Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Corry Cropper

Constructor: Corry Cropper

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: ICARUS (61A: Mythological figure whose ill-fated trajectory is suggested by 19-, 34-, 41- and 56-Across) — theme answers suggest ICARUS's trajectory after taking the wings his father Daedalus invented and then flying too close to the sun ...

Theme answers:

DAY IN THE SUN (19A: Brief time to savor one's glory, metaphorically)
INTO THIN AIR (34A: Mysterious way to vanish) [are there non-mysterious ways?]
DOWN TO EARTH (41A: Practical and unpretentious)
"UNDER THE SEA" (56A: Oscar-winning Disney song sung by a crab named Sebastian)

Word of the Day: ICARUS (61A) —

[Gowy, The Fall of Icarus (1635-37)]
In Greek mythology, Icarus (/ˈɪkərəs/ ^ⓘ; Ancient Greek: Ἴκαρος, romanized: Íkaros, pronounced [ǐːkaros]) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of King Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalus had revealed the labyrinth's secrets and thus imprisoned them—either in a large tower overlooking the ocean or in the labyrinth itself, depending upon the account. Icarus and Daedalus escaped using wings Daedalus constructed from birds' molted feathers, threads from blankets, the leather straps from their sandals, and beeswax. Before escaping, Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too low or the water would soak the feathers and not to fly too close to the sun or the heat would melt the wax. Icarus ignored Daedalus's instructions not to fly too close to the sun, causing the beeswax in his wings to melt. Icarus fell from the sky, plunged into the sea, and drowned. The myth gave rise to the idiom, "fly too close to the sun." In some versions of the tale, Daedalus and Icarus escape by ship. (wikipedia)

• • •

Alison Bechdel's Fun Home opens with her recounting a time during her childhood when she would play on the floor with her father, him balancing her on his feet such that she appeared to be flying over him. She explains that in circus acrobatics, this kind of balancing act is called "Icarian games":

The ICARUS / Daedalus relationship becomes an important metaphor for her relationship with her father. There's a great (ruthless) line in there where she wonders whether Daedalus, who made the wings, was sad because his kid died, or because of the design flaw. ICARUS also makes me think of this strange painting by Peter Brueghel the Elder called Landscape with the Fall of ICARUS (c. 1560), where the mythological theme appears in only a minuscule part of the painting, which otherwise looks like an ordinary 16th c. landscape. The main subject appears to be a guy plowing his field. You have to really zoom in to see the wet ICARUS detail...

[he's just below the boat]

[Computer, enhance!]

This is all to say that I think about ICARUS ... sometimes. From time to time. I enjoy me a good piece of ICARUS-related art. But today, I didn't even know that's what I was dealing with until well after I'd finished the puzzle. ICARUS was in such a weird place in the grid that I never suspected it as a revealer. Frankly, I never saw the clue on ICARUS at all because I could tell what the answer was from crosses—the short answers (of which there are many many many in this puzzle) just filled it in for me. So I was left with a pretty tepid theme about ... the elements? The weather? And they're all prepositional phrases ... except the first, for some reason. I was like "this can't be it?" And it wasn't. ICARUS was it. I love mythology, and do not mind an ICARUS theme, theoretically, but I'm not sure this themer set really gets at the his whole ... trajectory that well. Doesn't he go into the (thin) air first, then get to the sun, then fall down (to earth, actually to sea)? You could've done this all in a more entertaining way, I think. Maybe make all the theme answers songs, and not just the last one. Make a kind of ICARUS playlist. Maybe start with "WIND BENEATH MY WINGS?" "UP WHERE WE BELONG?" "I WANT TO TAKE YOU HIGHER?" Something like that. Then there's Kool & the Gang's "TOO HOT," Alicia Keys's "FALLIN'," Bobby Darin's "SPLISH SPLASH," and then maybe "UNDER THE SEA." Clues could be something like [First track on a 61-Across playlist?] [Second song on a 61-Across playlist?] etc. I am, as they say, just spitballing here, and all my song choices are obviously hypotheticals—there are probably scores of potential song titles to choose from, and maybe you could get them to fit in a grid symmetrically. Anyway, I'm having more fun imagining this ICARUS playlist puzzle, which doesn't exist, than I did solving today's puzzle, which does. For such a seemingly bold idea, it felt a little bland.

The blandness was significantly helped along by an absolute boatload for short fill. 3-4-5s as far as the eye could see. And much of that fill was of the very tired variety, stuff like STENO OTT UVEA OTOE MST MADAMA IDEE TERA ETAT ETNA ESP ORCA APSES EDAMS (plural!) ERIE TSA ASLAN NAT. A punishing onslaught. Made the solve very easy, but also very fussy and choppy and kind of dull. The theme answers themselves were solid but not terribly colorful. The long Downs were doing their best to make things interesting—they were the only parts I found at all interesting while solving—but their charms weren't enough to counterbalance the rest of the grid. I think the theme is cute, it's trying to do something interesting and original. So conceptually, I approve. The execution just felt a little tepid, a little awkward to me.

The most confused I got today was at 29A: Diaphanous (LIGHT). I thought something "diaphanous" was characterized by the interplay of light on its surface, or the way light shined through its delicate substance ... yeah, it's basically "translucent." Of fine composition. Airy. I would not have thought of it as LIGHT (adj.) meaning "not weighing much." I guess by implication diaphanous things wouldn't weigh much, but I dunno. Weird to use LIGHT as an adjective here *and* change the meaning of the "light" normally associated with "diaphanous" (which is the noun kind of light, the kind that shines through a diaphanous ... thing). So that NE corner gave me a slight amount of trouble. I also tried to make INITIATE fit at 10D: Kick off, which caused some confusion. Beyond that, the only trouble I had was with TESCO, which I want to say I've never heard of, although that probably isn't true (51D: Major British grocery chain). I haven't been in Britain in ages and have no memory of TESCO from the times when I was there, so ... huge shrug. Thankfully, I know ASLAN well (we're old friends), so that SE corner didn't end up tripping me up the way it might have.

Bullet points:

56A: "Bel Canto" author Patchett (ANN) — coincidentally, I'm in the middle of a new article by her in the most recent New Yorker. This would've been a gimme anyway, but I still enjoyed the coincidence. The Patchett piece is a wonderful bit of personal history, well, death (of family, friends, pets), so it's sad, sure, but really nice, worth reading ("Glowworms").
9D: Italian dessert menu staple (CANNOLI) — really wanted TIRAMISU, perhaps because I pretty much always really want TIRAMISU. Who would've thought soggy cookies could taste so right?
42D: Spirit of Mexico? (TEQUILA) — the UNIQUE / TEQUILA crossing was a real highlight of the puzzle. Nothing forced about that "Q" at all. Two great "Q"-containing words. I enjoy a UNIQUE TEQUILA, for sure.

24D: Pointed part of a pitchfork (TINE) — This Pitchfork review of Taylor Swift's new album is pretty pointed.
43D: Dish that's "slung" (HASH) — mmm, olde-tymey dinerspeak. Now you're speaking my language. And now I'm hungry, so ...

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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