The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Solution to Evan Birnholz’s April 5 Post Magazine crossword, “Continuing Education”

Analysis by
Crosswords
April 5, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. EDT

Two weeks ago, more than 1,800 solvers participated in the first (and perhaps first of many?) Crossword Tournament From Your Couch. This was an idea that constructors Finn Vigeland and Kevin Der managed to whip up in a matter of nine days as a replacement for the canceled American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, with puzzles by Finn, Robyn Weintraub, Rachel Fabi, Joel Fagliano, Laura Braunstein, Jesse Lansner, Patrick Blindauer and Byron Walden.

In between puzzles, solvers were directed to watch the Facebook Live feed hosted by crossword podcasters Brian Cimmet and Ryan Hecht, where they interviewed tournament constructors and prominent solvers such as screenwriter Craig Mazin. The organizers grouped solvers into three cute, couch-inspired divisions: The Chesterfield division for advanced solvers, the Futon division for all other individual solvers and the Loveseat division for pairs. The puzzles themselves were fun and clever; I managed to finish in 21st place out of all solvers, which is better than I’ve ever done at the ACPT!

There were small snags in the proceedings in that the Facebook Live feed sometimes cut out and solvers had to refresh the page several times. But given the huge numbers of participants, that people were able to solve the puzzles without much technical trouble and that the organizers put this all on in just over a week, I don’t think it can be described as anything but a smashing success — and perhaps a pioneering development for crossword tournaments in general. If you didn’t get a chance to solve the puzzles, you can still do so here.

Today’s puzzle features nine classes you might take in college but with a letter added to them to make wacky classes:

  • 22A: [Course on the architectural style invented by former NFL coach Ewbank?] is WEEB DESIGN, which is web design + E.
  • 24A: [Course on the moral choices faced by a bovine that’s attracted to both male and female bovines?] is BI OX ETHICS. Bioethics + X.
  • 29A: [Course on the development of small fruit pies over the centuries?] is TART HISTORY. Art history + T.
  • 40A: [Course on how to be sophisticated?] is URBANE STUDIES. Urban studies + E.
  • 60A: [Course on actor Cage and TV show writer Pizzolatto’s lives as students?] is CLASS NICS. Classics + N.
  • 72A: [Course on tallying up anatomical pouches?] is SAC COUNTING. Accounting + S.
  • 95A: [Course on the peculiarities of a bottled spirit?] is GENIE TICS. Genetics + I.
  • 97A: [Course on the science of Vincent van Gogh’s brother?] is THEOOLOGY. Theology + O.
  • 106A: [Course on motion and energy as taught by college basketball coach Auriemma?] is GENO PHYSICS. Geophysics + N.

Take all of the letters added to the classes and you get the revealer at 120A: [Extra period of time to complete a school assignment … and what’s spelled out by the extra letters in this puzzle’s courses] which is EXTENSION.

I’m not sure which of these classes I’d sign up for first and which one I’d excel at the most. I think I’d enroll in TART HISTORY 101 before the others just because I’d expect the curriculum to include eating tarts. I’d probably get my best grade in GENO PHYSICS just because I once did well in a college physics course and I already like basketball to begin with.

Which courses would you enjoy best?