An Indo-Fijian practicing Hinduism,Singh was born in Lautoka, Fiji and grew up in Nadi. A resident of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, he is known for his meticulous preparation, often staying at the range hours before and after his tournament rounds, working on his game. (wikipedia)
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What is this? I'm not blogging this. This is not a theme. There's nothing here. Seriously, this concept is so rudimentary, so boringly straighforward, I sincerely cannot believe the puzzle was accepted. The grid as a whole is OK, but this theme is astonishingly substandard. Nothing in the execution of the theme causes it to rise above the most boring TV Guide trivia quiz. Sub-TV Guide, in fact. Actually, I apologize to TV Guide, even though I'm not sure it still exists—their puzzles are unpleasant and trivia-heavy, but they expect you to know much tougher answers. Why does this puzzle exist? Is there an anniversary? Did the TV shows offer financial consideration for this? If so, can they get their money back, because this is bad. Objectively.
Five things:
49D: Golfer Singh who won the 2000 Masters (VIJAY) — knew it instantly, but spelling ... I think I got the MTV VEEJAY (?) spelling in there, and then I went with VEJAY, which is like a typo'd VE DAY ... this was the one moment during the solve where I felt like the wheels were gonna come off. For no good reason
1A: Just one year, for Venus and Serena Williams (AGE GAP) — nice clue/answer to open. SERENA WILLIAMS was a long answer in a puzzle I solve immediately prior to solving this one, so she was on my mind, as she often is.
43D: Ditch for cutting timber (SAWPIT) — this is the one WTF answer in the grid? I have never seen this term, ever. Why are you cutting timber in a ditch? Nevermind, I don't really care. I just know that this is a pretty technical / obscure term for a Monday. Not that it slowed me down much.
9D: Onetime Apple product (iBOOK)— discontinued 12 years ago ... coincidentally (?), this blog turns 12 tomorrow (9/25/18)
35D: Does one's taxes online (E-FILES) — it's how all the E-SPIES do their taxes
THEME: CARDHOLDER (59A: One with credit ... or a literal hint to 17-, 27- and 44-Across) — answers "hold" credit "card" names:
Theme answers:
"ELVIS AND ME" (17A: Best-selling autobiography by Priscilla Presley)
OAXACA, MEXICO (27A: State capital ESE of Guadalajara)
DISCO VERSION (44A: Many a 1970s remix)
Word of the Day: ERIC Burdon (47A: Rock's Clapton or Burdon) —
Of all the British Invasion singers, Eric Burdon had the most physically imposing voice. When he burst onto the scene in 1964, his voice was "big and dark," says Steve Van Zandt. "He invented the genre of the white guy singing low." Nor was the depth of Burdon's pitch lost on Steven Tyler when he first heard Burdon sing "The House of the Rising Sun": "I thought, 'Aha! You start off the song an octave lower so you can flambé the tail end of it an octave higher.' " After his run of hits with the Animals ("It's My Life," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood") ended, Burdon showed he could handle Seventies funk during his stint in War, recording the torrid "Spill the Wine" and a souled-out version of "Tobacco Road." (RollingStone.com)
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What, no PLUM ASTER CARDINAL?
This is straightforward and fine. I have no strong feelings about it. Very few themers, but they do what they're supposed to do, consistently, and the revealer is, you know, apt, so it works. TOGAED is pretty bad, and something about spelling out OKAY in "IT'S OKAY" is rubbing me the wrong way. I-TEN spelled out like that is never a winner. And overall the thing is a bit proper noun-heavy. SAWII at 1-Across was not a great beginning—that is a crutch of an answer, and it's up with other proper nouns INI, ALLIE, WIE, ELVIS, SEDAKA, EDNA, CADY, AJAX, OJAY, OPERAMAN (note: few of these are *recent* proper nouns). None of these are objectionable (except INI). I'm just trying to figure out why the vibe of this puzzle wasn't more pleasant. Themers were harder than normal to get because, again, proper nouns. Didn't know the "ELVIS AND ME" autbio (1985), needed many crosses to see OAXACA (and didn't expect the MEXICO part at all), and could not fathom the word that came after DISCO. And yet ... there's nothing wrong here. Totally adequate. Gets a pass.
Would've been nice to have had a bouncier grid, given how light the theme was. Grid is mostly familiar 4- and 5-letter stuff, which rarely results in bounce. Haven't been through a car wash in forever and thought the [Machine near the end of a car wash] might be a WIPER. Thought the horror sequel of 2005 might be "SAW VI" or "SAW IV" or "SAW however they made of those." I never saw (...) any of them. Wrote in FADED for FAINT (64A: Barely visible, as a star) and A BIT for ABUT (11D: Touch) (I think I was thinking in the sense of "just a touch..."). Couldn't remember if it was LAU or LAO (61D: "7 Faces of Dr. ___" (1964 film)) (another dated proper noun). So I muddled through it, but my time was pretty normal. "High muckety-muck" for ADEXEC? I know what it means, but I think the last person I heard say it was Mr. C on "Happy Days." So weird (and, again, dated). Anyway, time for curling. Oh, and please enjoy the most bizarre fridge magnet yet:
(two of my more creative readers make illustrated magnets for me every year; not sure this is an accurate representation of what I do, but I *do* love Arthurian literature, so I'm pretty pleased with the upper part of this, at any rate)
THEME: Initial things — Clues are famous people with two first initials and a last name that can also be a thing (or things). Initials are written with a slash between them, because each represents a different word that can precede the last name in a common phrase. So ...
20A: M/C Hammer? => Mallet or Claw
39A: W/C Fields? => Wrigley and Coors
58A: L/L Bean? => Lima or Lentil
Word of the Day: Abraham BEAME (66A: Big Apple mayor before Koch) —
Abraham David "Abe" Beame (March 20, 1906 – February 10, 2001) was mayor of New York City from 1974 to 1977. As such, he presided over the city during the fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s, during which the city was almost forced to declare bankruptcy. (wikipedia)
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Loved the grid but found the theme answers jarring, first because of the OR / AND / OR inconsistency, and then because I have a hard time hearing "MALLET hammer" or (especially) LENTIL bean." I guess if you think of the answers as types of thing, rather than word that can precede said thing, it all works fine. Lots of cruddy short stuff, but most of the longer stuff is nice, and that matters more. Too much damned Latin — ET ALII ERGO IRAE INITIO. Had no real problems except those of my own making, most notably at the end, in the SE corner where I couldn't get INITIO to come out right. This was largely because of a plausible typo that left me with OHIO as the answer to 65A: "___ be in England": Browning. Last I checked, OHIO be not in England.
The change from OR phrase to AND phrase and back to another OR phrase can be explained by the nature of the names in the clues. "Fields" is a plural, where "Hammer" and "Bean" are singular. Thus the AND for "Fields" and OR for the other two.
Bullets:
14A: "The Godfather" score composer Nino (ROTA) — I will always associate this composer with "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening, as I've read several interviews where he expresses his admiration for ROTA.
31A: Suspense novelist Hoag (TAMI) — she has one of those names where first and last names are both built for puzzles.
34A: Literally, "reign" in Hindi (RAJ) — Period of British colonial rule in India. Also a character on the sitcom "What's Happening?"
43A: Former Ford minivan (AEROSTAR) — really wanted ECONOLINE, which is definitely a van, just not a mini.
1D: Yalta locale (CRIMEA) — Yalta looks like Yeltsin who was president of Russia which is home to the CRIMEAn peninsula. Or was. It's now a "sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine," whatever that means (wikipedia).
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (*for a Tuesday*)
THEME: Road Sign Colors — answers are road signs, clued solely via their colors
Word of the Day: Catherine PARR (43D: Henry VIII's sixth, Catherine ___) —
Catherine Parr (Katherine, Kateryn, Katheryne or Kathrine); 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen consort of England and Ireland and the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. She married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543. She was the fourth commoner Henry had taken as his consort, and outlived him. She was also the most-married English queen, as she had a total of four husbands. (wikipedia)
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So it's just road signs, with the added little bonus that they are all different colors (hence the unusual and slightly tougher-than-usual theme answer cluing). Pretty good idea for an early-week puzzle, with interesting longish fill throughout. A bit unusual to have so many Across answers be as long as or longer than so many Across theme answers—MAKE A BET, DIET SODA, EVE PLUMB (my favorite answer; 44A: Jan Brady player on "The Brady Bunch"), and LONE STAR are all the same letter count as DEER XING and HOSPITAL, and much longer, of course, than EXIT and STOP. Usually, theme answers are the longest answers in the puzzle. Occasionally a Down answer (assuming the theme answers run Across) is as long as or longer than the shortest theme answer. This is just convention, but it's one that I like. Keeps the theme answers distinct; separates them from the rest of the herd; gives them pride of place. But no big deal.
Bigger concern is the pangram (use of every letter of the alphabet). All I can think of when I see a pangram is "I wonder how much better this grid *could've* been if the constructor hadn't tried to pull off such a bush-league stunt." Thankfully, today, the grid is at worst average, so there's no obvious casualty of the pangram—made me suffer through JOS and IZE, but I guess I can handle that. WHOA, I take that back. That damned "C"—I was wondering why there's that terrible REC / DECI- cross, and at first I thought it was the nearby "X"'s fault, but there's already an "X" in the theme answer DEER XING, so that "X" wasn't necessary for the pangram. But, it turns out, the "C" was. If you have to go REC / DECI- to pull off your little pangram, It Is Not Worth It. Just Say No.
Got slowed down, fittingly, by DEERXING, esp. as it was crossed with the mystifying (at first) TRAD. (21D: Like much folk music: Abbr.). Also went with SOUP for STEW (16A: Bouillabaisse, e.g.) and SHORES for SHOALS (48D: Lighthouse locales). I don't think Better Than EZRA has had a hit this century, and they had only a handful in the last, so they hardly seem like a Tuesday-level clue (70A: Rock's Better Than ___). That said, I got that answer instantly.
Bullets:
28A: Without a time limit, as a contract (OPEN END) — no "-ED" on the end?
57A: Professional with an apron (BAKER) — Had "B-KER" and reluctantly wrote in "BIKER"...
4D: German port on the Weser (BREMEN) — also feels Harder Than Tuesday (that's the name of my Better Than Ezra cover band)
14A: Bridge maven Sharif (OMAR) — too bad you can't really hide "Sharif" behind a misdirection. I mean, if your clue were [Cheese lover Sharif] or [Philatelist Sharif], I would still plunk OMAR in the grid, instantly.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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THEME: Ironic scheduling — phrases that play on the fact that certain three-letter abbrevs. for days of the week are also real words (SUN, WED, SAT); "irony" created by pairing the abbrev-turned-word with a different (adjacent) day of the week; thus:
20A: Ironic weather forecast? (SUN ON MONDAY)
33A: Ironic marriage plan? (WED ON THURSDAY)
50A: Ironic exam schedule? (SAT ON FRIDAY)
Word of the Day: Swifty LAZAR (56A: Agent Swifty) —
Whoa, this was easy. Did it on paper, so can't make any comparisons, time-wise, to my other Wednesdays, but I just kept writing and never stopped, despite initial confusion about the nature of the theme. I think I got SAT ON FRIDAY first, then noticed WED ... and figured it must be ON someDAY, and proceeded from there. This is about the weirdest theme I've seen in a while. VERY thin (35 squares!?) but whimsical in this nutty way that I kind of like. The "ironic" days are at least all adjacent to the abbrev. day, so there's a *kind* of theme consistency there. I'll take this over a forced, wobbly, or overly cutesy theme any day. Small infelicities abound, the worst of which could be titled "When GEED (23D: Turned right, to Dobbin) met SHR (20D: Stock unit: Abbr.)." Yipes. Lesser ughs include PINER, LATENS, and the dreaded NFLER (48D: Buc or Niner — in a puzzle that's already got CBER (1A: "Roger that" sayer) and —much better, but still related— DJED; if only RVER had shown up, we'd have had a real ridiculous letter-based identity party). But the grid shape is unusual and the corners big and bright, and in the end, we have a fun, harmless puzzle.
What else? Never heard (that I can remember) of Swifty LAZAR, which is odd, as he appears to have represented everyone who was anyone in mid-century America. When I saw [Agent Swifty], I assumed the answer was TOM, figuring there must be a real-life eponym for this type of word play. But no. Nothing else in the grid was unfamiliar. Nathan's hot dog-eating contest just happened, with much controversy — Japanese great Kobayashi got arrested as he tried to storm the stage; he wasn't participating because of his refusal to sign a contract that would have barred him from competitive eating events outside the purview of Major League Eating. I'm pretty sure I learned all this on ESPN, which somehow covers this "sport." This is a long way of saying I got OUTATE instantly (11D: Bested at Nathan's on July 4, e.g.).
Bullets:
15A: Mixologist's instruction (POUR) — this, and 5D: Boss's good news (BONUS) confused me, in that I had no idea who the interlocutor was supposed to be in both instances. Shouldn't the mixologist be pouring? Or is he teaching a class on mixology, and therefore instructing? Also, is the boss's good news for his wife ("Hey, honey, I got a bonus!") or his employee? Seems like bosses are at least as likely to get a bonus as to give one.
17A: Finland-based communication giant (NOKIA) — remember reading an article a long time ago about what a high percentage of Finnish people had cell phones. Really hope they don't end up with a high percentage of brain tumors.
45A: "Making something out of nothing and selling it," per Frank Zappa (ART) — great clue, though I initially wrote in ADS here.
49A: Classic Sinatra topper (FEDORA) — Good clue might have been [It SAT ON FRIDAY] (see pic, above). Classic Sinatra topper = also classic detective topper = also topper for Sinatra when he played a detective in, for example, "The Detective" (1968), or "Tony Rome" (1967):
[Sue Lyon!? I always wondered what she ever did besides "Lolita"]
26D: Midrange Volkswagen (JETTA) — try googling that clue in quotation marks. I get exactly four returns. Is "midrange" a price thing? Sounds like a price thing.
P.S. My friends at Taza Chocolate (Somerville, MA) recently had their factory severely damaged by flash floods (uncovered by ins., shockingly...). If you enjoy fine chocolate, or know someone who does, please buy all the chocolate you can. It is the best stuff in the world. I wouldn't push it on you if it weren't in my own house (in my stomach as we speak, actually — just got a new shipment yesterday). Thanks.
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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