YouTube popularity metric / TUE 1-22-19 / Lee Browne actor director in Theater Hall of Fame / Certain close-knit social media group / Hobbyists' racers controlled remotely

Constructor: John E. Bennett and Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Challenging (for a Tuesday) (4:05)

THEME: "WATCH YOUR STEP" (35A: "Look out!" ... and warning when encountering the circled things in this puzzle) — there are four snakes in the puzzle, spelled out in four sets of winding circled squares: KINGCOBRA / SIDEWINDER / COPPERHEAD / PUFFADDER

Word of the Day: ROSCOE Lee Browne, actor director in the Theater Hall of Fame (5D) —

Roscoe Lee Browne (May 2, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American actor and directorknown for his rich voice and dignified bearing. He resisted playing stereotypically black roles, instead performing in several productions with New York City's Shakespeare Festival Theater, Leland Hayward's satirical NBC series That Was the Week That Was, and a poetry performance tour of the United States in addition to his work in television and film.

In 1976, Browne was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Series for his work on ABC's Barney Miller. In 1986, he won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series for his work on NBC's The Cosby Show. In 1992, he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as "Holloway" in August Wilson's Two Trains Running.

In 1995, he received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for his performance as "The Kingpin" in Spider-Man.

Browne was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1977 and posthumouslyinducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2008. (wikipedia)

• • •

I was on Twitter before and after solving this puzzle and let me tell you the reaction to 21A: Certain close-knit social media group (TWIBE) was a swift and definitive hell no.

I really don't understand this cavalier indulgence of slang. It's clearly not a word the constructors themselves use, as it's a "word" I've never seen used at all, despite the fact that I'm on that "certain" social media site ... a lot. I've seen "tweeps" a bunch, but never ever TWIBE. Again, *this* is the problem with giiiiigantic word lists compiled indiscriminately—they convince constructors that all the words are perfectly *good* words, or that they are fresh or hip or have currency. Wordlists can discourage constructors from using their ears, and from exercising good judgment. The grid is already in trouble because it's severely stressed by the theme—a majority of answers have theme squares in them, making the grid very very hard to fill cleanly. Given that level of difficulty, the grid isn't bad. But ... it's still not good. Plural TSKS and esp plural WHAMS (?) and LII and ADREPS and TIEBAR SSN AFC x/w UFC, ERR and ERE ... DURA ESAU ERAT ... it's a lot to take. And all for a theme that's no help at all when solving. There's really only one theme answer. Hard to see the snakes til your done. The idea is cute, but the actual solve wasn't fun.


Five things:

• 33D: Ore, for one? (TYPO) — this is what happens when you're so in love with your own cleverness that you ignore plausibility. I get that you're trying to do a cute play on the "for one" (i.e. "for example") convention in crossword cluing, but, see, "ore" is not a plausible TYPO for "one"—look where "r" is on a keyboard. Now look where "n" is. Oh god I just saw ELEA—man, the fill in this thing is not good...
• 51D: What follows the semis (FINAL) — this is correct, but man did I / do I want FINAL*S*
• 32A: Guinness record holder for the U.S. city with the most consecutive days of sun (768), informally (ST. PETE) — I got so bored reading this clue that I never got to the end, so I kept expecting it to look like an actual city name (not an abbr. city name).
• 2D: Super Bowl of 2018 (LII) — there are few clues I resent more than "Surely You Know The Roman Numerals Associated With All 52 Super Bowls!" clues. Super Bowl III was the last one where the Roman numeral seems historical and noteworthy. (UNITAS v. Namath, the year I was born)
• 10D: YouTube popularity metric (VIEWS) — wanted LIKES. Then ... well, this answer got all caught up in the TWIBE nonsense. Since I had TRIBE, I ended up with VIERS ... which I was hoping and praying was not some horrid now-speak contraction of "viewers"

2019 NYT Crossword constructor count: 

• M: 21 (including four (!!!?) all-male teams)
• W: 1

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

P.S. . . well I missed this . . . and I solved this *on* MLKJR day . . .

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Turkish bigwig / MON 1-21-19 / Early North American explorer John / Green building certification for short

Constructor: Sean Biggins

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (2:51)

THEME: CIVIL RIGHTS (57A: Cause championed by the figures named at the ends of 16-, 22- and 47-Across) — Martin Luther KING, Jr., Rosa PARKS, Sojourner TRUTH

Theme answers:

• 16A: Regal (FIT FOR A KING)
• 22A: Yosemite and Yellowstone (NATIONAL PARKS)
• 47A: Something promised in a court oath (THE WHOLE TRUTH)

Word of the Day: John CABOT (14D: Early North American explorer John) —

John Cabot (Italian: Giovanni Caboto; c. 1450 – c. 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 discovery of the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century. To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabot's expedition, both the Canadian and British governments elected Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, as representing Cabot's first landing site. However, alternative locations have also been proposed. (wikipedia)

• • •

As an MLK Day tribute puzzle, I think this is fine. It's a slightly weird set of CIVIL RIGHTS leaders, since Parks and King were contemporaries, while Truth was active a full century earlier. But maybe there aren't a ton of CIVIL RIGHTS leaders whose last names are also be other things. I might've tried to get WISHING WELLS or something like that in the grid, but again, it's hard to impugn the set. They're all iconic. The fill is reasonably clean and even zingy in some places (HIT THE HAY! SKETCH UP! HELLA!). If anything, it's the themers that aren't lively enough (this is the opposite of most puzzles' problem, which is that the themers are the *only* real interest in the grid). Maybe there weren't better answers to be had. I don't mind the first two, but the third felt oddly partial. It only exists as part of a larger phrase, and so it doesn't quite feel right standing alone. I really wish YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH were 15. It *is* 21, and it's never been used before, so Sunday constructors: have at it!


Five things:

• 1A: Turkish bigwig (PASHA) — This is the kind of 1A gimme that makes me feel slightly guilty. Relatively sure that word would never occur to me in a world without crosswords. As it is, I know AGA and AGHA and SATRAP and PASHA and BEY and DEY and EMIR and etc.
• 25D: Green building certification, for short (LEED) — I learned this from crosswords, and by "learned" I mean "experienced for the first time but still routinely forget"
• 41D: U.S.C. or U.C.L.A. (SCH.) — down near the bottom of my list of Crosswordese Ranked from Beloved to Despised. I remember the first time I saw it in a grid—I just stared at it, first disbelieving, and then seething. It feels fantastically fake.
• 40D: Native New Zealander (KIWI) — fun fact: my wife is a Native New Zealander. Not a *native* native New Zealander, though. That would be a MAORI. A white New Zealander is a PAKEHA. Put *that* in your grid and smoke it!
• 46D: "It's c-c-cold!" (BRRR) — normally I'd be up in arms about the stupid extra "R" but the fact that a. the clue tries to tip us to the three "R"s with the three "c"s in the clue, and b. it is HELLA cold right now where I live (5º and falling) means that today, I'll allow it

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

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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