New York Times Crossword September 14 2023 Answers

12 d. IIII, rather than IV, represents the number four on some clocks and sundials for several reasons. In ancient Rome, it was considered bad form to use a number that was an abbreviation of the name of the god Jupiter, which was written IVPPITER. Later, use continued for aesthetic reasons: watchmakers believed that the IIII (instead of IV) made the face look more symmetrical with the figure eight (VIII) on the other side.

46 D. This is “Dr. from Compton, California.” He is Dr. Dre. He was a member of the hip-hop group NWA, which released the album “Straight Outta Compton” 35 years ago, in August 1988.

47 D. A “Snap with Stick” is a selfie (Snap is a British synonym for a photo) taken using a SELFIE stick.

54 D. “Street parking” doesn’t just mean hanging out on the corner. This clue refers to the CRED of a person on the street, or people’s perception of that person.

Creator Notes

So happy to make my debut!

If you look closely, you’ll see that you can draw a giant X through the five squares that contain an I have built a Tons Of the repetitions of this puzzle. I think this is the only arrangement that would allow for any kind of high-quality packaging, and I feel lucky that it worked.

There were some clues I wrote down that I wished I’d cut, like 17-Across, which I referred to as “A place to build a kite?” I also tried to combine all the attribute entries into the 59-Across detector: “The common directive in 17-Across that includes 10- and 38-Down, and a hint for five squares in this puzzle.” I’m not sure why it’s so short; Maybe it was just too many words. The guide on 14-Across is great – I wish I had written it.

Shout out to my best friend, Anand, and his wife, Mia, who are both mathematics professors at Oklahoma State University. I hope they and all other math nerds (including me) get a kick out of this!

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