Old Ideas week continues. Today, a classic First Words-type theme with a massive Thud of a revealer. Usually, these days, old theme types are livened up by some revealer that at least gives some interesting, wordplay-type angle to the whole set-up. But this puzzle is livened up only by Density, and there just aren't enough strong longer answers to sustain interest. The two Down themers are probably my favorite, but they are it, as far as interesting fill goes today. The fill is not great, but I've certainly seen worse. Can't believe you couldn't somehow eliminate the icky IRENA (51D: "The Faerie Queene" woman whose name means "peace"), and OLD BAG is gross and sexist (65A: Hag) (particularly in the hands of male constructors and male editors), but other stuff is solid enough. Just dull. Last week is really highlighting how dull Normal Ideas weeks have become.
I have no idea what a CABLE OUTLET is and do not understand what "Installation" means in the clue, despite having cable TV/Internet, and despite asking my wife if she understood (no, not really—she could guess, but she could not be certain). There is no "outlet" in my house. I mean, the cable comes "out" of a panel in the wall that vaguely resembles an electrical outlet, but I have never heard it called "CABLE OUTLET" and I've certainly never thought of it as an "Installation." That answer and WIRE FRAUD slowed me down a bit today (WIRE FRAUD's clue was just fine—maybe a little more T or W than M, but just fine).
SKYPE was in the Mini today, which was a weird experience. I solve the Mini as a kind of 20-second appetizer before heading into the real puzzle. Probably a good idea to coordinate those two puzzles, to avoid dupes. Also, probably, not that big a deal.
THEME:"Big Names in E-Tail" — familiar phrases have "E" added to end of one part, changing that part into a famous person's name. Wacky "?" clues for wacky answers.
Theme answers:
I DON'T KNOW HOWE (22A: Admission of a lack of familiarity with Mr. Hockey?)
LONE WOLFE (4D: Single copy of "The Bonfire of the Vanities"?)
LIGHT GREENE (33A: Less serious works by the author of "Brighton Rock"?)
BUNS OF STEELE (52A: Reason for Brosnan fans to watch 1980s TV?)
SHOPPING MALLE (65A: Trying to sell one's "Au Revoir les Enfants" video?)
VOLCANIC ASHE (82A: Explosive side of a former tennis great?)
JOKER'S WILDE (96A: Comic's copy of "The Importance of Being Earnest"?)
LAY IT ON THICKE (113A: Assign blame to the singer of "Blurred Lines"?)
BACK PAINE (81D: Buy into "Common Sense"?)
Word of the Day: TROPHIC (51D: Nutrition-related) —
(google)
• • •
And so, jarringly, we come back to Old Ideas week. Add an "E"! There is nothing "wrong" with this puzzle. The grid is quite clean / polished, and the theme has a certain consistency—added "E" never changes the pronunciation of the base word, which, if you've ever tried adding "E"s to things, isn't easy to do. It's also pretty dense, what with those extra Down themers in the NW and SE. But adding an "E" is definitely an old idea, and a slight one, and after the experimental fare of the past week, all I'm left with is this sense that the typical fare is stale, stuck, moribund. True, there is something comfy and familiar about this kind of theme. Mild wordplay, light wackiness. Looks like hundreds of others of puzzles before it. And the title at least gives it a little bit of playfulness, as the godawful "E-Tail" gets put to good use, for once in its life. But ... I guess if the way things have always been done is what suits you best, then by gum, you've got your puzzle here. But there are ways to remain faithful to certain old ways while adjusting to the times and keeping things fresh. There's only one Thursday a week, and only one Sunday, and if those aren't days for Ambition, then pfft. What's the point of it all? Disappointing. Again, this puzzle is super-competent. It's just of a type that's the opposite of "New."
No problems at all today except with TROPHIC, which ... ??? Took me a bit to sort out the whole TROPHIC / KOOL / KHZ area. Also took me a while to figure out which Brosnan incarnation I was supposed to care about. Sadly, the only 80s TV that I could think of that seemed to fit was "Scarecrow & Mrs King." In my head, it's the same as "Remington STEELE." I didn't watch either, so I can make that equivalency without any problem. Anyway, BUNS OF STEELE was definitely the hardest themer to come up with (several of them were near-gimmes), and OAXACAN didn't make matters easier (54D: Resident of southern Mexico). Very tough to parse. But that section was an anomaly. Mostly, this was cake.
Bullets:
55A: "Home, ___" (JAMES) — Uh ... OK. I wanted JEEVES. I don't know who JAMES is. A chauffeur, no doubt.
103D: First year in Constantine's reign (CCCVI) — I actually knew it was 3-something. That didn't make me like this long RRN any better.
91A: "Smack!" ("POW!") — I had POP. Made sense at the time. Also made NEWSROOM (83D: Post office?) hard to see for a bit.
Reposting these items from yesterday, since many of you won't have seen them:
Caleb Madison (ed. of the new BuzzFeed crossword, which debuted this past Monday) and I did a radio interview with the great Emily Jo Cureton yesterday about the state of contemporary crosswords. I really enjoyed it. You can listen here (roughly 20 min.).
The BuzzFeed puzzles are very much worth checking out (Friday's themeless by 15-year-old phenom Paolo Pasco was particularly impressive) (get it here) (read about it here). Another puzzle debuted this week too—HIGH:low, a biweekly (free!) themeless puzzle by the super-talented K. Austin Collins (currently Ph.D.-ing at Princeton). The main idea is low word-count, high quality. Sign up to have the puzzle delivered right to your inbox on the 1st and 15th of every month. I solved (and wrote about) HIGH:low #1, and it was really entertaining.
And adding this:
American Values Crossword Puzzle is looking to add a new constructor to their rotation. Please see the job listing here for details.
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)
