I need people to understand that this is not a theme. Having eleven 11-letter answers, none of which bear any relation to each other, is called being a "themeless" puzzle. I can't begin to say what a fraud this puzzle is. It is not a thing, not a feat, not hard, to fill a puzzle like this. It is 70 words. It's just a themeless grid, with two answers that are pretending real hard that they are a theme, but no. I see you, and no. So you gunk up yet another lovely themeless day with a fake-ass "theme," a., and then b. it's not even about VETERANS DAY. How does this celebrate, honor, or even vaguely refer to veterans. Please don't point to ARES, because that is bull. IKE? Come on. He's in like half of all puzzles in some form. GUADALCANAL? OK, that is a war thing, but still, there is nothing here cohesive enough to qualify as a theme, and what *is* here does nothing to actually honor veterans. You wanna do a VETERANS DAY theme, do a real VETERANS DAY theme. You wanna do an ELEVEN theme, well, unless it's based on "Stranger Things," I'm not interested.
While some of the longer fill is pretty sweet, the amount of garbage is kind of startling. SEPTAL? RIN? And the pièce de réstistance, AWS!? (41A: Comments like "Yer joshin'!") What the af? I'll give the 11s this: they are solid. NETIZEN will never not be crud, but QUEEN BEY and ROBERT STACK liven up any party. I didn't have any trouble with this at all. I guess I forgot the NOSTRUM part of MARE NOSTRUM, and that ate up some time. Oh, and I couldn't come up with the DRAFT part of DRAFT ANIMAL. Had MOVIE in there before FLICK. But these were all minor bumps. I should probably rate this one Easy, but I feel like I need to beat 6 minutes for a Saturday to qualify as truly Easy, and I was mid-6s, I think, so ... just easyish. AWS!? Sorry, I'm still smh over that one. Oh well, that's all for today.
THEME: STRETCH THE TRUTH (54A: Exaggerate ... or a hint to five nonconsecutive letters in 20-Across, 36-Across and 7-Down) — T R U T and H appear in (non-consecutive) order in each of the three themers
Theme answers:
THROUGH THE YEARS (20A: Over time)
BUTTERNUT SQUASH (36A: Garden fruit that tastes pumpkin-y)
"DON'T ARGUE WITH ME!" (7D: "Because I said so!")
Word of the Day: AHMAD TEA (11D: Alternative to Twinings) —
Ahmad Tea is a tea company based in London, England. The company produces a range of tea bags, loose teas and gifts including: black tea, green tea, flavoured teas, and herbal teas. They opened a new eco-friendly office in Chandler's Ford, Hampshire in 2010. // Ahmad Tea distributes to over 80 countries on six continents, where it can be found in selected restaurants, hotels, specialty shops as well as some chains.Ahmad Tea’s headquarters also contains a tea museum, which attracts local guests. In 2015, it was awarded with three Great Taste Awards for various blends. In 2012, in partnership with U Support charity, Ahmad Tea donated its range of teas to Chariteas, a branded tea room in Hampshire, whose proceeds go to supporting disabled children. In 2013, Ahmad Tea was awarded the ethical investor of the year award for its charitable initiatives in the UK and support of orphanages in Mali, Russia, Sri Lanka and Ukraine. (wikipedia)
• • •
Why would you do this? And by "this" I mean a couple of things—why would you think this was a good theme (non-consecutive letters?!) and also why would you put this on one of the only reliably Good days of the week? Why would you take away the joy of a true Saturday themeless, only to replace it with this!? Run this thing on Wednesday (with different / easier clues) if you really must publish it. Ugh, non-consecutive letters that allegedly spell things = non. events. NONEVENTS. Watch: TRUST THE PROCESS! Boom! 15, non-consecutive "truth," check please! Do you see how this "theme" is an objectionable nuisance?! "DON'T ARGUE WITH ME" is both the only good answer in this grid and the thing I will say to you if you object to my claim that it is the only good answer in this grid. What on god's green earth is AHMAD TEA. Thank god those AHMAD crosses were fair, because yikes. I have never heard of this alleged tea until Just This Second. Does it even exist in the States? Rough. MAOTAI, also rough (1D: Strong Chinese liquor). At least I remembered TENERIFE exists (38D: Largest of the Canaries).
[When AMAHL Met POLA]
AHMAD AMAHL AMOUR is the new amo amas amat. Speaking of AMAHL, I have done so many damned puzzles that I just take it for granted that that was a gimme for everyone else too, only ... there's no reason it should be. Both AMAHL and its silent movie crossing POLA are names I learned from crosswords. I have since seen POLA's name in other places, as I've become more of a movies fan over (not through) the years, but crossing those two seems dicey. I know OLIN because daughter is in full-on college application mode, and OLIN was definitely on her radar. I think she determined that they were just too small, but ... I mean, she's applying to Harvey Mudd, and their entire student body could barely fill a movie theater, so I don't really get her objection to OLIN, but it's her life, her business. We have been told quite emphatically to stop talking about all of it, so I guess she'll just tell us sometime in April where she's gonna be next year. Could very well be UCLA. Or not. We'll see.
THEME: TRIPLE OVERTIME (54A: Uncommon period in basketball ... or a hint to 19- and 37-Across and 4- and 48-Down) — each theme answer has three OTs in it
Theme answers:
GO TO THE OTHER SIDE (19A: Made it across)
DOT DOT DOT (4D: Continuation indication)
ONE POTATO TWO POTATO (37A: Start of a counting rhyme)
HOT TO TROT (48D: Eager)
Word of the Day:OTTER POPS(39D: Frozen treats with "six zippy flavors") —
Otter Pops are a brand of freezies—a packaged, frozen dessert—sold in the United States. The product consists of a clear plastic tube filled with a fruit-flavored liquid. Some varieties claim to contain 100% fruit juice. Otter Pops are a frozen treat, but stores generally sell them at room temperature and the consumer puts them in the freezer. (wikipedia)
• • •
This is a well-made puzzle that I found totally boring. Got the rebus gimmick very early, and then just assumed I was hunting "OT" squares ... didn't get that there were three of them in selected answers until I hit the revealer. At least the revealer gave the repetitive exercise of filling in "OT" squares some raison d'etre. DOT DOT DOT seems like a preeeeetty cheap way to get your "OT"s. Also, ONE POTATO TWO POTATO is not as coherent and stand-alone as you'd like a themer to be. I mean the clue (37A: Start of a counting rhyme) basically shouts "not a thing" at you. But as I say, this thing has a concept, it executes that concept solidly, and then fills things with utterly inoffensive fill, the highlight of which (for me) was PUMP IRON alongside OTTERPOPS. That pairing gives the grid some color. The rest of the grid just sorta happens.
Theme came to me pretty easily after I got the three non-theme-related Acrosses in the NW (IPAD, ENID, SADAT) and then pieced together a couple of the Downs, and then, with B-G- in place, knew what 13A: Close-minded sort had to be (BIGOT). DOT DOT DOT and PINOTS followed hard after, and then it was a flat sprint. Finding OTs never proved hard, and once you got one, you could turn up the cross real quick. Slow moments came at LHASA (I still can never decide if that second letter is an "H" or "L" ... every time!), and IN SUM (wanted IN TOTAL, briefly—and mistakenly—thinking it had an "OT" in it...). Also thought OTTAWA was OTASCA (it's ITASCA ... and it's a *lake*, argh), and couldn't see the last three letters in MEZZO until I finally got the first two (Z BAR!?). Also, unfortunately, the horrible RECT occupied more of my time than any other answer in the SE (64A: Door shape: Abbr.). You never suspect ... RECT. That clue / answer pairing is about as exciting as a door shape abbr. Most confusing clue was probably 42A: One drawn to kids' entertainment? (TOON). It's a great clue, but all I could think of, before I got the right answer, was "... pervert?" And now if you'll excuse me, I vant to go to Z BAR.
THEME: ATANDT (44D: Communications giant ... or a possible title of this puzzle) — themers are two-word phrases where first word starts "AT-" and second word starts "T-":
Theme answers:
ATLANTIC TIME (20A: Puerto Rico clock setting)
ATHLETIC TRAINER (37A: Fitness pro)
ATOMIC THEORY (54A: Basis of particle physics)
Word of the Day:SKODA(43A: Czech-made auto that's part of the Volkswagen Group) —
Škoda Auto (Czech pronunciation: [ˈʃkoda] (listen)), more commonly known as Škoda, is a Czech automobile manufacturer founded in 1895 as Laurin & Klement. It is headquartered in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic. // In 1925 Laurin & Klement was acquired by Škoda Works which itself became state owned during the communist regime. After 1991 it was gradually privatized and in 2000 Škoda became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. // Initially, the company was meant to serve the role of the VW Group’s entry brand. Over time, however, the Škoda brand has shifted progressively more upmarket, with most models overlapping with their Volkswagen counterparts on price and features, while eclipsing them on space. Its total global sales reached 1.06 million cars in 2015 and had risen annually by 1.8 percent, profit had risen by 6,5%. In 2015, a corporate strategy was launched to produce an all-electric car by 2020 or 2021 with a range of over 500 kilometres (310 mi), 15-minute charging time, and a cost below comparative combustion-engine vehicles. (wikipedia)
• • •
This puzzle is stunningly bad. There are so many levels on which it is bad ... here, let me count them. First, there's the theme, which would be merely blah (FLAT, if you will) were it not for the flaming dumpster of a revealer. No one has ever written ATANDT that way. And this will surprise you—Not Even In Crosswords. At least according to the cruciverb database, this stylization is Completely ... well, I guess you could say "original," but that word has certain positive connotations I wish not to convey here. Placement of revealer is awkward, but not 1/10 as awkward as writing ATANDT that way. But we're just getting started. The fill—esp. for a Tuesday—is ridiculous. Both inappropriate to the day And atrocious. LORAIN? LEOVII? APTNO!? That's only the truly repulsive; that's not even starting in on the copious amounts of over-familiar dreck you might find clogging any old (and I mean old) puzzle, e.g. ELHI, PALO, OSS, HAHA, and on and on and on. Where am I on my bad-count, I lost track. Three? Who cares, there's more. The Scrabble-f***ing is an embarrassment: naked, repeated, and entirely deleterious. That impulse to crowd the grid with high-value Scrabble tiles always, Always leads to disaster. Tell me that "Q" in the NW corner (god it hurts even to look at it) is worth it, for the QTR / UAE / ABA run we have to endure to get it. You can't. You can't tell me it's worth it unless you enjoy lying. And then ... nice "Z" I guess, but it gets us a bleeping ZIMA, which leads me to another issue: what year is it? One where LOCAL CALL is a thing that makes sense? Where you drink your ZIMA and play with your ENIAC and shop at KB TOYS (Which Don't Exist Anymore) (where's a "bygone" when you need one!?) (52A: Chain of children's stores founded by the Kaufman brothers (hence its name)). Yikes.
Still more trouble: [Fitness pro] is way, way, way too vague a clue for ATHLETIC TRAINER, esp. on a Tuesday. Lots of non-Tuesdayness (incl. some not-bad (and tough) "?" clues like [Dead-tired?] for FLAT, which I would've loved to encounter ... on, say, a Thursday). And finally there's SKODA. [cough] [cough] [wind blows through trees] [a raven croaks in the distance]. For me—and I won't be alone here—this is not an answer so much as a random assortment of letters. How do I know I won't be alone here? Well, this "Czech-made auto"—like ATANDT—is not in the cruciverb database. At all. So, it's a Tuesday, and we get a brand that has literally never appeared in a major crossword before. And not just a brand, but a brand that, per wikipedia, can be found "Worldwide" (ooh, that's promising) ... "except North America" (o... k). Now, I know this doesn't apply to all of you, but I happen to be solving this puzzle in North America, and the NYT is based in North America. As a solver I have to know many things that have nothing to do with North America, and that's as it should be. But this is a ridiculous ask. On any day of the week, but especially on a Tuesday. This is not cleverness, or inventiveness. This is poor fill. Just poor. The constructor is not a novice. He's a veteran. I have no idea how a puzzle breaks down this badly. Or why it's allowed to. Happy ongoing new year.
I like this. I liked this from 1A: Part of "rico" or "roja" (ROLLED R), which I got immediately and thought was pretty original. I liked it even more after the weird trivia clue on ONE-EARED (14A: Like the praying mantis, anatomically [weird, but true]). I liked it even after figuring out that "oh, there's not really a theme, it really is just a bunch of Midwest capitals …" Despite ITTO and -EAL and the whole blah NE. Despite ADD IN instead of ADD ON (23D: Computer extra). I just really liked the NW and SE corners, and I finished in the oddly delightful SW corner, where, perhaps because the grid was not already loaded with names, I was charmed to find Trevor ARIZA hanging out with the PAGAN and the NUTMEG. The NBA is rife with crossworthy names. Surprised we don't see AMAR'E STOUDEMIRE (15!) more—his first name, anyway. He's a six-time All-Star. Anyway, hey there, Trevor ARIZA. I like you at least as well as the Hyundai AZERA. You're welcome.
I feel like my reaction today is slightly upside-down. I don't tend to like constructor-centric puzzles, where the trick is some structural discovery (here, that there are this many Midwest capitals that are also 15s (!) and that can be arranged in this pattern that is multiply symmetrical (rotational, axial … are there others? arborEAL? orthogonal? petrochemical?). I like themes that focus on solver delight, not feats of construction for their own sake. But this one has the virtue of simplicity, i.e. the constructor's formal gimmick was not annoying or forced or opaque. And the fill surrounding it was frequently interesting or interestingly clued. Plus … I just love the midwest. It's adorable. I mean that sincerely, not patronizingly. I probably would've mean it patronizingly as a kid, but then I lived there for eight years. It always felt friendly and … substantial … to me. Warm. I mean, cold, but warm. I loved California, but what I remember most is sun and freeway. Maybe if I'd lived coastal, like my parents do now. Anyway, I remember some of my coastal peers in arborEAL Ann Arbor actively not enjoying the Midwestern lifestyle, but it was all right by me. From day one. "Hey, the shopkeeps are talking to me. And they're friendly … all right, Midwest, I'm not eating your weird jello-mold concoctions, but you got me. I like it here." Which is exactly how I felt about this puzzle.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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THEME: "Take a Break" — Grid is a pool table. "Pocket" squares (here indicated by cats), can be found in the appropriate places. Longer Across answers end in pool-related terms. Circles form the racked POOL BALLS (there are nine, so I guess we're playing nine ball…)
Theme answers:
VERBAL CUE (23A: Spoken instruction in animal training)
SIDEWALK CHALK (35A: Bit of hopscotch equipment)
WALT WHITMAN BRIDGE (51A: Philadelphia/New Jersey connector) (what a beautiful spanner … *spanner*!)
DRESS RACK (77A: It's often divided into sections 0, 2, 4, 6, etc.)
HEARTFELT(107A: Sincere)
Word of the Day: Iowa's AMANA Colonies (48A) —
The Amana Colonies are seven villages on 26,000 acres (11,000 ha) in east-central Iowa, United States:Amana (or Main Amana), East Amana, High Amana, Middle Amana, South Amana, West Amana, andHomestead. The villages were built and settled by German Pietists, who were persecuted in their homeland by the German state government and the Lutheran Church. Calling themselves the Community of True Inspiration (German: die Gemeinde der wahren Inspiration), they first settled in New York near Buffalo in what is now the Town of West Seneca. However, seeking more isolated surroundings, they moved to Iowa (near present-day Iowa City) in 1856. They lived a communal life until the mid-1930s.
For eighty years, the Amana Colonies maintained an almost completely self-sufficient local economy, importing very little from the industrializing American economy. The Amanians were able to achieve this independence and lifestyle by adhering to the specialized crafting and farming occupations that they had brought with them from Europe. Craftsmen passed their skills and techniques on from one generation to the next. They used hand, horse, wind, and water power, and made their own furniture, clothes, and other goods. The community voted to form a for-profit organization during the Great Depression, the Amana Society, which included the Amana Corporation.
Today, Amana is a tourist attraction known for its restaurants and craft shops. The colonies were listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1965. (wikipedia)
• • •
First, I loved this. Second, turns out it's been done before, with many of the same theme features. By Michael Shteyman, March 2006:
Nearly eight years ago now, so maybe it doesn't matter. Still, I'm surprised Joel didn't do a little research before embarking on this one. On the other hand, who cares? Will took it, and a sale's a sale. At any rate, judging this thing on its own merits, it's fantastic. When a theme is so nicely executed, and when fill is, in the main, rock solid, I don't really have the inclination to point out the handfuls of short bad stuff, 'cause that stuff is doing what it's supposed to do—staying small and largely unnoticed, and holding together something lovely.
Once you pick up the "pocket" thing, the puzzle becomes Remarkably easy. All the corners are essentially taken care of. Hardest part for me to get into, unsurprisingly, was the relatively sectioned-off POOL BALLS section there in the lower-middle. But even that wasn't that tough—once I changed [Big dos] from AFROS to GALAS and then from GALAS to BALLS. Last thing in the grid was HAS A GOAT (65D: Tries). What an odd expression—I always heard it as "has a go." American idioms are so weird.*
I don't particularly like U TUBE as fill, but the clue more than redeems it (7D: Lab item that sounds like a popular website). I balked at 17A: Model/actress Keibler because who? and because I figured someone so random probably had one of them there I-ending names (i.e. STACI), and SYSCO … I don't really know that company. Could've been SISCO for all I knew. But the more common STACY won the day. Wish I had more trouble spots to talk about, but, as I say, this thing was easy.
See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*I'm not serious, but that won't keep me from getting mail.
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THEME: LIKE WATER AND OIL (36A: Incompatible)— rebus puzzle with three OIL squares up top, three WATER squares below, and the upper and lower halves of the grid separated not by full black squares but just the slim black lines between the squares.
[The grid in AcrossLite (pictured) is nuts, as the circles sometimes represent rebus squares (not marked at all in the low-fi version), and sometimes represent where a new Down answer begins. In the PDF / newspaper, you have to discover rebus squares for yourself and the dividing lines between top and bottom halves of the grid are represented merely by extra-dark black lines between boxes]
Word of the Day: ALEC Douglas-Home (62A: 1960s British P.M. ___ Douglas-Home) —
Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel (/ˈhjuːm/hyoom), KT, PC (2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister from October 1963 to October 1964. He is notable for being the last Prime Minister to hold office while being a member of the House of Lords, prior to renouncing his peerage and taking up a seat in the House of Commons for the remainder of his premiership. His reputation, however, rests more on his two spells as the UK's foreign minister than on his brief premiership. (wikipedia)
• • •
An interesting idea with a somewhat awkward execution. Full disclosure—I just solved one of the greatest puzzles of the year earlier in the day, so my standards for this kind of tricky-grid stuff may be unreasonably high at the moment. Still, there's an oddness to the way this concept is represented. First, the OIL and WATER *do* mix, so the visual is all thrown off. We'd need a solid line across the grid to get it right, but instead we've got this alternating jagged thingie which is visually wrong. Whole point of the puzzle is that OIL and WATER don't mix. But here they do, in the weird central Across answer. Then there's the rebus squares. There are three (why?) and they are oddly symmetricalish (why???). The mirror symmetry with the rebuses was a let down. Once I'd noticed it up top, I tried it down below, and sure enough, the WATER square was in the perfect mirror symmetry position. What is the point of this? To make puzzle easier? It's already easy enough. The number and position of the rebus squares seem odd and arbitrary. The black squares are oddly placed, and (necessarily) not the same below as they are up top. None of these features are fatal flaws, they're just … compromises and accommodations that took me out of the puzzle, dampening the effect the puzzle seemed to be going for. It's like a decent balance beam routine with a decidedly unstuck landing. Interesting, nice in parts, but not great. Puzzle gets points for unusualness, but its high concept is somewhat rough in reality.
There were an odd lot of terminal-I answers in the long Downs, and those things are just too easy to uncover. Got ARTICLE I and CLEMENT I with virtually no problem. Ditto LIBRETTI. I like how TOILET WATER gets in on the upper- and lower-half rebus (31D: Lightly scented perfume). I have never encountered a HOT WATER BAG (52A: Soother of an aching joint). It's a bottle, where I'm from, even if it is vaguely bag-shaped. ET VOILA was a very clever way of picking up a rebus square. Both KEY ARENA(37D: Seattle Center Coliseum, since 1995) and LAST PASS feel quite original, which is nice. I had a lot of the puzzle done before I hit TINF- and realized that rebus squares were involved. I thought the 34A: Chicken for dinner (BROILER) was a FRIER — it fit so nicely — so that held me up for a bit there in the center. But nothing else about this puzzle was that tough. Probably took a little longer to solve than normal, but that's pretty typical on a puzzle where you have to pick up some tricky concept. Once you lock on to the concept, the puzzle's pretty easy.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Unless there's something I'm missing, I'd hardly call this a theme. It's essentially a (pretty decent) themeless w/ a bunch of symmetrically arranged answers that end in -TRA. Shteyman brings the Russian yet again, but this time in a more subtle, less obscure kind of way (via NEVA, TSARS, and Mussorgsky (50A: Several "Boris Gudonov" parts => BASSI). You've got at least three stray TRAs in this grid, which I find mildly distracting (though not abhorrent). Couple of partials right off the bat (A PAR, AN IN), some awkward plurals (ERICS, AFTS). Some interesting fill here and there, like FAVICON (17A: Small image displayed in a browser's address bar) and the Porsche CARERRA (65A: Line of Porsches whose name is Spanish for "race"). Not much to say about this one. I did it. My time was normal. Nothing really held me back. The end. (But I'll go on for a bit anyway, just ... 'cause).
Theme answers:
19A: Subject of a 2010 biography subtitled "The Voice" (FRANK SINATRA)
11D: Dangerous family (COSA NOSTRA)
20D: Colorful fish (NEON TETRA)
39A: Tabloid TV show co-hosted by Mario Lopez ("EXTRA")
29D: Affair of the 1980s (IRAN-CONTRA)
55A: Compact since 1982 (NISSAN SENTRA)
Got totally stumped (unsurprisingly) by the somewhat high-end musical clues (in this case BASSI — I had -ASSI and still had no idea what was up — and DESCANT). Somewhat slow going early on—even though BANANAS was a gimme (1A: Chiquita import), it was so much of a gimme that I didn't trust it, and when I could only make a couple of the crosses work, I abandoned that corner to work elsewhere. Had BASH for BOFF (1D: Sockeroo). Did not connect the NEVA with the Gulf of Finland (3D: Gulf of Finland feeder). Needed the majority of the crosses to get SANITY (7D: "Madness put to good uses," per George Santayana). REAMER also required nearly every cross to come into view (26D: Metalworker's tool). Basically, if the fill came from a highly specialized vocabulary, it eluded me for a while. ADSORBS I somehow remembered, at least partially (a cross or two triggered it) (16A: Gathers on the surface, as a layer of molecules). I don't quite get how 9D: First lady of the 1910s is just a first name. Usually the clue needs a clear signal that the name will be first and not last. Whose wife is EDITH, anyway? Wilson? Yes, though clue could've read [First lady of the 1900s] and been equally true (T.R.'s second wife was also named EDITH).
OK, now I'm really done.
Today's L.A. Times puzzle is one of mine. I'll link to it as soon as it becomes available. (Try this)
See you tomorrow. Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Shteyman is a skilled and accomplished constructor. He is also Russian. Now it's one thing to throw some clues in there that are oriented toward your particular background or field of interest or hobby or whatever, but four!?!? Four Russian clues? Including the two most obscure answers in the puzzle? In the same quadrant?—yuck. Ugh. It's like if I made a puzzle where 4 crucial answers had "Simpsons" or Middle English literature or pulp fiction or Fresno or Pomona College or comics clues (yes, you *would* hate that...), of varying levels of obscurity, in order to balance out, difficulty-wise, an essentially unclued but ultimately boringly easy main theme answer that just fills itself in once you get enough crosses. Difficulty is one thing, totally self-indulgent difficulty is irksome.
Did not enjoy the theme—no clever clue, no ... nothing. Just a "saying" that you had to figure out from crosses. And once you did, as I say, it just filled itself in. No challenge. Just write. Then there's the jarring difficulty contrast of the corners, which were all Thur.-to-Sat. tough, and not in enjoyable ways. The overdose of Russian stuff (ROSTOV?? LEONTIEF??!?!?!) (16A: Wassily ___, Russian-American Nobelist in Economics) just soured me on the whole puzzle. Nothing against Russian stuff, per se, or any country's stuff. It's just ... here ... it's too much of one thing. And so many "?" clues (of varying quality) ... there's a limit, and this puzzle crossed it. (I don't know what the limit is, but I'm gonna say yes, 10, on a Wednesday, is crossing it).
NW was hard for understandable reasons. NE was hard for reasons that are harder to understand in retrospect. But the clues on TRAP (34A: Clay pigeon launcher),ENO (31A: "Third Uncle" singer), ORNATE, COASTER (clue seems to imply *roller* COASTER; 10D: Ride up and down?), ALTOONA (11D: City in the Alleghenies), and even TEEN POP (12D: Justin Bieber's genre) (I would've thought just POP)—none of them meant anything to me. But I think my frustration and annoyance at the puzzle in general was getting to me by this point (the last quadrant I solved) because once I got TINT (9D: Window treatment), and thus the first 3 letters of all the Acrosses, they all became instantly obvious. How did I not see them before? SHAME ON ME.
Good stuff: I was baffled by [Single dose?] until I was done with the puzzle and finally saw the answer (DAT). Very nice clue. Also baffled by [Urgent]. Had E-IGENT and still no idea. Until I did. EXIGENT! Good word. Also, though EARWAX is gross, it's a nice crossword answer (I knew the "cer-" part of [Cerumen] meant "wax," but otherwise, I was stumped). Just had a bunch of email exchanges with readers about the poem "Invictus," which included various movie references, so FREEMAN was one of the blessedly easy answers in today's grid (63A: Mandela portrayer in "Invictus," 2009). Wanted the "For hire" part of the clue at 49A: "For hire" org. of the 1930s (WPA) to be part of some saying (like, say, "Spenser: For Hire"), but couldn't think of one. Had no idea, or forgot, that SPOKANE ever had an Expo (3D: Expo '74 locale). We flew into there on our way to Idaho a couple years ago. It seemed lovely, but we only saw it from the periphery, so, who knows? (besides, presumably, Spokaneans).
Glad this one's behind me.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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THEME: AMERICAN / RED CROSS (26D: With 21-Down, humanitarian organization) — other answers include CLARA BARTON (20A: Founder of 26-/21-Down, who died on April 12, 1912) and BLOOD DONORS (55A: Some 26-/21 Down volunteers), and there's a (non-) RED CROSS formed by the black squares in the middle of the grid
Word of the Day: XEROSIS (44D: Abnormal dryness, to a dermatologist) —
n.,pl.,-ses(-sēz).
Abnormal dryness, especially of the skin, eyes, or mucous membranes.
One of my readers is a bigwig at the RED CROSS, so I know at least one person who will like this.
A pretty thin theme mildly enhanced by 1. intersecting theme answers and 2. a shape in the middle. Honestly, I couldn't even see a theme until I was nearly done. It's not like I haven't (many times) seen grids with crosses in the middle of them. When I got the adjacent Xs, I thought maybe there was gonna be some weird "cross" / X / something theme. But it's just RED CROSS. Actually, theme is probably CLARA BARTON, since it's her death day and all, but CLARA BARTON isn't in the middle of the grid, so too bad for her. I thought maybe LAB COAT (32A: White jacket, often) was supposed to be part of the theme, but it's symmetrical with LEXICAL (42A: Vocabulary-related), which surely isn't.
Surprised at how good my time was considering how much floundering there was, starting with CIA at 1A: Govt. org. (really, do they both need to be abbr.?) whose logo depicts an eagle standing on a key (NSA). Was annoyed at having to know some random model until I realized she is a common crossword answer—just normally clued as a "Hill Street Blues" actress (4A: Actress Veronica who was the model in the last cigarette ad shown on U.S. TV). Annoyed by clue on PINE TAR, since it helps you get a handle on only one, singular, thing (that I know of) (24A: It helps you get a handle on things). Also annoyed by clue on BADNESS (9D: Cool quality, in modern slang), since it's most commonly used —slangily— as a synonym for "Cool!" i.e. adjectivally. See also "money" (looks like a noun, used —slangily— like an adjective). I'm guessing [Initial feeling?] gets you ESP because E and S and P are ... initials? Terrible. Never heard of Putinka (2D: Alternative to Putinka, briefly)—meaningful to the constructor, no doubt, but do most U.S. folk know it? Not that STOLI was hard to get. I mean, what else happens in Russia besides drinking and political assassinations, right? (please send offended mail to: "I'm kidding")
You can have all these back: BERI, ORNE, PASA, OREAD (ugh, I booted that one—went with DRYAD), ONE C (really!?), ABU.
Bullets:
46A: Judiciary checker: Abbr. (EXEC.) — I like this clue. It's interestingly awkward.
39D: 1929 #1 hit whose title follows the line "Now he's gone and we're through" ("AM I BLUE?") — rough for me. First, when I hear that song, a man is singing it. Second, I thought the song was a man's name, so I was like "AMI ... AMI who? Who the hell is named 'AMI'?"
4D: He is "more an antique Roman than a Dane," in literature (HORATIO) — Alas, the "Dane" part made this easy(ish).
52A: Capital of the country that's alphabetically first in the United Nations (KABUL) — I went through a brief "capital memorization" phase. I didn't get far. I *did* get to KABUL, since I was proceeding through the atlas alphabetically.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
PS SYNDICATED SOLVERS (i.e. May 17, 2012 solvers)! These puzzles are Fantastic. All $$ to charity. Get 'em.
P.S. For anyone with an interest in solving the puzzles from this year's Crosswords LA tournament [which just happened this past weekend], they're now available online at http://alexboisvert.com/xwla/. For $5, you get six tournament crosswords (by Donna Levin, Aimee Lucido & Zoe Wheeler, Todd McClary, Trip Payne, Brendan Emmett Quigley, and Byron Walden), two bonus crosswords (by Andrea Carla Michaels and Doug Peterson), and a clever team game (by John Schiff). As always, proceeds from puzzle pack sales are donated to charity.Read more...
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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