New York Times, Aug. 30

I have to say, this was one of the more challenging puzzles I’ve come across recently. Literally so.

There was a double trick this week in that you first had to fill in the missing letters in the theme clues. Then you had to realize that those missing letters spelled a word that was key to answering the clue.

Perhaps the best example is 36 Across, “ANTI–VERNMENT UN–ST.” The missing letters here are G, O, R and E — GORE — which gives you “ANTIGOVERNMENT UNREST.” What happens if you take the gore out of antigovernment unrest? BLOODLESS REVOLUTION.

The same goes for 70 Across, “P—ARY CARE PHY-ICIANS.” The missing letters spell RIMS — and what happens if you take the rims off of primary care physicians? You get DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS. For 84 Across, the “FI-TH WH–L” has no FEE; that means you’ve got a SPARE, NO EXPENSE (comma is mine).

The others were a little esoteric. The “W–THL-SS R-AD-TER” of 121 Across is a WORTHLESS ROADSTER — minus the OREOS. That gives you LEMON DROP COOKIES (a worthless roadster is a lemon, but the cookies have been dropped).

And I’m still turning over in my head 98 Across (“WHAT A -ANDA DOES IN -EIS-RELY FA-HION”); the answer is EATS SHOOTS AND LEAVES, a famous punctuation lesson and bestselling book title, but I’m unsure how PLUS — the missing letters from the clue — fit in. Same goes for 52 Across, “AR–CL-,” where I’m assuming the missing letters are TIE. The answer is THE MISSING LINK, but how that TIEs in to “ARTICLE” I’m not really sure.

Also of note was 34 Down, a quintessential Will Shortz clue for anyone who ever subscribed to Games Magazine or listens to the Sunday morning puzzle on NPR. (If Will didn’t actually write it, the crossword authors should be congratulated for the nod to his style.) Will is constantly anagramming things (and thus forcing you to anagram them as well); in this case, a “Company name that becomes another company if you move its first letter to the end.” The answer is AVIS (which then transforms into VISA). It could have been clued as “Rara ___,” or even as “Alamo competitor.” But I’m glad it wasn’t.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

New York Times, Aug. 23

In looking at the title for this week’s puzzle, my first thought was that they were going to stick an extra “EU” in every theme answer to turn it into something clever. But then I thought: that letter combination would never work.

Next I thought about the upcoming G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, which has completely consumed several of my journalism colleagues. Then I realized that nobody else is paying any attention whatsoever to the G-20 summit. So I actually had to do the puzzle to figure out the theme.

Turns out it was a lot more mundane — a key “E” is replaced with a “U” in each theme answer. So the “Dairy regulator?” in 55 Across is the BUTTER BUSINESS BUREAU; the reason “I can’t drink beer this late?” (40 Across) is because IT’S PAST MY BUD TIME; and if a “Baseball official gets revenge?” (77 Across), that would be THE UMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

The others: If you “Used a push-button toilet?” you’ve PRESSED THE FLUSH (23 Across); if “The bolt alone is sufficient?” in 93 Across, that person WORKS WITHOUT A NUT; and the “Story of a small Communist barbarian” (114 Across) is THE LITTLE RED HUN.

I did find it curious that the puzzle’s central word, BEEFEATER (68 Across, “Yeoman of the British Guard”), was not a theme answer. Oh well.

Another clue of note: 50 Across, “Largest city paper in the U.S.: Abbr.” The answer, not surprisingly, is NYT. However, newspaper insiders (and fans of the Post and Daily News) will tell you that while the Times may be the overall circulation queen (she is the “gray lady,” after all), relatively few of those copies are sold in the city itself.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

New York Times, Aug. 16

I’m really not one to talk about myself. But if you insist …

This is one of those puzzles where the theme lies in the phrasing of the clues themselves –”Pardon me,” “Feed me,” “Kiss me.” The answers are not really linked except that they are all double entendres.

So while we think we know what an error message is (and don’t start with that “I have a Mac, I don’t get error messages” stuff), this puzzle makes you rethink the phrase. Here, “Pardon me” is the ERROR MESSAGE (23 Across).

Among the others … “Feed me” (38 Across) is really a COUNTER PLEA (I used to love sitting at the counter at Bob’s Big Boy with my Dad when I was a kid); “Shoot me” (75 Across) is a FILM DIRECTION;  ”For me?” (54 Across) is a RECEIVING LINE; and “Kiss me” (107 Across, perhaps my favorite) is a PECKING ORDER.

I will admit to a bad guess on 42 Down (“Daytime talk show starting in 1987″). Recalling the awful afternoon TV that was on in my high school years, I put down “Donahue” — as in Phil, with that huge shock of white hair and thick glasses, bounding around the studio audience with a microphone. Turns out it was GERALDO, with the mustache and the skinhead chair-throwers. Sigh.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

New York Times, Aug. 9

Hyphens can be funny things — put them in the wrong place, and they start telling a different story.

“Made-for-TV Movies” are movies that are made for TV. But a crossword puzzle that is “Made for TV-Movies” is a grid whose theme answers are TV show titles combined with movie titles to make clever new programming.

For instance, GOSSIP GIRL INTERRUPTED (22 Across, “Dirt-dishing lass who’s been cut off?”) combines the teen soap “Gossip Girl” with the Angelina Jolie flick “Girl, Interrupted.” FATHER KNOWS BEST IN SHOW (44 Across, “Dad is familiar with top Broadway star?”) blends the old-fashioned “Father Knows Best” with the mockumentary “Best in Show,” the priceless send-up of dog pageants by Christopher Guest of “Spinal Tap” fame.

The others: GREY’S ANATOMY OF A MURDER (66 Across, “Actor Joel’s crime scene analysis?”); TWO-AND-A-HALF MEN IN BLACK (90 Across, “One-quarter of a mourning lacrosse team?”, although lacrosse teams have more than five people, just not all on the field at the same time); and, my favorite, SEX AND THE CITY OF ANGELS (113 Across, “Hollywood hanky-panky?”)

Very cute, but I’m afraid to say not terribly challenging; I think I finished this one in record time. I did like wordplay of 71 Down’s “Summers” — ABACI, the plural of abacus, which is an adder (something that adds), or “summer.” One other thing that caught my eye was 78 Across, “Bygone stadium” — SHEA. “Bygone” already? Harsh. But no teary eyes from this Phils fans.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

New York Times, Aug. 2

I happened to be on a college campus this weekend and drove by a bunch of fraternity and sorority homes. It was a serendipitous refresher course in identifying Greek letters that came in very hand in solving this week’s puzzle.

The “groups” being formed in 34 Across, 39 Down, 79 Down and 93 Across are — as spelled out in 108 Across — FRATERNITIES. So each three-box answer was the spelled-out version of GREEK LETTERS (23 Across, “Contents of four answers found in this puzzle”). Luckily, the puzzle doesn’t require you to know what the actual letters look like — that would actually really confuse things, because “chi,” for example, is represented by an X. And damned if I know what a “psi” looks like. Is that the trident-y thing?

So 79 Down (“Group formed at Trinity College in 1895″) is (ALPHA)(CHI)(RHO), each squeezed into a single box. Amazingly (or not; I mean, this is the NYT) they cross with R(ALPH A)BERNATHY (78 Across, “Co-organizer of the Montgomery bus boycott, 1955); DU(CHI)ES (87 Across, “Bavaria and others, once”); and AI(R HO)SE (91 Across, “Engine attachment”). The other three frat answers (BETA THETA PI, TAU CHI PHI and OMEGA PSI PHI) follow similar logic.

Sorry it took me so long to post this; I was traveling for most of Sunday between Columbia, Mo., and Philly. But there are worse things than being stuck on a plane (or two) with the Sunday NYT magazine. Bonus: I solved my first KenKen puzzle.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy