Japanese chess / TUE 1-7-14 / German city on canal of same name / Alley Oop woman / Headline event in India in 1974 '98 / 1969 platinum record for Creedence Clearwater Revival

Constructor: Mark Bickham

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (*for a Tuesday*)

THEME: "IS IT GOOD?" (62A: Question posed while pulling leftovers from the fridge … or a query about the initial words of 18-, 24-, 33-, 43- or 50-Across) — first words are slang expressions that (mostly) sound as if they are negative but really mean "good."

Word of the Day: KIEL (12D: German city on a canal of the same name) —

Kiel is a city in Calumet and Manitowoc counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 3,738 at the 2010 census. Of this, 3,429 were in Manitowoc County, and 309 were in Calumet County. The city is located mostly within Manitowoc County, though a portion extends west into adjacent Calumet County.

It was once known as the "Wooden Shoes" Capital of Wisconsin as it held the only wooden shoes factory in Wisconsin. (wikipedia) (Kiel is also a German city with about 240,000 inhabitants; this Wisconsin city is just more fun to contemplate)

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Lots of problems here. First, the revealer is not nearly tight enough. "IS THIS GOOD?" You'd probably say "any good" or "still good." You *might* say "IS THIS GOOD?" but revealers are supposed to be bam, pow, spot-on. This one simply isn't. Next, what does RADICAL have to do with all these others? I can see how the other first words have a kind of negative cast that make their "good" meaning unexpected/paradoxical. But RADICAL just doesn't seem to fit whatever pattern this puzzle is supposed to have. Yes, it's a slang adj. meaning "good," no it's not a regular adj. describing something bad (except perhaps in political and tendentious ways that still make it out of step with the other first words). I'd've replaced it with something starting with, say, SICK. Means "good," looks bad. SICK OF IT ALL fits, if you really have to stick with the 11-letter length. I'm sure there are better options, but RADICAL—seems off. Then there's the fill, which is demonstrably subpar. SHOGI (1D: Japanese chess) has only ever appeared in two NYT puzzles in recent(ish) years, for good reason. KIEL is a place (12D: German city on a canal of the same name), and valid if you really need it, but again, it's a foreign word of no great fame that could Easily have been replaced with something better.. I mean, what's it holding in place, IT RIP!?!?! SLO?? Yeesh. The entire grid is weighed down by tired crosswordese. Everywhere, in every corner, the fill is either dull or looks like it's straight out of a Maleska-era grid. That south, man alive. OOOLANOOILOLIO! DO I? OH GOD, indeed. Just a mess. EZIO and EFT, ARNO and OKRA. IRINA and N-TEST. ENTR' and ECARD. There's just no escape. Yesterday's puzzle wasn't Great, but it was solid and had some colorful fill. This one is a strikeout, I'm afraid.

My wife and I, independently, wrote in 'ER RIP at 16A: "Let ___!" ("Full speed ahead!"). I am thus sure that we were not the only ones. IT RIP is one of the worst partials I've ever seen. Yes, worse than the very random A SCAR.  I'm just gonna let this one go now, and hope for better days ahead. If you want to do a fun (and free) puzzle, head over to Neville Fogarty's site and pick up "2013 in Portmanteaux." It wasn't my Puzzle of the Week last week, but it was up there.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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2005 Survivor island nation / WED 6-5-13 / Exclamations of tsuris / Tower of puzzle with pegs rings / Work containing 21 epistles / Kia subcompacts

Constructor: Mark Bickham

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: T.N.T. — theme answers are three-word phrases where the words begin with T, N, and T, respectively. Revealer = 66A: Sound suggested by the first letters of the words in 17-, 26-, 44- and 58-Across (BANG!)

Theme answers:

• "THERE'S NO TELLING"
• "THAT'S NOT TRUE"
• "TILL NEXT TIME"
• THE NEW TESTAMENT

Word of the Day: PALAU (32A: 2005 "Survivor" island) —

Palau ([...] /pəˈlaʊ/, sometimes spelled Belau or Pelew), officially the Republic of Palau(Palauan: Beluu er a Belau), is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is geographically part of the larger island group of Micronesia. The country's population of around 21,000 is spread across 250 islands forming the western chain of the Caroline Islands. The most populous island is Koror. The islands share maritime boundaries withIndonesia, Philippines and the Federated States of Micronesia. The capital Ngerulmud is located in Melekeok State on the nearby island of Babeldaob. (wikipedia)

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This week is leaving me speechless—not in awe, but in uh, as in "uh ... I don't have anything to say about this." The concept here is interesting, the execution somewhat bland (though I certainly can't come up with more vivid "TNT" phrases off the top of my head). The fill, once again, is dire. It's been bad all week. It's bad enough again, today, that I don't even have to point it out. You can see it. There. And there. And over there. Partials, French possessives, super-stale abbrevs. and phrases, whatever -UAL is .. I couldn't even find an interesting candidate for Word of the Day (though finding out that the capital of PALAU is "Ngerulmud" was kind of exciting). Three of the theme answers are spoken phrases. One isn't. Three begin with "T." One begins with "THE," a definite article whose first letter never gets counted in alphabetizing or initialisms. One-L "'Til next time" googles about 8x stronger than Two-L "TILL NEXT TIME." Many OYS, indeed (48A: Exclamations of tsuris).

I blazed through this, never noticing (or needing) the revealer. Felt like I stumbled a lot, especially in the area of TARGET (in SALES TARGET, 10D: Figure for a rep to achieve), which I couldn't see. Kept wanting "GOALS" even though it clearly didn't fit. Maybe QUOTA? QUOTAS? Anyway, there was some bumbling. Also, Tower of HANOI, wtf? Talk about your outliers. This must've been an attempt to make the puzzle harder, and I guess it did, by about 10-15 seconds (62A: Tower of ___ (puzzle with pegs and rings)). Nothing else seems at all out of the ordinary, except perhaps PALAU, which I just remembered for some reason (seen it in xwords, and was probably still watching "Survivor" back in 2005).

Hoping for more excitement, or at least a cleaner grid, tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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