Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: October 29, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 8:58, six minutes faster than average.

Theme: NO 'T', NO 'W', clued as "I'm busy!" so it's read as NOT NOW, but actually "if read in four pieces, an aid in solving several clues."

This means simply you must remove any T or W from a clue that contains them in order for the answer to make sense.  For example, "twice over" is FREEZE, which only makes sense if you remove the T and W, and read "ice over."  Another example: "twin bed, perhaps" must be read as "in bed, perhaps" and is FAST ASLEEP.  Third example: "tawny" is NO MATTER WHICH, understandable only if the clue is shorn of its T and W and read as "any."

CAVIAR was actually the one that clued me into how the theme worked, perhaps because "wrote" and "roe" sound similar.  My favorite, though, is "wariest animal" for RAM.

"Biblical companion of Moses" is HUR.  No memory of this guy, but I knew Aaron wouldn't fit.  In the Book of Exodus, Hur is first mentioned as a companion of Moses and Aaron watching the Battle of Rephidim against the Amalekites. He aided Aaron to hold up the hands of Moses, which act magically gave the Israelites strength.

I only knew LEO as the "sign before Virgo" right off because of the three squares.  LEO runs from July 23 to August 22, and Virgo is from August 23 to September 22.  Astrology is stupid.

I don't think I've ever seen SCATHE as a verb meaning "denounce harshly."  I have seen it as the verb meaning "to hurt," of course.  I SCATHE this usage!  SCATHE it, I say!

I needed a little fill help to get the 1992 Jackie Chan film SUPERCOP.  It's also been released under the title Police Story 3.

On the other hand, I'm very familiar with the classic George Stevens film SHANE, but I always forget that Alan Ladd played the title role. 

I was at a rare loss for the prefix meaning odor.  It's OSMO-.   That might be its meaning as a word part, but it's usually used in words to man "transmitted through a permeable membrane."  I mean, that's how odor works, but the words using this prefix don't have to do with odor.

The role of Frankie in Grease was played by DIDI Conn, as shown on July 26.

I remembered CAEN, Normandy, from October 21.

Clever clues: it's not that original, but today I was fooled by "series ender" for ET AL.  I don't know why, but I got a chuckle out of UFOS as "causes of some 911 calls."

I thought this was a terrific puzzle!  The theme's trick was very well done, especially with the nearly-hidden key in the final "I'm busy!" answer.  Truly, this is a Thursday that will be hard to OUTDO.