Edwardian era transport / THU 7-9-20 / It comes on little feet per Carl Sandburg / German city where Einstein was born / Sound followed by whistle in cartoons / Colorful bit of cereal / Face of modern technology

Constructor: Joe Kidd

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (?) (somewhere in the 5-minute range, didn't put anything in the theme squares because I think the shapes speak for themselves)

THEME: O boy — "O" shapes in four squares stand in for various "O"-shaped things: a RING, a CIRCLE, a LOOP, and a ... ROUND :(

Theme answers:

• DOESN'T RING TRUE (19A: Sounds a bit off) / SPY RING (5D: Network of secret agents)
• CIRCLE DANCE (26A: Hora, for one) / CIRCLE THE WAGONS (26D: Unite in defense)
• FROOT LOOP (49A: Colorful bit of cereal) / THREW FOR A LOOP (10D: Caught off guard)
• THIS ROUND IS ON ME (55A: Offer at the bar) / ROUND OUT (57D: Bring to fullness)

Word of the Day: HANSOM (51A: Edwardian-era transport) —

: a light 2-wheeled covered carriage with the driver's seat elevated behind 

— called also hansom cab (merriam-webster.com)

• • •

Got the gimmick quickly but didn't *fully* get it because I seriously thought they were all just gonna be "CIRCLE"—I got CIRCLE DANCE first, and then at 5D: Network of secret agents, I got the SPY part and thought, "sure, SPY CIRCLE, that's a thing..." This is why it took me a bit to get DOESN'T *RING* TRUE—I was a little miffed on the clue there, since ... I dunno, somehow I always think contracts should be indicated in the clue (?). I just couldn't see / anticipate DOESN'T. Had DOES and figured that was the entirety of the verb. The contraction possibility just didn't (!) enter my head. But once that was all straightened out, the rest of the theme stuff was easy ... well, LOOP was easy. ROUND was ??? because man that is a horrible final themer. No one is going to look at "O" and say "look, a ROUND," whereas they might indeed describe that shape as a circle, ring, or loop. I guess there are round crackers that are called "rounds," but ... I just don't think that theme square works At All. Total outlier compared to the others (which all work nicely). I've seen theme concepts like this before, and they're fine, but the clunky execution there really dropped the puzzle a notch in my estimation—and on the final themer! The worst place to blow it. The fill on this one also wasn't great. Really liked LOSE BIG (8D: Be routed), and the theme answers were very lively, but most of the rest of the fillis pretty TWO-BIT (50D: Cheap). Lots of TETES MOS EATOF OFNO IGET GOAS ERRS ESS etc.


The SW corner was the hardest for me because I had a DUH / D'OH screwup that made me repeatedly mistrust HANSOM. Don't like the clue on "D'OH" (48D: "How could I be so silly?!") which indicates something stronger than mere "silliness" on one's own part. "Stupid" is more accurate. It comes from Homer Simpson, after all. Really hated that that corner had not one but two "words in quoted phrases by famous people"-type clues. I don't want more than one of those per puzzle, if possible, and I definitely don't want two in the same damn corner. There's gotta be better, more interesting ways to clue both DESTINY (43D: "___ is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice": Willliam Jennings Bryan) and FOG (54A: It "comes on little cat feet," per Carl Sandburg), although the FOG quote is at least ... interesting. Leave the Sandburg, ditch the Bryan. I also don't think LINEN is a [Bit of bedding]. It's not a "bit" of anything. It's a general term for bedding, or just fabric-y things. No one says "oh look, a LINEN." Bit, shmit. Anyway, this is all to say that that corner was yucky. But overall the puzzle was on the easy side. It's a middling, passable Thursday effort.

"Am I ... FOG?"

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Schiller work adapted by Beeethoven / WED 8-23-17 / Penny memory follower / First name in stunt cycling / Escape tool secreted in cakes in cartoons / Urban Dictionary fodder

Constructor: Joe Kidd

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: You tell me ... looks like "EL" (or "ELS") is added to familiar phrases to get wacky phrases, clued wackily ... but can that be it? I feel like I must be missing something... 

Theme answers:

• SECURITY CAMELS (19A: Dromedaries on patrol?)
• CHICKEN BROTHELS (36A: Henhouses of ill repute?)
• MARRIAGE VOWELS (49A: The "I" and "o" of "I do"?) 

Word of the Day: CALE Yarborough (41A: Nascar's Yarborough) —

William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough (born March 27, 1939), is an American farmer, businessman and former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships. He was the second NASCAR driver to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated (the first was Curtis Turner on the February 26, 1968 issue. His 83 wins tie him with Jimmie Johnson for sixth on the all-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series winner's list (behind Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip, who are tied for fourth with 84). His 14.82% winning percentage is the ninth best all-time and third among those with 500 or more start. Yarborough won the Daytona 500 four times; his first win coming in 1968 for the Wood Brothers, the second in 1977 for Junior Johnson, and back-to-back wins in 1983 and 1984. In 1984, he became the first driver to qualify for the Daytona 500 with a top speed of more than 200 miles per hour (320 km/h). Yarborough is a three-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year Award (1977, 1978, 1979). (wikipedia)

• • •

What am I supposed to do with this? What is anyone supposed to do with this? Someone professing himself a "professor emeritus" wrote me some hate mail today, haranguing me for being so negative blah blah blah. I've been getting that criticism forever, so mostly I ignore it, but to get that letter earlier today and then to be confronted with *this* puzzle at 10pm ... I dunno. It's like the universe is trolling me. Even if I wanted to be some kind of Nice-Thing-Saying person, some kind of Fount of Positivity, I would be stymied by this puzzle. It's baffling. I've seen add-a-letter puzzles, and drop-a-letter puzzles (they're among the oldest theme types in existence), but I can't remember seeing multiple letters added this arbitrarily. Why is there no revealer? What is the point of this three-themer clunker? Elevated trains? I went looking for Ernie ELS thinking maybe he could explain it all to me, but found only Elena OCHOA. She just shrugged. "Don't ask me. I'm just happy to be here," she said. I have seen many bad puzzles, ill-conceived puzzles, poorly executed puzzles, but I'm hard pressed to remember anything this ... pointless.


Almost broke 3 minutes on this sucker (very Very fast for me, for a Wednesday), but I had some trouble backing my way into that final themer (the clue for which was the most inscrutable of the lot, by far). I don't want to dwell on how olden and stale the fill is (generally), but please survey or resurvey it. ADRIP is the obvious laffer, but even after that, there's so much junk in this grid. It's all ODEA and ARIA and EVEL and CALE and EMAJ etc etc AH ME. My wife rightly asked, "Why did the gardener only buy one SEED?" (40A: Gardener's spring purchase). She also asked, "Where's the revealer?" But we're all asking that. Some of the longer Downs are just fine—and that is the only praise I can give this. How is this the "best puzzle in the world?" How?

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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