Here’s another puzzle from Bob Fink and Jerry Miccolis. I hope you find as much joy in it as I did! Bob and Jerry write:
We know what you’re thinking: “Oh, yippee! Another cryptic puzzle that’ll make me jump through hoops to solve.” Well, yes. But we hope you get as much joy playing with this one as we did bringing it to you.
Sixteen of the clue answers in this puzzle (eight each, Across and Down) will not mesh with their respective crossing entries unless one letter in the answer “jumps” over an adjacent letter, making a new word that can be entered into the grid. For all the affected Across entries, the jump will be in the same direction—which direction is an ambiguity for you to resolve (the following paragraph should help), but if you disdain ambiguity, see the hint box below. For the affected Down entries, the jump will be in the opposite direction. To make matters a bit more challenging, we have not placed these affected entries symmetrically in the grid.
Once the grid is filled, the eight “jumping” letters in the Across entries, taken in grid order, will spell out a payoff word related to the puzzle’s theme. Likewise for the Down entries. As a bonus, the nine circled letters, taken in grid order, also will spell out something relevant.
All (pre-jump) clue answers, grid entries, and payoff words are common single words playable in Scrabble. Be wary of punctuation, which has been known to deceive.
Okay then, jump to it!
Thanks, as always, to Tom Toce for his test-solving and editorial suggestions.
ACROSS
1. Doctor starts to amputate limbs to ease rheumatism
4. Bringing soup to a boil appears to be a major undertaking
7. Road less travelled through the outskirts of Piccadilly, heading west, enters cricket club near hotel
10. Made a movie without male lead and submitted
12. Say K.C., wolf is hiding in grandma’s cottage
13. Pretentious gala does not accept pass
15. Return wheelbarrow to garden
16. Cut through Teen Center and run off
17. Democrat Cary, after inauguration, cradles Isaiah’s earliest book of personal writings
19. Couple owed nothing after surrendering home at closing
21. Playboy’s rival arouses her lust
23. Missing significant time from operation? Here’s something you can exercise
27. A full, round cut!
28. Renovated capitol is for sightseeing
29. Parched deputy, wanting energy, drinks last of Monster
30. Speck of red in sirloin
31. Cite Eve freely—that’s Eve, notably
33. May flipped over sweet potato
35. Edward I, with Conservative support, ultimately makes a proclamation
38. Worry about swirling gnats
40. Dry British crowd
43. Sound of contentment coming from railroad after Union Pacific turnaround
44. Far from dirty, but pursued by an auditor
45. Swerve without function
47. Saw shucked shell thrown in flower plot
48. Antelope or yak originally deep in the heart of Texas
49. Make up most of rough estimate at the outset
DOWN
1. Great Lake offers serenity on both banks
2. Casual wear: athletic supporter?
3. After losing the opener, walked to a bar
5. Upright but irrational, one taking on a year abroad
6. At the end, boxer leaves disfigured and disheartened
7. Rabbis take short trip quarterly to Thailand’s capital
8. “Emily the Criminal” actress in famed Manhattan hotel
9. Privately coach Trout by arrangement
11. It’s very attractive to don Lee’s dicky
14. Hideous beheading of Satan
18. Urge yenta to remove teaching assistant
20. Report: “German car is a gem!”
21. Discover true compassion
22. Singer has a bit of ecstasy and speed
24. Outrageously tan butler is a record-holder
25. Oman to begin operating as oil producer?
26. “American Embassy smuggles sugar”: Source
28. Spooner’s knock-out is fair
30. Seek $1000 misplaced in Bishop’s office
32. Letter from Athens covered by Patriot Act
34. “Thanks” is Maui’s initial translation of “aloha”
36. “Get .edu access inside”
37. Long dance party follows introduction of cocaine
39. Blustery general and Tyrone flank us
41. Attendant sounds like a possessive third person
42. Decided: Members to be lined up in a specific order and bumped off
45. Swell mounts before the finale, mister
46. Semi-rigid (60% worth)
Across Payoff Word: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Down Payoff Word: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Bonus Payoff Word: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
HINT: The jumps for the Across entries are to the left; the jumps for the Down entries are to the right (or down)
TOM TOCE is an FCAS and a seasonal director at KPMG. He is a member of the Jeopardy Hall of Fame. Solutions may be emailed to ttoce@nyc.rr.com. In order to make the solver list, you should send him your solutions by August 1, 2025.
Solution to Previous Issue’s Puzzle—Hop, Skip, and a Jump, Reprise
Hop clues
SCHOOL—Anagram of “Chloe’s”—E (“Error-free”) around O (“nothing”)
SATIE—Reverse word bank from “satiates”
HEARTY—Anagram of “Earthy”
UNCOUTH—UN (“United Nation’s”) + COUTH (“touch” scrambled)
QUANT—Double definition
OBTUSE—OB (“delivery person”) + T (“starting to tackle”) + USE (“employment”)
OGRES—Anagram of “Gore’s”
WHELM—W (“In the first place, who”) + HELM (“controls”)
RASTAS—Word bank from “Art’s”
METE- Homophone of MEAT (“game birds”)
INTONE—INTO (“Enchanted by”) + NE (“New England”)
Skip clues
STENO—Anagram of “Eton’s”
EATS—Word bank from “Estates”
SHOW—Anagram of “Who’s”
UNIT—Homophone (perhaps the worst ever!) of YOU KNIT (“a second person weaves”)
NORSE—Anagram of “snore”
TOTS—Double definition
EMERY—Outside “embattled microdistillery”
Jump clues
SINUOUS—SINUS (“kind of headache”) around O and U (“the first of October–and ugh”)
OWLET—Anagram of “Towel”
MESS—ME (“I”) + SOS (“need help”)—O (“getting rid of a little bit of odor”)
UTTER—Double definition
Solvers: Steve Alpert, Dean Apps, Bob Campbell, Lois Cappellano, Jared Dashoff, Todd Dashoff, Christopher Dickens, Mick Diede, Deb Edwards, David Handelman, Jason Helbraun, Pete Hepokoski, Catharine Hornby, Max Jackson, Ruth Johnson, Paul Kolell, Ken Kudrak, George Levine, Ben Lynch, Mat Marchione and Marika Brown, Dave McGarry, Jon Michelson, Joan Moreau, Jim Muza, Alan Putney, David and Corinne Promislow, Ram Raman, Jay Ripps, Bill Scott, Andrew Shewan, Bob and Shannon Shriver, Sally Smith, T. O. C. E. (Josh DenHartog and Sean Donohoe), and James and Betsy Uzzell