Figure skater Kadavy / FRI 3-21-14 / Funny or Die web series hosted by Zach Galifianakis / Sir Henry pioneer in steelmaking / Semicircular recess in Roman architecture / 1961 Michelangelo Antonioni drama / Renaissance woodwind

Constructor: Brendan Emmett Quigley

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none

Word of the Day: CRUMHORN (58A: Renaissance woodwind) —

The crumhorn is a musical instrument of the woodwind family, most commonly used during the Renaissance period. In modern times, there has been a revival of interest in Early Music, and crumhorns are being played again. 

The name derives from the German Krumhorn (or Krummhorn or Krumporn) meaning bent horn. This relates to the old English crump meaning curve, surviving in modern English in 'crumpled' and 'crumpet' (a curved cake). The similar sounding French term cromorne when used correctly refers to a woodwind instrument of different design, though the term cromorne is often used in error synonymously with that of crumhorn.

The crumhorn is a capped reed instrument. Its construction is similar to that of the chanter of a bagpipe. A double reed is mounted inside a long windcap. Blowing through a slot in the windcap produces a musical note. The pitch of the note can be varied by opening or closing finger holes along the length of the pipe. One unusual feature of the crumhorn is its shape; the end is bent upwards in a curve resembling the letter 'J'. Some people think^{[weasel words]} this is so that the sound produced from the crumhorn is directed toward the player to improve the intonation in consort playing. (wikipedia) (LOL "weasel words")

• • •

Sorry about the late (but still pre-9am, for the billionth day in a row) posting today. Had one of those sleep-drowning moments last night around 9:30, after watching the first episode of "Cosmos" with the family, where I was sitting there thinking "just a half hour 'til the puzzle … you can make it …" followed shortly by "f*** it, you're doomed," at which point I just lay down on the couch right there and went Out. Then I got up plenty early but … well, I'd tell you what I had for breakfast and all, but this isn't that kind of blog. I will say that checking Twitter before doing this puzzle—big mistake. Had puzzle partially, mildly spoiled for me by my friend Dan "Big Mouth" Bernstein of CBS sports radio in Chicago, who is a big BEQ fan and who couldn't wait, apparently, to tell TAJ Gibson about his induction into the Crossword Sports Hall of Fame. I probably would've gotten TAJ anyway, but still, Dan … dude. You gotta resist the hollering urge. I *know* it's hard. But … yeah.

[38A: N.B.A.'s Gibson]

I like this puzzle quite a bit. Very much in line with the quality of BEQ's regular, 2x/week offerings at his independent puzzle website. The one thing I didn't like was that the clues here are tamer than his normal fare, and the difficulty here came largely from nutso answers like (to my feeble brain) CRUMHORN, EXEDRA, and (!) CARYN, rather than from tough-to-unravel clues. I actually found most of the puzzle Easy, but then I had to fight CRUMHORN down to the last square (seriously worried about getting Naticked there until I ran the alphabet and hit, duh, MME. for 55D: Abbr. on a letter to Paris, maybe. And *then* I really had to fight in the NE corner, where CARYN was blocking me but good underneath (30A: Figure skater Kadavy), and both EXEDRA (8D: Semicircular recess in Roman architecture) and (wrong) NINES were holding down the fort up top. Total free fall for a few moments. Then my brain was like "isn't the steel guy BESSEMER" (7A: Sir Henry ___, pioneer in steelmaking)? Good boy, brain. That turned NINES to SIXES (in my defense, NINES are higher), and I ended somewhere inside CARYN ("Somewhere Inside CARYN" being the title of the world's first and last crossword porn flick).

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: President Barack Obama from President Barack Obama

[7D: Funny or Die web series hosted by Zach Galifianakis]

Two last thoughts: 

• Pretty sure Antonioni is famous enough that you don't need his first name in that clue for "LA NOTTE" (26D: 1961 Michelangelo Antonioni drama). It's not like anyone was at home going "oh, *Michelangelo* Antonioni … now I get it."
• I can't believe ONER(S) is even in BEQ's word list any more. Delete!!!!!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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1977 W.W. II film / THU 3-20-14 / Nickname for Anaheim's Angel Stadium / Prominent feminist blog / Young brothers' band / Where Maria Captain have their first kiss in Sound of Music

Constructor: Victor Barocas

Relative difficulty: Medium to Medium-Challenging

THEME: Get bent! — Some clues are followed by bracketed "Get ___!" exclamations, which refer to things that are supposed to happen to the letter string "GET" in those answers:

Theme answers:

• STOREAGETANKS (24A: Oil containers ["Get down!"])
• PATEGURNER (18A: Gripping read ["Get back!"])
• COLLEGETOWNS (50A: Amherst and Orono, for two ["Get up!"])
• ABRIDOOFAR (61A: 1977 W.W. II film ["Get lost!"])

Word of the Day: JEZEBEL (45D: Prominent feminist blog) —

Jezebel is a blog aimed at women's interests, under the tagline "Celebrity, Sex, Fashion for Women. Without Airbrushing." It is one of several blogs owned by Gawker Media. (wikipedia)

• • •

Clonk. This one went clonk, for me. Seems like an idea that would've struck the constructor as brilliant, but it wasn't that satisfying for me as a solver. I've never been a fan of puzzles with nonsense answers like ABRIDOOFAR and PATEGURNER in the grid. There's definitely something clever about the concept—I didn't grasp it fully until after I was done, or until the very end, perhaps, when I was nailing PATEGURNER into place. But somehow the weirdness of bracketed exclamations and the weirdness of the nonsense answers made the whole thing feel fussy. I had the theme, or at least part of the theme, quite early, at STORAGETANKS, and after I got COLLEGETOWNS, I thought the exclamations were just related to the direction the whole answer took at some point. Then I got to ABRIDOOFAR, wrote in ABRIDGETOO, and tried to figure out where the FAR went. Then I saw GET and TEG mirroring each other in the center-west, and instead of picking up the "GET" thing, I thought the equivalent three-letter answers on the east side of the grid would mirror each other, i.e. SAG and … GAS. Only GAS ended up being IT'S … flash-forward and I finished with very little conception of what was really going on. Now I get it (get it?). But I didn't enjoy it. I did enjoy the clue on JEZEBEL, though (45D: Prominent feminist blog). 21st century! I also enjoyed that I got CONGOLESE off just the -ESE. I remember staring at Brazzaville's atlas page recently, thinking, "This place is big … why haven't I heard of this place?" Brazzaville has over a million inhabitants, but what makes it look truly big on a satellite map is its directly-across-the-Congo proximity to Kinshasa, DR Congo,  a city of over 9 million.


Theme isn't dense and fill isn't great, which is never a nice combination. 42 black squares should've made for a squeaky clean grid. But no. Other priorities, I guess. Holy crap … [counting] … 80 words?? That's over the max by two. That means the grid Really should've been AFORE- and DREAR- and BIGA- and STER-free. Disappointing.

If you want to see some good puzzles (great puzzles, actually), check out the 2013 Orca Award-winners over at Diary of a Crossword Fiend.

Time for sleep.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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