Length-ening - The New York Times

SUNDAY PUZZLE — Michael Lieberman lives successful Washington, D.C., and is simply a lawyer astatine a consumer-protection firm. This is his ninth New York Times crossword, and his 2nd Sunday grid, successful 2 years. His inspiration came erstwhile the rubric of the Billy Joel opus “We Didn’t Start the Fire” morphed into “ennui didn’t commencement the fire,” which didn’t marque overmuch consciousness but did marque him laugh. He went searching for different specified transformations that could beryllium utilized to physique a puzzle.

Mr. Lieberman’s caput is honed to admit these kinds of coincidences and grow connected them. He besides constructs Puns and Anagrams puzzles for The Times, which dwell solely of jokey wordplay. That expertise helps the capable successful a puzzle similar this, truthful that the full lick is rollicking and fast-paced.

Tricky Clues

30A. “‘The _____ Company’ (Frans Hals portrait)” is simply a 1630s painting that hangs astatine the Rijksmuseum successful Amsterdam. Its archetypal title, which referred to the militiamen it depicts, was far longer and much formal. The sanction successful the clue, “The MEAGRE Company,” came astir erstwhile a restorer (Jan van Dijk) noted however bladed its subjects appeared.

78A. This pun would beryllium close astatine location successful a Puns and Anagrams puzzle. A “Bread maker?” tin churn retired dough oregon cabbage, too, erstwhile it’s a MINT.

14D. The “God who was said to beryllium successful emotion with his sister portion inactive successful the womb(!)” is OSIRIS, an past Egyptian god. His emotion for Isis began earlier their commencement and lasted aft his death. He was murdered, disassembled, reassembled, resurrected and yet delivered to the underworld, wherever helium became its overlord.

84D. At first, I thought this hint mightiness beryllium successful the taxable set: “What’s truthful flippin’ casual to navigator with?” The introduction is abbreviated and straightforward, though: SPATULA. This word comes from the Latin for “little broadsword.”

95D. This “Electronic artifact with a bluish ‘pull’ handle” has popped up successful the crossword puzzle a mates of times successful the past fewer years: It’s called a BOP IT.

Today’s Theme

There are 7 entries successful the taxable acceptable of this puzzle, astatine 24-, 35-, 49-, 70-, 90-, 106- and 118-Across. Each has a punny question arsenic a clue, and each is simply a communal word oregon operation that is transformed by the summation of the aforesaid missive brace into an Inspector Clouseau-style Frenchified homophone. Things get beauteous silly!

Take 24-Across: “Why the party’s astir to get little hip?” solves to SQUARE EN ROUTE. This means that a “square,” a enactment pooper (un rabat-joie successful French), is arriving to devour each the canapés and blast Plastic Bertrand. It’s besides a play connected “square root,” of course.

At 106-Across, the hint is “What students successful a karate people are often doing?” and the reply is CHOPPING EN BLOC. This 1 was a tiny spot little wide to maine — not the “chopping block” part, but I’m not excessively acquainted with EN BLOC. It’s akin to “en masse” (which does not look successful this puzzle) and seems to beryllium utilized mostly successful medicine, instrumentality and politics.

The hint astatine 90-Across was besides a small tricky, but for a antithetic reason. “Dish cooked to creaseless things implicit aft a fight?” solves beautifully: It’s MAKEUP ENTREE. I had decided that the word that Mr. Lieberman was playing connected present was “makeup tree” and was mystified. Keep successful mind, though, that we’re dealing with homophones. Thinking retired loud, we’re really starting with a “makeup tray,” which galore of america person successful our salle de bains. (I relished solving this puzzle retired loud, recalling bits and pieces of precocious schoolhouse French, and I’m definite I sounded similar a flock of Gallic sheep to anyone astir me.)

The showpiece of the taxable is surely the halfway span astatine 70-Across: “‘Prepare for a sword fight, McKellen, Fleming and each different namesakes retired there!’” Hopefully you realized determination are 2 “Ian”s successful this clue; adjacent so, its reply is delightfully hors de ce monde. Read it arsenic EN GARDE, IANS OF THE GALAXY.

Constructor Notes

I anticipation you enjoyed the solve! My archetypal submission included the taxable introduction DATA EN POINTE [“Star Trek” android reaching for thing connected a precocious shelf?]. The occupation with that introduction (apart from not being each that funny) is that the French “en pointe” is not pronounced the aforesaid arsenic the English “on point,” which I did not cognize until the editors broke the news. That led to immoderate reshuffling and the replacement introduction CHOPPING EN BLOC, which is present 1 of my favourite taxable entries — truthful all’s good that ends well.

Special shout-outs spell to Adam Wagner and Rafa Musa, who tolerated mode excessively galore “is this funny?” queries astir imaginable taxable entries, and besides to the feline connected the acold near of 30-Across.

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