MONDAY, May 18 2009 - B Truitt (Year-round alp topper / Style of the 1920s and '30s / Common burger topper)

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: CR x 2 - theme answers are two-word phrases where both words start "CR-"

Word of the Day: TEMPERAS (20A: Poster paints) - n.

1. A painting medium in which pigment is mixed with water-soluble glutinous materials such as size or egg yolk. Also called poster color, poster paint.
2. Painting done in this medium.

[Italian, from temperare, to mingle, from Latin temperāre. See temper.]

A Lively, timely, easy Monday puzzle. Stumbled very early on - while TEMPERAS wasn't exactly new to me, I feel as if I haven't heard the term since whenever the last time I had art class was (6th grade?), and so I wrote in TEMPURAS and then a few seconds later puzzled over what fruit I might know that begins "BUR..." (18D: Fruit on a bush -> it's BERRY). I also managed to make a double-wrong decision as I rounded the bend in the far east - had the initial "W" and "L" for 28D: One of the five W's and 29D: Minstrel's instrument, respectively, and went with WHEN and LYRE ... the answer were WHAT and LUTE. That's called a wipe-out. And yet, when I was done, the clock said 3:08, which is somewhat on the fast side for me on a Monday.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Graham cracker pie shell (crumb crust)
• 26A: Spider or worm (creepy crawly)
• 44A: Lending crisis (credit crunch)
• 58A: Cajun seafood dish (crab creole)

Mostly liked the theme answers, especially CREEPY CRAWLY, which adds a dynamic colloquial flavor to the grid, and CREDIT CRUNCH, which is wonderfully in-the-language. Well, the phenomenon isn't "wonderful," but ... you know what I mean. I wasn't too thrilled with CRUMB CRUST. It's accurate enough, but I've only ever heard such crust called a GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST, so CRUMB CRUST didn't pop for me the way a couple of the others did. I'm also weirdly disappointed that "CR-" words were used not once but twice in the clues themselves ("cracker" in 17A, "crisis" in 44A). I think if they'd been kept out, the puzzle would have felt ... purer, somehow. And yet I liked the puzzle quite a bit. CRAB CREOLE is unfamiliar to me, though clearly it was familiar enough that I was able to fill in CREOLE once the CRAB was in place, so I must have heard of it somewhere, sometime.



Bullets:

• 21A: President who followed Harry (Dwight) - you almost never see this presidential name in the grid - at 83.3% consonants, that's not terribly surprising. Love it.
• 45D: Fire-breathing beast (dragon) - another answer to liven up the grid. Think of it as a gigantic CREEPY CRAWLY.
• 42D: Year-round Alp topper (snow cap) - such a weird-sounding clue, and yet I got this instantly off the "S" and probably would have gotten it with no crosses at all. I love that this answer crosses another "topper," RAW ONION (55A: Common burger topper).
• 3D: Batter's dry spell (slump) - another nice, colloquial, timely (i.e. basebally) term to liven up the grid. Also, an anagram of PLUMS.
• 9D: Style of the 1920s and '30s (art deco) - it's not crosswordese if you bring it out in its full-length format. See also MATA HARI, JAI ALAI, etc.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

My write-up of today's LAT puzzle is now available here.

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MONDAY, Nov. 24, 2008 - Billie Truitt (Measure of national economic health / Mr. _____ (Lucy's TV boss) / Rhyming word game)

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: Digits - five theme answers end with THUMB and the names of the four fingers, respectively




Meh. It was OK. I feel like I've seen this exact theme before, which is no real knock against this puzzle - themes are replicated all the time without the constructor's knowing that it's happening. HINKY PINKY felt awful to me, but that's just because I've never heard of it. Rare for me not to have heard of a theme answer on a Monday. All in all, a very average Monday puzzle.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Gardener's gift (green THUMB)
• 24A: Measure of national economic health (misery INDEX) - that's a nice, timely answer (I think I'm going to be saying that any answer dealing with economic downturn is a "timely" answer for a long, long time)
• 39A: Come to a compromise (meet in the MIDDLE)
• 51A: "Call sometime" ("Give me a RING")
• 64A: Rhyming word game (hinky-PINKY)

I think HINKY PINKY was made more grating by the proximity of EENY (70A: Start of a counting-out rhyme). The whole bottom of the puzzle is threatening to devolve into baby talk. Some random website I found tells me that "A hinky-pinky is a clue, definition, or riddle, the answer to which is a pair of rhyming words." Example given - a Norseman on wheels is a "biking viking." Wow, what ... fun. Speaking of Norway, a double dose today - OSLO (32A: Norway's capital) and V-flavored OLAV (69A: Norway's patron saint). One other thematic pair: AJAR (9A: Not completely shut, as a door) and AGAPE (50D: Yawning or visibly astonished).

Not a big fan of UNPEG, INRE, CLEO, ASEC, or NEEDN'T. Like RAN IN (54D: Arrested), JAWED (10D: Chatted) and ROUE (31A: Don Juan type), though, honestly, I never saw that last one until just this second. That's what happens when you speed. Oh, and I just noticed that a garden decoration (GNOME - 14D: Garden statuette) intersects a gardening answer (GREEN THUMB), so that's nice.

Miscellaneous:

• 1A: Event involving burning and looting (riot) - these often happen on summer days, or HOT ONEs (30D: Definitely a day for air-conditioning), which was reclued (thankfully) from [Real sidesplitter]. RIOTs are always easier to take when there are no MACHETEs (27A: Cane cutter) involved.
• 1D: Toupees, slangily (rugs) - Did Mr. MOONEY wear a toupee? (42D: Mr. _____ (Lucy's TV boss)). I have never seen more than an episode or two of "Here's Lucy" or "The Lucy Show" or whatever incarnation of Lucy sitcom MOONEY was on. No, it looks like Mr. MOONEY just had a somewhat receding hairline, unremarkable on a man his age.

• 22D: First of 12 popes with a religious-sounding name (Pius I) - I wonder if anyone will parse this as one word, PIUSI, and wonder what the hell kind of name that is.
• 18D: Spiral seashell (triton) - again, what are these words I've Never heard of doing in my Monday puzzle. Very weird. This one was easy enough to infer

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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WEDNESDAY, Jun. 4, 2008 - Billie Truitt (ALAMOGORDO TRIAL)

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: THINGS THAT BREAK (33A: What 17-, 24-, 48- and 57-Across are)

Stayed up late (for me) last night watching election coverage, so I'm wiped out this morning. Short write-up today. This theme is entirely adequate. The only theme answer I squawked over was KIDS' TOYS, and that was before I knew it was a theme answer - just didn't seem like a self-standing phrase. I know that adults can technically have "toys," but the KIDS here seemed a bit redundant. Plus, ANY toy can break. Still, KIDS at least has a "K," so that's something.


Theme answers:

• 17A: Tricky, unexpected questions (curve balls)
• 24A: Vampire's undoing (daylight)
• 48A: Stairway hazards, in some homes (kids' toys)
• 57A: View from the shore (ocean waves)

Some unappealing non-theme fill in this puzzle - why would you clue LAWS as 43A: Doctor of _____ (degree)? That's one of the worst clues I've seen in a long time. It manages to be both awkward and dull. There must be tons of viable, interesting, accurate clues for LAWS out there. Or you could invent a new one. This one has all the charm of an insurance salesman's office. I had no idea what AME (32A: Letters on some churches) was supposed to mean - had to look it up when I was done: African Methodist Episcopal. A very nice church, I'm sure, but ... as fill, it's yucky. I'd have rewritten that whole AME / IVEY part again, I think, just to get rid of AME. Then there's today's version of the "stuff in your bathroom nobody needs to hear about" answer: EYE CUP (45D: Glass in a medicine cabinet). Does anyone have one of these in his/her medicine cabinet right now? I can barely even find a picture of one, and they all appear to be antiques. I did not know that the initials HRH (26D: Initials for Camilla) applied to Camilla. I thought those were reserved for the Queen, but I know squat about royalty, so whatever. I was looking to squeeze "consort" in wherever I could - it fits at 24D: Title for Camilla (Duchess). My dog's name is DUTCHESS.

Khlav Khalash:

• 28A: Super deal (buy) - bathetic answer
• 29A: "Hurlyburly" Tony winner Judith (Ivey) - oh, the Tonys, my specialty ...
• 41A: "Man's the _____, and Wealth the vine, / Stanch and strong the tendrils twine": Emerson ("elm") - oh, Waldo, you were in the puzzle yesterday. Day late, dollar short. Oh, yeah, and that's a lot of ink to waste on an ELM clue.
• 51A: Galena or anglesite (lead ore) - I had LEADOR- and still had trouble parsing it.
• 61A: Alamogordo trial (A-test) - oh how I love deciding whether to put A, H, or N in that first position.
• 64A: Meddlesome sort (yenta) - didn't we institute a ban on YEN's, both -TL and -TA?
• 1D: Pay stub abbr. (FICA) - I really should look at my pay stub more often.
• 6D: New York cardinal (Egan) - I know a cute little girl with this last name.
• 9D: "Mighty" one who struck out (Casey) - second day in a row that "mighty" (or a version of it) has been quotation-marked in a clue.
• 10D: 1948 John Wayne western ("Red River") - one of several Howard Hawks / John Wayne collaborations. Big bio of Hawks on my shelf still waiting to be read ... I like his movies, and one of my favorite unheralded 20c. writers, Leigh Brackett, wrote screenplays for some of his most famous movies (e.g. "The Big Sleep").
• 12D: Place with a forge (smithy) - this word is amusing to me. I nearly wrote in SMITH'S.
• 28D: Science fair creation, briefly ('bot) - my experience says that the more appropriate answer here is something way less cool, involving hand-painted cardboard signs and possibly duct tape.
• 31D: Acre's locale: Abbr. (Isr.) - good clue, in that Acre has ... other meanings.
• 32D: Source of bread, for short (ATM) - not a fan of the "bread box" variety of ATM clues.
• 34D: Bulletin-creating department (news desk) - this answer seems old-fashioned. Sadly, I now think of politicians as the ones creating the "bulletins" and the press as the ones simply reading them out loud.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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TUESDAY, May 20, 2008 - Billie Truitt (GENEVE'S LAND / WOODWORKER'S GROOVE)

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: [@#$!]-ing animal puns

The theme is what it is. Cute. Not terribly coherent. Given all the reasons I've heard for puzzles being rejected, I'm kinda surprised that LYNX got in there, in that it creates a plural where all the other answers are singular (yes, that can most definitely be a deal-breaker in some cases with some editors, if my sources are telling the truth). Andrea, wasn't that one of the reasons your HEATH puzzle (which appeared in the LAT yesterday) was multiply rejected? Because of Tim MEADOWS? Anyway, I don't think the odd plural is that big a deal. I wish there was more payoff in the non-theme fill, instead of blechhy stuff like IRED (37A: Teed off) and an "H"-containing MYNAHS (25D: Chatty avians). [Cruciverb.com is not responding right now, or I would check on the comparative frequency of MYNA and MYNAH] WEE LAD (30D: Li'l fellow) is a bit grating to my ears, but it's so unusual and original that today, it's a high point.

Theme answers:

• 20A: Antlered salon employee? (styling moose)
• 31A: Lost bobcat? (missing lynx)
• 45A: Wildebeest who doesn't spare the rod? (spanking gnu) - good clue
• 52A: Unwelcome porcine party attendee? (crashing boar)

Though most of today's fill is quite ordinary, there are a few highlights. MOE isn't especially noteworthy as an answer (especially when it's not clued via "The Simpsons"), but the clue here is fantastic: 25A: Curly poker. I like that the clue on WORLD was not (to me) a gimme. Perfectly apt, but quite vague when you don't have any or many crosses: 4D: Word before class or war. My wife and I do the xword in The Listener (NZ) and they frequently have clues like "Word that can appear before blah, blah, or blah," and I am Terrible at that kind of clue. 9 times out of 10 my wife comes up with the answer first. As you know, I cannot get enough HOBO in my puzzle, so I enjoyed 14A: Boxcar hopper. I'm not normally a cheerleader for foreign words, but for some reason SUISSE really lights up today's puzzle (28D: Geneve's land). Of course I may just be feeling self-satisfied because my French came in handy. That happens. EXPATS is a fun word to say (27D: Nationals living abroad, informally). For some reason, my brain is trying to clue the word in question-marky fashion: [Former Summitt namesakes?].

Others:

• 23A: Woodworker's groove (dado) - I'm becoming alarmed at how frequently I am seeing this word. OK, so it's only once every several months, but with a word like DADO, that feels like a lot. I'd like to ask constructors to back off. I don't want to see this word become the new RELO.
• 34A: Heebie-jeebies (unease) - a dull answer to a lively clue.
• 50A: Broadway musical with the song "Will I?" ("Rent") - saw it, forgot it. Maybe my next taste of Broadway will be better ...
• 57A: Crawfish's home (bayou) - Good clue, colorful word.
• 66A: European deer (roes) - did not know there were particularly European, though I feel as if I've typed those very words before...
• 8D: Showy blooms (begonias)
• 9D: Prom accessory (corsage) - nice combo. Would anyone ever wear a BEGONIA as a CORSAGE?
• 35D: Yemeni port (Aden) - first, I get ADEN and OMAN confused (stupid, I know). Second, I have a weird aversion to both words, from a crossword standpoint. I know I will have to use one or both eventually, but I'm trying to keep stuff that screams "crosswordiness" to a minimum.
• 44D: Pulmonary organ (lung) - I have no idea why the word "pulmonary" is fascinating me this morning. Maybe my brain is just massively dissatisfied with the words it has available to it this morning. Actually, I think my brain is just preoccupied with this:

Jon Lester, cancer survivor, throws no-hitter at Fenway vs. Kansas City Royals - Red Sox win 7-0

Thanks to Matt for sending me the text message that allowed me to catch the final three outs.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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