07.14.07 -- "Hey!?"

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Puzzle by Victor Fleming, edited by Will Shortz

WHATSTHEBIGIDEA (8D "Hey!?") is the center full-length vertical entry which seemingly questions the intersecting horizontal entry HORSELESS (35A Kind of carriage) in a puzzle peppered with references to the automobile which FORD (51A Focus provider?) made popular with the Model T and the opposite with a lemon called the PACER (9D Edsel model). Those references along with RPMS (48A High ones may produce a roar), AVENUES (3D Ways of access), SLOGANS (41D Advertisers' output), etc., screw this crossword together with a TNUT (23A Threaded holder) and constitute the solver's ENTRANCE (61A Ingress) into puzzle constructor Victor Fleming's quite MAGIC (49A Cape wearer's field) and DEVILISH (15A Infernal) creation.

For an excellent assessment of today's masterpiece, read ORANGE.

For a gallery of the horseless carriage, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.

The New York Times Crossword Puzzle solution above is by the author of this blog and does not guarantee accuracy. If you find errors or omissions, you are more than welcome to make note of same in the Comments section of this post -- any corrections found necessary will be executed promptly upon verification.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

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