Relative difficulty: Easy (solved Downs-only)
Theme answers:
- FINGER ROLL (17A: Fancy one-handed basketball shot)
- ARM CANDY (25A: Good-looking companion on the red carpet, say)
- KNUCKLE SANDWICH (36A: Punch in the mouth, slangily)
- TOE BEANS (47A: Cat's little pink paws, cutesily)
A twizzle is "a multirotational, one-foot turn that moves across the ice" in the sport of figure skating. First performed by David Grant in 1990, the International Skating Union (ISU) defines a twizzle as "a traveling turn on one foot with one or more rotations which is quickly rotated with a continuous (uninterrupted) action". It is most often performed in ice dance, although single skaters and pair skaters also perform the element. Twizzles have been called "the quads of ice dance" because like quadruple jumps in other disciplines, twizzles are risky and technically demanding.
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[George "The Iceman" Gervin] |
[Dutchess and Gabby eying the PEOPLE FOOD] |
I had one initial error today. I wrote in "DON'T STAND" (?) instead of "DON'T GET UP" (3D: "Stay seated"). I got out of that one when I ended up with SENE at 23A, which is obviously not a thing. At first I thought maybe EPIC was wrong (24D: "Beowulf" or the "Iliad"), but then I decided STAND was wrong, and GET UP slid right into its place. I didn't make a mistake with WENT, but I balked at it and refused to write it in because the clue seemed off (39D: Left the area). I mean ... [Left] would do just as well. What's this "the area" stuff?? It adds nothing. That's a better clue for, say, WENT AWAY, not just WENT. So as I say, I just left it, and ended up finishing with it, which is why it's highlighted in today's answer grid (above) (the highlighted answer is almost always the very last thing I entered in the grid—I just leave the cursor where it is, take a screenshot, and that's that).
[10D: Music genre for Bob Marley]
Additional notes:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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- 31A: Whoopi's role in 1985's "The Color Purple" (CELIE) — this seems hard for a Monday. I never saw it, as it's an Across answer. I think I would've remembered the name, but I'm not sure. It's funny (-ish) that CELIE is the second Whoopi role I can think of that appears from time to time in crosswords. The other is ODA Mae Brown, the character she played in Ghost (for which she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar) (ODA is also old school crosswordese, most often clued as [Harem room] or [Seraglio section]). CELIE has now appeared in the NYTXW 14 times, all of them with a Color Purple-related clue.
- 33D: Secret compartment, informally (HIDEY HOLE) — one of a very nice set of four long Downs today. Here's Chippy, our resident (front porch) chipmunk, in his HIDEY HOLE (of sorts):
- 43A: Popular brand of hiking sandals (TEVA) — the very phrase "hiking sandals" sounds like an oxymoron to me, but as someone who has developed toe (bean) blisters lately due to semi-dramatic increase in walking, I may have to look into some free-toe alternative to normal footwear. Or else just tape my toes. Or get a shoe with a wider toe box. Or just lie around on the couch watching movies and stop walking altogether. Somehow running (which I also do) has never given me blisters, but walking ... bah. I feel betrayed by walking, honestly.
Thanks to Rafa and Eli for filling in for me while I recovered from facial surgery that was way more ... involved (and gruesome) than I thought it would be. Basal cell carcinoma on the nose ... I've had better times at the doctor! Anyway, I get to wear a nose bandage for a couple weeks, so I'm gonna get a fedora and a suit and pretend I'm Jake Gittes from Chinatown. I'm sure that reference will go over Big with my students.
See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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