New York Times crossword May 13 / Constructed by Ben Tausig

Greetings from my stoop! It’s a beautiful day in Philadelphia — headed up to a sunny 80 degrees! — leading to the first outdoor solving of the year for me.

In case you hadn’t guessed, constructor Ben Tausig tells you straight out that “The title of this puzzle, e.g.” is a PUN (85 Across). “Indies” makes you insert a “D” sound into common phrases to create new ones: “Persians who protect their feet?” are THE SHOD OF IRAN (36 Across).

Others: “Entitlement to cross the stream first?” is RIGHT OF WADE (50 Across). “‘If you can’t behave on this tour, I swear you’ll be sorry!’?” is NO MORE MISTER NICE GUIDE (69 Across). “Big part of the dairy business?” is CHEESE TRADE (88 Across). “Lost subject of a hit Beatles song?” is WANDERING JUDE (104 Across). “Clothing-free version of the national pastime?” is WHOLE NUDE BALLGAME (115 Across). And a “Slogan for medical marijuana activists?” is WEED SHALL OVERCOME (23 Across).

Sex, Drugs and Rock-’n-Roll Dept.: I was semi-surprised (but not offended) at the pot reference in 23 Across, seeing as how Will likes to keep the puzzle G-rated; I guess it’s kosher because joints are legal in some states now.  I was more surprised (but not offended) by the clue and answer for 106 Down: “Made whoopee” is DID IT. I was not surprised at all to see The Who and Bruce make appearances: ”‘Tommy,’ e.g.,” is a ROCK OPERA (12 Down), while “State for which a Springsteen album is named: Abbr.” is NEBR (78 Across), for “Nebraska.”

Athletic Dept.: Quite a few sports are represented in the grid today. “Hank Aaron led the N.L. in them four times” is RBIS (12 Across). “Mark who won the 1998 Masters” is O’MEARA (19 Across). “Famously temperamental court figure” is MCENROE (16 Down). “Jason who’s a five-time baseball All-Star” is GIAMBI (52 Down). “Two-time N.L. batting champ Lefty” is O’DOUL (39 Down), who I’d never heard of until today. (Here’s his bio.) And while the answer to 114 Across, LIN, could have been clued as a reference to phenom Jeremy of the New York Knicks, it instead referred to artist Maya, the “Vietnam Memorial designer.” So much for Lin-sanity. (That coming from someone in a city whose NBA team made the 2nd round of the playoffs for the first time in about 10 years. Go Sixers!)

Two-For-One Dept.: “Smack” is KISS (76 Across). “[Smack!]” is BAM (93 Across).

Philly Shout-Out: “Dead Sea Scrolls writer” is ESSENE (103 Down). The scrolls are actually on display in Philly right now at the Franklin Institute; Essene is also a health food store in the city. Diagonally across the state, by the way, you’ll find ERIE, PA (“City down the lake from Buffalo, N.Y.,” 60 Down).

For Fun Dept.: Anyone who can fit KIM JONG UN (“World leader beginning December 2011,” 31 Down) into a puzzle deserves big kudos. Other creative entries: MORSE CODE (“Something you might tap into,” 64 Down), SKIP ROPE (“Play double Dutch, say,” 99 Across) and ODWALLA (“Big maker of smoothies and energy bars,” 90 Down).

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

New York Times crossword May 6 / Constructed by Alex Vratsanos

When I was in junior high, kids who wanted an easy “A” for an elective worked in the A-V department. It stood for audio-visual, and what it meant was that you got to go around to various classes to run filmstrips (remember those?) and occasionally small-scale movie projectors.

In today’s puzzle, the “A-V” in the title stands for constructor Alex Vratsanos and several other phrases that start with those letters — like AUXILIARY VERB (“Have, say,” 23 Across) and ACTIVE VOLCANOES (“They’re likely to blow,” 38 Across).

Others: AT VARIANCE (“Not seeing eye to eye,” 65 Across), ARTICLE VII (“End of the main part of the Constitution,” 68 Across), ALESSANDRO VOLTA (“Electrical pioneer,” 89 Across), AFRICAN VIOLET (“Common household plant with colorful blooms,” 114 Across), ALOE VERAS (“Some succulents,” 46 Down) and AQUA VITAE (“Brandy, for one,” 50 Down).

A-V P.S. Dept.: “Sailor’s cry” is AVAST (65 Down).

Seriously? Dept.: “Store, as corn” is ENSILE (119 Across), a bizarre verb that I can only guess stems from the noun “silo” but sounds pretty made-up to me.

Doubled-Up Dept.: “Bit of a jam” is a twice-used clue that yields SNARL (73 Across) and SNAG (98 Across).

Bad Example Dept.: “Cancun, por ejemplo” is ISLA (76 Down), the Spanish word for “island.” I would argue the narrow strip of land that comprises that city’s main hotel zone is more peninsula than island; “Cozumel, por ejemplo” — an island off the coast of Cancun — would have been a better clue.

Run For The Roses Dept.: “Wager” is PUT (15 Down), and a lot of people put money on Bodemeister, yesterday’s Kentucky Derby favorite who ended up second to I’ll Have Another. Philly-area horse Union Rags — owned by Phyllis Wyeth, wife of painter Jamie Wyeth, of the local art dynasty — came in a distant seventh.

Philly Shout-Out Dept.: “Get-rich-quick scheme?” is LOTTO (78 Across), a painful reminder that a winning Powerball ticket worth about $172 million was sold just a few blocks from my house on April 25. The jackpot went to 48 Philly transit workers, from newbies to some who have worked at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority for more than 40 years.

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

New York Times crossword April 29 / Constructed by Tracy Gray

We’ve really been taken back to school recently with these crosswords. Earlier this month, you needed to remember high school chemistry to solve the puzzle. This week, it’s elementary school math — fractions, to be specific. But you probably figured that out from the title.

The "Infractions" aren't violations but literal representations of fractions.

Clever constructor Tracy Gray came up with theme answers that use visual representation of fractions to form common phrases. Take 94 Across, which references one of my favorite Philly movies: “With 103 Across, 1999 Shyamalan thriller.” The two-part entry becomes THE ONE SENSE for 94 Across, with the word SIX underneath (103 Across) the ONE. ONE over SIX, of course, is a sixth, yielding the answer “The Sixth Sense.”

Others: “With 26-Across, like grandchildren” (23 Across) is entered as ONE GENERATION over THREE, creating the phrase “third generation.” “With 44-Across, execute, in a way” (33 Across) is DRAW AND ONE over FOUR, yielding “draw and quarter.” “With 50-Across, euphoric” (45 Across) is IN ONE HEAVEN over SEVEN, for “in seventh heaven.” “With 77-Across, high-end retail chain” (71 Across) is SAKS ONE AVENUE over FIVE, for “Saks Fifth Avenue.” “With 112-Across, compromise” (105 Across) is MEET ONE WAY over TWO, for “meet halfway.” And “With 127-Across, classical work that’s the source of the European Union’s anthem” (122 Across) is BEETHOVEN’S ONE over NINE, for “Beethoven’s Ninth.”

Ewww Dept.: “Jobs for dentists” are ABSCESSES (49 Down).

Mad Men Dept.: “Product with the old ad catchphrase, ‘Mother, please, I’d rather do it myself!’” (51 Across) is the pain-reliever ANACIN. The clue references an ad in which a woman with a headache yells at her mother as she’s trying to make dinner. I tried to find a YouTube clip, but only came up with commercials like this one from the same campaign.

Nice to Meet You Dept.: Never heard of TITOV (“Gherman ___, cosmonaut who was the second human to orbit the earth,” 48 Down), ARVO (“Sacred music composer ___ Part,” 65 Across) or a CASUIST (“Student of morality,” 13 Across).

For Fun Dept.: “Fine word for libraries?” is OVERDUE (22 Across). “Flips” is GOES GAGA (5 Across).

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

New York Times crossword April 22 / Constructed by Paula Gamache and Ed Stein

Well, I guess after last week’s awesome puzzle, this week’s crossword was bound to be a letdown. It was amusing, but generally meh. The key was to take the title literally; theme answers were common phrases that “let go of” the word “of.” In 23 Across, for instance, the clue “Diet?” yields BATTLE THE BULGE.

Others: LAND PLENTY (“Be very successful at fishing?” 31 Across), BOOK THE DEAD (“Do a clerk’s work at a morgue?” 37 Across), CAST THOUSANDS (“Throw large bank notes around?” 50 Across), MILK HUMAN KINDNESS (“Take advantage of good Samaritans?” 67 Across), DOCTOR LETTERS (“Forge some personal notes?” 86 Across), BEST FRIENDS (“Outdo one’s buddies?” 94 Across), POUND FLESH (“Be a sadistic masseuse?” 103 Across) and ORDER THE GARTER (“Send for a special bridal accessory?” 118 Across).

Doubled Up Dept.: “Cloudless” was used as a clue twice, to yield FAIR (75 Across) and CLEAR (98 Across). So was “Slowly,” for the musical terms ADAGIO (101 Down) and LARGO (104 Down). The puzzle also featured both HARHAR (“Phony laugh,” 8 Across) and TARTAR (“___ sauce,” 95 Down).

Cross Words Dept.: The abbreviation BRONC (“It may be broken on a ranch,” 81 Across) happened to cross with RONCO (“Veg-O-Matic maker,” 82 Down).

Greek Mythology Dept.: “Spiderwoman?” (1 Across) referred not to an obscure Marvel Comics character but to ARACHNE, the root of the word arachnid. I loved Greek myths as a kid; in this one, the goddess Athena was jealous of the weaving skills of an arrogant mortal named Arachne. So Athena decided Arachne could spend the rest of her life weaving — webs, that is — and turned her into a spider.

For Fun Dept.: “They’re mushed” are ESKIMO DOGS (44 Down). “#2 in a prosecutor’s off.” is ASST DA (102 Across). And in perhaps a nice coincidence with the 42nd anniversary of Earth Day, “Faddish 1970s footwear” are EARTH SHOES (39 Down). Have to admit I couldn’t mentally picture them — I was young in the ’70s — but here’s what they’ve morphed into today. (UPDATE: This post has been corrected to reflect that it’s the 42nd, not 40th, anniversary of Earth Day.)

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

New York Times crossword April 15 / Constructed by Kevin G. Der

Holy crap, what an awesome puzzle! But I hope you remember high school chemistry — without it, you’ll be sunk.

At first glance, the crossword appeared to be football-themed — a rectangular shape titled “Grid Iron.” My first thought was that Will Shortz is totally off his rocker. I mean, he ran a Titanic-themed puzzle (“100 Years Ago”) on March 11, a whole month before the anniversary. Does he not have a calendar?

But I should not have doubted him. This terrific crossword from constructor Kevin G. Der was a three-fer that included a massive grid (about 300 clues!), a connect-the-dots and a hidden phrase. Did I mention you also had to know the chemical symbol for iron (FE)?

This crossword had all kinds of bonus puzzles inside.

As everyone knows by now, this weekend was the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the TITANIC (56 Down, to which all theme clues refer). (I even contributed to the hype with this story from Philadelphia.) You might also know that the 1997 movie of the same name was re-released in 3-D. It tells the tragic story of the LUXURY LINER (152 Across) that departed from SOUTHAMPTON (29 Across) on April 10, 1912, en route to New York. But the ship hit an ICEBERG (60 Down) and sank off the coast of Newfoundland, killing more than 1,500 people.

The film stars Kate WINSLET (125 Across) and Leonardo DICAPRIO (128 Across), birthed the ever-present Celine Dion theme song MY HEART WILL GO ON (35- and 37 Across), and went on to win ELEVEN ACADEMY AWARDS (141 Across). Its most famous line is I’M THE KING OF THE WORLD (33 Across).

Today’s puzzle also came with a unique shape, eight shaded squares and a blurb about 12 other “special” squares. Those special squares were where you had to squeeze the letters FE — the “iron” in the title — into a single box. When you connected all 12 FEs, you got the shape of the Titanic; the shaded squares represent the smokestacks.

On top of all that, the blurb instructed you to find the mirror-image squares of all the FEs in order to spell out another name for the Titanic. Those letters yield SHIP OF DREAMS.

Philly Shout-Out Dept.: “‘Love Train’ singers, with ‘the’” are O’JAYS (10 Across). The group is part of the heart and soul of TSOP – The Sound of Philadelphia – created at Gamble & Huff’s Philadelphia International Records, just a few blocks from my house. I’ll also give a Philly-area shout-out to the AMISH (“Some buggy drivers,” 139 Across).

Junior High Flashback Dept.: Last month, I went to my first bat mitzvah in about 25 years. I heard ADONAI (“Literally, ‘my Lord’,” 92 Across) quite frequently, but not so much “Shalom ____” ALEICHEM (“Hebrew greeting,” 92 Down). (Also, back in the mid-’80s, I was always a guest of the honoree, wondering who all those nameless adults were; this time, I was one of those nameless adults.)

Clues of Note Dept.: “Winner of a 1970s-’80s war” is VHS (87 Across), which beat out Betamax in the market for that now-defunct device known as a VCR (video cassette recorder, for the youngsters out there). “Saverin who co-founded Facebook” is EDUARDO (53 Down), played by Andrew Garfield in the terrific movie “The Social Network.” I don’t know anyone who uses the verb form of “liaison,” so I’m going to deduct points for LIAISES (“Acts the middleman,” 103 Down). And “Golfs, e.g., briefly” are VWS (87 Down), for Volkswagens. My old Golf served me well for eight years and 146,000 miles.

Missing Link Dept.: As you can see from the one empty square, I could not for the life of me figure out the last letter in 56 Across (“Silence indicator”), which crosses with 44 Down (“Small-runway aircraft, briefly”). Help?

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