by Rob Speer
Throughout this puzzle, content words are replaced by words that are equivalent in Soundex, a traditional naive algorithm for indexing surnames and grouping together the ones that sound similar. Soundex is still in use in many databases, and even affects your driver's license number in some states.
All the clue answers are proper nouns and they are given in alphabetical order. To fit them into the grid, you write them as their Soundex codes, which are a letter followed by three digits from 0 to 6.
Quick Soundex reference
- The first letter is left intact, becoming the first letter of the Soundex code.
- All other instances of H and W are removed.
- Consonants are replaced by digits:
1 = B, F, P, V
2 = C, G, J, K, Q, S, X, Z
3 = D, T
4 = L
5 = M, N
6 = R
- Adjacent consonants with the same Soundex code are collapsed -- even if it's the initial letter that they share a code with.
- Vowels are removed.
- The code is truncated to four characters and padded with zeroes.
When solving/checking the puzzle, it may help to replace the digits with the canonical letters BCDLMR so that you can vaguely sound them out.
The diagonal spells EOCENE ESKIMO ECZEMA, giving yet another Soundex equivalence class.
The three missing clues wrap around from the top right of the crossword to the bottom left, and in context they give:
The name in this equivalence class clued by EMERALD OREGON CITY is EUGENE, which is the answer.
Filling the grid
Grid solution Across Down E (EMERALD) EEYORE O6 (OREGON) ODYSSEY C30 (CITY) CRIBBAGE E620 EURASIA EMINEM N510 NUMPY NIELSEN E452 ELLINGTON EARHART E625 EUROZONE EQUUS S265 SCISSORHANDS SIMMONS K523 KINGSTON KUBRICK I150 IPHONE IZZARD M262 MUSSORGSKY MORIARTY O662 O'ROURKE OBAMA E163 EBERT ELLE C453 CLANNAD CROWLEY Z600 ZORRO ZIPLOC E140 EIFFEL EDSEL M340 MATTEL MICRONESIA A222 AGASSIZ AMIGA 564 25 0 AQUARIUS (= across) AGASSIZ: Hick nerd anarchist laughs, Thom Technetium Yorke awoke = Huge North American lake, ten thousand years ago CLANNAD: Vacuole nebula from Jovian, or iris clouds beyond = Visual novel from Japan, or Irish Celtic band EBERT: Fallen courthouse rescuer, who robbed with Seagal and then robber = Film critic Roger, who reviewed with Siskel and then Roeper EIFFEL: Iguanas threeway in Paraguay = Iconic tower in Paris ELLINGTON: Disco: champagne, boozy bend later, and juice puncture = Duke: composer, big band leader, and jazz pianist EURASIA: Lowercase London on errata, mouth of tea container = Largest landmass on Earth, made of two continents EUROZONE: Earphone raccoon with a canine chromosome = European region with a common currency IPHONE: Awful piano featuring abuse such as score and fishtank = Apple phone featuring apps such as Siri and FaceTime KINGSTON: Chipotle of jeans = Capital of Jamaica MATTEL: Two chimpanzees, mockeries of brave = Toy company, makers of Barbie MUSSORGSKY: Reagan campaign of "picketers at an Egyptian" = Russian composer of "Pictures at an Exhibition" NUMPY: Photon equation model that aids fast meteoric combat = Python extension module that adds fast matrix computations OROURKE: Striking who wired "powerlines of wires" = Satirist who wrote "Parliament of Whores" SCISSORHANDS: Ethridge: forgot Jim Duffy rule in a bartending felony = Edward: first Johnny Depp role in a Burton film ZORRO: Demo duck: must oddly hurry, who welds a repair and craves his intellect on things = Don Diego: masked outlaw hero, who wields a rapier and carves his initial on things DOOM (= down) AMIGA: Central Cambodia, compatriot to the magnets = Commodore computer, competitor to the Macintosh CRIBBAGE: Carrot gun where nutmeg is Nintendo = Card game where nothing is nineteen CROWLEY: Allegedly: ocelot who said "do wood toe wallet" = Aliester: occultist who said "do what thou wilt" EARHART: Annually: avatar who despaired over the pushback = Amelia: aviator who disappeared over the Pacific EDSEL: Ferret attempts flip: "the worms cheer at the worms' team" = Ford automobile flop: "the wrong car at the wrong time" EEYORE: diverse Dennis, front of pew, who loses his towel = Depressed donkey, friend of Pooh, who loses his tail ELLE: Fringe fusion musician = French fashion magazine EMINEM: Rubber miracle mattress = Rapper Marshall Mathers EQUUS: Super play with heresies and (rescinded) denial radicals = Shaffer play with horses and (recently) Daniel Radcliffe IZZARD: Eat: enchilada stunt Canadian = Eddie: English standup comedian KUBRICK: Drought of spirit and loyalty = Director of Spartacus and Lolita MICRONESIA: Regime of the sweaty pushups, weekday of planking = Region of the south Pacific, west of Polynesia MORIARTY: Ninjas of surrealist healing = Nemesis of Sherlock Holmes NIELSEN: Atomic mushroom Sharpie for toolbox six = Audience measurement survey for television shows OBAMA: Undead stitch practitioner, who divided Romeo and Romeo = United States President, who defeated Romney and Ryan ODYSSEY: Signature ebook pen adrift to humor = Second epic poem attributed to Homer SIMMONS: Muddy durian that's soft like a weevil = MIT dorm that's shaped like a waffle ZIPLOC: Brunette of Rockville poolside books = Brand of reusable plastic bags