I had a good showing at the Boswords Winter Wondersolve two weeks ago, finishing in 27th place out of all individual solvers in the Blizzard division. I was fortunate to crack the tricky theme of the third puzzle relatively early. I don’t want to say any more to avoid spoilers, so you can order the puzzles yourself here if you didn’t get to compete in the tournament online.

There’s another Boswords competition on the horizon: The Boswords Spring Themeless League. It’s one themeless puzzle per week, spread out over nine weeks, and you get to choose which level of difficulty you want: Smooth, Choppy, or Stormy. There will be a preseason puzzle (not counted in the standings) on Feb. 28. Then it gets started for real on March 7. So, go on and sign up if you need some more crossword tournaments in your life (and who doesn’t?).

In today’s puzzle, nine foods have been redefined as apt dishes for celebrities:

• 23A: [Actress Eva’s lettuce dish?] is GREEN SALAD.
• 25A: [Bluesman B.B.'s fish dish?] is KING SALMON.
• 36A: [Singer John’s egg dish?] is DENVER OMELET.
• 54A: [Actor Martin’s meat dish?] is SHORT RIBS.
• 68A: [Comedian Chris’s crustacean dish?] is ROCK LOBSTER.
• 86A: [Actor Jack’s fish dish?] is BLACK BASS.
• 98A: [Singer Fiona’s pastry dish?] is APPLE STRUDEL.
• 117A: [Actress Betty’s sliced dish?] is WHITE PIZZA.
• 119A: [Rapper Foxy’s fish dish?] is BROWN TROUT.

This brought me back to one of the earliest Post crosswords I’d written, on Dec. 20, 2015. That one was a Christmas puzzle featuring a similar idea, where celebrities were receiving presents that were apt for their name. In fact, three of the stars from that 2015 puzzle (Chris Rock, Fiona Apple, and Betty White) came back for this one.

Some other answers and clues:

• 31A: [Last word of the “Lacrimosa” movement in Mozart’s “Requiem”] is AMEN. I’ve sung this several times with my choir over the past decade, so I put it in the puzzle. An example of art imitating life, I guess. Here’s a link to the music.
• 51A: [T/I/N/A turner] is VANNA White, who’s turned those four letters and the other 22 probably hundreds of thousands of times. Has anyone gotten an exact count on how many letters she’s turned (or tapped)? The Guinness Book of World Records had previously honored her as television’s most frequent clapper, so surely there’s a count on her record as a letter turner too.
• 56A is EYE and 26D is SECTOR, and both answers have the clue [Word after private or public]. A little bit of luck there.
• 62A: ["___ Man’s Party” (Oingo Boingo song)] is DEAD. Here’s an excuse to link to the song. It’s one of my favorite ’80s earworms. Nothing will beat the time I happened to be listening to it at the exact moment I cracked a Matt Gaffney meta back in April 2018.
• 101A: [Titans, or an NFL team that might play against the Titans] is GIANTS. This reminds me of a random bit of NFL wordplay I realized a few years ago: The Giants, Saints, and Titans each have five letters in common. Just change the first letter of any of those teams (G, S, T) to one of the other two, anagram it, and you can get one of the other teams.
• 4D: [1845 work with an “ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling”] is THE RAVEN. There’s an unintended reference to another six-letter NFL team, the Ravens.
• 49D: [“It’s hard to explain the fun to be found in seeing the right kind of bad movie” writer] is Roger EBERT. I’m no expert in social psychology, but I do have a self-awarded master’s degree in watching bad movies. My theory is that the real joy of watching a terrible film with friends is that you’re each going through the same ordeal together — bonding through shared stress that makes the whole experience bearable and, with just the right combination of terrible storytelling and direction, amazingly fun.
• 60D: [“Pondering My ___" (meme showing a wizard staring into a crystal ball)] is ORB. Here’s the meme. I think it’s probably safe to say that’s Saruman looking at the Palantir, given that the artwork was originally made for a Lord of the Rings tabletop game called “Middle-earth Quest: A Spy in Isengard.”
• 102D: [Complaint about having too many degrees?] is I’M HOT. Personally, I think the fact that I awarded myself a master’s degree in watching bad movies counts as a complaint. The movie wouldn’t be bad if I had no complaints about it.

What did you think?

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