Constructor: Daniel Raymon
Relative difficulty: Challenging if you are jetlagged; else ... MEDIUM?
THEME: THREE WORDS / LETTERS (
8A: With 68- or 69-Across, what 16-, 32-, 42- and 60-Across each consists of) — 15-letter three-word (nonsense) phrases that use only three letters
Theme answers:
- 16A: Fools evaluate bodies of water? (ASSES ASSESS SEAS) — hard to love an answer consisting predominantly of Words Constructors Generally Try To Keep OUT Of Their Grids
- 32A: Renter finds a buyer for fish? (LESSEE SELLS EELS) — ditto
- 42A: Musical combo designs experiments? (SESTET SETS TESTS)
- 60A: More embarrassed forest creature screwed up? (REDDER DEER ERRED) — really wanted this answer to involve an Ewok in some way.
Word of the Day: ESHKOL (
15D: Ben-Gurion successor) —
Levi Eshkol (help·info) (Hebrew: לֵוִי אֶשְׁכּוֹל, born Levi Shkolnik (Hebrew: לֵוִי שׁקוֹלנִיק) 25 October 1895 – died 26 February 1969) served as the third Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969. He was the first Israeli Prime Minister to die in office. (wikipedia)
• • •
Testing ... testing ...
Is this thing on ... ?
OK, so ... hi there. Let's see if I remember how to do this.
I just woke up at a normal time from a solid 8 hours of sleep, which, given my state about 24 hours ago (driving blearily through PA after well over 24 hours of car and plane travel) is a minor miracle. Apparently the thing about forcing yourself onto local time as fast as possible is true. It works. Not that it's pleasant — you should've seen us yesterday, zombifying our way around, trying to "get things done" (ha) and not fall asleep. Found myself standing in doorways and forgetting why I was there, staring at items in the grocery store as if they held the secret to the Meaning of Life, etc. But now, fingers crossed, I feel solidly EDT. I'll tell you about the trip in bits and pieces, as seems appropriate. Overall, great. First vacation in recent memory where I didn't get sick, first of all. Then there's the fact that virtually every view in New Zealand is a picture postcard, and their "winter" hardly deserves the name, and etc. etc. So, verdict: good.
This puzzle was less good. Nonsense phrases chock full of 1-pt Scrabble tiles? (Wait, how much are Ds worth? Wait wait, don't tell me, as I couldn't care less about Scrabble) Not feeling the sizzle. The fill seems fine, though the plague of 1-pt Scrabble tiles is kind of pervasive, and the dense theme structure makes longer answers (usually the more interesting ones) hard to come by. And when they do come, they look like
EVACUEE (
6D: Runner from a bomb scare, e.g.) or
SARA RUE (44D: "Less Than Perfect" actress, 2002-06), which ... I don't even know what a
SARA RUE is. I've never even heard of the alleged show she was allegedly in ("Less Than Perfect" ... why is that making me think Jamie Lee Curtis? ... Oh, she was in "Perfect" (1985) with John Travolta. Also, "Anything But Love" with Richard Lewis (1989-92), which is neither here nor there). I'd never heard of
ESHKOL before, so that section was très tough for me (
15D: Ben-Gurion successor). I also assumed
26D: Like chicory vis-à-vis coffee would render a comparative (i.e. -ER) adjective, so
ERSATZ (a Grrrreat word) caught me off guard. Errors included SUBSIST for
SURVIVE (13A: Get by), both UDON and RICE for
MISO (5D: Bowlful at a Japanese restaurant) (mmm... hunger ... rising...), and BLEND for
ALLOY (41A: Amalgam, e.g.).
[Heard this on vacation ... I forget where ... and could Not get it out of my head, so ... be warned]
Lastly:
CURST? (
54D: Subjected to a hex) I purst my lips at that one. Clue really should've included the phrase "olde tyme" or "ye olde" or "Bard-style." Or read [Typo of bread part].
It's nearly 9am now, so I should post this. Supposed to go to yoga soon with wife, but she's still sleeping, and I am *not* messing with that. On a
good day, you don't wake a sleeping Sandy. On a first-day-back-from NZ day ... shhhhhhhh.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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