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For starters, as you know, each of those across entries has another clue, the one thats in the grid itself, and they are infernally mystifying until you get the gist of this theme, which is not EZ. Most of the grid clues are rather clear suspiciously so, in retrospect and caused me much befuddlement.

For example, 63-Across, Something avoided during awkward situations is clearly eye contact, no? I cant imagine an alternative. A handful of crosses confirmed this to me, except that it just didnt quite fit: CONTACT worked perfectly, but there were only two squares left at the beginning of the entry for eye. Ay ay ay, I thought to myself, I sure hope this isnt a rebus. I then moved on to 84-Across, Fish with a prehensile tail, and encountered the opposite problem. This has to be seahorse, of course, but now our sure thing is too short. HORSE works with its crosses, but there are seven squares remaining when only three are needed for sea.

It was then that I looked at the second clue set (if I hadnt, Id probably still be scratching my head, although Ill bet people figured this out somehow without the help). Leg cramp is a pretty specific clue for a strangely-named vexation, the CHARLEY HORSE. Sure enough, this entry fits. How does sea fit with CHARLEY, though? I still wasnt quite there.

Truth be told, the trick finally dawned on me in a reverse maneuver. I solved the grids clue for 105-Across, Mad Hatters social event, without issue tea party, which is two squares too short to fit this spot in the grid. But I also had great luck with the down entries here, mostly short bottom-of-the-puzzle fill, and solved it completely on the crossings THIRD PARTY. This jibes with Unlikely election winner, one of those seven secondary clues from the puzzles introduction. Whats happening here? Instead of Tea, read T. The Expansion Pack in the title is the second clue, which grows that T to a new word, THIRD.

So, instead of sea horse, read C HORSE, which becomes CHARLEY HORSE. Ah, and eye contact? Thats I CONTACT, which goes with the clue Communicating (with): IN CONTACT.

The remaining four entries use G, O, B and P as their base letters. As Mr. McCoy says in his notes below, the puzzle almost had both clue components in the grids clue set; I think the trick would have worked beautifully in either case, but I agree with the constructor that separating them is a lot of fun.

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NYTimes Crossword clue: Flits here and there - The New York Times