Sunday, August 31, 2025 |

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Danny J. Rooney’s New York Times Crossword “A Man of Character” — Eric’s Review

Danny J. Rooney’s New York Times Crossword “A Man of Character”— 8/31/25

Congratulations to Danny J. Rooney on his New York Times puzzle debut! It’s also apparently his debut puzzle in any venue covered by Diary of a Crossword Fiend.

The puzzle is a nice tribute to everyone’s favorite MI6 agent and the guy who most memorably played him. Circles in the grid add a level to the theme that mostly plays out in answers that at first appeared to me to be somewhat random puns:

• 22A [“Don’t flick that cigarette over here!”] MOVE YOUR ASH
• 24A [“Incredible! This mosquito net didn’t let in even one bug!”] WHAT A MESH
• 52a [“Dear Lord! His Majesty’s beard is out of control!”] GOD SHAVE THE KING
• 63A [“Just dropped off some of your newly buffed knight’s protection!”] SHINED, SHIELD AND DELIVERED
• 74A [“Can you offer me anything bigger than skiffs, dinghies and pontoons?”] COULD I HAVE A SHIP?
• 111A [Secret agent first introduced in 1953] JAMES BOND
• 113A [Classic 111-Across portrayer, whose iconic accent is suggested by the answers to the italicized clues] SEAN CONNERY
• 120A [School attended by both 111-Across and his creator] ETON Finally, someone’s worked ETON into the theme instead of it being random fill.
• 33D [Favorite drink of 111-Across] MARTINI
• 66D [Feature of this puzzle’s circled squares that, when connected by a single line, visually represents 111-Across] DOUBLE

Sean Connery on location for “Goldfinger” (1964)

The Connery-isms are on the silly side, but sometimes that’s OK. I can imagine Connery saying “ash” for “ass” or “mesh” for “mess,” so that works. But I’ve been a Bond fan since around 1970, and I wonder how this theme plays for solvers who don’t know or don’t care for the character.

Having elements of the theme like the two theme answers that run Down, and especially the doubled O’s that have to fall in the right place for the overlaid 7, sometimes compromises the fill, but I didn’t see too much that vexed me.

Other stuff:

• 1A [Maximum extent, in an idiom] HILT I couldn’t think of anything for a bit, and when the crosses gave me HIL, I put a second L. That cost me half a minute at the end because I didn’t immediately notice that LOERR was nonsense.
• 27A [Non-free-range farm fixture] FEEDLOT Readers of The New York Times Wordplay comments will know that such fixtures are sometimes enclosed by a chain-link fence.
• 35A [Went from 0 to 60, say] AGED The NYT used virtually the same clue a little over a month ago, yet I still had SPED for a while. Maybe I’m in denial (not that I’ll see 60 again.)
• 45A [More in need of a sticky roller] LINTIER OK, I guess so.
• 58A [___ code] AREA I know “bro code” and wondered if it had devolved into “bruh code” or “brah code.”
• 91A [Hero’s partner in myth] LEANDER I blanked on that name.
• 2D [“That doesn’t bother me anymore”] I’M OVER IT I’m better at forgiving than forgetting.
• 8D [Whiled away the hours] LOAFED Not LOLLED.
• 16D [Part of a personal air filtration system] NOSE HAIR Clever clue, but that’s not what I want to be thinking about over breakfast. Or pretty much any time. (See 35A.)
• 49D [Port on the Adriatic] BARI I know one four-letter Adriatic port. The city’s history in WW II is pretty gruesome.
• 64D [Williamson who played Merlin in “Excalibur”] NICOL Pure gimme. For a while in my early 20s, I was enamored of the Arthurian legend, probably because of John Boorman’s gorgeous 1981 movie.
• 77D [Obergefell v. ___, milestone case for marriage equality] HODGES Another gimme, as it should have been. My husband is convinced the current court will overrule it; I try to be more optimistic about such stuff.
• 84D [Greaves and cuisses, but not gauntlets and helmets] LEG ARMOR There’s a couple of words you can use to piss off your next Scrabble opponent (though you can probably make better use of three esses than “cuisses”).
• 88D [Feature of many a gloating movie villain] EVIL GRIN Surely one of the Bond villains could’ve been used in that clue.
• 99D [Late jazz singer ___ Laine] CLEO I know the name but not her music. So let’s learn something: