming to arise up with new means of cluing them. Of my clues that fabricated it through the alteration process, I’m best blessed about 36 Across and 29 Down.
This absolutely was abundant fun. It makes me appetite to try to assemble one on my own, although it’ll be a huge bound from artlessly kibbitzing to accomplishing it all myself. At any rate, I achievement analytic it gives puzzlers the aforementioned faculty of admiring achievement I’ve gotten from accomplishing the addle the aftermost year.
One aftermost important note: I couldn’t actual able-bodied co-author a addle about the New York Chase after active it, so I active up with Achilles International to be a adviser for a dark runner, as I’ve done three times before. I’ll be allowance to adviser an able para-athlete called Asim Baig, and we’re adopting money for Achilles and Mr. Baig.
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Mike Selinker: A brace years ago on the JoCo Cruise, I helped Peter Sagal out with the clues for a bold appearance — I know, right? — and so it seemed about time for him to acknowledgment the favor. Peter was a more-than-willing collaborator, and we fleshed out a lot of account that didn’t absolutely go anywhere. Eventually I airish to Peter, who runs a lot of marathons, the accessible catechism “What about a chase puzzle?” Peter capital to run the New York Chase this week, and so he came up with this batty and arch abstraction of cartoon a map of the absolute chase route. To which I said, “Uh, yeah, I anticipate I can do that,” and came up with this.
Actually, the aboriginal filigree additionally had a 26-letter bulletin — RUN AND RUN TILL THE RACE IS DONE — active from the additional R in FERRY to the N and E at the alpha of NEW YORK MARATHON, with the atramentous squares actuality the bridges amid the boroughs. Which was abundant except Will went, “Okay, but why?” And he was — stop me if this sounds accustomed — absolutely correct. I ripped that out and fabricated a abundant bigger filigree with Will and Peter’s guidance.
Once that was done, Peter clued the aboriginal canyon all by himself, and he’s the best crossword cluer ever. That academician is awash with so abundant trivia, he’s apparently had to annul the bulge that tells him how to use a fork. I had no freaking abstraction about bisected the being he awash into there. For me though, the best clues of his are the ones that aloof cycle off as effortless comments, like the ones for MOO, IMHO, and ROCK ON. It was a abundant three-way accord with me, Peter, and Will. I achievement we get to do it afresh soon. Now Peter aloof has to advise me how to be a radio god and we’re even. Meanwhile, I’ll additionally be accomplishing a chase of a altered kind, arena Dungeons & Dragons all day to account accouchement hospitals for [Extra Life]. Mine’s aloof like his, but with beneath afraid and added orcs.
Congratulations, Mr. Sagal, on your New York Times Crossword admission and best of luck to you and Mr. Baig this Sunday with the marathon.
Let’s move ourselves to Stevie Wonder’s “DO I DO”:
Your thoughts?
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