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√n (PfP #83)

◆ · By Conflux · Published 2022-05-13T07:00:39.075Z

Constructor's Note
A quick note: there are inconsistencies in this puzzle’s theme that testers were very divided on. Some didn’t care about them at all, but others felt they ruined the puzzle. I do think the theme is fun, but wanted to add this quick disclaimer first! The theme involves taking (imagined) numerical prefixes literally: UNINTERESTING, BIG EGO, TRIPWIRE, TETRIS, and PENT UP ("root n"). The inconsistencies are that uni-, bi-, and tri- are Latin roots, while tetr- and pent- are Greek (this is because there are simply no good options that I found for quad- and quint-) and also that the vowel is included as part of the Latin roots but not the Greek ones. Anyway, now you know.
A quick note: there are inconsistencies in this puzzle’s theme that testers were very divided on. Some didn’t care about them at all, but others felt they ruined the puzzle. I do think the theme is fun, but wanted to add this quick disclaimer first!
The theme involves taking (imagined) numerical prefixes literally: UNINTERESTING, BIG EGO, TRIPWIRE, TETRIS, and PENT UP ("root n"). The inconsistencies are that uni-, bi-, and tri- are Latin roots, while tetr- and pent- are Greek (this is because there are simply no good options that I found for quad- and quint-) and also that the vowel is included as part of the Latin roots but not the Greek ones. Anyway, now you know.
I make puzzles (of all different kinds, not just crosswords!) at https://puzzlesforprogress.net. If you liked this puzzle, you might like those!
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Comments

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  • SporcleMirror 🤓9:09 · 2022-05-13T11:38:15.685Z
    Also, fun fact: the "imagined" prefix in Tetris is mot imagined at all (not that it affects the puzzle in any way), the pieces are "tetrominoes", i. e. shapes made up of 4 squares.
    • Conflux constructor · 2022-05-13T15:02:55.641Z
      Yep, that also bothered me a bit.
    • SporcleMirror 🤓9:09 · 2022-05-13T11:36:37.766Z
      I didn't mind the inconsistency at all, the gimmick was really fun to figure out. As a Nintendo fan I kept wondering what kind of game had that many Is in it (I already had (UNI)NTERESTING and thought the theme was just about removing certain letters). I remember a crossword that did this but with actual numbers, so it had UPUPUPUPUPUPUP as a theme entry...
      • Conflux constructor · 2022-05-13T15:03:16.965Z
        Thank you!
      • Mike D 1:12 · 2022-05-13T12:18:25.983Z
        Great theme!
        • Frisco17 🤓8:12 · 2022-05-13T15:52:54.654Z
          Very smart theme!
          • carter 🤓6:54 · 2022-05-13T18:51:38.313Z
            love the theme!
            • kieranjboyd 8:59 · 2022-05-13T22:43:43.211Z
              I enjoyed the theme, and didn't mind the inconsistencies!
              • Account 🤓40:17 · 2022-05-15T21:32:36.162Z
                Clever puzzle and nice theme!
                Play today's daily mini crossword
                1A
                Staff member?
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                60
                61
                62
                63
                64
                65
                66
                Across
                1. 1A
                  Staff member?
                2. 5A
                  Ornately adorn
                3. 9A
                  Long-range nuclear weapon (abbr.)
                4. 13A
                  Rapper with a hyphenated name
                5. 14A
                  Video's counterpart
                6. 15A
                  Japanese ingredient
                7. 16A
                  *Boring
                8. 18A
                  Car rental company where each customer has a "Wizard number"
                9. 19A
                  King of England who also reigned as VI in Scotland
                10. 20A
                  *What a narcissist has
                11. 22A
                  Disease the Ice Bucket Challenge raised awareness for
                12. 23A
                  Final Hebrew letter
                13. 25A
                  "It's __ never!"
                14. 26A
                  __ comet (nickname for a reduced-gravity aircraft)
                15. 28A
                  South African species of snake mackerel
                16. 30A
                  "I've had that experience too!"
                17. 33A
                  Prefix with dynamics
                18. 35A
                  Milk source
                19. 37A
                  *Booby trap component which Silly String is sometimes used to detect
                20. 40A
                  Year
                21. 41A
                  Noticed
                22. 42A
                  "__ with an E" (TV series)
                23. 43A
                  Let attack
                24. 45A
                  Technologically competent
                25. 47A
                  Important
                26. 49A
                  __ de los Muertos
                27. 50A
                  Linguistic notational system with the same abbr. as a type of beer
                28. 53A
                  *Game temporarily acquired by Nintendo in 1988
                29. 56A
                  Muscat residents
                30. 58A
                  Location for the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one still intact
                31. 59A
                  *Suppressed
                32. 61A
                  Law school first-year
                33. 62A
                  Superhero accessories
                34. 63A
                  Ploy
                35. 64A
                  1-Across alternative
                36. 65A
                  Letters before a colon and two slashes
                37. 66A
                  Have __ ear (be tone-deaf)
                Down
                1. 1D
                  Playground game requiring agility
                2. 2D
                  Base where each digit corresponds to three binary digits
                3. 3D
                  Abounds
                4. 4D
                  Raison d'__
                5. 5D
                  Intuition
                6. 6D
                  Hipster's words of approval
                7. 7D
                  Tablecloth material
                8. 8D
                  Grown-up puppers
                9. 9D
                  "Not as an insult!"
                10. 10D
                  Enveloped by
                11. 11D
                  Ship prison
                12. 12D
                  Japanese ingredient
                13. 14D
                  It may have stars on Beijing and New Delhi
                14. 17D
                  "This," in Tijuana
                15. 21D
                  Confess
                16. 24D
                  "Baby Shark Dance" has over 10 billion
                17. 26D
                  Only Golden Ticket winner to not personally find a ticket
                18. 27D
                  Gives it a go
                19. 29D
                  Modify the spacing between letters
                20. 30D
                  Resort
                21. 31D
                  Plant bristles
                22. 32D
                  Downplays, as a problem
                23. 34D
                  Mountain nymph
                24. 36D
                  Mr. __ (1937 detective game)
                25. 38D
                  The digital equivalent of gesture, according to linguists Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne
                26. 39D
                  Green
                27. 44D
                  "There's __ thing."
                28. 46D
                  Jazz ostinato
                29. 48D
                  Attempt to tear
                30. 50D
                  The x in f(x)
                31. 51D
                  Only pope whose remains are outside Europe
                32. 52D
                  Ski resort city in Colorado
                33. 53D
                  Composer Stravinsky
                34. 54D
                  Function yielding 0 when evaluated at pi
                35. 55D
                  Sch. dist. leader
                36. 57D
                  In its original meaning, a gentle breeze
                37. 60D
                  __ talk
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