#very annoying. it was so huge (four newspaper pages & almost 800 answers) i had to do it on the floor

[coquelicoq]

i completely solved a cryptic crossword for the first time the other day! this is huge for me because i've always been so annoyed by them lol. but i kinda get it now, it is very satisfying to figure them out.

that said, there are several answers where i still do not totally understand the clues. if anyone who is familiar with cryptics (sometimes just called "crosswords" outside of the US) wants to help me out, i'd be very interested to hear your take!

this cryptic was in the 2022 puzzle mania edition of the nyt (released at the very end of the year), so if you are planning to solve it and haven't yet, i guess don't read this? lol. since i waited five months to do it i feel like that will apply to no one, but just in case.

i realized after drafting this post that the answer key is available online (here), but it did not actually answer my questions in every case, so i've kept my original text but added the answer key answer after each one in case it makes more sense to you than it does to me.

13A. Has misgivings about deception to an auditor (4): RUES. so "has misgivings about" is the definition of "rues". but i don't know what "deception to an auditor" is doing. could it have something to do with the fact that "rues" is a homonym and anagram of "ruse", a kind of deception? but i still can't figure out what "to an auditor" is for.

the answer key gives "homophone ruse" for this, so i guess i was right about the deception part, but i still don't get the auditor thing.

14A. A con almost grabs actor's awards left unbalanced (10): ASYMMETRIC. so EMMYS is hidden backwards in "asymmetric", which takes care of "actor's awards" and "left", and "asymmetric" means "unbalanced", i guess. so that leaves "A con almost grabs", along with the A and TRIC of the answer. i can't figure out how to make those relate to each other.

answer key says "a(symmE)trick – k (rev. Emmys)". fuck does that mean?? why are we subtracting the k? and i'm still not really sure what the con is there for?

26A. Concentrate for spare and strike (5): THINK. "concentrate" is the definition of "think". what is the "for spare and strike" doing??

answer key: "thin + K". okay i see how thin = spare but wherefore this K? does K stand for strike in baseball? that sounds vaguely familiar...

28A. African country returned Los Angeles family inheritance (7): SENEGAL. senegal is an african country, and it's also an anagram of angeles. i'm guessing the "returned" is a clue for the anagram? but what is "family inheritance" for? oh wait, senegal backwards is LA genes!! but then is it just a coincidence that "angeles" anagrams to "senegal", or is that indicated in the clue somewhere???

answer key: "rev. L.A. + genes". okay so it does sound like angeles being an anagram of senegal is a coincidence, or at least not covered in the clue?? seems like a missed opportunity but what do i know.

5D. Largely moderate Arizona city (5): TEMPE. tempe is a city in arizona. what's "largely moderate" doing here?

answer key: "temper – r". am i to understand that this is saying moderate = temper and the "largely" part of the clue is telling me to keep most but not all of "temper"?

#the big-ass american crossword was not that interesting i'm sorry to say. the actual solving was too easy and the logistics were #very annoying. it was so huge (four newspaper pages & almost 800 answers) i had to do it on the floor #which was uncomfortable #and looking up each clue in the list took so long because there were so many #i was interested to see how long it would take so i timed myself and it took me 2h04 (though it felt like it took 10 hours #based on how sore my neck and back and legs were lol) #and i could have finished in under 2 hours but i didn't realize that i didn't have to do anything special with the super mega words #in order to solve the crossword. like i figured out what the words were but putting them together according to the instructions #is only necessary for solving the metapuzzle and so could be done separately. so i wasted a few minutes trying to do that #the other puzzles were p cool except the word search bugged me for reasons that were mostly the fault of my own poor planning #but psy is a one-named singer!! so technically there were 8 one-named singers not 7!!! #i actually haven't solved the metapuzzle final answer yet #i have all but one of the letters but then they have to be put in order and i have no ideas for what the order is supposed to be #cruciverbs #my posts #but anyway very exciting that i solved a cryptic for the first time! maybe now i can get past my mental block about them