Pakistani restaurant owner on Seinfeld / THU 2-14-19 / Opera that famously ends with line La commedia e finita / Can you classic cologne catchprase / Pepper used in mole sauce

Constructor: John E. Bennett and Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Easy (4:03 ... really thought I was gonna get my recent personal best, but I I forgot, it's early in the morning, when even my fastest solving is pretty putt-putt)

THEME: OUT OF ORDER SIGNS (36A: Some bathroom postings ... or what the clues to 16-, 21-, 46- and 59-Across are?) — themers are just common street-sign phrases, and clues are those same phrases, just OUT OF ORDER (i.e. anagrammed IN ALL CAPS):

Theme answers:

• DO NOT ENTER (16A: NOTED TENOR)
• SPEED LIMIT (21A: SIMPLE DIET)
• STEEP GRADE (46A: GET SPEARED)
• ROAD CLOSED (59A: DOOR DECALS)

Word of the Day: "I PAGLIACCI" (13A: Opera that famously ends witih the line "La commedia è finita!") —

Pagliacci (Italian pronunciation: [paʎˈʎattʃi]; literal translation, "Clowns") is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It is the only Leoncavallo opera that is still widely performed. Opera companies have frequently staged Pagliacci with Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni, a double bill known colloquially as 'Cav and Pag'. // Pagliacci premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on 21 May 1892, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, with Adelina Stehle as Nedda, Fiorello Giraud as Canio, Victor Maurel as Tonio, and Mario Ancona as Silvio. Nellie Melba played Nedda in London in 1893, soon after the Italian premiere, and it was given in New York on 15 June 1893, with Agostino Montegriffo as Canio. (wikipedia)

A dramatic tale of love and betrayal, Pagliacci revolves around a commedia del arte troupe. Canio and Nedda are married, and the leads in the troupe along with Tonio and Beppe, however Nedda is secretly having an affair with Silvio. Fearing Canio’s anger, Nedda continues to hide the affair, and even goes as far to attempt to break it off with Silvio. Silvio and Nedda’s love is strong, however, and they plan to run away together. Tonio, also in love with Nedda, confesses his love for her, but she turns him away, shaming him. In an act of revenge, Tonio tells Canio that Nedda is having an affair like he suspected. During a performance, Canio confronts Nedda, and stabs her. Silvio attempts to save Nedda, running up on stage, but gets stabbed by Canio as well. The audience, not realizing it was real, claps until Canio screams at them, “the comedy is ended.” (stageagent.com)

• • •

Way too basic for a Thursday. Finished the NW and thought, "Oh ... we're just anagramming, then ... fun." The fact that there was a revealer that tied it all together didn't really matter much. Didn't help, as I didn't really process that the answers were sign phrases. I was just left to anagram, and that's it. The only difficulty in the puzzle was (unsurprisingly) in figuring out the anagrams; so those answers where a bunch of 5-letter Downs ran through *two* themers (up top, down below) ended up being the toughest sections. The one up top wasn't actually tough for me at all because I had the first letters of all the Downs from ASCOTS, whereas below, where I finished up, I really did stumble around a bit. But just a bit. Not much. There's just not much to this theme, or this grid. Also, why put your OUT OF ORDER SIGNS in the bathroom. There are so many other places you might have imagined them. There are better ways to start my day than thinking of broken toilets.


Gotta finish this write-up quickly today, so let's move straight to ...

Five things:

• 13A: Opera that famously ends with the line "La commedia è finita!" ("I PAGLIACCI" — the principal character, Canio, was originally played by NOTED TENOR Fiorello Giraud (the juxtaposition of this answer with the NOTED TENOR anagram is by far my favorite thing about this puzzle)
• 6D: "Can you ___?" (classic cologne catchphrase) ("CANOE") — these dumb-ass ads from my high-school years are "classic" now? Wow, you live long enough, man ... 

• 54A: First car to offer seatbelts (1950) (NASH) — completely forgot this was a car name (once). Had NAS- and was still a little confused
• 11D: Pakistani restaurant owner on "Seinfeld" (BABU) — I imagine someone thought this was good fill, but it is terrible fill. Secondary ... tertiary ... what's below "tertiary"? ... anyway, such characters from your pet long-bygone shows are not welcome when something more widely known might've been used. I guess the crosses are fair, but I feel slightly bad for anyone who doesn't know who Jessica ALBA is
• 24D: When repeated, a classic of garage rock ("LOUIE") — easy enough ... except for which spelling of LOUIS (?) I'm supposed to go with ... LOOEY? ... 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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YouTube popularity metric / TUE 1-22-19 / Lee Browne actor director in Theater Hall of Fame / Certain close-knit social media group / Hobbyists' racers controlled remotely

Constructor: John E. Bennett and Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Challenging (for a Tuesday) (4:05)

THEME: "WATCH YOUR STEP" (35A: "Look out!" ... and warning when encountering the circled things in this puzzle) — there are four snakes in the puzzle, spelled out in four sets of winding circled squares: KINGCOBRA / SIDEWINDER / COPPERHEAD / PUFFADDER

Word of the Day: ROSCOE Lee Browne, actor director in the Theater Hall of Fame (5D) —

Roscoe Lee Browne (May 2, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American actor and directorknown for his rich voice and dignified bearing. He resisted playing stereotypically black roles, instead performing in several productions with New York City's Shakespeare Festival Theater, Leland Hayward's satirical NBC series That Was the Week That Was, and a poetry performance tour of the United States in addition to his work in television and film.

In 1976, Browne was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Series for his work on ABC's Barney Miller. In 1986, he won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series for his work on NBC's The Cosby Show. In 1992, he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as "Holloway" in August Wilson's Two Trains Running.

In 1995, he received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for his performance as "The Kingpin" in Spider-Man.

Browne was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1977 and posthumouslyinducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2008. (wikipedia)

• • •

I was on Twitter before and after solving this puzzle and let me tell you the reaction to 21A: Certain close-knit social media group (TWIBE) was a swift and definitive hell no.

I really don't understand this cavalier indulgence of slang. It's clearly not a word the constructors themselves use, as it's a "word" I've never seen used at all, despite the fact that I'm on that "certain" social media site ... a lot. I've seen "tweeps" a bunch, but never ever TWIBE. Again, *this* is the problem with giiiiigantic word lists compiled indiscriminately—they convince constructors that all the words are perfectly *good* words, or that they are fresh or hip or have currency. Wordlists can discourage constructors from using their ears, and from exercising good judgment. The grid is already in trouble because it's severely stressed by the theme—a majority of answers have theme squares in them, making the grid very very hard to fill cleanly. Given that level of difficulty, the grid isn't bad. But ... it's still not good. Plural TSKS and esp plural WHAMS (?) and LII and ADREPS and TIEBAR SSN AFC x/w UFC, ERR and ERE ... DURA ESAU ERAT ... it's a lot to take. And all for a theme that's no help at all when solving. There's really only one theme answer. Hard to see the snakes til your done. The idea is cute, but the actual solve wasn't fun.


Five things:

• 33D: Ore, for one? (TYPO) — this is what happens when you're so in love with your own cleverness that you ignore plausibility. I get that you're trying to do a cute play on the "for one" (i.e. "for example") convention in crossword cluing, but, see, "ore" is not a plausible TYPO for "one"—look where "r" is on a keyboard. Now look where "n" is. Oh god I just saw ELEA—man, the fill in this thing is not good...
• 51D: What follows the semis (FINAL) — this is correct, but man did I / do I want FINAL*S*
• 32A: Guinness record holder for the U.S. city with the most consecutive days of sun (768), informally (ST. PETE) — I got so bored reading this clue that I never got to the end, so I kept expecting it to look like an actual city name (not an abbr. city name).
• 2D: Super Bowl of 2018 (LII) — there are few clues I resent more than "Surely You Know The Roman Numerals Associated With All 52 Super Bowls!" clues. Super Bowl III was the last one where the Roman numeral seems historical and noteworthy. (UNITAS v. Namath, the year I was born)
• 10D: YouTube popularity metric (VIEWS) — wanted LIKES. Then ... well, this answer got all caught up in the TWIBE nonsense. Since I had TRIBE, I ended up with VIERS ... which I was hoping and praying was not some horrid now-speak contraction of "viewers"

2019 NYT Crossword constructor count: 

• M: 21 (including four (!!!?) all-male teams)
• W: 1

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld (Twitter @rexparker / #NYTXW)

P.S. . . well I missed this . . . and I solved this *on* MLKJR day . . .

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Roman emperor who overthrew Galba / THU 8-10-17 / Wine informally / Musician whose first name is toy / Standout in quad / Letters that might precede 10001

Constructor: John E. Bennett and Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: BY HOOK OR BY CROOK (55A: Whatever it takes ... as hinted at in the arrangements of black squares around the circled letters) (which spell out FISH near the "hook" and LAMB near the "crook")— DESCRIPTION

Other theme answer:

• ONE WAY OR ANOTHER (17A: Whatever it takes)

Word of the Day: Martha RAYE (5D: "The Martha ___ Show" of 1950s TV) —

Martha Raye (August 27, 1916 – October 19, 1994) was an American comic actress and singer who performed in movies, and later on television. She also acted in plays, including Broadway.^[1] She was honored in 1969 with an Academy Award as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient for her volunteer efforts and services to the troops. [...] She was known for the size of her mouth, which was large in proportion to her face, earning her the nickname The Big Mouth. She later referred to this in a series of television commercials for Polident denture cleaner in the 1980s: "So take it from The Big Mouth: new Polident Green gets tough stains clean!" Her large mouth would relegate her motion picture work to supporting comic parts, and was often made up so it appeared even larger. In the Disney cartoon Mother Goose Goes Hollywood, she is caricatured while dancing alongside Joe E. Brown, another actor known for a big mouth. In the Warner Bros. cartoon The Woods Are Full Of Cuckoos (1937), she was caricatured as a jazzy scat-singing donkey named 'Moutha Bray'. // In 1968, she was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in the form of an Oscar. On November 2, 1993, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton for her service to her country. (wikipedia)

• • •

That doesn't look like a hook and *that* doesn't look like a crook so this puzzle is D.O.A. Don't try to sell me the black-squares-as-shapes thing unless that visual is tiiight. Also, looks like this puzzle has precisely two theme answers (excluding FISH and LAMB), and yet it's still CLONKed full of flub like TONIO and BMOC (what year is it?) and OTHO (otho they din't!) and SST. Strange-shaped grid made for lots of short stuff, which always makes for something short of a good time. I love love love THE THING IS ... (3D: "What you have to realize..."). It is the thing that is best about this puzzle. But otherwise, MEH, you can have it back.


Two interesting moments during this solve. The first was when irresistible rage met immovable laughter at 12D: Silent part of "mnemonic" (THE "M"). It's both terrible and stupid. And terribly stupid. It wants to be clever, but is more hateful because it wants it so bad. I would accept THEL (as in "Take ___ Out of Lover and It's Over" (1982 Motels hit)) much much more readily than I would accept this nonsense. THEM is not only a perfectly good word, it's a word that can be clued so so so many ways. Fun ways. Also, THE "M" is not at all silent in "mnemonic." No it's not. Look again. See. Not. Unless clue is THEFIRSTM, the answer is *invalid*. And also stupid. The second interesting (and far less stupid) part of the solve came in the SW corner, where I messed up virtually everything you could mess up—so bad that only somehow figuring out the themer from a couple of correct letters allowed me to make any sense of that corner at all. I have MALES for 45D: Bucks (MOOLA). I had DANG for 50D: Darn it! (HOLE) (sidenote—you want to use that (sorry to reuse this word) stupid cluing tactic where you go [Verb it!] and the answer you want is actually the "it"?! And you want to do it not once but twice!?!? (see PANDORA'S BOX 25D: Don't open it!). Who thinks this way?). I had AS ONE for 58A: Together (IN ALL). Total wreck. And then the themer bailed me out.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Device that keeps ship's compass level / TUE 10-25-16 / Big name in bicycle helmets / Tuliplike flower whose name means butterfly in Spanish / Longtime Federer adversary / Hidden symbol between E X in Fedex logo / Coal-rich German region

Constructor: John E. Bennett

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (for a TUES.)

THEME: "THE ROUND'S ON ME" (35A: Offer at a pub ... as suggested by this puzzle's circled squares) — types of liquor / beer form a vaguely "round" shape in the grid

Word of the Day: MASTIC (12D: Tile adhesive) —

noun

noun: mastic; plural noun: mastics; noun: mastic tree; plural noun: mastic trees

1. 1.

   an aromatic gum or resin exuded from the bark of a Mediterranean tree, used in making varnish and chewing gum and as a flavoring.
2. 2.

   the bushy evergreen Mediterranean tree of the cashew family that yields mastic and has aromatic leaves and fruit, closely related to the pistachio.
3. 3.

   a puttylike waterproof filler and sealant used in building. (google)

• • •

That revealer is a swing and a miss. Big miss. Terrible miss. THIS ROUND'S ON ME is a phrase. A fine phrase. A grid-spanning 15-letter phrase. THE ROUND'S ON ME is something the alien pretending to be a human might say. Also, it's not an "offer," as the clue seems to think. It's a declaration. Further, the kinds of alcohol are pretty arbitrary, and only a few of them really fit the whole "this round's on me" thing. A round of cognac? Really? Lastly, the shape is not, in fact, round. It's octagonal. An interesting concept, totally botched in the execution. Don't do this.

[from Letterman—OMG that CD longbox!]

This played somewhat harder than normal for me (4:01) first because of the ludicrous revealer, and then because of several words I just didn't know: GIMBAL (48A: Device that keeps a ship's compass level), MASTIC, and GIRO (26D: Big name in bicycle helmets). That last one especially, hoo boy. Really stymied my eastword motion. I think my last letter was the "A" in GIMBAL. Might've been the "B" if I hadn't already changed THE NET to THE WEB (29D: What Wi-Fi can connect you to). Had LAST LAP instead of LAST LEG (25A: Final part of a relay) and zero idea what a [Common name for a cowboy] could be, despite having watched untold number of westerns. DESTRY Rides Again. I have no idea who this DUSTY guy is, to say nothing of his allegedly numerous namesakes. The lower part of the SW corner is a boatload of atrocious fill, and RETESTS abutting EAGEREST (!?) is also not great to look at. UNREAL is pretty good, as clued (2D: "That is SO incredible!"), but the rest doesn't have much going for it.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Old color print informally / TUE 8-25-15 / Granny's darn it / Old Mach 2 fliers for short / High-ceilinged courtyards / Demolish British style

Constructor: John E. Bennett

Relative difficulty: Tuesdayish

THEME: JUST HAVING A BALL (36A: Living it up ... or a hint to the six groups of circled letters) — circled squares spell out words that can precede BALL in a familiar phase / word

Theme answers:

• SOUR 
• HAIR 
• FOOT 
• BASE 
• MEAT 
• POOL

Word of the Day: PARONOMASIA (56A: Art of punning) —

noun, Rhetoric

1.

the use of a word in different senses or the use of words similar in sound to achieve a specific effect, as humor or a dual meaning; punning.

2.

a pun. (dictionary.com)

• • •

This should've been rejected on the basis of the revealer alone. The equivalent of [Living it up] is HAVING A BALL. The JUST is absurdly gratuitous. It doesn't fit the clue. It's a qualifier that is nowhere indicated in the clue, and it is *only* here because this grid would've been way way harder to pull off if the appropriate, JUST-less phrase, had been simply centered in the grid (for reasons having to do with where black squares would've had to go). At least I assume this is the reason. Because otherwise Why On God's Green Earth is your revealer not the obvious, indisputable best choice: HAVING A BALL? If you can't do something right, don't do it at all. To be clear, and to repeat. This should've been sent back with a note indicating that it's a no-go without the proper central answer / revealer. I mean, the puzzle is just D.O.A. as is.

[Chromeo > CHROMO (???)]

But the fill is a problem too. Weak all over, except for one preposterous moment where it's not weak but also not even close to Tuesday-level. PARONOMASIA is some kind of weird showing off that is totally out of tune with the general caliber / tenor / fill quality of this this puzzle. I hope to god that there isn't some implication that the connection between the revealer and the little word "balls" is an example of this phenomenon, because a. that stretches credulity, and b. that means FOOL'S ERRAND would also be thematic ... hmmm. Wait ... nah. Could the puzzle be so meta, so self-aware, that it actually knows it's got major issues, and is trying to tell us as much? That would be some pretty Next Level stuff. Also, EELWORM, wtf? That is desperation fill. You can't make up for a snoozefest with random jolts of obscurity like EELWORM and PARONOMASIA. Well, you can, but it's pretty sadistic. See also "OH FOO" (wtf x 1000).


Ultimately, this looks like a potentially promising idea that got wrecked on execution. I JUST can't get over the JUST.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Seminomadic Kenyan / WED 4-9-14 / Product of domesticated insect / Mikado accessory / Trivia whiz Jennings

Constructor: John E. Bennett

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "WHAT'S IN THE BOXES?" (37A: Question asked by a customs officer or a kid on Christmas … with a hint to this puzzle's circled squares) — six sets of four circles form little "boxes," and the letters in those squares spell out types of boxes:

Theme answers:

• MAIL
• GEAR
• PILL
• SAND 
• SHOE
• SALT

Word of the Day: PAPAL States (5D: ___ States) —

The Papal States were territories in the Italian peninsula under the sovereign direct rule of thepope, from the 700s until 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from roughly the eighth century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. At their zenith, they covered most of the modern Italian regions of Lazio (that includes most of Rome), Marche, Umbria and Romagna, as well as portions of Emilia. These holdings were considered to be a manifestation of the temporal power of the pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy. After 1861 the Papal States, reduced to Lazio, continued to exist until 1870. Between 1870 and 1929 the Pope had no physical territory at all. Eventually Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini solved the crisis between modern Italy and the Vatican, and in 1929 theVatican State was founded as the smallest of all nations. (wikipedia)

• • •

On the one hand, this is a cute puzzle with a reasonably tight theme. The central question is *mildly* contrived, but it's plausible, and neatly directs our attention to those circle formations. This last part is important because I finished the puzzle having no idea what the theme was. There was no need to know. It was a super-easy puzzle. Knowing the theme helped not one bit. It played like an afterthought: "Oh, there was a theme? Oh … yeah … look at that." I think a theme like this works much better with a higher level of difficulty. There's no chance for the theme to help you, or to play any role at all, when the puzzle is this easy. Hard to fully appreciate something you didn't notice at all.


I also think that in a puzzle like this, you gotta construct the grid in such a way that you don't have all these false themers, i.e. long Across answers (8+) arranged in the grid the way that theme answers typically are. Weird to have such prominent-looking answer be completely unrelated to the theme. Fill is just OK. The theme boxes cause some trouble (IS NO, IS ON), but actually most of the mediocrity is elsewhere—common short fill abounds. Not a sin, but not scintillating, either. PSST OMAN TNT ALI ODEON AGEE SEER … taken individually, just fine; piled up, a bit tedious. How many PEDROS does it take to make this puzzle? More than ONE, apparently. ONE is usually enough.


By far the hardest part of this puzzle was PAPAL—that fill-in-the-blank is a massive outlier in terms of difficulty. First, the clue is super-ambiguous. Second, when's the last time anyone thought about the PAPAL States? Everything else in this puzzle is straight over the plate: familiar, and non-cleverly clued. [Seminomadic Kenyan] makes things a little interesting in the SW, but for a puzzle with a WATER SNAKE, it had very little in the way of teeth. It's very competently made, but not terribly exciting.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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