THEME: Y2K (38A: Big scare of a couple of decades ago ... or a phonetic hint to this puzzle's theme) — familiar phrases have "Y"s turned into (phonetic "2") "K"s, creating wacky phrases, clued "?"-style:
Theme answers:
MAKO CLINIC (17A: Employer of nurse sharks?)
KELP REVIEWS (25A: "It's green and slimy" and "It tastes like the ocean"?)
FINDING DORK (46A: Nerd's goal on a dating app?)
END OF STORK (57A: Pointy bill or tail feathers?)
Word of the Day: WES Welker (36D: Five-time Pro Bowl receiver Welker) —
Despite being undrafted, Welker had a successful career. Only one player in NFL history, Gale Sayers, had more all-purpose yards in his first three NFL seasons than Welker did with the Dolphins; Welker holds the Dolphins' all-time records for total kickoff returns, kickoff return yardage, and total punt returns. Welker also holds the record for most receptions by any undrafted player in NFL history, passing Rod Smithin 2014. He retired with 16,797 all-purpose yards.
As a Patriot, Welker led the league in receptions in 2007, 2009, and 2011. Welker holds the four highest single-season reception totals in Patriots' history, as well as four of the top 10 receiving yardage totals, including the franchise record. He also holds the franchise records for most receptions in a single game, most receiving yards in a single game, longest reception, and career receptions.[2] Welker, who had three consecutive 110-reception seasons (and has five total), is the first receiver in NFL history with at least three 110-reception seasons, and the first with five 100-reception seasons. Welker was selected to the Pro Bowl, the All-Pro Team, or both, in every season of his Patriots career. (wikipedia)
• • •
I'm going to write about this puzzle, but honestly, after this tweet, I'm not sure it's necessary:
This had precisely nothing to do with 2020, but it was fine. A very old-fashioned theme type (change a letter, wackiness ensues!), and one that's executed pretty well. I kinda want to swap the location of the Y2K and H2O, erase everything else in the grid, and start over with a completely new change-a-letter theme, but that would be a Lot harder. Can you come up with good H -> O theme answers? OAT TRICK? FIRESIDE COAT? The real problem with an H -> O theme would be refraining from using "H"s or "O"s anywhere else in the grid, as the constructors have done today with "Y" and "K." No stray, unturned "Y"s, no "K"s that aren't former "Y"s. It's a minor feat to leave out "Y"s and "K"s—it would be a major feat to do a grid without "H"s and (esp.) "O"s. But back to the actual puzzle: it's fine. All the answers are at least chuckle-worthy, I think, though I could've done without the dadjoke in the clue for MAKO CLINIC (there's enough wackiness in having to imagine a clinic for a very specific species of shark without the added "nurse shark" joke, which kind of overjokes it all) ("nurse sharks" are a real thing, in case that wasn't clear—they're called "nurse sharks" because of their penchant for crisp white outfits).
[just bought this album yesterday when returning my Wham! "Make It Big" album, which contained (it turned out) not "Make It Big" but the soundtrack to "Breakin'" (1984), which honestly I would've kept if the vinyl hadn't been wrecked]
FINDING DORK feels a bit mean-spirited. "Nerd" has been rehabilitated in a way that "dork" very much has not. This is the second time this week I've been asked to remember that "Finding Dory" was a movie that existed. Both times I've instinctively wanted "Finding Nemo," which has no "Y"s to turn into "K"s. I flew through this puzzle pretty quickly except for in the NE, where I made a mess of things by writing in CANAPE at 22A: Delicacy in a tiny spoon (CAVIAR), which I deleted after realizing that the fruit from an orchard must a. be singular and b. be APPLE (wrong, wrong). Also, as I wrote in LOOIE, I ... well, I liked no part of it (10D: Sarge's superior). It's one of those "words" that seems very very wrong as you're writing it out. Name a "word" with four consecutive vowels! They probably exist, but they're exceedingly rare. LOOIE looks gooey, like ... there's no consonants in there to hold things up. I just guessed at CALVINBALL (the "ball" part, anyway), and luckily it was right. That seems a pretty niche answer! I know it's a beloved strip ("Calvin & Hobbes"), and fans of the strip will Love it. So it's fine. But it will lock some people out, for sure (9D: Fictional sport whose rules are invented during play). Finished up, eventually, with the "R" in SRO, which stands for "Sold Right Out!" (or so I will always insist) (59D: Sellout show inits.). There are less violent clues for STAB! (55D: Knife). Try one of those next time, NYTXW! And on that note—Happy New Year, everyone!
THEME: PAR FOR THE COURSE (53A: Average … or a literal hint to 17-, 26- and 42-Across)— well-know phrases containing words that are slang for golf scores; instead of the word, we get the golf score, represented literally (i.e. as a number that is situated over or under PAR in the grid)
Theme answers:
THE TWO HAS LANDED ("TWO" is under the "PAR" in CAR PARTS) (because an "eagle" is two under par)
THE ONE MAN ("ONE" is over the "PAR" in POOL PARTY) (because a "bogey" is one over par)
"BYE BYE, ONE" ("ONE" is under the "PAR" in WATER PARK) (because a "birdie" is one under par)
Word of the Day: Jule STYNE (37A: "Funny Girl" composer) —
Jule Styne (/ˈdʒuːlistaɪn/; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-born Americansongwriter especially famous for a series of Broadwaymusicals, which include several very well known and frequently revived shows.
Feels like a theme type I've seen before, but I could very easily be imagining that. It's nicely executed, at any rate. The grid has been skillfully constructed to isolate problem areas, minimize theme-density damage, and maximize smoothness. This is why it's a bit unorthodox-looking, with those low-lying, long NW and SE corners, and totally walled-off E and W parts. Gotta contain and manage the "over PAR" parts. Result: the fill in this is highly untortured. Not an obscurity in sight. Almost *too* over-the-plate. Well done. My only significant criticism is that … do people say "bogeyman"? I see that it's spelled that way in wikipedia's primary entry for the term, but I have only ever heard a pronunciation like "boogie." This meant that the golf-term replacement for THE ONE MAN just didn't land. Aurally speaking. For me. The boogeyman is gonna get you. The bogeyman is going to get you only if you fail to sink that putt.
Bullets:
36A: Part of a spanish explorer's name (DE LEON) — as in PONCE. This took me too long. I kept trying to think of a name that was on the tip of my tongue, but when I got it … it was DE GAMA :(
32D: Wallop (PASTE) — Had the "P" and went with the obvious-yet-wrong answer.
56D: New Year's ___ (EVE) — semi-topical!
34D: Canned food made by Nestlé (ALPO) — nice attempt at misdirection there, w/ Nestlé really making you think human food.
Hope you survived New Year's Eve and are chock full of hope and resolutions. Thanks for your readership and support.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Read more...
THEME: HAPPY 2014 (37A: New Year's greeting) — individual numerals in "2014" work as words (homophones) in the crosses.
Theme answers:
27D: 1971 #1 hit for Carole King ("IT'S TOO LATE")
39D: Classic Stephen Foster song ("O SUSANNA")
24D: Achieved through difficulty (HARD WON)
32D: "Try!" ("GO FOR IT!")
Word of the Day: BUR OAK (17A: Tree with extra-large acorns) —
n.
An oak tree (Quercus macrocarpa) of eastern North America, having pinnately lobed leaves, acorns enclosed within a deep fringed cup, and hard durable wood. (thefreedictionary.com)
• • •
An odd puzzle, but it's a holiday puzzle, so some oddness is allowed. Very tough for a Wednesday—much more like a Thursday, theme-wise, except for there not being much of a theme, density-wise. Just five answers, affecting just 31 squares in all. Much of this puzzle may as well be considered a themeless, which makes me wonder why those corners aren't a. cleaner, and/or b. flashier. The EGBERT (1D: First King of the English) / BUR OAK (17A: Tree with extra-large acorns) / SHARPE(5D: Economics Nobelist William F. ___) corner is especially strange. Buncha weird names from fairly narrow areas of knowledge. I like TAKE A NIP. Rest of that corner, however, was toughish without sparkle.
The theme is pretty cute. "HAPPY 2014" is *not* a "greeting"—"Happy New Year" is a greeting. "HAPPY 2014" is something one might say … I don't know. I want to say "at a New Year's Eve party," but I think you're supposed to shout "Happy New Year!" Anyway, "HAPPY 2014" is a phrase I can imagine one saying, even if I can't imagine the specific context. And the homophone crosses are a nice idea. I wanted "IT'S TOO LATE" pretty early, but it didn't "fit" and I had written WATUSIS instead of WATUTSI (53A: People of Rwanda and Burundi)—I knew the TUTSI were a people, but the WATUTSI, I did not know. I think the WATUSI is a dance. In my defense, if you google "WATUTSI," google asks you if you meant "watusi." [Turns out Tutsi and WATUTSI (and also Batutsi) are all the same thing] Anyway, that flub kept me from picking up on the theme earlier than I might've. I struggled most in the NW (all because of BUR OAK, a plant form of which I was unaware), but it was pretty tough all over.
Anyway, I hope you are having a HAPPY 2014. I know I am. Actually, it's still 2013 as I write this, but I'm gonna go ahead and say my tomorrow's going to be great.
See you later in the year.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Read more...
Constructor: John Farmer Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: 150th anniversary of the signing of the EMANCIPATION / PROCLAMATION by ABRAHAM / LINCOLN, which brought about the ABOLITION / OF SLAVERY in the U.S.
Word of the Day: HYMAN Rickover (68A: Rickover known as the Father of the Nuclear Navy) —
Rickover is known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy", which as of July 2007 had produced 200 nuclear-powered submarines, and 23 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and cruisers, though many of these U.S. vessels are now decommissioned and others under construction.
On 16 November 1973 Rickover was promoted to four-star admiral after 51 years of commissioned service. With his unique personality, political connections, responsibilities, and depth of knowledge regarding naval nuclear propulsion, Rickover became the longest-serving naval officer in U.S. history with 63 years active duty.
Rickover's substantial legacy of technical achievements includes the United States Navy's continuing record of zero reactor accidents, as defined by the uncontrolled release of fission products subsequent to reactor core damage. (wikipedia)
• • •
It's an important historical date to commemorate, and the symmetry of all the answers is indeed fortuitous. Still, this was not very interesting to solve. I don't think I actually read one theme clue. They all just seemed to fill themselves in. Once you got the gist of who / what was involved, the theme became obvious and the only resistance was provided by the fill. I had trouble with the NW as I confidently wrote in BUSTY for 2D: Big-bosomed (BUXOM). If I'd bothered to check a couple of those crosses, I'd've seen the error earlier, but with easy / early-week puzzles, I'm typically flying around the grid, and sometimes overlook these matters (however briefly). Got sloppy again in the SE when I wrote in singular IOWAN where plural IOWAS belonged (53D: Early Great Plains residents). And then in the far south I had no idea about HYMAN and got a little concerned when I couldn't remember the exact name of the [Canopy tree]. Specifically, I couldn't remember the last letter: M? N? R? I wasn't 100% sure. But then I got HYMA- and figured that "N" was the only plausible answer—correct. Most everything else felt pretty easy to me, but somehow, even with the ÜBER-easy theme and a mostly piece-of-cake grid, I still ended up w/ a pretty average Tuesday time. Maybe it's all the time I took to finally get ROBINS (49A: Signs of spring) that really did me in. Who knows? Moreover, who cares?
Theme answers:
23A: With 51-Across, presidential order signed on January 1, 1863 (EMANCIPATION / PROCLAMATION)
37A: With 39-Across, signer of the 23-/51-Across (ABRAHAM / LINCOLN)
18A: With 61-Across, goal of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman (ABOLITION / OF SLAVERY) — ABOLITION on its own would've been a perfectly appropriate answer to this clue, but, you know, symmetry
First thought for 1A: Dacha or villa (ABODE) was HOUSE. But ARETE was a gimme (1D: Mountain ridge), and so ABODE was the obvious next choice for 1A, and I got all the Downs in order from there (except BUXOM, which I botched, as I say...). The south was a proper noun death trap—potentially. I wouldn't call any of the names—ORBACH (48D: Jerry of stage and screen), CELIA (65A: Salsa singer Cruz), HYMAN—obscure, but any time you get a cluster of non-universally-known names like that, gaps in knowledge can sneak up and bite you. I nearly got bitten by HYMAN (under the BANYAN tree, as I say...). I don't think I could pick TRICOT out of a fabric line-up (10D: Knit fabric in lingerie and swimwear), but it's got that frenchy ending like "haricots (verts)," and I'm sure I've seen it before, so I pieced it together, no problem. Misread 35D: Role for diminutive Verne Troyer in "Austin Powers" films (MINI-ME) at first and was left pondering (briefly) what short people Jules Verne ever wrote about. OY VEY! (52D: Comment from a kvetcher)
Thanks to all who read and support this blog for another enjoyable year. I'll have a big charity project to announce in the very near future. Also, I'll probably redesign the site sometime soonish—it's about time for a conceptual and stylistic makeover, frankly. But the core of what I do should, like the domestication of the dog, continue unabated.
Happy New Year,
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Read more...
Word of the Day: NICOL Williamson (25A: Williamson who played Hamlet and Macbeth on Broadway) —
Nicol Williamson (born September 14, 1936) is a Scottish-born British actor who was described by EnglishplaywrightJohn Osborne as "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando". [...] Williamson's Hamlet for Tony Richardson at The Roundhouse caused a sensation and was later transferred to New York and made into a film, with a cast including Anthony Hopkins and Marianne Faithfull. Faithfull later stated in her autobiography "Faithfull" that she and Williamson had had an affair while filming Hamlet. [...] When Williamson appeared in the 1981 film Excalibur, director John Boorman cast him as Merlin opposite Helen Mirren as Morgana over the protests of both actors; the two had previously appeared together in Macbeth, with disastrous results. It was Boorman's hope that the very real animosity that they had towards each other would generate more tension between them on screen. (wikipedia)
[Speaking of Marianne Faithfull, her recent album "Easy Come, Easy Go" is fabulous. I got it for my wife for Christmas.]
[Cover of "The Crane Wife 3" by The Decemberists]
-----
Bloodbath. Slaughter. Not a pretty opening to the new year. I struggled not at all in the NE, a little in the SE, a lot in the SW, and an eternity in the NW. If I had only remembered the name of the damned horse part, my time could have been cut in half; without it ... freefall. Horrible, nauseating, I'm-never-going-to-finish free fall. Without the "W" from WITHERS (1A: Part of a horse between the shoulder blades), I could think of only HOODIES for 1D: Some winter wear (woolens). For the Longest time I had ONE O'CAT (14A: Quaint game with a giver and a striker) and OF NO USE and virtually nothing else in that NW corner. NICOL was nobody to me. ERNO was nobody to me (22A: Resistance leader in Woody Allen's "Sleeper"), IN FOR IT was invisible (2D: Sure to be grounded, say), HOODOO was ... DOOM something? I don't even remember (4D: Bring bad luck to). My one good guess (which I was completely unsure of) was STY at 29A: Foul territory? Otherwise, just horrible. Embarrassing. Here is a very, very fitting song for my bout with this puzzle...
But leaving the NW aside, the puzzle was clearly Saturday-hard throughout. I'm not sure who thought it was a Friday. Only a couple people have times showing at the NYT website that seem Fridayish. Mostly, it looks like a toughish Saturday rolled through there. As I look through the grid, there's not much that is utterly unfamiliar to me: ERNO, NICOL and AL RITZ are about it (23A: Eldest of a trio of comic brothers in 1930s-'40s films). It's the vague, terse, or deliberately misleading cluing that made it so hard to get traction anywhere. Guessed PFIZER right away (8A: Xanax maker) and the NE fell shortly thereafter. "Z"s are so handy! But when I tried to come across ... I had 19A: Pot cover. This is an example of what I'd call a "slant clue." In poetry, a "slant rhyme" is a rhyme that isn't one. Not really. Only in the most tenuous sense of the word. A slant clue is defensible, but groanworthy. "Covering," I might have bought. "Cover" is just ridiculous. So TEFLON didn't show up. Took some hacking, but eventually got the long Downs to fall, starting with POLITICAL ... something at 15D: City hall, often (ended up being ARENA). After much cogitation, "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" sprang to mind for 7D: Play set entirely in a beauty parlor — I had the "STE" to start. Didn't know it was a play.
But over and over, there was stuff that just refused to come easily. Figured answer to 34D: With 35-Down, Mocha is on it would be an island. But no. RED SEA. Thought 39A: Dieter's concern might be WEIGHT. No. INTAKE. As with STY, ADAGIO came to me but I never did trust it until I got several crosses (this also happened with OR ELSE and IMBUE). I "malapopped" at 32D: One of Iowa's state symbols (oak) — wrote in OWL, which was wrong, but ended up being Right later on at 44A: Notable head-turner. Einstein's a what? He could be a billion things. I listed half a dozen off the top of my head, and none of them were EMIGRÉ (53A: Einstein, notably). You eat AIOLI with bouillabaisse?? (45A: Bouillabaisse go-with). An ALIMENT is ... a thing? 41D: Sustaining stuff — I know the adj. ALIMENTARY, but have never seen ALIMENT. Over and over the clues were far from forthcoming. FILIAL is not among my top ten love types (48A: Like some love). Which ENID are we talking about here (43A: She's a paradigm of patience)? ENID of Eric (Geraint?) and ENID? Yikes. Plantation makes me think "slavery" — also cotton and sugar. So I had CANE where BALE was supposed to go (36A: Plantation creation). How the bleepity bleep am I supposed to know the first Across word in the world's first crossword?? (52A: FUN!).
To continue: Had DOB for DUI (31D: Police blotter abbr.). LAZARUS came like a bolt from the blue (59A: New Testament miracle recipient) after I struggled to remember his damned name for what felt like ever; but then ... that juicy "Z" led me straight to the obvious (to me) IDOLIZE! Only ... it's somehow not IDOLIZE. LIONIZE!?!? Come on, you're killing me! My favorite clue/answer pair of the day was one that gave me fits: 36D: Mix on the range (beefalo). There are many meanings of "range." And many meanings of "Mix." I went through all of them. Still didn't get BEEFALO until I was staring at -EE-ALO. I honestly thought KALE might be the [Plantation creation], which was going to give me, what, KEEBALO? Uncle! ("Uncle Keebalo" = trickster god of puzzles; he hates you).
Bullets:
27A: Its chapel was designed by Eero Saarinen, briefly (MIT) — I actually held a picture of EERO in my hand earlier in the evening. Three letters? I considered JFK, LGA ...
33A: Dostoyevsky's exile city (Omsk) — -MS- made this obvious.
51A: Time of Obama's swearing-in (MMIX) — more slant cluing. True, but you would say "year," not "time."
54A: Elk's enemy (puma) — I had WOLF.
60A: Great Dark Spot locale (Neptune) — not sure I knew this, but had so many crosses that it was obvious.
5D: Coin depicting Louis XVI (ecu) — had SOU.
8D: Choate ran with him in 1996 (Perot) — I know Choate as a prep school.
9D: Half of a recurring "Saturday Night Live" duo (Franz) — other half = Hans.
10D: N.Y.C. transportation debut of 1904 (IRT) — just one of those answers I know from doing so many crosswords.
11D: Movement Herman Wouk called "a single long action of lifesaving" (Zionism) — Thank you, PFIZER.
20D: Clown's over-the-top topper (fright wig) — great answer. Clue ... a little too cocky.
40D: Abductor of the Sabine women (Romulus) — my mythology plumb gave out on me. I could see the painting of "The Rape of the Sabine Women," but couldn't recall who was doing the raping (which here, yes, means "abducting").
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!")
.png)
