I’d bet this is a wink to solvers of all levels. Another touch that might influence you toward money matters is PAYSTUB, intersecting at the U in SUISSE.ĦD. “Pays” will make you think of financial transactions, but in this case it’s French for “country,” and solves to the French for a country in the Alps: Switzerland, or SUISSE, which also might have made you think of a big bank. “Pays in the Alps?” requires a bit of the polyglot and makes for a really nifty double definition. It’s a big world, and IT TAKES ALL SORTS.ĥ6A. This entry solves to an expression that has been in the puzzle once before, and a close relative (ending in “kinds”) has appeared a few times as well. This is easy trivia for Little Monsters and the much smaller contingent of people who eat pasta on the Upper West Side everyone else might need some crosses to deduce JOANNE, Lady Gaga’s much-beloved aunt.ġ8A. Walker, nee Sarah Breedlove, who founded a successful haircare line at the turn of the 20th century that employed thousands of mostly Black saleswomen throughout the United States.ġ6A. I didn’t know a thing about this entrepreneur, MADAM C.J. There are some tough name clues today those often stand out to me when I first scan a grid, and they make me anxious, but just as often the entry involves a great biographical story. The rest of the puzzle filled in slowly but correctly and provided a lot of interest and amusement.ħA. But this clue refers to those who “let,” or rent: TENANTS. I had “aye aye” at 10D, instead of AYE SIR, and missed the joke completely at 4D, “Letters.” I figured if there are consonants there might be prosonants (there are not) and just “sonants” (which is a word, at least). Oh, and 7D, “By ethical standards,” ends in the Y at the beginning of YUM, and very straightforwardly solves to MORALLY. When I noticed that 28D, “They may be mixed,” began with the “M” at the end of YUM, METAPHORS was a good guess (speaking of which, wouldn’t “Mixed Metaphors” be a great name for a bar?). Pretty cute, and that one little entry provided the opportunity for me to expand into the rest of the grid. For example, MEH, which this puzzle certainly is not, and SUM, two little bits of fill at the center that meet at “M.” Neither of these clues are so bad - “Tepid assessment” and “Total,” respectively - and their presence led my mind to instantly fill in another three-letter word that touches both: 27A, “Compliments to a chef.” “Kiss” doesn’t fit, and the middle letter is the U in SUM: How about YUM? I think the first four or five entries I laid down are “there” for most solvers, either from everyday life or grids from other days of the week. Tricky CluesĪ huge part of solving a difficult puzzle like this is not walking away after seeing a string of 20 clues that you absolutely can’t answer. This grid nimbly skips along the very narrow line between a good challenge, for people who require such, and a fun, generous sprinkle of attainable entries for, um, the rest of us. This is Rachel's first Saturday and her second overall puzzle after a 2020 Friday debut that was very well-received (and in between, she’s been busy. If those days put you in your comfort zone, have no fear! We can get through this excellent themeless from Rachel Fabi, crossword constructor. SATURDAY PUZZLE - Talk about the best kind of weekend surprise! I hope we have some fans of Rachel Fabi, crossword columnist, here from the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Wordplay posts.
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