Two HEELs, Two CLOGs, and Big Shoes to Fill: A Collaborative Sunday Crossword Adventure

sier to fill the grid. It was definitely a collaborative effort, and I’m thrilled with how it turned out. And of course, I had to sneak in some of my own signature fill. Can’t wait to see what we come up with next!

Overall, this Sunday crossword collaboration between Rebecca Goldstein and Rafael Musa showcases their creativity and ingenuity. The theme of stacked pairs of entries with shared four-letter runs adds an extra layer of complexity and visual appeal to the puzzle. With the help of coding skills, they were able to create a grid that worked seamlessly with the theme. The inclusion of clever and tricky clues adds to the enjoyment and challenge of solving the crossword. This collaboration is a testament to the talent and dedication of these constructors, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with next.Wordplay, The CROSSWORD COLUMN

Rebecca Goldstein and Rafael Musa step it up with an arch Sunday crossword collaboration.

A room at the Ice Hotel at the Chena Hot Springs resort near Fairbanks, Alaska, comes with a bed made of ice carved to look like a polar bear, with four big feet.Credit…Stuart Isett for The New York TimesJuly 1, 2023, 6:00 p.m. ET

Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues

SUNDAY PUZZLE — Rebecca Goldstein, of Albany, Calif., is a research scientist at Merck, developing immunotherapies for cancer. Rafael Musa, of San Francisco, is a software engineer at Airbnb. They’re both regular constructors — we have solved Sunday puzzles by each of them in 2023, in fact — but this is their first combined effort.

As friends, they see each other occasionally at Bay Area puzzle events, and elsewhere. They worked separately on this puzzle, going through many different versions to create this crossword’s ambitious theme.

Today’s Theme
There are only four items in the theme set, but they each really count as a pair, appearing at 22-/26-, 32-/39-, 69-/74- and 95-/103-Across. There is also a revealer at 115-Across that’s very cute and corny, absolutely no pun intended.

Each of those pairs of entries is stacked, and each shares a four-letter run, meaning that the same four letters appear in the same place in the puzzle in two consecutive rows. In the print edition of the puzzle, the empty grid has no horizontal dividers between the four-letter runs, creating a particular effect: Instead of entering the same letter twice, one right on top of the another, it is obvious that you are to enter each letter once, at double height. In the digital version, you get a four-by-two rectangle of gray boxes, and when you’re finished with the puzzle, the enlarging effect happens automatically.

This explanation needs an example. Take 22-Across, the “1980 film that led to the creation of the Academy Award for Best Makeup.” This is a reference to David Lynch’s THE ELEPHANT MAN, which required prosthetic makeup that took over seven hours to apply and two hours to remove. At 26-Across, “Mobile homes, punnily” solves to WHEEL ESTATE, which is a new one on me (and a debut in the crossword) but which pops up in plenty of business names and headlines. You will notice that these entries appear as so:

THEEL
WHEEL

The down entries that cross the letters H-E-E-L will further highlight the theme’s trick. Take 2-Down, “Its name derives from the Washoe for ‘lake’” — the entry is TAHOE, but it’s one letter short. The H in TAHOE takes up twice the usual space. In 4-Down, “G, in the C scale” solves to SOL; in this case, the L is doubled in size.

The theme pair closest to the center of the puzzle contains a particularly difficult clue. I struggled with 69-Across, “In which ‘P or Q, but not both’ is represented as (P∨Q)∧¬(P∧Q).” The entry, which appears for the first time, is SYMBOLIC LOGIC, a science that includes Boolean logic (a term I’m more familiar with). But 74-Across, “Peacock seen on TV,” sunk in more quickly; it’s the NBC LOGO. In the grid, the letters C-L-O-G are stacked on top of one another, and the crossing down entries — ECO; LOL; AUTO; DU — each contain one of the letters in CLOG.

Note the title of the puzzle, “About Two Feet.” It’s a reference to the appearance of two HEELs, two CLOGs, and two other types of footwear marching through. And, finally, the revealer, at 115-Across, is a punchline. “High standards established by a predecessor … or what you are presented with in this puzzle?” emphasizes the size of the theme entries: they are BIG SHOES TO FILL.

This is yet another idiom that’s been hijacked in my mind by “The Simpsons.” All I thought of when I got the revealer was clown shoes!

Tricky Clues
73-Across. This entry is at the center of an area of confusion for me; it was the last part of the puzzle that I managed to muddle through. The “____-Missouria Tribe” is OTOE, a bit of crosswordese — useful for its three vowels — that makes frequent puzzle appearances. This clue was made harder because I had problems with two of its crossing entries. I’m embarrassed to say that I blanked on 61-Down, “Sullivan’s opponent in a landmark free speech case”: It’s NYT, for (ahem!) The New York Times. I also have never heard of “Stephen K. ___, British stand-up comedian,” Stephen K. AMOS.

99-Across. This clue’s wordplay makes it surprising and funny, but solving it made me a little nostalgic and sad. “Break after a major fall?” solves to SNOW DAY, because what’s falling is a lot of the white stuff. But this “break” is bound for extinction (in New York City, at least): Hazardous conditions outside will now most likely mean remote learning inside. We used to have to put the radio on and just wait in suspense to hear if school was canceled, kids.

42-Down. This is a new puzzle entry (in singular or plural form). The term was vaguely familiar, but I still had to guess that “Certain side wagers, informally,” are PROP BETS. PROP stands for “proposition,” and the bet can be any that doesn’t concern the outcome of a game, from who will score the first basket to what color Gatorade will be poured on the winning team’s coach.

46-Down. This is another pun clue that really stood out to me. “Angles above 90 degrees?”

How do the clever and challenging clues in the crossword collaboration by Goldstein and Musa enhance the enjoyment and difficulty of solving the puzzle

SUNDAY crossword collaboration by Rebecca Goldstein and Rafael Musa is a true showcase of their creativity and ingenuity. The theme of stacked pairs of entries with shared four-letter runs adds a unique level of complexity and visual appeal to the puzzle. Using their coding skills, they seamlessly integrated the theme into the grid. The inclusion of clever and challenging clues enhances the enjoyment and difficulty of solving the crossword. This collaboration is a testament to the talent and dedication of Goldstein and Musa, and we are eagerly anticipating their next creation.