Magician known for debunking paranormal claims / SUN 4-1-18 / 1988 crime comedy / Like fictional Casey / Final song in Fantasia / Big name in nail polish / Patriotic song lyric before Mind music and step / Chemicals proscribed by 70s legislation

Constructor: Sam Ezersky

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: "1 + 1 = 5" — rebus puzzle where a "5"-letter word with AND in the middle appears in the square going Across, and just the letters on other side of the AND appear in the Down; thus:

Theme answers:

• KID IN A [CANDY] STORY / MA [CY] S (both "C" and "Y" are in the square, but going Across the "and" is included in the answer (CANDY), and going Down it is not (CY))
• [PANDA] EXPRESS / PA [PA] CY
• ALL [HANDS] ON DECK / FUC [HS] IA
• [LANDO] CALRISSIAN / BORDEL [LO]
• YANKEE DOODLE [DANDY] / GO STEA [DY]
• HURRICANE [SANDY] / NOT AS EA [SY]
• THE AMAZING [RANDI] / [RI] GHT FIT
• ELASTIC [BANDS] / DA [BS] AT
• A FISH CALLED [WANDA] / RE [WA] RD

Word of the Day: IRENE Ryan (17D: Ryan of "The Beverly Hilbillies") —

Irene Ryan (born Jessie Irene Noblitt; October 17, 1902 – April 26, 1973) was an American actress who found success in vaudeville, radio, film, television, and Broadway.

Ryan is most widely known for her portrayal of Granny, the mother-in-law of Buddy Ebsen's character, on the long-running TV series The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971), for which she was nominated for Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1963 and 1964. (wikipedia)

• • •

Conceptually, I kinda like this, but there were two main problem, for me: 1. "1 + 1 = 5" is not a saying. It's not a play on anything. It's random math nonsense. I think I've seen  "2 + 2 = 5" as a joke signifying, I don't know, the "new math" (whatever that is/was), but that expression plays on the concept of "2 + 2 is 4" as an equation exemplifying simplicity. "1 + 1 = 5" plays on nothing. I get that expresses mathematically what is going on in the puzzle (i.e. 2 letters in one direction = 5 in the other), but the puzzle title is important, and its wordplay should be spot on. Naming-wise, this title feels off. Second, and this is more a technical issue: writing five letters in one square? Not ... easy. Hard enough w/ pencil, but impossible on my computer—that is, I can do it, but I can't see them all. I guess the idea was we were only supposed to write in the two letters? OK. I can see that in retrospect. Seemed like the "and" was crucial so I wrote it in. At any rate, still seems like a lot to cram into one box. The concept is clean, but the reality of its execution on paper, by the solver, is not. Too many questions about what, exactly, to write in the box, and too much stuff in the box, period. Once I figured out the gimmick (took a little while), it was kind of fun to find the ?AND? words. With HURRICANE [SANDY] and YANKEE DOODLE [DANDY], I actually found the ?AND? square first, and then wrote in the entire rest of the answer immediately. But most of the time, the hunting was a little harder. Trouble with [RI]GHT FIT because it's kinda "green paint"-y, i.e. not really a strong stand-alone answer, more a loose adj/noun pairing. And I nearly missed the [BANDS] of ELASTIC [BANDS] completely because I just had ELASTICS, which somehow seemed fine for [Stretchable wrappers]. I think just the work of figuring out the gimmick takes this one into the more challenging range.


AT THE BAT? Er, way way too long an answer to be that single-context specific. Nothing and no one else in the history of humanity has ever been AT THE BAT. Just Casey. But the grid is mostly solid, with some nice original stuff like "LEMME SEE..." and "YEAH, MAN" and BACKLOT. I had a bunch of missteps, starting with DEKES for FAKES (1D: Deceptive moves). Really struggled with A PERSON (89D: Each). Brain conked out after APOP and APIECE. GRR for GAH messed me up a little in the S/SE (101D: "This is SO frustrating!"). Second day in a row where I had a cross I had run the alphabet on (ER-ADER / OL-S) (119A: Device many use in bed / 11D: Whoops?) because nothing looked like it made sense and I thought maybe another ?AND? word was hiding in that square. Both clues were vague / tough, and ER-ADER made me think I actually had an error. But it's just a simple E-READER, which, I guess, people use in bed. And on planes. And in chairs. But yeah, beds too. Second day in a row with a very tricky theme concept. I liked this one better, mostly because I still can't forgive that GOING IN ALL / DIRECTIONS answer from yesterday, What The Hell???! GAH! I hope we've all gotten the April Fools crap out of our system. Have a Happy Easter or Passover or whatever you do or don't celebrate!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. an update from Nate Cardin, organizer and editor of Queer Qrosswords (which you can find out about here):

Queer Qrosswords has officially passed the $12,000 mark for money donated to LGBTQ+ charities on behalf of the project, thanks to 331 (!) total donations.  We're continuing to expand where we're promoting the project and will have a presence at upcoming crossword tournaments as well as RuPaul's Drag Con.

The puzzles are cool. People seem really into them. Tell a friend. Give them as a gift. Spread the love.

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