Brilliant Stuff – The New York Times

SATURDAY PUZZLE – This is another quick, well-designed solution from Adrian Johnson, who has become a regular contributor of non-theme puzzles to the New York Times – much to his amazement, if you read his friendly builder’s notes. There are some lovely puns and so many specific anecdotes that I’m sure people will have very different experiences depending on their area of ​​knowledge. The upper left corner was the most difficult area for me; after observing his clues for a few minutes, I moved up from the bottom of the grid.

Tricky clues

1A. The (alternative to the Beetle from 1961) is a MINI COOPER, which is an early Times puzzle entry. The Cooper after whom the car is named is John Cooper, a Formula One driver whose engine design allowed a small car to seat four people and still be fun to drive.

34A. (It features one leg perpendicular to the other) is a reference to a yoga pose, believe it or not. This solves TREE POSE, which involves standing on one leg, then bending the other as tightly as possible and pointing the knee to the side, forming a right angle.

39A. For (twisted kitchen item), “corkscrew” is a bit obvious (and not suitable). The entry is a bit anachronistic with the prevalence of stopwatch apps, but an EGG TIMER is still a nice little gadget; I think many were repurposed as board game props.

54A/3D. I couldn’t understand these two short entries, nor some of the intersecting entries, so those were a few sticking points. In 54A, (First to seven?) resolves to ESS, the first letter of the word “seven” – so simple, in retrospect. In 3D, the (titular Pixar character who is mistakenly called by names like Bingo, Chico, and Fabio) is NEMO; the misnaming may be attributed to Dory’s amnesia.

11D. Novak Djokovic’s 2016 tennis feat (but named for a different player) is the feat of winning four consecutive Grand Slam tennis events, often referred to as the SERENA SLAM. Serena Williams did it twice, in the 2002-03 season and again in the 2014-15 season.