Deceitful doings / TUES 2-4-19 / Jerry's partner in ice cream / 007, for one / Minotaur's island

Hi, everyone, it's Clare — this time for the first Tuesday of the month! Now that the football season is over (nice win, Chiefs), it's time for some baseball! Just 50 days until Opening Day. And even fewer days until the preseason, when a guy in one of my law school classes will almost certainly pull up every Mets game again, full screen on his laptop right in front of me. I do worry that my Giants will suck again this year, especially without MadBum, but at least no one can accuse them of cheating! Anyway... on to the puzzle...

Constructor: Alex Eaton-Salners and Queena Mewers

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: MUSIC (65A: What the ends of 17-, 23-, 36-, 47 and 57-Across make) — Each theme answer ends in a type of instrument that can be used to make music.

Theme answers:

• SHOEHORNS (17A: Crams (in))
• LOVE TRIANGLES (23A: Some romantic entanglements)
• CHAMPAGNE FLUTES (36A: Things clinked on New Year's Eve)
• TAPE RECORDERS (47A: Interviewing aids)
• SEX ORGANS (57A: Subjects of health class diagrams)

Word of the Day: NEVIS (51A: St Kitt's island partner)

Nevis is a small island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute one country: the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Nevis is located near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles archipelago, about 350 km east-southeast of Puerto Rico and 80 km west of Antigua. Its area is 93 square kilometres (36 sq mi) and the capital is Charlestown. (Wiki)

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I found this to be a middle-of-the-road Tuesday puzzle — nothing particularly objectionable but not a ton to love. The theme was rather straightforward, and the revealer itself was pretty obvious. That being said, I did like some of the words that were used as the theme answers. I've watched many TV shows/movies and read many books with a LOVE TRIANGLE (though they're only really fun when the couple you're rooting for makes it; #MerDer for life). I also recently adopted SHOEHORNS into my vocabulary when my professor used the word about 12 times in one class, and I've enjoyed using the word since then. I did try to put CHAMPAGNE "glasses" instead of FLUTES before realizing that: a) it had too many letters; b) the puzzle was apparently fancier than I was expecting; and, well, c) it didn't fit the theme! I did think cluing SEX ORGANS as "subjects of health class diagrams" was odd. And, looking back on the theme answers, it feels a bit disjointed to have all of the theme answers be two words (with the second word being the one that "makes music") but have a one-word answer, SHOEHORNS, in there.

I may have just run out of steam by the end, but I tripped up some in the SE corner. I had trouble with SEX ORGANS because of the weird clue. I tried putting "NSA" in at first, instead of CIA, for 53A: Org. with code-named programs. It took me a bit to get INRI (54D: Letters on a crucifix), and RAM and GNU didn't jump out to me as the most obvious answers for, respectively, 58D: Animal in a flock and 59D: Animal in a herd. I did like the repetition in those back-to-back clues, though.

The repetition I didn't like happened in two other instances. One was with 9D: So many and 50D: So many. There just isn't anything clever about that repetition. And, 007 is used twice in the puzzle — at 10D and also at 57D. Again, this repetition just seemed half-baked.

I liked some of the longer downs — a couple favorites were CHICANERY (32D: Deceitful doings) and OK I'LL BITE (11D: "Sure, try me"). My liking those words was somewhat balanced out, though, with my strong dislike for IDNO (48D: Fig. on a driver's license or passport) and then CUBER (35D: Expert solver of a Rubik's toy). I've certainly never heard of a Rubik's CUBER before.

I found a little theme of my own within the puzzle: "bests." We've got the best male tennis player of all time — Roger Federer (27D) as the clue for SWISS; the best James Bond of all time — Daniel CRAIG (10D); and the best First Lady of all time — Michelle OBAMA (24D).

Bullets:

• Do yourself a favor and go down the Internet rabbit hole of looking at pictures of BANFF National Park. It's legitimately stunning.

• I definitely think of 14A: Olympics symbol as being the rings (not a TORCH).
• Is it just me, or do we get way more UBERs than "Lyfts" in crossword puzzles?
• Speaking of James Bond and Daniel CRAIG... that Superbowl teaser ad for the new movie looks incredible! I cannot wait.
• I can't see the word ITSY (1D: Teeny-weeny) without automatically singing, "The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout..." in my head.
• CITI (35A: Bank with M.L.B. naming rights, for short) may be false advertising. Are the Mets still in the MLB? They sure looked like a minor league team to me on the laptop screen of that guy in front of me:)

Signed, Clare Carroll, a hopeful Giants fan

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Call to the hounds / WED 2-6-19 / Port up the lake from Cleveland O / Bygone Pan Am rival / Contribution of Gilbert but not Sullivan

Constructor: Queena Mewers and Alex Eaton-Salners

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (not sure of my time 'cause I got suckered into reading the stupid Note, so the clock was running while I was trying to understand what the hell it meant) (actual solving time probably in the high 3s?)

THEME: English / Spanish — Downs and Acrosses that share a first letter have an English word in the Across and the same word in Spanish in the Down (apparently in the paper the clues are all printed in one giant list (???). I don't see the point, but OK)

Theme answers:

• SUN / SOL
• MOTHER / MADRE
• FIRE / FUEGO
• HELLO / HOLA
• CITY / CIUDAD
• NIGHT / NOCHE
• EAST / ESTE
• ENGLISH / ESPANOL :( 

Word of the Day: DIP DYE (59A: Hair-coloring technique) —

Dip dye (also known as "tip dyeing") is a hair coloring style that involves dipping the ends of the hair into dye. The dye used can be either a naturally colored dye or a bright colored dye, the latter being the more popular choice.

The method has become increasingly popular as a result of social media and its usage by celebrities. Dip dye originates from the process of tie dyeing clothing (especially T-shirts). (wikipedia)

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Lots of problems with this one, but the biggest problem is: Who cares? I don't understand the point. English in the Across, Spanish in the Down. So what? Random words, many of them actually just solid crosswordese (ESTE!? Why would anyone be glad to see that?). I sincerely don't understand how this puzzle could be pleasurable beyond the generally pleasurable feeling you have when you get the idea and the puzzle is doable. HALLOO? (11D: Call to the hounds) Terrible. I NEED A NAP!?!?! Yeah, well I ATE TWO COOKIES, but you don't see me putting that in a grid. Yikes. This puzzle's whole raison d'être is beyond me. You just do technically odd stuff ... just to do it? That's not constructing, that's noodling. ERIEPA, lol, no no no. I am not an ADORER of that answer. DIYER hurts my soul. And does a DIYER really "practice self-help"?? (52D: One practicing self-help, informally). Bizarre contention, or bizarre phrasing, at any rate. ALTE? ORI?!? The very existence of this puzzle is baffling. Perhaps the most irksome part of the puzzle, given how Spanish-centric it is, is its total middle-finger disregard for the importance of the tilde. ESPANOL? In a puzzle that is *about* Spanish, you're gonna go with non-tilde'd ESPANOL? ESPANOL? When I Google it, Google asks me "Did you mean ESPAÑOL"? I wish I did, Google. I wish I did. Again, I refer you to the aforementioned adjective "baffling." I also didn't appreciate the cheapness of the clue on NIGHT (54A: Prime-time time), which I initially had as EIGHT, of course. NIGHT is dreadfully non-specific and only there to trip you up. If you're gonna try to kneecap solvers, your actual answer (the correct answer) better be spot on. NIGHT ... is not.


My theme Downs all said [see notepad] so that was slightly confusing, but eventually I figured out that SUN was not crossed by SET or SON (?) but by the Spanish word for "SUN": SOL. After that, all themers were easy and boring, and since the fill was wobbly and weak in many places, there just wasn't much joy to be had. Had trouble with HALLOO (because what the *&$^?), and then later with NIGHT (as I said above), and then finally, in that SW corner, with a number of answers. Never heard of DIPDYE, and had TEACUP before TEAPOT (47D: It might be left holding the bag). DIYER also gave me some trouble (because dear lord look at it, it's a monstrosity). Still not over the un-tilde'd ESPANOL. Puzzles routinely disregard the tilde, but *this* one ... really shouldn't have. It's a glaring omission. Now *I* NEED A NAP. Good night.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld (Twitter @rexparker / #NYTXW)

PS With half a woman constructor today, the 2019 count of women constructors is up to .... 4! (out of 37)

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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