NYT Sunday Puzzle – November 27, 2011

Title: Yin/Yang

Though I finished the puzzle with relative ease (at least, for me) and got everything right, when I was done, I hadn’t the foggiest idea how the title related to the puzzle.  So, off to check with Rex Parker. Explanation: half the grid (with the circles) = black; the other half (no circles) = white. The puzzle’s overall design represents the Yin/Yang symbol. Symmetrical answers contain opposites of each other. Thus:

24A. Full of strong feelings = Hot and heavy
116A. Starting sneezing and sniffling, say = Caught a cold

31A. Something to enjoy on the beach = Summer breeze
102A. He might put chills up your spine = Old man winter

16D. Suffering from nyctophobia = Afraid of the dark
42D. Weighing hardly anything = Light as a feather

37D. Walter Mitty, e.g. = Daydreamer
45D. Question posed to one with a hangover = Rough night?

43D. Time in Hawaii maybe = Honeymoon
48D. Kuomintang co-founder = Sun Yat-sen

I’d never heard the term “nyctophobia.” But I had no trouble identifying the Chinese political leader Sun Yat-sen.

15A. Name of nine Thai kings. I had no idea until I filled in the other answers in that section of the grid. Correct answer: Rama.

15D. “The Social Contract” philosopher. One of those answers that I knew I knew but couldn’t think of. Got it late in the game.  Correct answer: Rousseau.

120A. Architect Jones. British architect during the Renaissance. Though I knew the answer, I at first misspelled it by starting with an “e.” Correct answer: Inigo.

125A. Family of Slammin’ Sammy. I’m thinking golfer Sam Snead. But “Sneads” wouldn’t fit. It finally dawned on me that it was the baseball Sammy. Correct answer: Sosas.

95D. Island south of Tsufaru Strait. No clue until I started filling in some squares around it. Then it was easy. Correct answer: Honshu.

109D. “_______Hope.” A soap opera I watched many years ago. I’d stopped watching quite a while before it went off the air in (acc. to Wiki) 1989. Correct answer: Ryan’s.