Count on One’s Fingers? – The New York Times

SATURDAY PUZZLE — There’s a very tough-sounding astronomical term, kilonova, that refers to what happens when two very large celestial figures collide. The resulting reverberations can be detected across the universe, and forces occur that are strong enough to combine atomic material into heavy elements like platinum and gold. In related news, today’s puzzle is the first New York Times collaboration between Erik Agard and Brendan Emmett Quigley. It’s about what you would expect from constructors of such magnitude: scorching clues and a broad framework of long entries that are new to the crossword (not including kilonova, which has yet to make its debut).

Tricky Clues

1A. [Couldn’t get any higher?] is wordplay. Right off the bat, I went in the wrong direction, thinking of ascension of some kind or another. This solves to the kind of nirvana that comes from a judge, when someone RATES A TEN.

29A. This [Rap group with the 1992 #2 hit “Rump Shaker”] solves to a debut puzzle entry. It’s a group that used wordplay in its name, WRECKXNEFFECT, starting with a homophone for “recs” — records — and ending with an idiom that describes music performed so well as to dominate all rivals. The group initially went by “Wrecks-n-Effect,” so if you remember that spelling, it’s not the Mandela effect.

46A. [Schöningen ___, German mine discoveries that may be up to 300,000 years old] solves to the Schöningen SPEARS, which are the oldest preserved human hunting tools yet discovered. First found in 1992, they altered scientific knowledge about human evolution so much that they inspired a term, the Schöningen effect, which refers to our perception of the skills and sophistication of early people. This is one of many clues from today’s puzzle that can send you down a rabbit hole. After a bit of reading, I was soon up to my ears in protein consumption, migration and several other complex modern topics.

51A. Dwight D. [Eisenhower was the first president to use it] is a reference to MARINE ONE, which is a helicopter. Ike’s model was the Bell H-13J, which was so small it fit only him, a pilot and a Secret Service agent. Mamie would have gone down with the ship.

3D/12D. Both of these span entries are making their first appearances in a Times puzzle. 3D is a feel-good clue and entry: [That’s a good one!] solves to TOTAL SWEETHEART. This intersects with RATES A TEN, which I find charming. At 12D, [“There’s no doubt who’s going to win”] solves to IT’S NOT EVEN CLOSE. I guessed “it’s not even a race,” which is close, but not even a phrase.

35D. [Senegalese ____ (hairstyle)] refers to TWISTS, which use two strands instead of the requisite three for braids. You’ll know them when you see them.

Constructor Notes

Erik Agard: Hard to believe it was over a decade ago that our first crossword collab was published in the American Values Club (now known as AVCX). That puzzle had a music theme, and this puzzle was also musically inspired — I commended BEQ on his excellent Sunday themeless last year, which led to a mention of Rex Parker, which led to Wreckx-N-Effect. No surprise that a star of the Boston Typewriter Orchestra can always be counted on for good song recs.