Across clues
- Spoke first at STOC, with handouts. (4)
SAID = S(TOC) + AID (handouts are a visual aid) - Laugh at Romanian jail without pa[r]king for Ford, say. (8)
HARRISON (Ford, an actor) = HA + R + PRISON – P (= parking) - Danes maybe cycling for cake. (7)
ECLAIR = CLAIRE (Danes, an actress) rotated = “cycling”. Difficult clue. - Squared dodecahedron contains root. (4)
EDDO (a plant). Contained in … ED DO… - With competence, like Niels Henrik? (4)
ABLY, wordplay on “like [mathematician Niels Henrik] Abel”. - Trouble sounds like beer. (3)
AIL (vb.), homophone of ALE. - L[a]nsky impales most of suricate with tip of yari. (5)
MEYER (Lansky, a mobster) = ME(Y)ER[CAT] - Taster confused desserts. (6)
TREATS = TASTER* - Programmer is a father. (3)
ADA (Lovelace) = A + DA (= father) - Some alternating state. (3)
ANY = A (as in complexity class AC) + N.Y. - Limaye without an almond, say. (3)
NUT = NUTAN – AN - Bullet point keeps her in France. (6)
PELLET = PT (= point, abbrev.) around ELLE (her, Fr.) - Assholes insert Landau symbol into abstracts after second review. (7)
EGOISTS = E (2nd letter in REVIEW) + G[O]ISTS - Logic from the Horn of Africa. (2)
SO = second order logic, also abbreviation of Somalia - Like, with probability 1. (2)
AS = like = almost surely - Complex zero first encountered by lady friend. (7)
OEDIPAL (a type of complex) = O + E + DI + PAL - Partly hesitant at ternary bit. (6)
TATTER, hidden word. - Supporting structure turns semi-liquid. (3)
GEL = LEG backward (= turned) - Everything Arthur left to end of protocol. (3)
ALL = A[rthur] + L[eft] + [protoco]L - Unbounded fan-in polylogarithmic depth circuit model is fake. (3)
ACT = AC (complexity class) + T (a Ford model) - Maybe Tracey’s luxury car runs out of [p]olynomial time. (6)
ULLMAN (an actress) = PULLMAN – P - Pin[k] dress you ordered last Friday initially returned. (5)
FLOYD (a band), backwards acrostic (“initially”, “returned”) - Relationship uncovered travel document. (2-1)
IS-A (a UML relation) = [v]ISA - Be certain about last Pfaffian orientation. (4)
BENT = BE[N]T - Detect conference cost size. (4)
FEEL = FEE + L - Matching for horses? (6)
STABLE (a type of matching, and where horses stay) - Collect information about first woman embracing the state. (8)
RETRIEVE = RE (= about) + T(he) + RI (= Rhode Island, a US state) + EVE - Central to better AI data storage technology. (4)
RAID, hidden in “…r AI d…”
Down clues
- Safer testable codes? (4, 4)
SEAT BELT = TESTABLE* (code is an iffy anagram indicator). Better clue in hindsight would have been “Locally testable codes are a buzzword. (3)” for ECO (hidden). - Maybe Arthur without Merlin is even worse … (5)
ILLER = (Arthur) MILLER – M - … definition of time than deterministic Arthur–Yaroslav. (3)
DAY = D + A +Y (a complexity class abbreviations) - Cover us about first sign of integrality gap. (6)
HIATUS = HAT + US around I(ntegrality) - Publish, but not ultimately sure about polynomial-time recurrence. (7)
RELAPSE = RELEASE – (sur)E holding P - 49 subsets the setter handles. (6)
IDEALS = stable subsets = I + DEALS - Food at indiscrete algorithms conference held around Yale’s entrance. (4)
SOYA = SODA – D (SODA without discrete) + Y - Revealed no deep confusion. (6)
OPENED = NODEEP* - Not having an arbitrary number of children. (4)
NARY = N-ARY, double definition - In Related Work section, over-inflate scientific contribution of Rabin in data structure. (4)
BRAG = R (Rabin abbreviated as in RSA) inside BAG - Iceland exists. (2)
IS, double definition - Cuckoo hashing incurs five seconds. (3)
ANI = second letters of “hAshing iNcurs fIve” - Function of what is owed, I hear. (3)
DET = homophone of “debt”. - Cut off measure of computer performance, not taking sides. (3)
LOP = [F]LOP[S] - Two sigmas above the mean, or about ten delta. (8)
TALENTED = TENDELTA* (“about” is the anagram indicator) - Coattail at breakfast? (3)
OAT, tail of COAT, a breakfast cereal. - Twisted polygon in tessellation supporting functors. (7)
TORTILE = TOR (functor) above TILE (a polygon in a tessellation). - Tree parent has two left edges. (6)
MALLEE = MA + L + L (left, twice) + E + E (edge set, twice) - Temporary visitor betrays topless arrangement. (6)
STAYER = [B]ETRAYS* - Trigonometric function is pretty dry. (3)
SEC, double definition - Denounce operator in vector analysis and put it away. (6)
DELETE = DEL + ATE (vb., past tense) - 49 litres of sick. (3)
ILL = IL (roman numerals for 49) + L - Turing machine’s second network. (4)
ALAN = A (second letter in MACHINE) + LAN - Academic degree supports unlimited games for simple minds in the US. (5)
AMEBA (US spelling of AMOEBA) = [G]AME[S] + BA - Open access journal rejected final proof in distance estimate. (4)
AFAR = AJAR – J + F (last letter of PROOF). - Conceal often sample space. (4)
LOFT, sample of “…L OFT…” - Objectively, we are American. (2)
US = objective form of “we” - It negates where you drink. (3)
BAR, double definition, the bar us used to negate a variable
Special instructions
The letters missing from 4 of the clues, indicated by […] above, are K A R P, a homophone of CARP (“sounds like nitpicking”). The answers to those clues are HARRISON, MEYER, ULLMAN, and FLOYD. The six members of the first STOC programme committee were Harrison, Meyer, Ullman, Floyd, Karp, and Hartmanis. The answer to the entire puzzle is therefore HARTMANIS, additionally indicated as “confused with H(ungarian) MARTIANS” = HMARTIANS*.
Thore Husfeldt 