This puzzle provides solvers with a non-enumerated crossword where many cryptic clues are themed around climate and environmental crises. Solvers working through these clues will quickly realize that some words are two letters longer than grid entries allow. In total, there are 16 such words in the puzzle.
Solvers should then notice that every across “extra letter” word crosses a second down “extra-letter” word, with a shared trigram between them. Solvers should arrange their answers in the grid to overlap these shared trigrams (e.g. as a rebus). The rebus nature of the grid is also clued by “squeeze” in the flavor text. Solvers may realize that there is exactly one trigram present in every primary row and column in the grid. Note further every crossword entry is checked on at least half of its letters.
The cryptic clues are constructed as follows:
| Across | Clue | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Certain wizards shuffle aimlessly around dragon | HUFFLE(PUFF)S* |
| 6. | Good, fine, grand | THIN + G |
| 9. | Greens sad about onset of algae loss | S(A+L)AD |
| 11. | Like a certain group of stars: an oasis epic cast | CASSIOPEIAN* |
| 12. | Warning for the consumer: by Uber we are mistreated (2 wds.) | BUYER BEWARE* |
| 15. | Integrity of Solomon Islands capital more than half destroyed by oxygen resistance | HON[IARA]+O+R |
| 17. | Prow of Kon-tiki water vessel in Seven Seas conglomerate | K + RAFT |
| 19. | Lousy nap? Temple hosts Eastern Orthodox litany | SYNAPTE (C) |
| 21. | Ounce, for example, is cup plus a ton | C + A + T |
| 22. | And . . .spiral! | DNA (&lit!) |
| 23. | Vehicle impales horse, evoking death | MA(CAB)RE |
| 26. | Gore (Ramon’s heart) from Texas battle site | AL + AMO |
| 27. | Last of scent coming from polluted toilet: stay stationary with head windward | LIE TO[T]* |
| 28. | Master of Rolls serves boiled sea urchin in advance to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other award-winners (2 wds.) | MR(UNI)+VERSES* |
| 31. | Cambridge-based nonprofit opposing computer attacks but was probated in a mix-up | STOP BADWARE* |
| 34. | Mostly Hungarian goulash topping immersed in a certain acid | U(G)RIC |
| 37. | Period of showers sounds like monkey at small stream | APRIL (H) |
| 38. | Famous animal painter’s sculpture honours bear (2 wds.) | ROSA BONHEUR* |
| Down | Clue | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inhales noxious fumes in fits of anger | HUFFS (double def) |
| 2 | Droop, losing length—that’s funny! | LOL[L] |
| 3 | El Niño’s progenitor goes west in Nerdapalooza | PADRE (C) |
| 4 | A fiscal disaster: beauty treatments | FACIALS* |
| 5 | Appeal for help from Soros, or not | S[OR]OS |
| 6 | Mozart’s final, lavish opera: Taking Time for Caddisflies | T + RICH + OP(T)ERA |
| 7 | I’m MIT’s Pritzker-earning icon, initially! (3 wds.) | IM PEI (initials, &lit!) |
| 8 | Variable, as integer on X, Y and Z, perhaps | GENERATIONS* |
| 10 | Illness detailed in meeting of climate scientists | AGU[E] |
| 12 | Dessert is a consequence of runaway climate change? (2 wds.) | BAKED ALASKA (double def) |
| 13 | Your pal has a bachelor's degree—drink! (2 wds.) | YER(BA)MATE |
| 14 | Extinction of natural geneses in Hadean or Archean | EON (initials) |
| 16 | Plant fluids’ scent is revolting—cut off at both ends by viscous liquids | [T]NEC[S] + TARS |
| 18 | Slave grabs turkey eaten by insane master of wood, water and hill (2 wds.) | TO(M(BOMB)AD)IL |
| 20 | Semi-annual agreement | YEA[RLY] |
| 24 | Disheveled, crummy man missing in Wales | CYMRU[M]* |
| 25 | They leave the EU’s monarch without teeth? Just the opposite! | B(REX)ITERS |
| 29 | “Czech-Serbian, on the radio, holds area outside the city” | EXURB (H, container) |
| 30 | Transcendental numbers used for Yale method of quantifying a nation’s impact on climate change | E + PI |
| 32 | Gate surrounding the central part of death row | O(A)R |
| 33 | North-flowing river inlet is site of carbon pollution | AIR (R) |
| 35 | Melt peeled prune | [P]RUN[E] |
| 36 | Pierre’s heart-broken course without direction | COEUR[S]* |
| HUF | F | L | E | P | U | F | F | S | T | H | I | N | G | |
| F | O | A | A | O | R | M | E | |||||||
| S | A | L | A | D | C | A | S | S | I | O | PEI | A | N | |
| G | R | I | C | E | ||||||||||
| B | U | YER | B | E | W | A | R | E | H | O | N | O | R | |
| A | B | L | O | O | E | A | ||||||||
| K | R | A | F | T | S | Y | N | A | PTE | C | A | T | ||
| E | M | O | E | R | T | I | ||||||||
| D | N | A | M | A | C | A | BRE | A | L | A | M | O | ||
| A | T | B | Y | X | R | N | ||||||||
| L | I | E | T | O | MRU | N | I | V | E | R | S | E | S | |
| A | M | T | X | P | ||||||||||
| S | T | O | P | BAD | W | A | R | E | U | G | R | I | C | |
| K | A | I | I | R | R | U | O | |||||||
| A | P | R | I | L | R | O | S | A | B | O | N | H | EUR |
Upon completing the grid, solvers will realize they have inserted 8 trigrams into the grid, and that each of these is unique. Solvers may then notice that every trigram is also an ISO 4217 currency code. This is clued by the word “financial” in the flavortext. It is also clued more subtly by the secondary meaning of “change” in the phrase climate change. While solvers are very unlikely to notice, there is also a tertiary clue that exists more as an easter egg than real clue. Treating “change” as an anagram indicator—and thus the theme and title as a stand-alone cryptic phrase—one of the only possible anagrams of “climate” is “metical”, a currency unit in Zimbabwe.
Reading in row-major order of grid appearance, solvers can identify the currency name associated with each of these codes. Doing so generates the following list:
| ISO 4217 Code | Currency name |
|---|---|
| HUF | Forint |
| PEI | Inti |
| YER | Rial |
| PTE | Escudo |
| BRE | Cruzeiro |
| MRU | Ouguiya |
| BAD | Dinar |
| EUR | Euro |
Reading the first letter of each currency in the order provided gives the final answer FIRE CODE.