When you open up these days’s puzzle, your first affect could be that it seems to be rather peculiar. There are large clusters of black squares all over the place the grid — 117 black squares total, which is by way of some distance my perfect choice of black squares in a 21×21 puzzle that I will be able to recall. The grid itself seems to be vaguely round; possibly it resembles an LP or a CD should you squint?
On first look, there doesn’t seem to be a lot theme subject matter, both. Two pairs of adjoining pop songs in the course of the grid include rotated letters that spell out NEW and IDEAS throughout black squares, and some other two pairs of father songs do the similar factor on the backside.
- 44A: [John Lennon song described in Rolling Stone as “an enduring hymn of solace and promise”] is “IMAGINE” and 46A: [Spice Girls song that’s the first track on their debut album “Spice”] is “WANNABE.” These songs mix to shape the phrase NEW throughout a black sq..
- 69A: [Roxette song with the lyric “I had to jump in my car”] is “JOYRIDE” and 70A: [Harry Styles song whose title suggests that things aren’t like they used to be] is “AS IT WAS,” forming IDEAS throughout a black sq..
- 87A: [Elton John song with the lyric “You’re all I’ve ever needed”] is “THE ONE” and 88A: [Maroon 5 song that sounds like a command to be patient] is “WAIT,” forming NEW once more.
- 105A: [Goo Goo Dolls song parodied on “Sesame Street” as “Pride”] is “SLIDE” and 106A: [Elvis Presley song with the lyric “I’ll answer yes”] is “ASK ME,” forming IDEAS a 2nd time.
The word NEW IDEAS describes the “novelty” of the name “Novelty Songs,” however there will have to be extra to this, proper? There is. In the southeast nook are a couple of crossing solutions that time you to the remainder of the theme. 104D / 107A: [With 107 Across, list that eight songs in this puzzle appeared on … and a hint to the numbered squares that spell out a quote from Blur frontman Damon Albarn] is TOP FORTY. So the 8 songs indexed previous had been Top 40 hits, however the actual kicker is the second one a part of that clue. Read the squares within the best of the grid numbered 1 via 40, and also you’ll in finding Albarn’s quote from a November 2009 interview in the Guardian:
“POP MUSIC IS A GREAT PLACE TO GET NEW IDEAS ACROSS.”
I don’t steadily construct puzzles with quote subject matters. Most of the time a quote is gifted in a puzzle with 4 or 5 lengthy Across solutions and clues comparable to [Start of a quote by {insert author here}], [Part 2 of the quote], and so forth., and the one payoff is piecing in combination the entire quote and hoping it conveys a tight punchline on the finish. So the few occasions I’ve written a Sunday crossword with a quote theme (as in “Text Message” from August 2019 and “It’s a Start” from July 2021), I attempted to conceal it in an unconventional method to make the invention a bit of extra unexpected.
That’s no longer to say that ordinary quote puzzles are simple to assemble. It nonetheless takes legwork to discover a appropriate quote that may paintings for whichever crossword one makes. Generally you want one thing that might be a laugh and will get a divorce into great symmetrical items, and a large number of quotes simply don’t paintings like that. I threw theme symmetry out the door as a result of I had a unique set of constraints that had been difficult to care for in their very own method. First, clearly, the quote had to be about pop tune. Second, I sought after it to put across an concept that I may constitute as its personal theme in different places within the puzzle, with whichever pop songs I may in finding.
But by way of some distance the largest factor is that it had to be precisely 40 letters lengthy, and it had to seem in an excessively explicit location. That’s as a result of I’d had the word TOP FORTY on my thoughts, and I used to be set on hiding the quote within the first 40 numbered squares. Even if I discovered a just right 40-letter quote, the theory would possibly nonetheless had been useless on arrival if the letters themselves wouldn’t cooperate in the best way that I wished. With maximum quote puzzles, you’ll separate the theme solutions by way of numerous rows and provides your self some area to fill in the remainder of the grid. But on this crossword, the quote letters had to be within the first 40 numbered squares, without a exceptions. (Recall that during ultimate week’s metapuzzle I wished 10 letters to seem in explicit numbered squares; now I wished 40 of them.)
Of route there have been some irritating close to misses with another quotes I discovered, too:
- “Sometimes with pop music, you have to see it to love it.” — Adele, as revealed in Elle in February 2011. I in reality favored this one as a result of “you have to see it to love it” may form of describe what it’s like to be pleasantly stunned whilst fixing a crossword. Alas, it’s 43 letters lengthy.
- “Pop music can’t be described, but quantified.” — attributed to the Empire musician Mattia Collucia. It would paintings very effectively with the idea that of numbers, however I couldn’t in finding additional attestation to verify it, and although I may, it used to be 36 letters lengthy, anyway.
- “The perfect pop song is about creating a memory.” — the Bananarama singer Keren Woodward, as revealed in Classic Pop in January 2019. This would paintings nice; I may in finding songs that both care for reminiscence or actually spell out MEMORY, and if it’s a just right puzzle it will be memorable … and it’s 39 letters lengthy. I will be able to’t let you know how briskly my head sank into my arms after I counted 39. So shut, however no cigar.
Then I discovered Albarn’s quote, and I in fact miscounted it in the beginning! That’s as a result of Albarn began it with “I think,” and I integrated that within the depend with out understanding for perhaps an hour that if I simply chopped the primary six letters off, I used to be set. It’s fortunate I checked it a 2nd time; the adrenaline rush I were given from seeing “40 characters” display up in my phrase processor used to be massive. (Yeah, there’s a nerdy sentence I wouldn’t have imagined writing twenty years in the past. Such is my existence.)
Finally, I notice that pop tune will also be form of hazardous territory when it comes to crosswords. People’s style in tune could be very private, and no longer each solver enjoys encountering Top 40 tune (and even popular culture most often) of their puzzle. But pop tune isn’t what at first impressed this puzzle; the word TOP FORTY did. It impressed me for a unique, private reason why of my very own — the next day to come I’m turning 40 years previous. I figured if I’m about to hit a large milestone birthday, I would possibly as smartly rejoice it with one thing formidable and, preferably, a a laugh payoff.
I am hoping you loved the puzzle. On to the following 40 years.