New York Times, May 24

Who the hell is JOHN WALLIS?

That was my question after his name appeared as the answer to 29 Down (“See note”) using letters from the crossing clues. The “note” referred to in the clue was a Will Shortz special, indicating this puzzle was a twofer: A crossword with a bonus connect-the-dots type image.

The theme clues — represented by asterisks — all contained references to the infinite: WORLD WITHOUT END, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, ALWAYS MINE, HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL and EVERLASTING LOVE.

In turn, that helped me figure out what the connect-the-dots shape was: SYMBOL OF INFINITY. That’s spelled out in the circled squares, starting at the end of 57 Across, by traveling counter-clockwise in a continuous line (as explained in the note). Though the shape was faintly identifiable by looking at the arrangement of the circled squares in the blank grid, it was still quite an a-ha! moment to have figured it out.

Now I know what John Wallis invented: the sideways “8″ figure that represents infinity. I learn something new every day. (A special nod to 114 Across, WYNNE — “Arthur ____, inventor of the crossword puzzle.”)

Think that catches me up on the puzzles I missed while I was a gone.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

Merl Reagle, May 24

I dragged my boyfriend to see “Wordplay,” the crossword puzzle movie with Will Shortz and Merl Reagle a couple of years ago. It was all about crossword puzzle fanatics, how puzzles are constructed, why people do them and — the big climax — the showdown at the national crossword puzzle championships.

Understandably, my boyfriend Jim, who has no interest in puzzles, pretty much rolled his eyes at everything. Until Merl Reagle drove by Dunkin’ Donuts.

“Dunkin’ Donuts — Unkind Donuts,” Reagle said, anagramming it on the spot. Jim was fascinated. “Wow, that’s amazing!” he said, and returned to rolling his eyes at everything else.

I was reminded of that this week in Reagle’s “Celebrity Anagrams” puzzle. Among the most ingenious: “JEST, NOT WAR” becomes JON STEWART in 24 Across; “ENJOY L.A.” is JAY LENO in 68 Across; “TRUST ME, SIR” turns into TIM RUSSERT in 107 Across; “ONLY A BRIT” becomes TONY BLAIR in 38 Across; and “LEGENDARY MAMA” (in “The Da Vinci Code,” at least) is MARY MAGDALENE in 116 Across.

I apologize for the late posting, too; I’m still catching up on the puzzles I missed while in New Zealand. I had been hoping to blog a little from there about crosswords Down Under, but they were really pretty unremarkable.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

New York Times bonus puzzle, May 17

I don’t always do the bonus puzzle below the main Sunday crossword, but this one caught my eye; I suppose it was all the asterisk-laden clues, which made it look faintly profane.

But the symbols were part of a rather ingenious puzzle in which the missing letters of the clue (indicated by the asterisk) were also missing in the answer — and yet somehow still managed to spell a bonafide crossword entry.

For instance, 21 Across (Neither young nor ol*) would lead you to conclude that a “D” is missing from the clue and, thus, the answer. The answer is “middle age,” but removing the Ds, you get MILEAGE in the grid. A “G” is missing from 31 Across — “Still feelin* sleepy” — and from its answer, “groggy,” which is entered as ROY.

Holy crap, how do people think of these things?

The only thing that would have been over-the-top clever is if all of the removed letters spelled out something, acrostic-style, when read in the order of the clues. Alas, that was not the case here, as the missing letters for 1 through 16 Across, for instance, were E T E H O S G.

That only occurred to me because, as a kid, I subscribed to Games Magazine when it was edited by Will Shortz. There was occasionally a “Hidden Contest” feature in which — you guessed it — you had to find the contest buried in some other layer of puzzling. 

But now that I think about it, I am a little worried that if I pooled ALL the missing letters together, they could be anagrammed into something meaningful. Sigh.

I’m going to ride my bike instead.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

New York Times, May 17

Perfect jobs for Robin, Dustin and Warren? You mean besides acting? Because you’re clearly talking about Williams, Hoffman and Beatty, right?

Um, no. Try Smith, Schmoe and Doe. These guys are total nobodies in this puzzle. But it turns out they do have perfect jobs: MASTER THIEF (65 Across), HOUSEKEEPER (23 Across) and MERCENARY (25 Across). They’re perfect because that’s what their names sound like (well, if you say them with a drawl and drop the “g”): robbin’, dustin’ and warrin’.

I have to say this was a tough one for me, and I’m not quite sure why. Maybe because all the first names were famous enough that I thought they were going to be doing some wordplay with their last names. A perfect job for Rowan (44 Across)? Rowan Atkinson? Mr. Bean? Nope. Rowan is someone who’s rowin’ — OLYMPIC CANOER. (But I have to say, although I’m no expert, I actually think a canoer paddles.)

Then there were Landon and Brandon — landin’ jets as an AIRPLANE PILOT (93 Across) and brandin’ cattle as a COWHERDER (118 Across). But the darin’ one is Darren: STUNT DOUBLE (71 Across).

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

Merl Reagle, May 17

Yabba-dabba-doo!

It’s been a while since I heard that joyous phrase, so it gave me a chuckle when I found it among the “triple double” theme answers in Merl’s Sunday puzzle this week.

A triple-double, as sports fans know, is a basketball term that means someone had a very good game, scoring double figures in three categories: points, assists and rebounds.

In this puzzle, it means the theme answers have three sets of double letters; thus YABBA DABBA DOO for 95 Across (“Quitting-time shout, on TV”) and GOOD QUEEN BESS for 34 Across (“Last Tudor monarch”).

Particularly impressive was the double triple-double of 108- and 115 Across (“A 1955 comedy”) — ABBOTT AND COSTELLO / MEET THE MUMMY, although the double Ts aren’t part of the same word. (The same goes for 54 Across, “ABC show since 2003,” JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE, in which the Ls bridge two words.) 

Of course, the king of all triple-double words is “bookkeeper,” which actually has all its doubled letters in a row. Merl didn’t sneak that one in anywhere, but I had fun with the ones he did.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy