THEME: H-LL vowel progression — five words that begin with letter pattern H-LL, with each successive themer bringing a new vowel in the second position (A thru U):
Theme answers:
HALLELUJAH (18A: "Thank God Almighty!")
HELLENISTIC (23A: Of an ancient Greek period)
HILLBILLY (35A: Jed Clampett, e.g.)
HOLLANDAISE (49A: Sauce made with butter, egg yolks and lemon juice)
HULLABALOO (55A: Uproar)
Word of the Day: HERNIA (21D: Result of overstrain, maybe) —
A hernia is the protrusion of an organ or the fascia of an organ through the wall of the cavity that normally contains it from within. There are different kinds of hernias, each requiring a specific management or treatment. (wikipedia)
• • •
Well I MADE IT back from LA JOLLA—Seriously, super weird coincidence to see that answer (that juxtaposition!) today after my weeklong vacation there. Had a wonderful time with the whole (dad's side of the) family: dad and stepmom, their four kids (and spouses), and then *their* five kids. Fifteen total. Much beaching and drinking and Legolanding and Zooing and eating, not necessarily (though not unnecessarily) in that order. Had a delightful if comically absurd niche-fame moment when my (deep breath) stepbrother's stepdaughter's boyfriend (exhale), whose name is Logan, informed me one evening, when I was at my computer, mid-solve, that his mom reads my blog all the time and was not going to believe that he was meeting me. My family then tells him he should take a picture. So here I am, solving, having a conversation, and semi-posing for a picture, simultaneously. Hashtag TALENT.
Just a little behind-the-scenes peek at the exciting world of Guy Sitting At His Computer. And now, the Monday puzzle.
This puzzle was just fine. At 74 words (a little low for Monday) and with some not necessarily straightforward spellings, this one could've played a little tougher than normal, though it didn't for me—a shade under 3, and thus pretty much average. One nit, elegance-wise: HILLBILLY is an odd man out, insofar as those initial four letter spell a word related to the meaning of the larger word, i.e. the HALL-word is not related to a HALL, the HELL- word is not related to HELL, the HOLL- word is not related to HOLL because that's not a thing, and the HULL- word has nothing to do with any sort of HULL, but I'm pretty sure HILLBILL(ies) live in HILLs. Or near them. HILLARY or HILLEL might've made interesting candidates, though the latter couldn't have gone in the center. Anyway, HILLBILLY is at least a colorful word. Overall, the fill is average to slightly cleaner than average, I think. Doesn't contain anything too memorable, though it's got some nice touches like OLD CHAP and the aforementioned LA JOLLA. Also, can't recall ever seeing HERNIA before. I thought that word was on one of them there anatomical no-fly lists, but here it is. Look out for URINE, coming soon to a puzzle near you (and why not?).
I had exactly one solving snag—NAIL UP (47D: Seal, as a shipping crate). I guess I've never done … that. Something about the UP part just didn't want to come. But it seems like a common enough expression. For crate shippers.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. Thanks to Evan, Keith, Catherine, Angela, and Doug, for allowing me to enjoy family time this past week, undistracted by the minutiae of blog management. I am, as always, grateful.
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THEME: End of the Q — each theme answer is a phrase whose final word is represented by the letter of which it is a homophone:
Theme answers:
GEOGRAPHY B (17A: It's all about location, location, location)
"ONLY U" (39A: 1955 hit for the Platters)
CARIBBEAN C (62A: Environs for Blackbeard)
AFTERNOON T (11D: Occasion for sandwiches and scones)
WELL, G (30D: "Hmm, imagine that!"
BLACK-EYED P (28D: Soul food ingredient)
Word of the Day: Carol ALT (18D: Cover girl Carol) —
Carol Ann Alt (born December 1, 1960) is an American model and actress.
Alt's first big break in modeling was in 1986, when she was featured on the cover of Harper's Bazaar magazine, but garnered publicity in 1982 when she was featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. During the 1980s she appeared on over 500 magazine covers, becoming one the most famous models of her era. She was referred to as "The Face" by Life Magazine. During the height of her popularity, she was the face of ad campaigns for Diet Pepsi, General Motors, Cover Girl Cosmetics, Noxzema, Hanes and numerous others. (wikipedia)
• • •
I've seen themes use this letter-for-word conceit before, so no great shakes there, but this is actually reasonably well executed—lots of different letters, all at the end, all in legitimate, unforced phrases. Plus the fill is remarkably clean. Has a familiar, old-school feel to it. Solid, clean and easy—about as easy as "trick" puzzles come. I love the added touch of the short theme answers in the middle. I wasn't exactly expecting those, and (thus) that area was responsible for almost all the resistance I encountered with this puzzle. I also muffed up the east a bit, as wrote in NSA instead of NSC (31A: White House advisory grp.), and also tested SO- as the opening of 32D: Inasmuch as (SINCE). I think I was thinking SO FAR … but that would've needed the "as." Anyhoo, there was a bit of scrambling over in that region.
It didn't take me long to get the theme, but filling in the first answer didn't do it for me. GEOGRAPHY is all about location, location, location—so what's this "B" doing at the end (I wondered). I thought there was going to be some trick where the tacked-on letters … did something? Spelled something? Had to be connected with a Sharpie and then folded and hung from the ceiling at dusk while incantations are sung and smoke burns, finally to reveal a map to the lost pyramids of Jackson Hole? But no. After I got AFTERNOON T, the theme became clear. No incense needed. No pyramids. Just a solid, clever theme.
I don't normally do this, but … the constructor's birthday was just a couple days ago, so: Happy Birthday, Bernice. And nice work.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Constructor: David Steinberg (16) and Bernice Gordon (99)
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: AGE DIFFERENCE — Phrases that end with the letters -AGE lose those letters, and vice versa.
Word of the Day: CEY (69A: Six-time All-Star Ron) —
Ronald Charles Cey (born February 15, 1948) is an American former third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1971–1982), Chicago Cubs (1983–1986) and Oakland Athletics (1987). Cey batted and threw right-handed. A popular player, he was nicknamed "The Penguin" for his slow waddling running gait by his then-minor league manager Tommy Lasorda. (from Wikipedia)
• • •
While Rex Parker (AKA Edward Snowden) is hiding somewhere in Russia/Ecuador, you're stuck with me, Neville Fogarty. Seriously. I have it on good authority that Rex is all about revealing classified documents. Look at what he does here everyday. What a day to play substitute blogger. It's a meta-theme: we've got co-constructors who have a vast difference in age, and that supplies the impetus for the theme. And it's cute. I know we've seen this idea before, but the "I'm old! I'm young!" is a twist on it; you can decide how much that interests you. I mean, it merited ages in the byline, so it's supposed to be interesting. Well, I'm typing about it, so there must be some merit to it. Consider my interest piqued.
Having only done one myself, I often wonder what the work breakdown is on collaborations. Looking at the grid, it doesn't scream 16-year-old guy. (PEACHY!) I'd guess that if there was any amount of co-operation on the gridding, Bernice likely strong-armed David into keeping it relatively sane. Or maybe it's just the five theme entries forcing the rest of the grid.
Theme answers:
17A: Result of someone yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater? (EXIT RAMPAGE) — If you yell "Fire!" in a theater, you're gonna have a bad time.
25A: Looting of a legislature? (DIET PILLAGE) — Diet is the word for the parliament of countries like Japan and the Holy Roman Empire. There's something weird about the wording here. "I'm going on a diet pillage!" doesn't feel right. Seems like it's a noun trying (and failing) to modify another noun. I get the idea, though.
38A: 83, for the creators of this puzzle ... or a hint to the ends of 17-, 25-, 51- and 60-Across (AGE DIFFERENCE) — It's a neat theme-inspiring phrase, regardless of the connection to the authors.
51A: What an exploding microwave can make? (INSTANT MESS) — Definitely my favorite theme entry. Sure, any explosion is instant, but this is a microwave exploding. That's a nice bit of clue imagery.
60A: Exemption from playing an instrument at school? (MUSICAL PASS) — Or maybe this would be a ticket to see a Broadway show?
So that's the puzzle, pretty much. When you spend that much real estate on theme entries, there's not much room for outstanding fill. I'm definitely not saying that the fill in here is bad, as by and large it's okay. I'm not a fan of ENID, DEL and CEE all in the same section. That seems unnecessary. But there are few gems in here... there's so little to talk about. Let's take a look at those gems (and maybe a weirdo or two).
Bullets:
3D: Be a dreamer (THINK BIG) — "Think" is a slogan used by IBM, courtesy of Thomas J. Watson, Sr. In the '90s, APPLE responded with "Think different." I feel like "Think Big" should've been the motto for ENIAC.
26D: 1993 Tom Cruise legal thriller (THE FIRM) — Just like Tom Cruise to take credit for writing a John Grisham book. This is on the long list of Grisham books I haven't read nor seen the film adaptation. Do I need to start in on these?
47D: Benson of "Pretty Little Liars" (ASHLEY) — She was also on "Days of Our Lives" and "Eastwick." I have more knowledge of the 13-episode Rebecca Romijn-led TV version of John Updike's tale than the still on the air "PLL," but I guess this has more clout with the average solver. I don't think this is a Bernice clue, nor does it strike me as a David clue. I'm chalking this reference up to Shortz.
19A: Starfish appendage (RAY) — I knew that this was ARM. I was convinced. But RAY is another word for a starfish's arm. This just seems more like a Friday "sorry, wrong three-letter answer" clue to me. I guess one meanie in the bunch isn't too bad.
43A: Spanish charger (EL TORO) — Okay, we literally went over this yesterday. Why are we suddenly just putting THE, or in this case, EL in front of things? Is this acceptable now? Answer: it shouldn't be. How is this different from a partial that starts with the word A? You wouldn't clue A BULL with [Charger], and this shouldn't be okay. If it's a title that starts with an article like in THE FIRM above, that's fine, but this is a load of TORO. Sheesh.
Signed, Neville, Prince of CrossWorld
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Hi Rex Parker fans...we are Rex's BFF's (Liz and Jenny), and we will be blogging to you for the next 4 Mondays, because, let's face it, Monday is all we can manage without Rex's help. Rex is flying to New Zealand as we speak. He won't even see this blog, because he left on Sunday, arrives on Tuesday, and flies right through Monday, July 2. So let's get started. Disclaimer: we have never blogged before and are amateur solvers, so please go easy on us with your comments.
Constructor: Bernice Gordon (she's 98 years old!!)
Relative difficulty: Easy Peasy
THEME: ANAGRAMS — Anagrams...at least we think that's what they're called. It's the kind of puzzle where the letters of one word of are rearranged to spell a different word.
Word of the Day: DERECHO —
derecho (Spanish: derecho "straight", pronounced [de̞ˈɾe̞tʃo̞][1]), is a widespread and long-lived, violent convectively induced straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms in the form of a squall lineusually taking the form of a bow echo. Derechos blow in the direction of movement of their associated storms, similar to a gust front, except that the wind is sustained and generally increases in strength behind the "gust" front. A warm weather phenomenon, derechos occur mostly in summer, especially June and July in the Northern Hemisphere. They can occur at any time of the year and occur as frequently at night as in the daylight hours.
This word appears nowhere in the puzzle. And as far as Rex knows, has never appeared in a puzzle ever. But get this, WE TAUGHT THIS WORD TO REX PARKER!!! THE 31ST GREATEST CROSSWORD PUZZLE SOLVER IN THE UNIVERSE!!! You may be wondering why we taught him this word??? Well, we experienced a DERECHO in the mid-Atlantic region on Friday evening. One of us (Jenny, not Liz), is still without power as a result of the DERECHO, as are hundreds of thousand of hot and sweaty and miserable people throughout the Baltimore/Washington Metropolitan area.
If you don't have power, we highly suggest margarita popsicles. They're cool, refreshing, and if you eat enough, you'll forget how miserable you are!!
• • •
Theme answers:
20A. [French writer's apprehension by the police?] - Sartre's Arrest
26A. [French writer's state of drunkenness?] - Proust's Stupor
We tried to embed the theme song from the 1986 movie "Legal Eagles" here, because 43A made us think of that, but, we didn't know how. Anyway, the song is "Love Touch," by Rod Stewart, and it's a total 1980's synthesizer classic. Hopefully we'll get this figured out by next monday, or maybe PuzzleGirl or Doug can fix this for us!
Bullets:
60A. EARL [___ of Sandwich?] - (our 1st grade librarian Mrs. Rowles read us a book about the Earl of Sandwich, and we've never forgotten it)
58A. ANTI [Prefix with disestablishmentarianism?] - (a vocabulary word in Mrs. Fogg's 4th grade)
41D. [What WAS I thinking?!?] - This about sums up how we were feeling when it was time to write the blog.
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (*for a Tuesday*)
THEME: B-RN — last word in six theme answers starts B-RN, with a different vowel (incl. "Y") in the blank spot each time
Word of the Day: DAVID BIRNEY (39A: TV/film/stage actor once married to actress Meredith Baxter) —
David Edwin Birney (born 23 April 1939) is an American actor/director whose career has performances in both contemporary and classical roles in theatre, film and television. He has three children, a daughter Kate, and twins, Peter and Mollie. [...] Birney married Meredith Baxter in 1974 (the two had met costarring on the sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie). They have three children: Kate (born 1974), and twins Peter and Mollie (born 1984). Birney and Baxter divorced in 1989. In 2011, Baxter said Birney had repeatedly psychologically and physically abused her during their marriage, allegations Birney has denied. (wikipedia)
• • •
Hey there. I missed you guys. It's good to be back. Well, not so good. I mean, this puzzle ... has problems. I knew right away it wouldn't be in my wheelhouse—if memory serves, the constructor is roughly my grandmother's age, and so, understandably, her cultural center of gravity's going to be a little farther back than mine. Still, I didn't expect to have to deal with So Many Names from Yesteryear. I'm going to ask you to imagine an intersection like the EDD BYRNES / LACEY / ELLER / CLIVE BARNES one here, only replace all those names (ugh, so many proximate names) with ones that came to fame some time after 1975. Now try after 1995. If you're like me, you'd like that puzzle a hell of a lot more than this one, but that's not really the point. The point is, such a puzzle would piss off huge chunks of the solving population (I know from experience), and rightly so. Lesson: Don't crowd names together in a puzzle, *especially* ones that simply aren't universally known and all belong to one time period or field of knowledge. Theater, theater critic, "Doonesbury," and "77 Sunset Strip" don't exactly scream modern, or relevant, or well known. I'd be happy to accept any one or two of these answers, but four? And intersecting? Really, really bad form.
I haven't even mentioned the theme, which is absurd. Vowel progression isn't even in order. AYOIEU? What? BORNES is the best you could do for "BORN"? What about David BYRNE, who is infinitely more famous (today) than the double-D EDD guy? Conceptually, it's all a mess. As a friend of mine just said a few minutes ago: "Also, to help tie the theme together, it's three people, a card game, a dog, and part of a stove. So there's that." Yes. Yes there is.
That's two days in a row now that theme answers have been quite marginal, bordering on obscure. This bugs me for personal reasons. In my mind, every theme answer has to pass the SHERMAN ALEXIE test. This is because Will didn't know who SHERMAN ALEXIE was, and rejected a puzzle of mine almost exclusively on that basis (never mind that Alexie won the National Book Award, has been on "Colbert" multiple times, etc.). So now any time I see something like THE PURPLE ONION (!?!?) or DAVID BIRNEY (come on!) I just cringe and think, "you *must* be joking..."
Theme answers:
18A: Longtime New York theater critic (CLIVE BARNES)
23A: Actor in 1960s TV's "77 Sunset Strip" (EDD BYRNES)
34A: Popular card game since 1954 (MILLE BORNES)
39A: TV/film/stage actor once married to Meredith Baxter (DAVID BIRNEY) — interesting that he's puzzleworthy only when tied to Elyse from "Family Ties" (see, *she* has a puzzleworthy acting credential)
53A: Big dog (ST. BERNARD)
59A: Prime cooking spot (FRONT BURNER)
Oh, and I had an error. Had RECTOR for 4A: Person assisting a worship service (LECTOR) and never thought to correct it, despite the resulting RACEY at 4D: ___ Davenport, long-running "Doonesbury" character (LACEY). I probably just assumed that if anyone wanted LACEY, they'd use "Cagney and LACEY" to get there.
One last thing: if you are a U.S. Congressperson or a well-known or prominent Washington figure of some kind (I'm looking at you, Obamas!), or you know someone who is and who also a. solves the puzzle and b. reads my blog (even occasionally), please let me know (rexparker at mac dot com). I'm being interviewed by CBS in a couple weeks, and they apparently could use this info. I'd be most grateful. Thanks.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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THEME: People who have ... adjectives? ... as last names ... have their names turned into sentences via the addition of "'S" to their first names ... and then those sentences are clued as if the sentence were describing said people? Yes?
Word of the Day: Chic Young (50A: "Blondie" cartoonist is not old?) —
Murat Bernard "Chic" Young (January 9, 1901 – March 14, 1973) was an Americancartoonist known primarily as the creator and original artist of the comic strip Blondie. His 1919 William McKinley High School Yearbook cites his nickname as Chicken, source of his familiar pen name signature. (wikipedia)
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Well ... I don't know how to say this any other way: this theme is mystifyingly weak. I don't know what else to say. I'm actually stunned this was accepted. I have no idea why there is an apostrophe-S added to these answers. I have no idea why these people were chosen, as opposed to any of the many, many other people in the world with adjectives as last names. I'm just completely at a loss. Wife doesn't see how it's any lamer than any other lame theme, but I believe it is. [And I just got an email from a good friend who agrees, so at least I'm not utterly alone in this...] Complete lack of logic and coherence. Stunning. Trust me, there are soooo many constructors doing this puzzle this morning, people who have had puzzles rejected over the years for whatever reasons, who are going ".... Really? REALLY? ... Wow."
Theme answers:
17A: "Designing Women" actress is intelligent? (JEAN'S SMART) — lost a lot of time here, first bec. I thought JEAN spelled her name JEANE or JEANNE, and second bec. ... well, WTF kind of theme is this, really, I ask you?
11D: "Fatal Attraction" actress is nearby? (GLENN'S CLOSE) — see, I thought that at least the "S"-last name would be consistent, so that that apostrophe-S would not be audible in the new formations ... but no. MARTIN'S SHORT!? RICH'S LITTLE!? KAREN'S BLACK!? ANNE'S FRANK!? SHELLEY'S LONG?! There's an ungodly Sunday puzzle in here, if you look hard enough.
25D: "White Rabbit" singer is smooth? (GRACE'S SLICK) — here, the apostrophe-S adds an extra syllable. (Not) nice.
50A: "Blondie" cartoonist is not old? (CHIC'S YOUNG) — OK, so clues are consistent in one way, in that they all begin with titles. That may be the nicest thing I can say, theme-wise, about this puzzle.
Now, outside the theme, the grid is Great. Solid, interesting, cool. Really like RATFINKS (9D: Squealers) and DUNCECAP (36D: Corner sitter's headwear) and GUTSY (39A: Daring) and IPSWICH (!) (44A: Capital of Suffolk, England) and VINTNER (27A: Person producing Bordeaux or Beaujolais). Really nice, clean work in every corner of the grid. The theme is simply a non-starter for me.
Difficulty arose first from the confusion about the theme, then from the name-spelling issue (CHIC YOUNG will be an unknown to many today—not that he's not completely puzzle-worthy). Then there was the clue on DOGGIES (23A: Little pooches). I call my (non-little) dogs DOGGIES all the time. Little pooches are PUPPIES. A chihuahua is no more a DOGGY than my lab. [Pooches] would have worked just fine (better, even) on its own. What else? Wanted SPAM for SCAM (7D: Many an e-mail "click here" offer). Then, like an idiot, I saw "Superdome" (18D: Superdome player) and thought Seattle (SUPERsonics + KingDOME = me, confused), and so SAINT took me Way longer than it should have. Still a reasonably easy puzzle, but with enough little stumbling blocks to make it more Tuesday- than Monday-level for me.
I would like to say that I Love JEAN SMART. She was especially fantastic on the recent, and lamentably bygone, "Samantha Who?":
1D: Nickname of a 6'7" former basketball great (DR. J) — what the ...? Why not just clue this as [Nickname of a basketball player who is of average height for an N.B.A. player]? Why in the World is "6'7"" in this clue? When you think of DR. J, 6'7" is about 218th on the list of traits that define him.
THEME: Possessive misreadings — famous people whose last names start with "S" have their names reimagined as possessive phrases, e.g. WARREN SAPP —> WARREN'S APP (that's not a real answer, but I like it ... if you don't know who WARREN SAPP is, now you know how I feel about GEORGE SHEARING)
Word of the Day: GEORGE SHEARING (43A: Jazz pianist's court appearance?) — Sir George ShearingOBE (born August 13, 1919, Battersea, London) is an Anglo-Americanjazzpianist who for many years led a popular jazz group which recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he has had multiple albums on the Billboardcharts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s.
So his music career roughly coincides with the constructor's constructing career. That makes sense.
Note on the puzzle:
"HALF-CENTURY PUZZLEMAKERS' WEEK
All the daily crosswords this week, Monday through Saturday, are by puzzlemakers who have been contributing to The Times for more than 50 years. Bernice Gordon, 95, of Philadelphia, had her first Sunday crossword published on January 23, 1955. Her first weekday puzzle appeared three years earlier. She is the oldest known puzzlemaker in the newspaper's history."
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First, congratulations to Ms. Gordon. Is it OK to congratulate someone on being the oldest ever to do something? I hope so. Second, not sure why we need another gimmick week to rival last year's Teen Week. All I can hope is that next year there will be Middle Aged Person's Week and then maybe I can sneak a puzzle in there. Third, do not expect a decidedly negative review all week. I can describe highlights and (to some extent) lowlights, but I'm not about to tear into a puzzle that may be one of the last things the constructor ever does on this earth. No way, no how. Also, there will be no more mention of its being Half Century Week. Well, I may reprint whatever "note" comes with each puzzle, but that's it. We should focus on puzzles (one of the reasons I don't like stunt weeks (so far) — they have ZERO to do with content of the puzzles).
This seemed a very solid puzzle, with GEORGE SHEARING being a mystery to me (and at least one other blogger who wrote me out of the blue last night with a message that read something like "43A!?!?!?!?!"). Wife didn't know him either. He seems both exceedingly puzzle-worthy and completely inappropriate as a Theme answer on a Monday. But no matter. Puzzle conceit made him easy to put together.
Theme answers:
17A: Film director's sound (Oliver's tone) — OLIVER STONE
26A: Birth control advocate's fury? (Margaret's anger) — MARGARET SANGER
43A: Jazz pianist's court appearance? (George's hearing) — GEORGE SHEARING
57A: Comedian's parents? (Tom's mothers) — TOM SMOTHERS
My favorite things about these theme answers are the birth control and the lesbian moms. Awesome.
Even without the SHEARING catastrophe, this puzzle seemed skewed *slightly* harder than most Mondays. Biggest hang-ups for me were ASPISH (24D: Venomous, as a snake) — I had all the middle letters and still couldn't see it — and ORNE (54D: French department) — one of those bits of (normally) late-week crosswordese that I always forget how to spell. I think I tried ORLE (kind of like the French airport ORLY), and ORME (kind of like nothing). DIVERGES (4D: Branches off) also held me up a bit, as the only word I wanted right off the bat was DIVERTS. Finally, SURE SHOT — or rather the SHOT part of SURE SHOT — took some hacking as well (39D: It's guaranteed to hit the mark). SURE THING and SURE BET came to mind, but not SURE SHOT.
Favorite answers of the day was, by far, CREMONA (10D: Onetime center of violin manufacture). A lovely word I don't see very often in crossword grids, despite its being half vowels. Cue violin music.
[LOVE this piece ... not sure about this performance, which I grabbed at random. It sounds fine so far ...]
No "Bullets" today, as I've pretty much covered all I wanted to cover.
Finally, apropos of nothing, here is a video that Sarah K Silverman posted to Twitter yesterday. It is a British game show that involves the arrangement of letters, so puzzle types might find it interesting. If you are morally opposed to the accidental construction of naughty words, then you DO NOT want to click through. You've been warned. (oh ... uh ... it looks like the naughtiness is in the video title and in the preview picture, so ... if you object, just hold your hand up to the screen and cover it now)
Solving time: 6-ish (applet fritzed again) THEME: FLOP / FLAP / FLIP - each word is a clue to a long answer
Really have to fly today. This is what a very very very rushed commentary looks like. This is also what it sounds like when doves cry.
The applet froze on me again - first, I couldn't even get the grid to appear. Had to make several passes at it. Then when I'd completed it, the screen went blank but the clock kept going - I believe that I had a square incorrectly filled, but the message telling me so never came up. Just blank space. Just knowing that the tournament involves solving on the applet makes me slightly furious. Seems to be testing manual dexterity at least as much as solving ability. As other solvers have admitted recently at other sites, it takes me several minutes to fill in the grid when I have it pre-solved! (which I have done only for the sake of posting the puzzle here - who are the idiots who pre-solve the puzzle and then solve on the applet, so that everyone can see their manifestly fake time!? Mysterious. Of course, if I didn't know some of the top solvers and their insane actual times, I'd think some of their times were fake too.)
This was a cute little puzzle, theme-wise. I don't have many NITS (60D) but there is one small problem with the following clue / answer pairing (to my ear, anyway) 39A (THEME): FLAP (sway in the breeze). FLAP and SWAY do not seem comfortable synonyms. FLAP implies a quicker, harsher motion than SWAY, which is something a hammock does. Or palm trees. You FLAP your gums, or your wings - a flag might FLAP. SWAY seems far more soothing. I told you the problem was small. So I'm not a fan of FLAP. FLOP and FLIP are fine. As Meatloaf said, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad.
17D: Wading bird (ibis)
IBIS is on the Pantheon waiting list, if only because ... well, only in the world of the NYT puzzle would IBIS be considered Monday fare. It's pretty exotic outside of CrossWorld. I mean, you find them all over the world, but if most Americans had to list 20 bird names, IBIS would be on very few lists. They are beautiful, though. And, as Wikipedia tells me: "The Sacred Ibis was also an object of religious veneration in ancient Egypt, particularly associated with the god, Thoth" - Worship of Thoth can be found in the contemporary comic Conan, which is actually very well written and entertaining, unlike the other prominent Robert Howard-inspired comic, Red Sonja, which is appallingly subliterate. I'm not convinced the writing is even proofread, let alone edited in any significant way. Embarrassing. Robert Howard would kick somebody's ass if he were alive to see his name associated with such ridiculous, ungrammatical nonsense. The only reason I haven't cancelled Red Sonja is because ... I want to have faith in the viability of a female hero. Oh, and she's hot.
63A: Borden cow (Elsie)
Blanked on this. Had BOSSY and BESSY and god knows what else before I recalled this cow's name. Does Borden make anything besides condensed milk? Yes they do. And you can find out about Borden products at, I kid you not, elsie.com.
4D: One who talks, talks, talks (gas bag)
I had GABBER and didn't get rid of it until I realized that the answer to 23A: Power for Robert Fulton could not be STEEM. I like GABBER. It rhymes with JIBBER-JABBER. And, furthermore, it reminds me of GABBO, the great ventriloquist's dummy who briefly threatened Krusty's children's TV show supremacy. 27D: Actor William of "The Greatest American Hero" (Katt)
I guess that if you need a KATT, this is where you go, but this seems a tad obscure for a Monday puzzle. Nothing you can't tease out from the crosses, but still... actually, there were a few answers that seemed a little Wednesday-ish to me today: IBIS (see above), BESOT (8D), SEGO (43A), and TONGA (56D) are all perfectly fine words, but all seem to play to expert solvers who know them instinctively. Understand that this is not a complaint, just an observation. This KATT guy does not seem Monday -famous. I know him when I see him, but I couldn't tell you his name. Reminds me of someone. Hmmm, who could it be? Wait, I know: Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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