Enjoy the snake-like solving!
SUNDAY PUZZLE — Hey puzzlers! (I’m trying out a new nickname for you guys) Welcome and thank you for playing today’s puzzle! I have taken a bit of a break from creating themed puzzles, but I am so excited to be back with such a fun theme today. I want to extend a huge thank you to Tobin Saxton, our summer editor, for not only inspiring me to create today’s theme, but for going above and beyond to help me get back into constructing. Despite a deleted puzzle scare, with his help everything came together in time! With that, please direct any questions, comments or concerns to crosswords@umich.edu, or reach out to me personally at sammm@umich.edu. Happy solving!
Tricky Clues
18A. The TANG of a sword is the “Sword part covered by the grip.” Without a grip, what even is a sword? A long sharpened piece of metal, or better stated, an accident waiting to happen. Also known as a shank, the tang of a blade is the incredibly vital piece of metal that attaches the handle of said blade to the blade itself.
28A. A “Canine’s coat” refers to the ENAMEL of the canine tooth, or the protective coating that prevents you from injuring your tooth. I recently had to go to the dentist, as one of my fillings fell out, and I needed it refilled. I have never been scared of the dentist — even as a small child — but for the first time in my life during that appointment , when the doctor hit the sensitive part beneath my enamel, I realized for the first time why people fear dental settings.
5D. While music can often be described abstractly, as in the way it makes you feel or the emotion it evokes, it is often easiest to describe literally in the way the music moves. In this case “Bouncy, in a way” refers to UPTEMPO, a speed at which causes the song to “bounce” from down beat to down beat.
8D. “Ones in a Chicago baseball crowd, maybe” refers to CUBFANS, one of two baseball fanbases in the windy city. Now I don’t know too much about baseball, but I was surprised whenresearching for these constructor notes to learn just how often even the best teams lose. In a regular season of 162 games, it isn’t uncommon for a team with less than 100 wins to make it all the way to the World Series.
41D. “Flies all around Africa?” refers to TSETSES, or a species of fly found in Africa. While looking for fun facts about the tsetse, I got jumpscared by a fly finding its way right beside my ear. Who knows, maybe it was drawn in by the huge image of its African counterpart on my laptop screen.
Today’s Theme
I hope this puzzle sent you for a few twists and turns, because it definitely contorted my brain trying to find a good fill for my strange theme. Starting with 20A, “Sphere or cylinder” refers to ROUNDED SURFACE, next 33A “Witches grin, say” refers to CROOKED SMILE, then 40A “Warped perception” refers to TWISTED IMAGE, and finally 54a “All worked up” refers to BENT OUT OF SHAPE. I love wordplay, and these funky mixed up and turned around words that also fit into common phrases was just too perfect to not make a puzzle about it. Anyways, hope I didn’t turn you around too much, see you in the fall!
