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NY Times, Thu, Nov 19, 2009

Author: Tyler Hinman and Jeremy Horwitz / Will Shortz
Wordplay crossword blog commentary | Return to Normal mode | Turn on Clue Tracker | | (XPF defined)
Rows: 15, Columns: 15, Words: 70, Blocks: 28, Avg Word Len: 5.63, Missing: { none — this is a pangram }, Scrabble score: 341 (avg 1.73)
Open squares: 94, Cheater squares: 0, FITB: 4, XRef: 0, Freshness Factor™: 80.2 (• 99.9 Thu. %-ile), NYT Across Lite file
This is puzzle 18 of 19 for Mr. Hinman — solos: 16, collaborations: 3, Sundays: 2
This is puzzle 2 of 2 for Mr. Horwitz — solos: 1, collaborations: 1, Sundays: 0

You are in Analyze Mode

Rare words are shown here in color. Words that appear in no other puzzle in the database are in red.
Other colors are explained in the chart below. Note that red overwrites orange which overwrites yellow, etc.
Click "Normal" at the top of this page to exit Analyze Mode or scroll down to see more.

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© 2009, The New York Times
Unique 1 other 2 others 3 others 4 others
Across Down
1. Like some jackets : LINED
6. Symbol in a Riemann sum : SIGMA
11. Introspective question : AMI
14. It joins I-10 in Jacksonville and I-90 in Boston : USONE
15. Doesn't give up without a fight : TRIES
16. ___ juice (milk) : MOO
17. "Z" director, 1969 : COSTAGAVRAS
19. Word of praise in Paris : BON
20. Kimberly-Clark brand : KLEENEX
21. Soave, for one : DRYWINE
23. "Totally" : IAGREE
24. Spats : QUARRELS
25. Some honor society letters : ETAS
26. Tan : WHUP
28. Old Greek dialect : IONIC
29. Spanish chess piece : REY
30. Hot drink : CHAI
31. "Are you game?" : WANTTO
32. "M" director, 1931 : FRITZLANG
34. El Paso neighbor : JUAREZ
37. Developer's needs, for short : NEGS
38. Big chunk of money : WAD
41. Cause of an awakening : APNEA
42. Italy's L'___ Vogue magazine : UOMO
43. Something you always need directions to use? : VANE
44. Some Beverly Hills tourist purchases : STARMAPS
46. "Taken" star, 2008 : NEESON
48. Injuriously annoys : MOLESTS
49. Try to steal the basketball, say : REACHIN
50. Google had one in 2004: Abbr. : IPO
51. "W." director, 2008 : OLIVERSTONE
53. Tiresome sort : NAG
54. Out of it : DAZED
55. "___ has no age": Picasso : YOUTH
56. Places to act quickly, for short : ERS
57. Plant ___ (give an idea) : ASEED
58. Museum-loving : ARTSY
 1. More Irish? : LUCKIER
2. Quarantine : ISOLATE
3. Posy : NOSEGAY
4. Steps in : ENTERS
5. Silas of the Continental Congress : DEANE
6. Record label whose house band was Booker T. & the M.G.'s : STAX
7. Hip-hop producer Gotti : IRV
8. Encircle with a belt : GIRDUP
9. Anne whose real-life husband played her ex on "Rhoda" : MEARA
10. Hearers of Jonah's prophecy : ASSYRIANS
11. All around : AMBIENT
12. Like the forest in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" : MOONLIT
13. "Le Rhinocéros" playwright Eugène : IONESCO
18. "Aw, shucks" : GEEWHIZ
22. Double-cross, e.g. : WRONG
24. Subway alternative : QUIZNOS
27. It should go on a head : HAT
30. A&W beverage : CREAMSODA
31. One who may be in charge of a team : WAGONER
32. Partner in many a French company : FRERE
33. NASA moon lander : LEM
34. Disney princess : JASMINE
35. Adequate for the job : UPTOPAR
36. Cousins : ANALOGS
38. Complete failure : WASHOUT
39. Picks for a position : ANOINTS
40. Brian of "First Blood" : DENNEHY
42. Enlarge : UPSIZE
43. What an arrow may represent : VECTOR
45. Titan who fetched apples for Hercules : ATLAS
47. Breeze on a college campus : EASYA
49. Comedian Foxx : REDD
52. Civic center? : VEE
text

Analysis

Puzzle has normal crossword symmetry.

There are 0 circles and 0 rebus squares.
The grid has 0 cheater squares.

Puzzle has 8 unique words:
COSTAGAVRAS DENNEHY DRYWINE FRITZLANG GIRDUP JUAREZ NOSEGAY QUARRELS

StatsAverage Values by Day of Week — 15 x 15 only21 x 21 only
This puzzleMonTueWedThuFriSatSun
Blocks2837.537.437.436.731.531.074.2
Words7077.176.976.574.869.969.1139.5
Open Squares9469.869.569.973.090.793.6123.2
Scrabble Avg1.731.551.571.581.571.541.531.54
Avg Word Length5.634.874.884.905.045.555.635.26
Freshness Factor™80.250.252.654.458.868.170.863.5
The green highlighted squares show which daily puzzle average is closest to this puzzle for each statistical category.

Distribution of answer words by length

CountLengthWords
123AMI BON ERS HAT IPO IRV LEM MOO NAG REY VEE WAD
84CHAI ETAS NEGS REDD STAX UOMO VANE WHUP
165APNEA ARTSY ASEED ATLAS DAZED DEANE EASYA FRERE IONIC LINED MEARA SIGMA TRIES USONE WRONG YOUTH
86ENTERS GIRDUP IAGREE JUAREZ NEESON UPSIZE VECTOR WANTTO
197AMBIENT ANALOGS ANOINTS DENNEHY DRYWINE GEEWHIZ IONESCO ISOLATE JASMINE KLEENEX LUCKIER MOLESTS MOONLIT NOSEGAY QUIZNOS REACHIN UPTOPAR WAGONER WASHOUT
28QUARRELS STARMAPS
39ASSYRIANS CREAMSODA FRITZLANG
211COSTAGAVRAS OLIVERSTONE

Letter distribution
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
2314626164131166161541141711634143
Scrabble Score: 123 45810

Freshness Factor

FF: 80.2 — 97.8 percentile, 99.9 Thursday percentile

This chart lists the most unusual to the most common answer words. Click here for an explanation.

CountWords
0COSTAGAVRAS DENNEHY DRYWINE FRITZLANG GIRDUP JUAREZ NOSEGAY QUARRELS
1LUCKIER OLIVERSTONE STARMAPS WASHOUT
2ANALOGS ASEED ASSYRIANS GEEWHIZ QUIZNOS WAGONER
3CREAMSODA JASMINE MOLESTS MOONLIT REACHIN UPSIZE UPTOPAR WANTTO
4AMBIENT YOUTH
5CHAI NEGS UOMO USONE VECTOR WRONG
6STAX
7KLEENEX WHUP
8DAZED
10IAGREE IONESCO
11IRV
12NEESON
13ANOINTS
14SIGMA
16ISOLATE TRIES
17EASYA
18DEANE
19ARTSY
20FRERE LINED
26BON
27ENTERS
29APNEA
30MEARA REDD
34IONIC VANE
37IPO
39REY
48WAD
49LEM
56VEE
57NAG
62MOO
78HAT
84ETAS
91ATLAS
118ERS
158AMI

Thumbnails for Thursday, November 19, 2009

Various thumbnail views are available:

BLOCKS: 28, WORDS: 70
OPEN SQUARES: 94
VOWELS: 83, CONS: 110, Y: 4
SCRABBLE AVERAGE: 1.73
FRESHNESS FACTOR: 80.2

With answers

LINEDSIGMAAMI
USONETRIESMOO
COSTAGAVRASBON
KLEENEXDRYWINE
IAGREEQUARRELS
ETASWHUPIONIC
REYCHAIWANTTO
FRITZLANG
JUAREZNEGSWAD
APNEAUOMOVANE
STARMAPSNEESON
MOLESTSREACHIN
IPOOLIVERSTONE
NAGDAZEDYOUTH
ERSASEEDARTSY
LINEDSIGMAAMI
USONETRIESMOO
COSTAGAVRASBON
KLEENEXDRYWINE
IAGREEQUARRELS
ETASWHUPIONIC
REYCHAIWANTTO
FRITZLANG
JUAREZNEGSWAD
APNEAUOMOVANE
STARMAPSNEESON
MOLESTSREACHIN
IPOOLIVERSTONE
NAGDAZEDYOUTH
ERSASEEDARTSY
LINEDSIGMAAMI
USONETRIESMOO
COSTAGAVRASBON
KLEENEXDRYWINE
IAGREEQUARRELS
ETASWHUPIONIC
REYCHAIWANTTO
FRITZLANG
JUAREZNEGSWAD
APNEAUOMOVANE
STARMAPSNEESON
MOLESTSREACHIN
IPOOLIVERSTONE
NAGDAZEDYOUTH
ERSASEEDARTSY
LINEDSIGMAAMI
USONETRIESMOO
COSTAGAVRASBON
KLEENEXDRYWINE
IAGREEQUARRELS
ETASWHUPIONIC
REYCHAIWANTTO
FRITZLANG
JUAREZNEGSWAD
APNEAUOMOVANE
STARMAPSNEESON
MOLESTSREACHIN
IPOOLIVERSTONE
NAGDAZEDYOUTH
ERSASEEDARTSY
LINEDSIGMAAMI
USONETRIESMOO
COSTAGAVRASBON
KLEENEXDRYWINE
IAGREEQUARRELS
ETASWHUPIONIC
REYCHAIWANTTO
FRITZLANG
JUAREZNEGSWAD
APNEAUOMOVANE
STARMAPSNEESON
MOLESTSREACHIN
IPOOLIVERSTONE
NAGDAZEDYOUTH
ERSASEEDARTSY

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