New York Times crossword July 31 / Constructed by Pamela Klawitter

Wow, has Will Shortz caught the Google Plus bug? Because this is the fourth puzzle this month with circles in it.

Today’s self-referential grid uses pairs of circled letters to create several rebusus (rebi?). When linked, the pairs form a single word. But they are separated (hence the title) by a black square or two, visually illustrating a common phrase associated with the word.

For example, HIGH (“Daily weather datum,” 76 Down) and WAY (“Mode,” 109 Down) are divided by a couple of black squares, making them the depiction of a DIVIDED HIGHWAY (“See circled letters in 76-/109-Down,” 27 Across). Likewise, WIN (“When repeated, advantageous to both sides,” 1 Across) and DOW (from DOWNS, “71 Answers in this puzzle,” 4 Across) have a pair of black squares between them, making a CRACKED WINDOW (14 Down).

I tried to color-code the related words and answers.

Other separations: PRO (“Master,” 12 Down) and MISE (from MISER, “Tightfisted sort,” 35 Down) make a BROKEN PROMISE (56 Down); BAN (“The U.N.’s ___ Ki-Moon,” 39 Down) and ANA (from ANATOLE, “France from France,” 60 Down) make a BANANA SPLIT (88 Across); SKU (“Merchandise ID,” 17 Down) and LL (from LLDS, “Honorary law degs.,” 43 Down) make a FRACTURED SKULL (103 Across); FALL (from OF ALL, “Best ___,” 119 Across) and EN (from ENDER, “Rear’s rear?” 120 Across) make for FALLEN APART (44 Across); and TO (from MOTTO, “‘Think’ or ‘Think different,’” 116 Across) and RN (from RNAS, “They’re stranded, briefly,” 117 Across) make for TORN ASUNDER (64 Across).

Rotten Tomatoes Dept.: Everyone knows about the bomb GIGLI (“2003 Affleck/Lopez flick,” 79 Down), but “All About Steve” came and went so quickly that I needed crossing answers to help me get STEVE (“Title character in a 2009 Sandra Bullock crossword film,” 32 Across).

Seriously? Dept.: I thought that BOATEL (“Offshore accommodations,” 93 Across) was an illegitimate, made-up pun on “hotel” until I found it on dictionary.com. (It’s still a made-up pun, IMHO.)

Singer/Sewing Dept.: For the longest time, ETUI was always clued as a place for sewers to keep needles. Apparently its use has been updated to include “French CD holder” (94 Across). (Although who keeps CDs anymore? The same people who sew, I guess.)

Exploring Surnames Dept.: I’m familiar with “DORA the Explorer” as the title of a kids TV show — and I think I’d even recognize her if I saw her on a lunchbox — but I had no idea she had a last name. (“___ Marquez, Nickelodeon cartoon girl,” 10 Down.)

Terms of Endearment Dept.: The grid features consecutive “Sweetheart” clues: LASS (48 Across) and DOLL (50 Across).

Questions or comments? Leave them here, visit my Facebook page or tweet me @crosswordkathy.

New York Times crossword July 24 / Constructed by Kurt Mueller

Looks like America’s favorite pastime has made a guest appearance in Will Shortz’s favorite pastime.

Today’s puzzle is filled with baseball references — nine of them, in fact, as you might have guessed from the title “Nine of Diamonds.” Yet these phrases that we’ve all heard a million times from the broadcast booth take on punny new meanings in this grid.

BOX SCORES are not those agate charts in the sports section but “Cuts in a cardboard container” (23 Across). And BOTTOM OF THE FIFTH doesn’t refer to an inning but to “Whiskey bottle dregs” (98 Across).

Others: “Yelled initially?” is CALLED OUT AT FIRST (31 Across); “So-so formal dance?” is a FAIR BALL (44 Across); “Went far too slowly during the 10K?” is WALKED IN A RUN (46 Across); “Piece of black-market playground equipment?” is SWING FOR THE FENCES (63 Across); “Wool or cotton purchase request?” is BATTING ORDER (83 Across); “Disgusting advice?” is FOUL TIPS (85 Across); and a “Nobleman after a banquet?” is a FULL COUNT (113 Across).

Extra Innings Dept.: Three other clues had baseball terminology even if they technically weren’t theme answers (or even referring to the sport): “Hits and runs” are STATS (120 Across); “Pitcher part” is a LIP (32 Down); and “Result of a pitch, perhaps” is a SALE (38 Down).

Philadelphia Shout-Out Dept.: Speaking of baseball, I am unable to watch my beloved Phillies — and am instead getting a weekend full of Red Sox — because I am up on the CAPE (“Beach site, maybe,” 40 Across). That would be Cape Cod, and while it is definitely a beach site, we did mini-golf and the batting cages today since it was overcast with sprinkles. Still, seeing as how it’s been triple digits in Philly for the past couple of days, I’m not complaining.

Trademark and Copyright Dept.: ASCAP may be one “Org. fighting pirates?” (4 Across), but Apple had the piracy story of the week. China apparently has created a few completely fake Apple stores. Yes, stores. The whole shebang. Wow.

Johnny Be Good Dept.: “What George Washington purportedly could not do” is TELL A LIE (102 and 86 Down). Along those same lines, “Words following see, hear and speak” are NO EVIL (91 Down).

Questions or comments? Leave them here, visit my Facebook page or tweet me @crosswordkathy.

New York Times crossword July 17 / Constructed by Daniel A. Finan

In today’s puzzle, the end is not only in sight but in sound. The crossword theme is another aural gem, where circled letters provide “the end” of common phrases that otherwise appear to stop short. “Parting words from the busy type” (25 Across) are PLACES TO GO, PEOPLE TO … ? The answer appears to be missing the word SEE — but it’s actually there, represented aurally in PLACES by the letter C, which is circled in the grid. (Since I can’t draw a circle, I’ve underlined the circled letters in bold.)

Constructor Daniel A. Finan gets even craftier by doubling a few circled letters, giving us THE WHITES OF THEIR (EYES), for “End of a command at the Battle of Bunker Hill,” 66 Across. Others: THE PRINCESS AND THE (PEA), for “Hans Christian Andersen story,” 36 Across; WITH RELATIVE (EASE), “Hardly breaking a sweat,” 53 Across; BEST OF LUCK TO (YOU), “‘Godspeed!’” 82 Across; HEALTHY, WEALTHY AND (WISE), “End of a Benjamin Franklin aphorism,” 93 Across; and WHERE THE WILD THINGS (ARE), “2009 fantasy film based on a best-selling book,” 111 Across.

It wouldn’t be surprising (and actually might even be expected) for the circled letters to spell a hidden message, as they did last week. But I couldn’t make heads or tales of CPEEIIUYYR, rearranged or otherwise.

Holy Name Dept.: “Jesus, to Christians,” is a SHEPHERD (8 Down), while “Jesus, for one” (with an accent over the “u” that I can’t replicate) is an ALOU (12 Down), as in a member of the baseball family.

Funny Stuff Dept.: The puzzle references both BORAT (“2006 comedy title character from western 2-Down,” 96 Down) and the underappreciated, onetime basic cable staple THE REF (“1994 Denis Leary/Kevin Spacey flick,” 56 Down). Borat, of course, is from western ASIA (2 Down), specifically Kazakhstan.

Mexican Vacation Dept.: “Symbol of strength, to the Maya” is the JAGUAR (69 Across), which I learned while visiting the ruins of Chichen Itza during our honeymoon near Cancun. Unfortunately, the famous jaguar throne was off limits.

Ready To Rumble Dept.: Hector CAMACHO (“1980s lightweight boxing champ,” 38 Down) reminded me that we recently watched “The Fighter,” a film based on the true story of “Irish” Micky Ward. Terrific acting by Amy Adams, Melissa Leo and Oscar-winning Christian Bale, but the thin plot was strangely uncompelling.

Who Knew? Dept.: “Critter with foot-long teeth” is a HIPPO (46 Across), whose home is abbreviated AFR (63 Down). How that creature could have 12-inch-long teeth is beyond me. Anyway, I also didn’t know that HARVARD was the “Granter of an honorary degree to George Washington in 1776″ (73 Across).

Questions or comments? Leave them here, visit my Facebook page or TWEET (“Modern update,” 90 Down) me @crosswordkathy.

New York Times crossword July 10 / Constructed by Ben Pall and David Kahn

Sorry for the late post … Had some problems with the interwebs earlier and am just now posting from home in Philly.

___

Hello and greetings from Cape May, N.J., billed as America’s first seaside resort. The shore is surely a good place for a SUNTAN (“Get dark?” 125 Across), though not necessarily the best place for blogging. (Between getting the temperamental MiFi to work, keeping sand off the iPad and trying not smear sunscreen on the puzzle, life can be a real beach.)

If you watch too much of MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” you might think there would be some “body enhancement” — as today’s puzzle is titled — visible on the sand around me. But, seeing as how this is a family resort and not Snooki’s Seaside Heights, the only IMPLANTS I spotted this weekend were in the crossword.

The reason I capitalized IMPLANTS is because those are the circled letters in the grid, as you read from top to bottom. Each of those letters is implanted in a theme answer, turning a common body-centric phrase into a clever new one: “What a poltergeist investigator does?” is COUNT NOISES (22 Across).

Others: “What the tired waiter provided?” is LIMP SERVICE (30 Across); “Fruit for lagomorphs?” is RABBIT PEARS (40 Across); “Disorderly poultry workers?” are CHICKEN FLINGERS (56 Across); “Attempts to climb a mountain range?” is TAKES ON THE CHAIN (75 Across); “Sad sports headline in a Providence paper?” is BROWN BEATEN (90 Across); “Dusting on the side of a cut gem?” is FACET POWDER (103 Across); and “Churchgoers, sometimes?” are PSALM READERS (116 Across).

Doubled Double Trouble Dept.: There were two sets of twinned clues in today’s puzzle. “Sweetheart” was DEARIE (66 Across) and BEAU (98 Across) while “Numerical prefix” was OCTA (5 Down) and TRI (35 Down).

Philly Shout-Out Dept.: “Paolantonio of ESPN” is SAL (45 Down), a former Philadelphia sports writer who still lives in the area.

Questions or comments? Leave them here, visit my Facebook page or tweet me @crosswordkathy.

New York Times crossword July 3 / Constructed by Pete Muller

Ah, the words everyone loves to hear: “My treat!” It’s a crossword title that could refer to someone else footing the bill, but today it’s more about the “treat” itself — in this case an ICE CREAM SODA (“Something delicious to drink,” 117 Across).

The grid was a triple puzzle, actually, with several theme answers, an anagram and a connect-the-dots to solve. First up were the theme clues, which all referred back to 117 Across and included details about that fizzy, summery treat. Ingredients include TWO SCOOPS (87 Down) of ice cream, FLAVORED SYRUP (59 Across) and SELTZER WATER (27 Across). Some of them are BROWN COWS (25 Across) — which I believe are root beer floats? — while another version is a COKE FLOAT (121 Across). Some are made with CHOCOLATE (11 Down). It’s served in a TALL GLASS (4 Down), and it helps to have a LONG SPOON (84 Down) and a FLEXIBLE STRAW (83 Across).

The straw in my ice cream soda was slightly off. Oh well.

Then came the harder part. The note printed with the puzzle says that circles in the grid will contain one of five different letters. Those letters, which turn out to be REIND, can be rearranged to spell DINER, “a good place to get a 117-Across,” as the note says.

The next task was to draw five geometric figures by connecting all the same letters to make simple, closed shapes. I tried to follow the instructions and, as you can see, ended up with what appears to be an ice cream soda glass. There’s a spoon on the right but a weirdly super-wide straw on the left. Did I screw up something? Or have I just not ordered enough ice cream sodas in my life? UPDATE (7/10): Checked the NYT answer grid and my straw was, indeed, way too fat at the top. I connected the Rs in the wrong order.

Fun With Words Dept.: “Artist whose name is an anagram of ‘artisan’” is SINATRA (100 Down).

Risque Business Dept.: Will Shortz is usually more circumspect than this, but “Excessively orderly, informally” is ANAL (39 Down).

Fish and Deer Dept.: I thought “okra” was one of those nouns that didn’t have a plural, but apparently I was wrong. “They’re often deep-fried” is OKRAS (17 Across).

Philly Shout-Out Dept.: “Baltimore and Philadelphia” are PORTS (124 Across).

So, from the Cradle of Liberty, go forth and have a safe and happy Fourth! Philly had a fireworks preview last night that was pretty cool. The big show is tomorrow, with a pre-fireworks concert by hometown band The Roots.

Questions or comments? Leave them here, visit my Facebook page or tweet me @crosswordkathy.