Popular battle royale video game / WED 11-21-18 / Ninth month of Hebrew calendar / Stock for Wile E Coyote / Half of 1990s cartoon duo / Applesauce eponym / Save America popular downloadable political show / Role for Helen Mirren informally

Constructor: Brandon Koppy

Relative difficulty: Medium (3:58)

THEME: FLIP-FLOPS (63A: Questionable political moves suggested by the answers to the nine starred clues) — phrases or compound words where the first part and last part are switched, forming a different (unclued) phrase or word ...

Theme answers:

• HEADBUTT (3D: *Half of a 1990s cartoon duo)
• TAKES OUT (36D: *Bloopers, typically)
• OVERPASS (25D: *Spring festival)
• GLASS EYE (22D: *Mr. Peanut accessory)
• HOUSE CAT (10D: (*Informal term for a brothel)
• HOME TOWN (40D: *Residence in a row)
• TRADE FAIR (17A: *Principle of international economic pacts)
• MAN CAVE (30A: *Neanderthal)
• PACK RAT (48A: *Noted Vegas entertainers of the 1960s)

Word of the Day: FORTNITE (38D: Popular battle royale video game) —

Fortnite is an online video game first released in 2017 and developed by Epic Games. It is available as separate software packages having different game modes that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine. The game modes include Fortnite: Save the World, a cooperative shooter-survival game for up to four players to fight off zombie-like creatures and defend objects with fortifications they can build, and Fortnite Battle Royale, a free-to-play battle royale game where up to 100 players fight to be the last person standing. Both game modes were released in 2017 as early access titles; Save the World is available only for Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, while Battle Royale has been released for those platforms in addition for Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android devices.

While both games have been successful for Epic Games, Fortnite Battle Royale became a resounding success, drawing in more than 125 million players in less than a year, and earning hundreds of millions of dollars per month, and since has been a cultural phenomenon. (wikipedia)

• • •

I think this drive to cram the grid with as many themers as possible is more common in younger / novice constructors, and I want to beg aspiring constructors to reconsider. Here we have a pretty decent concept, but the solving experience was rough and choppy and there's some fill here that never should've left the STA(tion). The fill problems could likely have been cleared up if the grid weren't just glutted with themers—a full complement, in both directions, often intersecting. I can tolerate your run-of-the-mill crosswordese like OTT and ITSY and ANYA and ESTO and PTAS and SRA and ASP and STA and OGEE and SOLI and OED and QEII and even the awkward plural ESQS, but KISLEV is way too obscure to appear in any grid, especially a Wednesday, and especially crossing DURST, whose name *I* remember well... but not everyone will (19A: Fred ___, lead vocalist for Limp Bizkit). And then there's SIEG (21A: Victory, in German). This is just a puzzle-killer. There is no way you can include that word in an American crossword puzzle and not evoke Nazis. It's the first word in the Nazi salute. That is the only context in which the Overwhelming majority of Americans know that word. You can wish it were otherwise, but it's not. So, if you don't want solvers think of Hitler while solving your puzzle (and you probably don't), never put SIEG in your puzzle. Or HEIL, for that matter.


I didn't think the revealer quite captured what was going on with the themers. I really, really wanted it to be a word that *also* flip-flopped, but FLOP FLIPS ... is not a thing, sadly. So the revealer was kind of a let-down. Not a let-down: some really fabulous current fill, like FORTNITE (!), APPLE PAY and ANTIFA, as well as some ultra-current cluing on POD (64D: "___ Save America" (popular downloadable political show)) ("downloadable," LOL, nice avoidance of "podcast"). This business about Mr. Peanut having a ... oh, fudge, I just realized my error. I was like, "Mr. Peanut has a monocle! Since when does he have a GLASS EYE!? How would we know!?" But of course that's a flip-flopped answer, so I guess he has an EYEGLASS (?). Is that another word for "monocle"? Yes. Yes it is. OK, I'm glad I cleared that up for myself. Safe travels if you're traveling. I'll see you back here on Thanksgiving Day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Bob of Full House / TUE 11-20-18 / Basic monetary unit of Egypt Sudan Syria / Honshu city that hosted 1998 winter olympics

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (3:18)

THEME: [Turkey's place] — same clue for four theme answers (so ... *kind* of a Thanksgiving puzzle...)

[Turkey's place] answers:

• POULTRY FARM
• RAZZIE AWARDS
• BOWLING ALLEY
• WESTERN ASIA 

Word of the Day: RAZZIE AWARDS (23A) —

The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known in short terms as Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a mock award in recognition of the worst in film. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans  John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, the annual Razzie Awards ceremony in Los Angeles precedes the corresponding Academy Awards ceremony by one day. The term raspberry in the name is used in its irreverent sense, as in "blowing a raspberry". The awards themselves are in the form of a "golf ball-sized raspberry" atop a Super 8 mm film reel, all spray painted gold.

The first Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony was held on March 31, 1981, at John J. B. Wilson's living-room alcove in Los Angeles, to honor the worst in film of the 1980 film season. The 38th ceremony was held on March 3, 2018. (wikipedia)

• • •

This is an old-school concept (all themers have same clue) executed reasonably well, though as I've said many times, holiday puzzles should run on the actual holidays. I can only assume they've got something ultra-Thanksgivingy lined up for Thursday. I am seeing a lot of "personal best" talk on Twitter (use the hashtag #NYTXW), but while I was fastish, I wasn't anywhere near my fastest time (about 30 seconds off, actually). I stumbled or struggled or suffered through a humiliating erasure multiple times, and even though every time was easily fixable, they added up. First issue: POULTRY ___. Me: "Poultry aisl...e?" So instead of throwing that answer across and then plugging in Downs, I had to use the Downs to get the rest of the themer (again, the small stuff adds up). Then, I had no idea what the [Basic monetary unit of Egypt, Sudan and Syria] could be, and even a couple of crosses didn't prompt the right answer. POUND, eh? Fooled me. I then really stupidly wrote in NARITO for 22D: Honshu city that hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics (NAGANO). NARUTO is a manga title. . .  NARITA is an airport. I have no idea what NARITO is. Moving on: I wanted the [Voice mail signal] to be a BEEP. Ugh, TONE has soooo many meanings, why this one, lord, why!? (this anguished pleading is all facetious, just fyi).


Oh, I forgot the RAZORS clue (18D: Shadow removers). Holy cow I would never associate "shadow" with facial hair unless it has "5 o'clock" in front of it. That answer took some hacking. Backing into BOWLING ALLEY wasn't easy either, as I have no real idea what a "turkey" is in bowling. Is it three strikes at the end? Oh, I see it's just any three-strike streak. So I was close. Still, if I had to list a dozen bowling terms, I don't think "turkey" would be among them. I totally slipped and fell on the ABEL clue, as I wrote in ABEL (based on crosses I had), but then took it out when I saw the clue was asking for one of three biblical brothers. Me: "Cain, Abel ... oh crap, who else? Seth? Amos? &^$%%!" I immediately wondered if it wasn't one of Noah's sons (Ham, Japheth, Shem), but ... nope, I was right the (very) first time. I was also right about Seth being the "third" brother. Last and most important trouble spot: DROOL (68A: Baby wipe target). I ... just ... has the person who wrote this clue ever had a baby, or shopped, or seen a "baby wipe"? DROOL? Baby wipes ... aren't for that end of your baby. Yes, I can see how you're going to try to lawyer this one, claiming that the clue is merely asking for the target of a wiping action, and not necessarily the moistened towelette typically used for wiping babies' bottoms. But no. Overruled. This clue is ridiculous. Also ridiculous: that OBESE clue (52D: Busting the scales). I get that that word isn't exactly easy to clue in a way that doesn't seem like you're pointing and saying "fatso!" but still. The clue here is definitely laughing at fatty. Not a great look.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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