Reassurance on a Road Trip

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Note to readers: In the past, Wordplay indicated crossword clues with quotation marks. In crossword construction and editing, though, clues are typically indicated by brackets, a practice Wordplay is now following.

FRIDAY PUZZLE — I’m only human, despite what the puzzle editors might have told you. That means I find some crosswords tough, too, even though I’ve been a daily solver for years.

And I love it when that happens. Yes, I get frustrated and wish it were easier, but my overriding feeling is one of excitement because I know I’m about to learn some new things. That feeling is what keeps me solving until the very end. Well, that and the fact that it’s in my job description.

This is Enrique Henestroza Anguiano’s eighth puzzle in The New York Times, and it gave me a pleasing run for my money. Mr. Anguiano’s grid is packed with lively entries, nine of which make their debuts, some of which I had to look up, such as 17A and 26A. In my opinion, the clues are just right in terms of Friday difficulty, in my opinion, and there is enough wordplay in them to keep even a struggling solver happy: Even if I don’t know the answer right away, I can admire a well-written misdirection.

Your thoughts?

Tricky Clues

10A. I wasn’t sure at first how IN IT was an answer for [Still alive]. But upon further rumination (the non-cud kind), I think it has to do with remaining in the game, so to speak. If you’re IN IT, you’re still alive.

17A. Today I learned about NOCHE BUENA, the Christmas Eve celebration in the Spanish-speaking world.

33A. In text speak, TBH stands for “to be honest” and is a synonym for [Frankly].

38A. The authors Anne Brontë and Anaïs Nin may have explored very different kinds of writing, but one thing they had in common, as the clue says, are DIAERESES, or the double dots over letters in their names. DIAERESES are not the same as umlauts: DIAERESES indicate that the vowels they cover are pronounced separately from the rest of the word, so Anaïs would be pronounced “Ah-na-EE-s,” not “An-ay-us.”

I will also say that the word DIAERESES sounds to my ears like an infection that needs to be fought with antibiotics, or, at the very least, a nighttime television commercial. (“If you are diagnosed with diaereses, please consult a physician.”)

4D. These [Top choices] are not the most popular; they are the clothes you wear as a top. The choices in this puzzle are T-SHIRTS.

12D. [Things to talk through] are not topics of conversation or your annual airing of grievances. In Mr. Anguiano’s puzzle, the clue hints at things we actually talk to others through, such as INTERCOMS.

21D. In my experience, the “terrible twos” really begin when a toddler is closer to 3 years old, but in this puzzle the [Chorus of two-year-olds?] are NOS.

30A. The [Headache helper] is IBUPROFEN, which may also be effective in reducing inflammation during a bout of DIAERESES (see 38A).

37A. This is a very New York-centric clue, but the location indicator helps. The [New York Post gossip section named for its location] is PAGE SIX.

56D. In the clue [More than zip], the word zip means zero. ANY is more than zero.

Constructor Notes

I’m happy to be back with another themeless crossword, which I seeded with the answer/clue pair of NOCHE BUENA and [“Good night” before Navidad].

A couple of other favorite answers are ALASKA ROLL (delicious) and DIAERESES. (I just think they’re neat.) I hope it brings some joy to your Friday!

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