Brian solves the NYT puzzle on Tuesday, 12-23-08
Maybe if I had looked at the byline before solving, I’d have seen Joe Krozel’s name, and been more prepared for the oddity of this puzzle. As it was, I was just baffled by too many things in the grid (no No-Google streak for me), and had no idea what the gimmick was until I had finished everything.
Of course, if I had understood the gimmick earlier, I could have done the puzzle in Dan Feyer time.
All standard crosswords have 180-degree rotational symmetry. That is — the entire grid can be rotated 180 degrees and all the black squares will appear in the same locations. Apparently, this sort of thing wasn’t enough for Joe Krozel who took on the daunting task of creating a fill for the puzzle that also satisfied 180-degree rotational symmetry.
So this puzzle breaks the mold by not having a standard theme, per se, but rather having a constructional gimmick that must have been quite difficult to create. Every entry in the grid has a mirror image on the other side — DIAPER/REPAID, MINED/DENIM, etc.
The result is a handful of words that are very awkward (and even though this is a Tuesday, the clues are a bit Wednesday/Thursday-ish at times), but ultimately forgivable — if you think this construction masterpiece is worth the trouble.
I applaud the concept, but I was left with a couple of squares that I had no clue about — and I hadn’t caught onto the gimmick. My trouble spots seem rather immaterial now — they would all have been completely gettable if I had noticed Mr. Krozel’s trick. But my two Trivia Boxes were the crossings of:
- 54D. Ancient Roman magistrate (EDILE) and 66A. Game with matchsticks (NIM) — the I could have been any vowel and made equal sense to me.
- 38A. Thin layer (LAMINA) and 38D. City in California or New Jersey (LODI) — The L was a mystery to me, but I also had an incorrect entry for 31D. Not final, at law (NISI), which I had as NOSI. That entry at 31D meant nothing to me, and -AMONA and -ODI were blobs of letters with absolutely no meaning either.
Joe Krozel has been breaking the mold a lot lately. His recent puzzles have all done things that no one else seems to be doing. It’s a refreshing change of pace, so I will vote in favor of more Joe Krozel puzzles in the future. Please, keep it up!
If you haven’t checked out Fill Me In (our crossword podcast), our latest episode features an interview with Onion crossword editor Ben Tausig. Check it out.
And… see you Wednesday!









I never like it when a music clue (it’s what I do for a living) or a sports clue (it’s what I watch when I’m not making a living) completely eludes me. In this case, 33A. Player coached by Hank Stram was a complete baffler. I didn’t know who Hank Stram was, so I figured that as I got the crossings, I’d eventually see the name of a recognizable athlete. Nope. Instead, the “player” coached by Mr. Stram is any old KANSAS CITY CHIEF. Here he is, celebrating what was no doubt a victory of some sort. Probably an important one.




