Take the lead? – New York times

SATURDAY PUZZLE – This is the third Times Crossword and the Network's first Saturday Crossword from Carly Shawna, and it's spot on. There is one term after another, and the whole thing is imbued with great character. I knew a lot of trivia and picked up references about pets and pop culture. “Quick fix,” I thought, then I hit the wall in the southeast corner, falling in three wrong directions. In the end, today's difficulty level is adequate.

Difficult evidence

13 a. This term refers to a fascinating and frightening modern phenomenon, A The last entry in the dictionary, became ubiquitous seemingly overnight. The “disguised fraud video” is called DEEPFAKE, in reference to Deep learning technology Involving artificial intelligence.

18 a. “Do it, colloquially,” resolves the phrase, which is probably from basketball, though it reminds me of a quote from Hockey great Wayne Gretzky. It's a call to risk: shoot, you may never get another chance.

29 A. For “Metalworkers Union,” I initially chose the word “welding” because I didn’t know enough about metalworking and thought it might be a description of something related to welding. I was half right if I just looked at the letters in the entry, SOLDER, but I had to fill in the first three letters using the criss-cross entries before clicking on the entire word.

49 a. This area of ​​the grid had a lot of hiccups for me! This “national carrier of Panama” is an airline, COPA, not a reference to boats, and was trivial information I did not know.

53 a. This Animal Shelter Slogan is a great slogan, “Adopt Don’t Shop.” It makes for a great segment with “SHOOT YOUR SHOT”, another constant piece going through this puzzle. Consider this a subliminal encouragement entry to save a creature if you're thinking about it.

10 D. My first choice for this guide was so meticulously selected that I clung to it for a very long time. The “artisanal hamburger option” I wanted was brie (sounds good, right?), but the correct answer is a brioche bun.

23 d. “Let me play you the smallest violin in the world” is a good sign that you're not going to get the tea and symphony you think you deserve – it's a cruel world, and no one cares.

52 D. After the puppy references in this puzzle (although some of the dogs in the clue were paws, I realised), I expected a furry answer to “Chihuahua, for example” Instead, this resolved to STATE, a reference to the region in Mexico Where they were found small dogs were originally welcomed.

Creator Notes

Creating this puzzle was fun and satisfying! I started taking your picture and saying don't shop. I follow a funny Instagram account that uses “SHOOT YOUR SHOT” all the time, and I think I may have just watched one of their reels and thought, sure, why not, this is good for a puzzle.

“Adopt, don't shop” is a phrase close to my heart because I have three rescue dogs: Rusty, Pepper, and Argo. It's very high maintenance and definitely makes my life more difficult, but it's 100 percent worth it and I love it more than anything. Piper even performs with me Part of my circus show!

I love themeless puzzles, but I never thought I'd be able to create a grid worthy of a Saturday. I still feel like maybe I'm just dreaming? I think not having any suitable topic ideas is actually good for something – it gives you a lot of practice in creating ideas without topics!

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