Rigatoni relative / TUES 4-19-22 / Penultimate word in a fairy tale / Christmastime concoction

Constructor: Olivia Mitra Framke

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium. Avery- 6:29. Sammy- 6:47.



THEME: Things That Strike — All theme clues use the word strike in a different way.

Theme answers:

• BOWLING BALL (16A: What might be rolled for a strike)
• MIDNIGHT (25A: What a clock might strike)
• LIGHTNING (37A: What might strike during a storm)
• EMPLOYEE (52A: Who might go on strike)
• INSPIRATION (62A: What might strike you during this puzzle)

Word of the Day: Edward James OLMOS (13A: Actor Edward James ______)

Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist.[2] He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in Miami Vice (1984–1989), actor in and director of American Me (1992), William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009), teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver (1988), and Detective Gaff in Blade Runner (1982) and its sequel Blade Runner 2049 (2017). In 2018, he played the father of two members of an outlaw motorcycle club in the FX series Mayans MC. (Wikipedia)

• • •

Good morning! For those experiencing unseasonable snows, our hearts are with you. For those without power or clear roads, you are in the same boat as our regular crossword king. So we are writing about the crossword today! Our names are Avery and Sammy, housemates and good pals. We’re about to graduate from Rex’s alma mater; today is, in fact, our last day of undergrad. Doing the crossword together/competing for speed-solve champion is a longstanding tradition for us two amateur solvers and novice bloggers. Here we go!

We do have to say, "strike" is a nice word. It feels powerful. But as far as themers go, it’s just a word that has a lot of definitions. And because the theme word itself is in every themer clue, it was hard to feel any level of INSPIRATION. BOWLING BALL is fun enough, and represents an (arguably) fundamentally different use of the word “strike” than the rest of the themers. Since baseball season is revving up (Go Tigers! This is their year), it isn’t necessarily the sports/strike usage I (Sammy) would go with, but no complaints. The use of “strike” for EMPLOYEE is also distinct (though more on that later). However, MIDNIGHT, LIGHTNING, and INSPIRATION all invoke roughly the same image. Given the choice of word, it is a solid array. But why this word? What made “strike” so striking to warrant an NYT crossword?

Speaking of strike, and the appearance of ETSY, keep an eye on what’s happening with the online artisan crafter marketplace. After two years of record profits, the platform announced that they are hiking their seller fees by 30%. Thousands of sellers organized to protest this fee increase by putting their shops in “vacation mode”, or temporarily deactivating them, starting April 11th. A petition to cancel the fee increase has reached nearly 85,000 signatures from sellers and supporters. 

It may be just about the only way to get TSY in a four-letter word but, if you’re going to play on the word "strike" for your theme, it feels AMISS to not include the national rise in labor organizing in a more thoughtful way. Single EMPLOYEEs don't generally go on strike solo (52A: Who might go on strike). Whole groups do. They organize. That’s the whole point.

The rest of the grid put up little resistance, and the theme made it almost…slippery. With all the single black squares peppered throughout the center, there were no crafty, satisfying downs to offset the somewhat lackluster themers.

Part of the smoothness of solving this puzzle was the proper nouns. The only name/name cross was GOGH/OLMOS, one of which barely felt like a name, and the other I (Avery) was able to get through the crosses. GOGH, or VAN GOGH, feels to me almost like a noun. “Oh, this one over here, this is my favorite Van Gogh”, ya know? Neither of us had ever heard the name Edward James OLMOS, but we were both born in 2000 (EEK!) and have little interest in cop television. His face does look familiar, now that I (Avery) am staring at his Wikipedia page. And he has kind eyes.

Some highlights:

• VELOUR is an excellent imagistic word. My (Sammy) favorite answer in the grid. Everyone looks good in a velour tracksuit and if you don’t think so, try one on.

• TRYNA shows that the NYT doesn’t get modern slang wrong all of the time (only much of it). This is, to my ear, a correct use of the word TRYNA. I imagine this answer might be a sticking point for some, but the acrosses should be easy enough to get it done.

• If it wasn’t Passover, I (Sammy) might make baked ZITI for dinner. And the STANZA cross was nice.

•  The NCAA makes more than 85% of its revenue from March Madness. Presumably, the other 15% comes from crossword royalties given how frequently it’s mentioned.

• I (Avery) had an embarrassing stumble at 35D (Name on Woody’s shoe in Toy Story). I wrote ALAN. I solve my crosswords alone in my room, usually first thing in the morning, which today was a good thing. No one was around to see the shame of forgetting the iconic ANDY across Woody’s shoe. Luckily the crosses were easy-peasy and I corrected myself quickly.

Thanks for having us! Stay warm.

Signed, 

Avery Sandstrum and Sammy Saperstien 

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