Celebrity chef Matsuhisa / WED 3-8-17 / Sin City forensic drama / Roman counterpart to Helios

Constructor: Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Medium, maybe slightly north (I had software issues)

THEME: TREASURE M.P. — Familiar phrases ending in a three-letter word where that word's central letter has been removed, creating abbreviated wackiness:

Theme answers:

• "WHAT'S UP, DOC?" (17A: "How's it goin', Washington?") (shouldn't there be yet another "?" at the end of this clue? You know, Wackiness Rules?)
  
• HOPPING M.D. (26A: E.R. worker who sprained an ankle?) (probably not a great idea putting a two-letter initialism in your clue, thus highlighting a perfectly viable theme answer option you didn't use)
  
• TYRANNOSAURUS RX (37A: Prescription for a prehistoric carnivore?)
• ZIP YOUR LP (48A: "Keep that record in its case!"?)
• CHEW THE CD (57A: Mistake a shiny disc for a cookie?)

Word of the Day: COLOMBO (30A: Sri Lanka's capital) —

Colombo (Sinhala: කොළඹ Kolamba, pronounced [ˈkəlɐmbɞ]; Tamil: கொழும்பு) is the commercial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo metropolitan area has a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 in the city proper. It is the financial centre of the island and a popular tourist destination. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the legislative capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital since Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is within the urban area of, and a satellite city of, Colombo. It is also the administrative capital of Western Province, Sri Lanka and the district capital of Colombo District. Colombo is a busy and vibrant place with a mixture of modern life and colonial buildings and ruins. It was the legislative capital of Sri Lanka until 1982. // Due to its large harbour and its strategic position along the East-West sea trade routes, Colombo was known to ancient traders 2,000 years ago. It was made the capital of the island when Sri Lanka was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, and its status as capital was retained when the nation became independent in 1948. In 1978, when administrative functions were moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Colombo was designated as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. (wikipedia)

• • •

Weird coincidence: I was thinking about TYRANNOSAURUS RX as a form of wordplay literally just yesterday, for reasons now lost to time. I mean, it's got my "name" in it, so it's not *that* surprising, but I have no idea what occasioned the thought. It certainly didn't seem that theme-worthy, but here we are. There's a certain cleverness to this, but also a certain thinness. You could keep going. MISS AMERICAN P.E. is a perfect 15. DON'T TASE ME, B.O. works less well, but you get the idea. BELOW P.R., CHEWING G.M., COUSIN I.T.? KEYSTONE K.P.? BOBBY O.R.? YOU'RE THE T.P.? A little brainstorming could take you all kinds of places.

[You're Mickey Mouse]

A really good constructor would've seen this theme as a great opportunity to make a meta puzzle. Instead of having an arbitrary set of answers, why not have a set where the "missing" letters in each answer end up spelling out ... something. I mean, this set isn't even a straight vowel progression (where the missing letter is first A, then E, then I...) (though, to its minor credit, the "missing" letter is a different vowel every time). Also, "chew the cud" is not a thing. You chew the fat. A cow chews *its* cud. Anyway, bad form to clunk your final themer. I did appreciate INDOOR CAT and AS WE SPEAK, though. Those are nice answers.


This was challenging in two respects. First, the themers were often tough to come up up with from those clues. The first one, in particular, seems to refer to George Washington, not the place Washington. You greet people that way, not places. So even though "What's up, Doc?" is a classic phrase, I had "WHAT'S UP..." and no idea what came next. That took me right into the one section that was challenging in a second respect: odd / arcane. DA CAPO into COLOMBO into NOBU and through MILLIBARS and OLD SOUL. That last one is clued in a way that is totally unfamiliar to me. [One who leads a quiet, measured life]? That sounds like a hermit. I think of "wise beyond one's years" as being the definition, whether one parties hard or not. Ugh. Bad. COLOMBO crossing NOBU was just an example of proper nouns I totally forgot. I know NOBU only from xwords, and even though I've seen it for years ... doesn't stick. Also, HOPPING M.D. (in this same section) was really hard to come up with. I had HELPING ... something at one point, because neither "E.R. worker" nor "sprained an ankle" was telling me much of anything. I think it's a fine clue—it's just a tough clue in the middle of the puzzle's roughest patch.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Vegas casino developer Steve / MON 2-20-17 / Tourist destination in county kerry ireland / Fine thin cotton fabric

Constructor: Ed Stein and Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Normal, Medium Monday

THEME: Presidents Day — presidents' names, arranged symmetrically ... [cough] ... and then clues! All beginning "Only president...":

Theme answers:

• ROOSEVELT (Teddy, I assume) (17A: Only president to scale the Matterhorn)
• HARRISON (Benjamin, I assume) (27A: Only president whose grandfather was also president)
• OBAMA (37A: Only president born outside the continental United States)
• TYLER (39A: Only president to have 15 children)
• BUCHANAN (44A: Only president to be a lifelong bachelor)
• CLEVELAND (58A: Only president to be married in the White House)
• TAFT (53D: Only president to administer the oath of office to two other presidents)
• FORD (12D: Only president to serve as both vice president and president without being elected)

Word of the Day: ORGANDY (21A: Fine, thin cotton fabric) —

noun

noun: organdie; plural noun: organdies; noun: organdy

1. a fine translucent cotton or silk fabric that is usually stiffened and used for women's clothing.

Origin

early 19th century: from French organdi, of unknown origin. (google)

• • •

These are just president names. So apparently we're just giving up on having actual themes now? I can't think of a lazier Presidents Day-themed puzzle than this one. "Oooh, symmetrical presidents!" Is that the reaction you're supposed to have? Or is it just "Oh, what a curious bit of trivia!" I don't understand the kind of person who is delighted by learning some meaningless and forgettable "Only president to scale the Matterhorn"-type fact. Or, rather, I can see finding that sort of trivia delightful, but I can't see anyone's thinking "oh my, yes, this is a totally sufficient basis for a crossword puzzle." The puzzle is in a really terrible rut of mediocrity right now. They've been dull or ripped-off or just bad for days and days now. I feel like I'm just sitting here waiting for another Patrick Berry or Lynn Lempel or other competent loyalist to show up in the byline; everything else, I'm mostly just enduring.


Obviously the fill here is subpar. When you end on the sterling combo of LTD and LLCS (....?) in the Downs and ADDN (...) SMEW (!) in the Acrosses, well, you know things are dire. Only trouble today involved more fabric nonsense and some casino owner. I wrote in (Eugene?) ORMANDY at one point for the fabric, before Catherine of ARAMON showed up and I was like "Uh, I don't know you." As for [Vegas casino developer Steve] WYNN, well, I wouldn't know he existed if it weren't for crosswords (I didn't remember him today, but I think I've probably seen his name a handful of times over the years). Other than those two answers, only a brief ERRORS-for-ERRATA error slowed me down at all. Oh, and some minor hesitation over TRALEE (a very crosswordesey 6-letter answer). I can't believe JUNO is in this puzzle and AENEID is in this puzzle and there's no cross-reference. She's the primary antagonist! Gonna go have some whiskey and try to forget this puzzle happened.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Orbiting info relayer / TUE 8-2-16 / French mathematician Blaise / Part of FNMA / Pro bono spots briefly / Martha's Vineyard alternative

Constructor: Paula Gamache

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

THEME: -LESS — so ... lots of "-LESS"-suffixed words, with the "... didn't want to be?" clues turning the answers into species of pun ... yes, that seems to be what is going on. The grid is chock full of this type of ... fun.

Theme answers:

• COLLARLESS (17A: What the beat cop didn't want to be?)
• RUTHLESS (21A: What the 1920s Yankees didn't want to be?)
• ARTLESS (35A: What the museum curator didn't want to be?)
• BASELESS (50A: What the G.I. didn't want to be?)
• MOTIONLESS (54A: What the trial attorney didn't want to be?)
• HELPLESS (3D: What the mansion owner didn't want to be?)
• SEAMLESS (36D: What the coal company didn't want to be?)

[You do realize, of course, that the theme answer possibilities here are almost literally endless. ENDLESS, I say!] 

Word of the Day: PIERO di Cosimo (7D: Painter ___ di Cosimo) —

Piero di Cosimo (2 January 1462 – 12 April 1522), also known as Piero di Lorenzo, was a Florentine painter of the Italian Renaissance. // He is most famous for the mythological and allegorical subjects he painted in the late Quattrocento; he is said to have abandoned these to return to religious subjects under the influence of Savonarola, the preacher who exercised a huge sway in Florence in the 1490s, and had a similar effect on Botticelli. The High Renaissance style of the new century had little influence on him, and he retained the straightforward realism of his figures, which combines with an often whimsical treatment of his subjects to create the distinctive mood of his works. Vasari has many stories of his eccentricity, and the mythological subjects have an individual and quirky fascination. (wikipedia)

• • •

Oy, I picked a bad day to return to "work." Tuesday being Tuesday, which is to say, Tuesday being irksomely substandard. So much ... LESS. Why? And the (pseudo-) puns. They hurt, and not so good. So bad. They hurt so bad. And the fill did not improve matters. The smarmy class ASPIRE-ation in this puzzle, ugh. "Help" = "servants in your 'mansion'"? "THE CAPE"? (where you summer when you're not in your ... mansion?) PAREE? (your cutesy name for that place you like to brag you've been to a lot, making a great ECLAT at the many FESTS you're invited to, no doubt; that is, when you aren't touring all the wonderful museums, seeing the various Monets and Corots and PIEROs, etc.). I can't relate to this puzzle at all. I'm sure COLLARLESS means something in this puzzle's world (maybe you keep your COLLARLESS ... things next to your ALINEs?), but honestly I'd have to GUESS AT it. This whole puzzle—theme and fill—is unimaginative, dated, FUSTY, and froofy, which is probably not a word, but I'm standing by it.


The puzzle was much harder than the typical Tuesday (a few seconds more and I'd've called this "Challenging"), and that *despite* having so many giveaway -LESSes. The difficulty was partly in the cluing of the themers (no way I could get to HELP from "mansion," almost no way I could get to COLLAR from "beat cop," SEAM from "coal company," etc.) and partly in the bizarro fill like IN HELL (?) and AT LUNCH (!?). Then you've got a solid bank—4-wide—of people's names in the SW. I wouldn't care at all about the difficulty if the payoff were worth it, but it's not even close. As for my own personal faceplants (nobody's fault but mine), I went with FETES over FESTS (25D: Fun gatherings) and CELT over PICT (10A: Briton of old). I also had no idea what was going on in the (by far) ugliest clue/answer pairing of the day: 23D: Part of F.N.M.A.: Abbr. (MTGE). I mean, just read that over. Again. And again. It's essentially a cat on a keyboard—lots of letters, only two actual words. Junktastic.


I'm so grateful to the brilliant Matt Gaffney for taking over last week (and to Annabel for her usual First-Monday sparkle). I hear Shortz showed up in the Comments again (and again, predictably, when he published a terrible puzzle and got told so publicly). Sounds like fun. I wouldn't know. I didn't do a single puzzle last week, and didn't look at the blog once. It was glorious. But ... I am glad to be back. Had lots of great indie puzzles waiting for me in my Inbox, and, as always, I still have hope that the NYT will right the ship. The good days are still very good. It's just that I have to suffer through too many of These Days to get them. Dum spiro, spero!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Big name in retirement community development / TUE 5-17-16 / Company that invented newsreels / Beings in Bretagne / Obsolescent mobile device briefly

Constructor: Paula Gamache

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

THEME: GO ON AHEAD (62A: "Don't wait for me to proceed" ... or what either part of the answer to each starred clue can do) — either part of the answer to each starred clue can GO ON A HEAD (i.e. precede the word "head"):

Theme answers:

• 17A: Especially memorable, as a day (RED LETTER)
• 21A: Campground amenity (HOT SHOWER)
• 33A: Feature of a carpenter's level (AIR BUBBLE)
• 44A: Beef alternative in many countries (HORSE MEAT)
• 53A: Basic china color (BONE WHITE) 

Word of the Day: DEL WEBB (4D: Big name in retirement community development) —

Delbert Eugene "Del" Webb (May 17, 1899 – July 4, 1974, aged 75) was an American real estate developer and a co-owner of the New York Yankees baseball club. He is known for founding and developing the retirement community of Sun City, Arizona, and for many works of his firm, Del E. Webb Construction Company. (wikipedia)

• • •

I didn't understand (at first) or even think about the theme, even after I'd finished. I was too thrown off by the puzzle's apparent self-parody, and by the feeling that I was being trolled. The fill is quite stale (SRTAS, ETRES, ORNE, YSER, on and on) but that's not at all surprising— DEL WEBB, on the other hand ... that is an elephant that is in the room that is this puzzle, both because it appears to be the one really original answer in this puzzle, and because it is an answer that embodies every cliché about crosswords and the people who solve them. It is an obscurity that is going to be known almost exclusively by those in retirement communities. You want to be dated or dwell in the past, fine. Obsolescent mobile devices and quaint affirmatives, are one thing, but ... Who or what is DEL WEBB? Why ... seriously, why ... would you make the one moment of real originality in your puzzle be a "big name in retirement community development" when I can guarantee you that it will be the least known answer in the grid, By A Longshot? Why not make your originality snappy, original, interesting? ... it's baffling. DEL WEBB. It is the only thing anyone is likely to remember about this puzzle—a completely foreseeable issue. DEL WEBB? And on a *Tuesday* ... you got me, NYT. I concede, that is some RED LETTER trolling. DEL WEBB!—it's Dell Curry + Spud Webb ... in retirement community form! I mean, the very idea that there is any such thing as a "big name" in retirement community development is itself hilarious. If someone had walked up to you 24 hrs ago and said "hey, what's a big name in retirement community development?," you would've said "what?" because the question makes no sense. [You see what I mean about not even noticing the theme]


PATHE (6D: Company that invented newsreels) was also unknown to me (and apparently unknown to the NYT crossword for nigh on 13 years), so that also struck me as well beyond Tuesday-level fare, though less hilariously so. The theme ... it's a "both words can precede/follow X"-type theme, with the added bonus of a cleverish revealer. Feels like there are an awful lot of ___ HEADs that are essentially synonymous insults: meathead, bubblehead, bonehead, airhead. I have no idea what a horse head is beyond the literal head of a literal horse. Is that legit because of "Godfather"? There are, of course, infinite other words that can precede HEAD in a familiar phrase (give or take). No matter. Maybe you liked this puzzle or maybe you didn't, but you can't deny that DEL WEBB is in it, and that's what really matters.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Indian state known for its tea and silk / MON 5-2-2016 / Letter between sigma and epsilon / Émile of the Dreyfus affair / Vermont skiing destination

Hi, it's me, first-Monday-of-the-month-guest-blogger Annabel, and no crossword puzzle can ever cross me! OK, that's totally not true, I got stuck on the right side for awhile on this one, and finished it in 24:43. But that's only because I took a break to get ice cream from the dining hall. We have sundaes every Sunday...good stuff.

Ahem, the point is it's another Annabel Monday!

Constructor: Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: ME TOO — Theme answers are two words, both of which end in "me."

Theme answers:

• PRIME TIME (18A: 8:00-11:00 p.m., TV-wise)
• RHYME SCHEME (23A: ABAB in a poem, e.g.)
• ME TOO (41A: Copycat's comment...or, phonetically, a hint to this puzzle's theme)
• WELCOME HOME (56A: Greeting to a returning soldier, maybe)
• BLAME GAME (62A: What a finger-pointer "plays")

Word of the Day: LYNX (29A: Wildcat with tufted ears ) —

ok yes many of us know what a lynx is but i just
wanted the excuse to put a picture of this cute kitty

A lynx (/ˈlɪŋks/;^[2] plural lynx or lynxes^[3]) is any of the four species within the Lynx genus of cats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from the Greek word λύγξ,^[2] derived from the Indo-European root leuk- ("light, brightness")^[4] in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes.^[4]

Neither the caracal, sometimes called the desert lynx, nor the jungle cat, called the jungle lynx, is a member of the Lynx genus.

• • •

(Wikipedia) 

So, despite what I said about getting stuck on the right side, this puzzle went pretty smoothly for me! (Honestly, it wouldn't have been a problem if I had remembered any Greek.) I liked how the fill featured both YOWZA and YOWIE, although I must add that a YOINK or a YIKES would be the icing on the cake. (Future Monday theme: Exclamations starting with Y?) I wasn't super impressed by the rest of the fill - didn't learn any words, am getting very tired of seeing ALTO in every single puzzle because then I have to go listen to "Alto's Lament" like five times in a row -  but it wasn't bad enough to go all Rex on. LOOIES was funny, I definitely did not know that was a word.

The theme was OK, pretty Monday-ish for sure. It wasn't a lame theme, but at the same time, the constructor missed the opportunity to make a meme reference. ("I can haz the answers?")

Bullets:

• SOPH (15A: Next year's jr.) — IN JUST A FEW MONTHS THIS IS GOING TO BE ME -   AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
• ELF (40D: Santa's little helper) — The correct clue for this is "the third funniest Will Ferrell movie after Anchorman and Talladega Nights," but I'll let it slide. Ahem. Anyway:
• PEPSI (1A: Coke rival) — OK, so, what's the consensus on Coke v. Pepsi in the crosswording world? Personally, I say Pepsi is better in general, but Coke is better out of a glass bottle, but Diet Pepsi is better than anything else because it just is. There's just soda many possible arguments you could make about this one. 
• SHEEN (13D: Luster) — This one just makes me nostalgic for a really weird cartoon:

Signed, Annabel Thompson, tired college student.

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Fragile fabric made from certain plant fibers / FRI 2-26-16 / 1991 Scorsese De Niro collaboration / Pioneering labor leader samuel / My response was informally / Yellow-flowered plant procuing sticky resin / Barber five-time Pro Bowler from Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Constructor: Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: ALOE LACE (15A: Fragile fabric made from certain plant fibers) —

Hvar: agave or aloe lace

Hvar lace is unique in that the thread is collected from the aloe leaves of agave plants that grow on the island. The leaves are picked at a certain time of the year and are then specially processed to produce a thin, white thread. // The Benedictine nuns in the town of Hvar are the only ones who make the Hvar lace, which is also called "aloe lace". (wikipedia, buried deep, deep in the entry for "Lacemaking in Croatia")

• • •

This seemed pretty good, and pretty hard, but I'm not sure about either judgment because I solved it while watching and Tweeting about the GOP debate last night. Looking over the grid, I'll stand solidly by the "pretty good" part. There were a couple of plant-based answers that were from outer space (ALOE LACE being the more hilariously outlandish cousin of GUM WEED (21D: Yellow-flowered plant producing a sticky resin), whatever that is), and there were a few unfortunate short answers, but otherwise it's mostly vibrant, colloquial, current, and (especially for a 66-worder) smooth. If I went strictly by my solving time, I'd have this in the Challenging category, but I have to factor in my debate distraction, as well as the time I spent getting a couple of mid-solve screengrabs, so ... Medium-Challenging. The distinction hardly matters. It played harder than average. Those NW and SE corners, because they have the little-answer footholds, were easy enough to polish off, but I found everything from the NE to the SW to be Saturday-hard. Thought I was gonna cut into the middle with ease after ESCAPE KEY came effortlessly out of the bottom part of the NW corner, but it got me precisely nothing.

Tried all the Down crosses, came up empty. Never heard of CUT TIME, so I was at a real advantage there (36D: 2/2, to Toscanini). Thought 24D: Noisy recreation vehicles would be some kind of BIKES ... maybe? (no). Had to reboot with SOU (48D: Trifle) in the SW, which got me USERFEES and RAF and on from there. SE was probably the easiest part of the grid for me.

But again those teeny tiny openings into mid-grid made breaking this thing open very tough. Somehow, from -------US, I got BETWEEN US (29A: "Mum's the word"). I think that "N" seemed probably based on my sense that 11D: Adds with a whisk would probably end in "IN" (it did), so I went with it. And then BE PATIENT jumped out from the B-P------ pattern and I had the traction I needed. Love "I'M LIKE" since it's ubiquitous and yet I (almost?) never see it in crosswords. Hate Y'ERS, as no one ever ever ever ever said that. No one even knows what Gen Y is. It goes Boomers, Gen X'ers, Millennials, and then ... Freegans, I think. I forget. What the everloving fudge is Gen Y anyway? Let alone this alleged "Y'ERS" thing. Yikes. I wonder if the fill was originally NEWTON over OXHIDE over TAILED. Not that the resulting ODER or NEDS would be great or even good ... it's just that the NEWTON / NEDS version seems like a more plausible way to go than NEW TOY (kinda "green paint") and Y'ERS (atrocity). But these are minor issues in an overwhelmingly solid puzzle.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. wait, who the hell is PA BARKER? (32D: His wife and sons were Depression-era criminals). I keep googling and finding squat. Did anyone actually call this non-criminal guy "PA BARKER?" When I google "pa barker" in quotation marks I get, first hit, some old episode of "The Untouchables" TV show (?), and then a bunch of Pennsylvania-related things. Image search is worse. Just pictures of houses (??). PA BARKER seems pretty spurious. 

P.P.S. sorry I wasn't clear—Of Course I *know* who *Ma* Barker is (please stop sending me wikipedia links). She is famous. She existed. PA BARKER never did. Her husband's name was "George." He was never known as PA BARKER.  These aren't the Kettles, people. Come on.

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Postwar German nickname / FRI 1-22-16 / Viking girl in How to train your Dragon / Chuck who advised Nixon / Winter wear resembling overalls / Old sandlot game

Constructor: Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: NANETTE Lepore (22D: Fashion designer Lepore) —

Nanette Lepore (born January 1, 1964) is an American fashion designer based in New York City. New York magazine has said that "her gypsy-influenced designs are feminine and youthful. The looks are full of bold colors and bright prints, with ruffles and lace that manage to look good-time-girly but not overly frilly." (wikipedia)

• • •

Finished with facility, aka EASE. Despite the fact that there were a bunch of names I didn't know, and the puzzle seemed to be anchored in a past I never lived in (i.e. that misty time of my ELDERS, when DER ALTE squared off against Chuck COLSON in a rousing game of ONE O'CAT ...), the puzzle proved remarkably tractable. This was largely because the long answers were so easy to get. Got all the long Acrosses with somewhere between zero and three of the answers' first letters. When you can walk across all levels of the grid that easily, there's probably not going to be much that can slow you down. The whole thing felt pretty tepid, for the most part, though I really liked GLUTEN-FREE PASTA, both because it's a modern answer and because the clue was intriguingly inscrutable. [Rice elbows, e.g.] —> "elbows" definitely had me thinking pasta, but ... I was also imagining the elbows of Condoleeza and Jerry and the Owls of Rice U.


Very rare to have a themeless puzzle constructed by a woman. I don't know what the stats are, but I feel like, out of the ~104 themeless puzzles each year, maybe 5 are constructed, in part or in total, by women. I don't know if it's a coincidence (it probably is), but there seemed to be a Lot of women's names in this puzzle: ASTRID, NANETTE, BETSEY, CLARICE, and EVA. Women outnumber men as answers, which ... again, I have no idea how often this actually happens, but I want to say "not often." Wait, no ... looks like there are six men, if you count DANTE (plus DER ALTE, KEL, SWEE PEA (swee' pea was a dude, right?), Lance ITO, and that COLSON guy) (shoulda made that answer COLSON Whitehead, one of whose many virtues is being alive now). Oops, also STAN LEE. So I take back the outnumbering part. But the fact that five women's names *feels* like a lot—the fact that I noticed—tells you something about how low the Expectation Bar has been set. Not much else to say about this one except INATREE will never be not terrible, unless the clue is something involving "K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Sweet white wine from Bordeaux / WED 12-16-15 / Big brand of sports equipment / Aussie hoppers / Central Park's boathouse

Constructor: Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: DEAD END (34A: Cul-de-sac ... or what either part of the answer to each starred clue is?) — two-word phrases (or compound words) where both the first and last parts can follow "Dead" in a familiar phrase:

Theme answers:

• WOOD DUCK (17A: *Colorful North American waterfowl)
• AIRLINE (21A: *Fleet operator)
• BODY WEIGHT (22A: *Class determinant in boxing)
• LETTERHEAD (48A: *Top on official stationery)
• EYEBALL (50A: *Observe closely)
• SEAHORSE (54A: *Swimmer with a prehensile tail)

Word of the Day: SAUTERNES (5D: Sweet white wine from Bordeaux) —

Sauternes is a French sweet wine from the Sauternais region of the Graves section in Bordeaux. Sauternes is made from Sémillon, Sauvignon blanc, and Muscadelle grapes that have been affected by Botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot. This causes the grapes to become partially raisined, resulting in concentrated and distinctively flavored wines. Due to its climate, Sauternes is one of the few wine regions where infection with noble rot is a frequent occurrence. Even so, production is a hit-or-miss proposition, with widely varying harvests from vintage to vintage. Wines from Sauternes, especially the Premier Cru Supérieur estate Château d'Yquem, can be very expensive, due largely to the very high cost of production. Barsac lies within Sauternes, and is entitled to use either name. Somewhat similar but less expensive and typically less-distinguished wines are produced in the neighboring regions of Monbazillac, Cérons, Loupiac and Cadillac. In the United States, there is a semi-generic label for sweet white dessert wines known as sauterne without the "s" at the end and uncapitalized. (wikipedia)

• • •

 
SPECIAL MESSAGE for SYNDICATED solvers for the week of January 17-January 24, 2016 

Hello, syndicated (i.e. 1-to-5-week-behind) solvers! Somehow, it is January again, which means it's time for my once-a-year pitch for financial contributions to the blog. The idea is very simple: if you read the blog regularly (or even semi-regularly), please consider what it's worth to you on an annual basis and give accordingly. In making this pitch, I'm pledging that the blog will continue to be here for you to read / enjoy / grimace at for at least another calendar year. This year is special, as it will mark the 10th anniversary of Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle, and despite my not-infrequent grumblings about less-than-stellar puzzles, I've actually never been so excited to be thinking and writing about crosswords. I have no way of knowing what's coming from the NYT, but the broader world of crosswords looks very bright, and that is sustaining. Whatever happens, this blog will remain an outpost of the Old Internet: no ads, no corporate sponsorship, no whistles and bells. Just the singular, personal voice of someone talking passionately about a topic he loves. As I have said in years past, I know that some people are opposed to paying for what they can get for free, and still others really don't have money to spare. Both kinds of people are welcome to continue reading my blog, with my compliments. It will always be free. I have no interest in cordoning it off, nor do I have any interest in taking advertising. I value my independence too much. Anyway, if you are so moved, there is a Paypal button in the sidebar, and a mailing address here:

Rex Parker
℅ Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton NY 13905

And here: I'll stick a PayPal button in here for the mobile users.

There. Hope that helps.

For people who send me actual, honest-to-god (i.e. "snail") mail (I love snail mail!), this year my thank-you cards are "Sibley Backyard Birding Postcards"—each card a different watercolor illustration by ornithologist David Sibley. You could get a Black PHOEBE. A California TOWHEE. Or maybe even a picture of some fabled SCARLET TANAGERS (15). Or give via PayPal and get a thank-you email. That's cool too. Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just say NO CARD.  As I say in every thank-you card (and email), I'm so grateful for your readership and support. So thanks, not A TAD, but A TON (partial fill! coming in useful!). Now on to the puzzle …

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Only thing this theme has going for it is density, and density alone doesn't cut it. This is just a "word that can precede" puzzle, at its core. So you just brainstorm every damn word that can follow "dead" in a (reasonably) familiar phrase and then start pairing them up. Shrug. There are many many many other words that can follow "dead" in familiar phrases. "Calm" and "language" and "heat" and "giveaway" and "presidents" and "issue" and etc. You've got words in this very puzzle that can follow "dead" (AIM, TREE). So you pair them up to make other phrases. OK. There's no real solver joy involved in this kind of puzzle. It's an interesting idea. Superficially clever. But ultimately kind of dull. Also, I don't think "dead horse" really holds up on its own. You have to beat it to make it work, and that's just cruel.


I like ON THE MAKE, though I generally think of that is much more sexually charged than this clue (32D: Ambitious and unscrupulous) suggests. CAB IT and LOEB Boathouse are absurd NYC provincialisms. ALKA is terrible on its face. See also ANTH and ENTO. I have no idea what a WOOD DUCK is, but that's probably on me. Sounds like a decoy, but I'm guessing it's not a decoy. Unless it is.  LIENOR (ugh) crossing VOIT (?) is a big NONONO. Otherwise, fill just seems normal. The whole puzzle radiates normal. ENYA, ESME, ELO and the ROOS. All sadly, profoundly normal. I thought 43D: New Orleans university (LOYOLA) was TULANE, but that was my only real slip-up with this thing.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Caribbean island whose name means eel / TUE 11-17-15 / Old French coins / Miami Beach's Eden resort / Style of sleeve

Constructor: Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: INNER / EAR (63A: With 60-Down, what the answer to each starred clue has) — "EAR" embedded in six answers:

Theme answers:

• EDDIE ARCARO (17A: *Hall-of-Fame jockey who won the Triple Crown twice)
• SURFACE AREA (30A: *Six times the length of one side squared, for a cube)
• HORSE AROUND (44A: *Engage in in boisterous play)
• FALSE ARREST (58A: *Unauthorized detention)
• FINE ARTS (11D: *Painting, music, dance, etc.)
• BAREARMS  (37D: *What wearers of sleeveless garments have)

Word of the Day: ANGUILLA (18D: Caribbean island whose name means "eel") —

Anguilla (/æŋˈɡwɪlə/ ang-GWIL-ə) is a British overseas territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territory consists of the main island of Anguilla itself, approximately 16 miles (26 km) long by 3 miles (5 km) wide at its widest point, together with a number of much smaller islands and cays with no permanent population. The island's capital is The Valley. The total land area of the territory is 35 square miles (90 km²), with a population of approximately 13,500 (2006 estimate). // Anguilla has become a popular tax haven, having no capital gains, estate, profit or other forms of direct taxation on either individuals or corporations. In April 2011, faced with a mounting deficit, it introduced a 3% "Interim Stabilisation Levy", Anguilla's first form of income tax. (wikipedia)

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Been done. In fact, it's such a basic concept, I'm surprised that it hasn't been done *more* than once before (I could find only one example—an LAT crossword from '09). Basic cruciverb search of INNEREAR could've told you it's been done. But that's not the main issue here. So your concept is hackneyed, so what? Not everyone will know that. But it's just ... so basic. EAR is not tough to embed. So none of the answers end up being that interesting. It's just a very low bar for an embedded word, and so the theme is just dull. And the way INNER / EAR is awkwardly split up like that—really inelegant. Also, the fill is subpar, for sure. All DAHS and ECUS and SDS and what not. Really ancient stuff. ICK and GUNK. I think I like ANGUILLA; it stands out against a lot of otherwise dull fill, and it's also the only answer besides ROC (WTF?) (7D: Miami Beach's Eden ___ resort) that put up any fight. I couldn't remember ANGUILLA at all. Still, seems like something I should know, so I'm left in the weird position of liking one of only two answers in the grid that I *didn't* know.


I don't believe ACID HEAD is really a thing (12D: Certain druggie). POTHEAD, sure. DEADHEAD, yes. ACIDHEAD??? Sounds dated and/or made-up. Also really hate the word "druggie." What are you, in high school? There's not much else to say. Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully not a D-DAY. See you then.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Ward of "The Fugitive" / MON 9-7-2015 / Often-difficult part of a jigsaw puzzle / Arthur of tennis / Pre-GPS guide from a travel org

Soooooo...today isn't a grumpy Rex Monday. But it isn't a high school student Monday either. Or even a soon-to-be-college student Monday.  Hmmmm, guess means this writeup is being done by a.........


ANNABEL HERE!!!! DID YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE COLLEGE????? AND I LOVE WELLESLEY????? AND I LOVE  GOING TO COLLEGE AT WELLESLEY???? AND I LOVE MY CLASSES AND MY PROFESSORS AND oh right you guys probably want to see the puzzle

Constructor: Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Easy

 

THEME: "IN THE HOLE" — Theme clues are all golf-themed.

Theme answers:

• DRIVEWAYS (17A: They lead to garages)
• PITCHFORK (30A: Tool for moving hay)
• CHIPBOARD (37A: Pressed, recycled paper used for notepad backing)
• PUTT PUTTS (48A: Slow motorboats, informally)
• IN THE HOLE (62A: Having debts...or where to find a ball after 17-, 30-, 37- and 48's starts?)

Word of the Day: CLARA (61A: Pioneering nurse Barton) —

Clarissa "Clara" Harlowe Barton (December 25, 1821 – April 12, 1912) was a pioneering nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She worked as a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, and as a teacher and patent clerk. Barton is noteworthy for doing humanitarian work at a time when relatively few women worked outside the home. She had a relationship with John J. Elwell, but never married.

When Barton returned to the United States, she inaugurated a movement to gain recognition for the International Committee of the Red Cross by the United States government.^[15] In 1873, she began work on this project. In 1878, she met with President Rutherford B. Hayes, who expressed the opinion of most Americans at that time which was the U.S. would never again face a calamity like the Civil War. Barton finally succeeded during the administration of President Chester Arthur, using the argument that the new American Red Cross could respond to crises other than war such as natural disasters like earthquakes, forest fires, and hurricanes.

(Wikipedia)

• • •

This was a really nice little Monday! I know easy puzzles can be annoying for veteran puzzlers, but I can see this being great for someone just starting out. Plenty of obvious clues, but some harder ones too - as you can see, I had no idea what ISL or SELA were, and that clue about jigsaw puzzles had me stuck for a while thinking the word was END or something. (Not all jigsaw puzzles even have a SKY in them...what about puzzles about cats?)

OK, no offense but the theme's boring (watching golf is just standing around - come to think of it, playing golf is too) so let's talk about something more interesting - my first two weeks of COLLEGE!!!!! (Geez, I'm OLD.) So I'm probably joining Hillel (my mother will be so proud), as well as hopefully helping out here and there with TECH for an upcoming show (A Taste Of Honey; if you live in the Boston area you should totes come see it). But dude, this school rocks. My personal favorite building is the Science Center, this huge weird awesome building featuring a ton of taxidermied animals, and we also have this huge tower where people play songs on the bells every day. Also, in my res hall, every Sunday is Sundae Sunday. That is, ice cream sundae Sunday. #freshman15 much?

Bullets:

• 9D: Voice higher than tenor (ALTO) — First of all, I'm getting reeeeal tired of this word, it's definitely been in at least three first Mondays this year. But second of all, I auditioned for an a cappella group! Only it wasn't at all like the Pitch Perfect auditions where you just have to show up, be Anna Kendrick, and sing the cups song...you have to be good at complex sing-y stuff like pitch matching and tonal memory. Which, uh, I'm not, yet (I think my tonal memory lasts about three notes). Oh well, there's always next year!

• 33D: "Little  __ of Horrors" (SHOP) — As I'm sure has become apparent by now, I'm a sucker for musical theater clues. FEED ME, SEYMOUR!
• 68A: Prefix with -naut (ASTRO) — When I was little, I wanted to be an astronaut, but I wanted to make sure I only went on day trips to space so I could tuck my kids in at night. No comment.  
• 44A: Waters parted in Exodus (REDSEA) — Okay, okay, sorry for such a song-heavy writeup, but THERE CAN BE MIIIIIIIIIRACLLLLLLLES 

Signed, Annabel Thompson, tired college girl.

Oh, and by the way: http://www.wellesley.edu/


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1934 Chemistry Nobelist Harold / THU 7-16-15 / Brigante 1993 Pacino role / Kirk first actor to play Superman on screen 1948 / Entreaty to Rapunzel / Sitcom nickname of Wally's bro

Constructor: Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: HAIR / TODAY / GONE / TOMORROW — a puzzle about the removal of unwanted hair, i.e. a spa WAX treatment (59D: Spa treatment hinted at by the ends of 17-, 27-, 44- and 55-Across)

Theme answers:

• "LET DOWN YOUR HAIR" (17A: Entreaty to Rapunzel)
• "PSYCHOLOGY TODAY" (27A: Magazine whose website has a "Find a Therapist" feature)
• "THE THRILL IS GONE" (44A: 1970 B.B. King hit)
• "I'LL DO IT TOMORROW" (55A: Procrastinator's promise)

Word of the Day: BIRETTA (40D: Cardinal's cap) —

noun

noun: biretta; plural noun: birettas; noun: beretta; plural noun: berettas

1. a square cap with three flat projections on top, worn by Roman Catholic clergymen. (google)

• • •

This has been a rough week of puzzles, and today's puzzle does nothing to reverse the trend. I know you can see the trouble. You. Yes you. Or do you not? Do you really look at this and think "Great Thursday! Just what I want my NYT Thursday to be?" If that's your reaction to this puzzle, we are simply very different people. I can live with that. My main concern now, though, is that the problems here are so obvious (to most) that my walking you through them will seem condescending and unnecessary. But let's start with the plusses (the YESSES, if you will ... god that answer hurts even to look at. My computer is angrily red-lining it as we speak...). So, plus: the themers are all 15s. They are varying degrees of solid, but all over the solid threshold. For me, this thematic structural element is the puzzle's one high point. Now, reasonable minds can differ on cornball puns from a million years ago (so ... you can see where I fall in the discussion). But some people are delighted by them. "Ho ho," they say. Or so I imagine. "'HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW.' Delightful!" Now me, if I have to endure a pun puzzle, I'd like it to involve a pun that doesn't feel as old as the hills, but ... your tastes may vary.

[from the episode entitled ... "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow"]

[from the episode entitled ... "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow"]

[Then there's this ...]

But then there's the fact (yes, fact) that this puzzle is just lazily filled. It's got some decent entries (predictably, in the longer Downs), but it's also got some desperately bad stuff and an overall depressing air of neglect. The fill, guys, the fill. Come on. Can I not get a witness today? Today of all days? Are you really gonna stand and defend ENOW and UREY (!?!?!). There's just too much suboptimal going on. NOES and YESSES (omg I still can't look at it!). ALYN!?! Partial names like CLEEF and BRIGGS. Then there's ROY and ROI (actually, that made me laugh, probably unintentionally, but I'll take it). The grim-and-grimmer cross of SPIT AT and -IANA (!?!*$^%#).

 My mama done TOL me there'd be days like this, but not so many in a row.


I had no idea what the theme was til the end, which is probably the intended and common solving experience. You discover the pun phrase and chuckle. Ta da! So that happened. Minus the chuckling, it happened. This puzzle was neither as clever nor as difficult as I expect a Thursday to be, so some of my resentment toward this puzzle has to do with its appearing today instead of yesterday. But only some. As I was solving, I thought there was something going on with longer answers and adjacent shorter answers ... hear me out: see how HAIR sits right on top of GROOMED? And PSYCHOLOGY sits right underneath CRAZIES?? Weird coincidence, right? Anyway, couldn't make BEAV relate to THRILL no matter how hard I tried (well, not without some pretty terrible and frankly lewd stretching, anyway ...), so I just waited for that WAX revealer to clue me in. The only challenging part of the puzzle was B-VITAMIN. I got the B- and wrote in BUILDING (38D: Part of a complex).


Just so you can see / remember what delightful, clever, well-crafted theme puzzles look like, please please do Aimee Lucido's American Values Club Crossword this week ("Massive Change"). (You should already be a subscriber, but you can buy puzzles a la carte too). It renewed my faith in the simple joys of crossword-solving, as well as my belief that NYT puzzles can be much better than they have been of late.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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