Kingdom of horsemen in Lord of the Rings / WED 7-22-20 / Compound containing an NH2 group informally / Onetime Nissan SUV / Greek peak southeast of Olympus

Constructor: Peter A. Collins

Relative difficulty: Easy (3:42)

THEME: periodic table stuff — themers are phrases where the first word contains a chemical symbol for an element and the last word contains the element itself:

Theme answers:

• PAUL GOLDSCHMIDT (17A: Six-time All-Star for the Arizona Diamondbacks (2013-18))
• MILITARY JARGON (27A: "Moonbeam," for a flashlight, e.g.)
• "ISN'T IT EXCITING?" (43A: "Are you as jazzed as I am?")
• SAFE ENVIRONMENT (57A: People are protected when they're in it)

Word of the Day: Taraji P. HENSON (23A: Taraji P. ___, star of "Hidden Figures") —

Taraji Penda Henson (/təˈrɑːdʒi/ tə-RAH-jee; born September 11, 1970) is an American actress and author. She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in Baby Boy (2001). She received praise for her performances as a prostitute in Hustle & Flow (2005), for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture nomination; and as a single mother of a disabled child in David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button(2008), for which she received Academy Award, SAG Award and Critics Choice Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. In 2010 she appeared in the action comedy Date Night, and co-starred in the remake of The Karate Kid. (wikipedia)

• • •

This just feels so old and tired. I mean, it does what it does ... there it is. But periodic table "humor" is just about the oldest puzzle gimmick there is. This one has certain restrictions that make it, perhaps, harder to execute, but a slightly elegant feature in a dull theme doesn't really drag it out of dullsville. I enjoyed seeing PAUL GOLDSCHMIDT, who is criminally under-famous (outside of baseball fandom) given how good he has been (he's on the Cardinals now), but as for the puzzle overall ... "ISN'T IT EXCITING?" No, it is not. I think this is a familiar theme type with (over-) familiar fill, but as for why it's being run now, when there are (allegedly) thousands and thousands of submissions to choose from, I am AT A LOSS. Feels very Boys Clubbish. Competent (male) constructor, has a ton of bylines, very familiar, very snug, very over-the-plate. When I see stale-ish puzzles from familiar (male) names, I get a little (lot) annoyed. Like, this can't be *it*. Periodic Table shenanigans Part The Forty-Seventh can't be it. And when BUM LEG (which is ... kind of a downer) is your most original non-theme fill, something's wrong. You're not trying hard enough. Also when you have "NO" in two answers and (much worse) "INTO" (!?) in two answers, in the same grid, you are definitely not trying hard enough. Or not paying attention.


When I know that older white guys are the ones making the puzzle, seeing POPO in there makes me cringe. And ... that whole corner ... it's so tear-it-all-out-able. ENL? OMANI?? What are you trying to accomplish up there? And then coming out of there is DIG INTO, which is fine on its own, but which today blatantly and jarringly dupes the INTO in RIP INTO. Then OSSA. Then ISL, LCD, ELSA, EINS LPNS IMPEI AMINO ... it's just brutal, the subpar fill. OMANI AMINO! Hey, anagrams. (Finding anagrams of crosswordese is the only way I'm having fun right now). OOP STET ... I'll stop, but you see, right? This isn't just "ho hum" (solid "ho hum" is fine if the theme rules and there are a few good non-themers); it's below ho-hum. Belo-hum. Please, no-hum. RHOS ASST? It's like no one actually cared to polish this thing. Just autofill it and send it in! Not a lot more to say about this one. Except good night.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Popular hair-coloring technique / TUE 7-2-20 / Taj Express destination city

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Relative difficulty: Easy (3:09)

THEME: twenty twenty — Differently punctuated variations provide all the theme clues:

Theme answers:

• TIE SCORE (16A: 20-20, e.g.)
• NEWS MAGAZINE (23A: "20/20," e.g.)
• RATIO (40A: 20:20, e.g.)
• VISUAL ACUITY (52A: 20/20, e.g.)
• LEAP YEAR (65A: 2020, e.g.)

Word of the Day: LO MEIN (67A: Chinese noodle dish) —

: a Chinese dish consisting of sliced vegetables, soft noodles, and usually meat or shrimp in bite-size pieces stir-fried in a seasoned sauce (merriam-webster.com)

• • •

The theme concept is very cute and clever. The theme answers themselves aren't exactly scintillating, but that's OK; the fill is clean enough and the theme concept strong enough to make the solving experience sufficiently enjoyable. VISUAL ACUITY is definitely the wobbliest of the set, in that it reads more like a clue than an answer. It's got a definite green-paint vibe (i.e. it's a phrase you might say in ordinary conversation but it doesn't really seem strong enough to be a stand-alone answer). It's also the themer I had the most trouble with (though not too much trouble, to be honest). Did this one faster than, and enjoyed this one Much more than, Monday's puzzle. Would've loved to have seen this one yesterday and yesterday's not at all ever. But a belated Monday is better than no Monday. I feel like Tuesday has at least partially paid Monday's debt. I don't know if I was ALL FIRED UP about this one, but I definitely thought "WHAT A SHAME" about yesterday's. You get the picture. The only irksome part of today's for me was the SE corner, specifically OMBRÉ, about which I know nothing (though I can tell it's etymologically related to the French and Latin words for 'shade' or 'shadow' ... when I google [french ombre] I get pictures of people's (finger and toe) nails! Looks like OMBRÉ *hair* is when the lower part of the hair is lighter in color than the rest of it.


I'd probably prefer a real human DIEGO and not some ancillary animated character (15D: Dora the Explorer's cousin), but that's OK—I got him pretty easily from crosses. ["C'mon, man"] is a very reasonable clue for "DUDE..." if you say the answer with the proper intonation, but because the proper intonation is required, it's actually a pretty hard clue. I had WHAT- and then just No Idea what could come next at 29D: Comment made while shaking the head ("WHAT A SHAME"), so had to work the crosses through there. Got AUTOPEN solely because I had seen *and* complained about it recently (don't let anyone tell you complaining serves no purpose—it's mnemonic, apparently!). I wouldn't watch "Dancing with the Stars" if ... well, I just wouldn't, ever, is the point. I think I know ERIN Andrews from ESPN (?) but the "Dancing..." clue meant nothing to me, and RAKE was also hard (60D: Tool by a golf bunker) (I hate golf more than "Dancing..." — in hell, the only thing on TV is "Golfing with the Stars"). And RAKE and ERIN ran through OMBRÉ, so, yeah, by far that was the roughest part of the grid for me. But not really rough at all. Hope you liked this one. See you tomorrow!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. I saw a great blue heron today and yesterday I saw a bald ****ing eagle! When the world gets me down (so, every day), I walk to the river and just stand there and see what's up. So much bird business! I love how little they care about me!

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