NY Times Crossword

October 29, 2020

Kurt Weller

 

This clever puzzle was way over my head until I saw the revealer. Below are the theme clues and their answers. If you can see what's going on without the revealer, my hat's off to you.

1. Tallowy - AMALGAMATE

2. Tawny - NO MATTER WHICH

3. Wariest animal - RAM

4. Wrought - COARSE

5. Twin bed, perhaps - FAST ASLEEP

6. Wrote - CAVIAR

7. Wit, according to Freud - EGO

HINT:
Revealer clue and answer:

"I'm busy!" - NOT NOW

Answer:

 

Normally, NOT NOW would suggest dropping the letters NOW, but that doesn't work in this case. What you have to do is parse the phrase NOT NOW into NO T NO W. In other words, drop the T and W from each clue and the result will be a word that answers the clue:

 

1. Tallowy - alloy - AMALGAMATE

2. Tawny - any - NO MATTER WHICH

3. Wariest animal - aries animal - RAM

4. Wrought - rough - COARSE

5. Twin bed, perhaps - in bed, perhaps - FAST ASLEEP

6. Wrote  - roe - CAVIAR

7. Wit, according to Freud - i (I) - EGO