New York Times, Friday, October 23, 2020

My favorite clue from the editing team was "Tree toppers" for ANCESTORS. My favorites of my clues is "Batting equipment?" for FAKE EYELASHES and "Grp. that watches TV" for FCC.

I will now interrupt this note with a public service announcement. As a board member of my local and county League of Women Voters. I'd like to remind everyone to vote, and VOTE EARLY if possible. Early voting in New York begins tomorrow, Saturday October 24. You can find out about early voting in your state, or what's on your ballot, your polling locations, or many other important election details, at the LWV website.

We will now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Jim Horne and I chat about puzzles once a week, and we had a fun exchange about "crosswordese." It's too general a term, encompassing everything from entries called out in editors' spec sheets (partials, abbrs.), to things seen much more in crosswords than real life (ONO, ENO), to words that perhaps NYT solvers ought to know. The first category is clearly to be avoided, the second is fine by me. It's the third that's of real interest.

ARILS. Jim mentioned it's an odd plural. I hadn't heard of it until a few years ago when it was in one of C.C.'s puzzles. I was outraged upon filling it in. Outraged! That is, until the next day when at the grocery store, I picked up a pack of pomegranate seeds … marked as "Pomegranate Arils."

BRAE. I haven't laughed this hard in ages. See Jim's notes below.

The point is, this category is the toughest type of "crosswordese" to judge. One person's CPI is another's RPI. Someone inflamed by OTOE might not blink at EDER.

I enjoyed this "stairstep," a mature themeless category in which Robyn has only worked once before. The triplet of WORD PROCESSOR / PINSTRIPE SUIT / FAKE EYELASHES is fantastic, as are the crossings of LEATHER SEATS and FREE SHIPPING. Along with some WIKIPEDIA / PAPA BEAR and BANK SHOT in the corners, there's a lot to love.

And there's the star clue, [Initials of the person who said "Fight for the things that you care about but do it in a way that will lead others to join you]. It's a fantastic mantra, too many people preaching in styles that are not only ineffective but that turn the other side further away.

I've often said that crosswords is unusual among puzzles because your life experiences greatly affect your solving experience.

Is BRAE obscure for you? I'll never forget it. On my first trip to the UK, I hired (not rented) a car in London and drove it all the way to a fishing town on the north coast of Scotland to meet a shirt-tail relative. The further north you go in Scotland, and the further you travel from large cities, the stronger and more incomprehensible the accent becomes. By the time I got to Buckie, I could barely pick out a word per sentence.

My directions in town were spotty, so I stopped the car to ask a boy on the street how to get to the Council House that I knew was close to my destination. "De ya nae ken Buckie?" he asked. This much I understood. I explained I was a visitor.

"Aye, then, well ya see the wee quinie doon the brae?" I was at a complete loss. The young loonie (boy) was frustrated with my stupidity but I eventually came to understand that a quinie was a girl and doon the brae was down the hill. I think of that story with great pleasure every time BRAE pops up in a grid.

Because of your own life adventures, you know plenty of obscure things that most people nae ken. I bet each time you encounter one in a grid, it makes you smile.