SATURDAY PUZZLE — The last time we solved a Sid Sivakumar grid in The New York Times, it was a collaboration with Matthew Stock back in May, another challenging fanned-out construction.
This kind of geometric pattern, combined with Saturday cluing, means that a solver has four isolated propellers to flail away at; the momentum I built in the southwest quadrant did nothing for me in the northwest, which was by far my weakest spot.
Speaking of patterns, we can usually count on Mr. Sivakumar for trivia that takes us outside the Western canon, as well as a topical debut or two to expand our minds a bit.
I’ve come to look forward to both of these features in his puzzles. Today we also get something tricky: a few doubled clues that give a solver.