Catenoid
by Mark Gottlieb
Answer: BELL BOTTOMS
The grid for the puzzle is located in a display case on the second floor of Building 2, in the stairwell occupied by the artwork CHORD. There are dozens of geometric solids displayed there. The one used by this puzzle is labeled “Model 40. Catenoid.”
The clues are not cryptic, but the answers are freewheeling phrases, as opposed to typical dictionary entries. This is sometimes labeled a “Something Different” crossword.
The answers to the Up-to-Down clues run in columns from the upper edge of the figure to the bottom edge, even though the triangles on the edges are cut off—they can be extrapolated into full triangles. Words read down in a straight line. There is one letter per triangle. Column 1 answers are placed into a relatively arbitrary column on the figure (the figure is circular and symmetric, so any column that starts with a diagonal that runs from NW to SE is fine), and the subsequent columns proceed left-to-right around the figure.
The answers to the Round-and-Round clues run left-to-right in rows around the figure. Row 1 is the very top edge of triangles (the ones that are cut off), and subsequent rows proceed one by one down the figure. Again, there is one letter per triangle. In each Row, the answer to Clue A starts in the left-side triangle of a square (in other words, the left edge of that triangle is a vertical line). However, since the figure is cylindrical, there is no canonical starting edge. Different rows start in whatever column they want. The last triangle in a row is the one immediately to the left of the first triangle in that row—there are no overlaps, and there are no gaps. Thus, every letter appears in exactly one Up-to-Down and one Round-and-Round answer.
When the grid is filled, a set of consecutive diamonds that all contain the same letter spirals around the figure. These letters spell BELL BOTTOMS.
Clue Answers
Round-and-Round
| 1 | a | Accessory for Lady Gaga’s 2010 MTV Video Music Awards outfit BEEF STOLE |
| b | Rye option NON-CARAWAY | |
| c | What John Locke would’ve been doing throughout “Numbers” had Aaron been a few months older CREATING A CRIB | |
| 2 | a | “392.4(i) Ownership of a moray exceeding 15 feet is punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than ninety days,” e.g. BIG EEL LAW |
| b | Numbers counted by bookies BET TALLIES | |
| c | Find out what’s inside a zucchini without damaging it X-RAY COURGETTE | |
| 3 | a | Gradients of morphological or physiological changes among prehistoric saber-toothed cats SMILODON CLINES |
| b | Sticky candy that, rather than being brittle, is in constant churning motion PEANUT ROIL | |
| c | Moniker an NCIS:LA star might’ve adopted had he been 8 feet tall LL LARGE J | |
| 4 | a | Russian news agency credentials TASS ID |
| b | Dorm whose favorite number is 6 or 28, not 17 PERFECT HALL | |
| c | What a forensic scientist measures at the scene of a crime perpetrated by a 12-year-old BB ANGLE | |
| d | He’s sixth-in-command in a hierarchical society ZETA MALE | |
| 5 | a | Someone just learning how to be crude and obnoxious NOOB BOOR |
| b | Question a validation-seeking Uruk-hai asks its boss after a mission “ORC DO OK, SARUMAN?” | |
| c | Gung-ho existentialist AVID SARTRE | |
| 6 | a | Like a G-rated horror flick SEMI-SCARY |
| b | Colorful breakfast cereal for mathematicians FROOT TOROIDS | |
| c | Wee sowing season in Glasgow SMA SEEDTIME | |
| 7 | a | Local sports network shows local baseball team? Just the opposite! SOX DEPICT NESN |
| b | Put Mr. Damon in a nice tux, perhaps ATTIRE MATT | |
| c | Modern update of Bill Haley & His Comets’s second-biggest hit “TTFN, GATOR” | |
| 8 | a | Organa could do it; then again, so could a sizable cache of Imperial Credits ATTRACT SOLO |
| b | Barnyard pal of France Piglet and Italy Foal PORTUGAL LAMB | |
| c | Ping pong balls with numbers on them LOTTO ORBS | |
| 9 | a | Cream cheese designed exclusively for mousetraps BAIT MASCARPONE |
| b | Item used for cleaning up the mess after the Crock Opera is over TEP BROOM | |
| c | Player contract that won’t impact a team’s financial flexibility too much MILD CAP HIT | |
| 10 | a | Breaking up The Beatles, for one ONO NO-NO |
| b | Crown one wears at South Station BUS STOP DIADEM | |
| c | Sash worn by the Marriage-Agnostic Beauty Pageant contestant who best exemplifies poor craftsmanship MS. SHODDINESS |
Up-to-Down
| 1 | a | Let a lukewarm container grow old AGE TEPID VAT |
| b | Declaration from someone who got a little too friendly with the Goosebumps author “I PET STINE!” | |
| 2 | a | Minotaur flu, perhaps CRETAN EPIDEMIC |
| b | Hi treble counterpart LO BASS | |
| 3 | a | Israel, particularly from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to the present BIBI TURF |
| b | Nodding, saying “yes,” or giving a thumbs-up ASSENT OPTION | |
| 4 | a | One who sells honey, royal jelly, and related items BEE GROCER |
| b | Cheesy font TIMES ROMANO | |
| 5 | a | Have a great weight lifted off your shoulders (and belly, and thighs…) FEEL LITHER |
| b | Survey a city in Arizona SCAN TUCSON | |
| 6 | a | Delay a South American cousin of a field mouse STALL LLANO RAT |
| b | Screen legend Greta, back when she led recitation sections TA GARBO | |
| 7 | a | Make a deliberately cheap offer for pop-and-lock services LOWBALL B-BOY |
| b | Cross between Chlamydosaurus kingii and Hapalochlaena maculosa FRILLOPUS | |
| 8 | a | Stage direction from “Krusty Gets Kancelled” ENTER GABBO |
| b | French modernist paintings found in a Utah city OREM MANETS | |
| 9 | a | Given his history, Ben Affleck’s primary criterion for a new romantic partner NOT A JEN |
| b | Wooden item found in Ronan the Accuser’s dining room GROOT TABLETOP | |
| 10 | a | What Bill Terry does in the clubhouse when he wants to get #4’s attention CALLS “MEL” OR “OTT” |
| b | It may be placed at a classic car part auction T-TOP BID | |
| 11 | a | Gave a video game heroine red hair, a clamshell bra, and a fish tail instead of legs ARIELIZED CROFT |
| b | Overly tubular TOO RAD | |
| 12 | a | Paraffin Pepsi or Coca-Candle WAX SODA |
| b | Note Sleipnir leaves pinned outside his stable when he’s having a bad mane day TO ODIN: GROOM ME | |
| 13 | a | Halloween accoutrements with oversized noses CYRANO MASKS |
| b | Try to murder the Super Bowl XXI MVP STAB SIMMS | |
| 14 | a | Scrap the same video game heroine as in 11a, but use her pixels for another character RECYCLE LARA |
| b | They bat for the pitcher… and will die one day MORTAL DH’S | |
| 15 | a | One single step on the path to enlightenment TAO UNIT |
| b | Tell jokes to a seed shrimp AMUSE OSTRACOD | |
| 16 | a | You walk on it on your way into the beach INGRESS SAND |
| b | Garden pest who had to get out of the whole Beltway scene EX-D.C. APHID |