Moab's neighbor in Bible / WED 12-6-17 / Midwife to fairies in Shakespeare / Make bones about something

Constructor: Clive Probert

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: Ms — all clues start with "M." Every answer has at least one "M." Because .... "M"?

Theme answers:

• all of them

Word of the Day: MNEME (3D: Muse of memory) —

In Greek mythology, Mneme /ˈniːmi/ (Greek: Μνήμη Mnḗmē) was one of the three original (Boeotian) muses, along with her sisters Aoide and Melete before Arche and Thelxinoë were identified, increasing the number to five. Later, the Nine Olympian Muses were named. She was the muse of memory. (wikipedia)

• • •

Me, last night, upon solving this:

Upon waking, I stand by this. There is no point to this. There is no pleasure that results from this. Only bad things come from this, most notably tortured, terrible clues. Good clues are hard enough to write; when you insist they start with only one letter—especially when there are ZERO OTHER THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING IN YOUR PUZZLE—you are only spreading misery.

I knew something terrible was afoot when I ran into *&%^ing MNEME at 3D: Muse of memory. She's not even one of the damn nine muses. She's part of some "original" triad along with the equally "famous" AOIDE and MELETE, whom you of course see *all the time* (/sarcasm).

No doubt you found yourself at some point wondering "how does *that* clue fit *that* answer?" My worst case of this came when I encountered the clue on DEMUR (49D: Make bones about something). Nobody makes bones. They make no bones ... about something. And again, all this ridiculousness is happening with absolutely no payoff. There is no other point but the "M"s.

When the "best puzzle in the world" not only continues to pay constructors abysmally (while profiting enormously) but also perpetrates *this* nonsense, I retreat into the world of independent crosswords, where no one hates their solvers this much.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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