Friday, June 25, 2021, Scott Earl

Oh, that staircase triple stack in the middle of the puzzle. What a happy discovery, I'm sure, for Mr. Earl, to be able to put METOOMOVEMENT right on top of MALEPRIVILEGE. And then to finish it off with a nice twist, you get BIGLITTLELIES, the show about women trapped by the patriarchy in different ways, banding together to support each other.

Add to that DIANA Taurasi, one of the all time great basketball players; LAURA Bassi, the first woman to earn a doctorate in science (1732!!); and CELIA Cruz, and you get a nice grid tilted (for once) towards the 51%. The only examples I can see in the other direction are ANSEL Adams and NIALL Horan.

Speaking of which, thanks to Cece for assisting in this solve. She knew that one immediately, but she also got multiple long answers with very little in the way of crosses. For example, she got ICOULDEAT off of the I, and two of the long answers in the middle. As always, I'm impressed, and suspect she will one day beat the pants off of old Dad in the crossword solving department.

Funny, now that I look at it: The NW corner has an aspirational aspect to it, with LOOKINGUP and DREAMCAR, while the SE feels a little anxiety provoking, with GANGUPON, CANWETALK, and HITANERVE.

Oof. Fortunately MEETCUTES breaks up that little doom cloud.

In the area of fun clues, I like 38A: Stub hub? (TOE). Also, 32D: Hat tricks are seen in them (MAGICACTS) really threw me for a loop. I was certain that we were talking about soccer or hockey. But no. Actual tricks with hats in them. Nice.

Very little not to like today. The Turn is going great! 5:57.

- Colum

P.S. I actually really love Bolero by Ravel, even though it's not the most representative of works by the composer. If you want something else with a Spanish flair by him, try Alborada del Gracioso. 

P.P.S. And yes, I'm not getting off the soapbox until Huygens gives it a try. I've got a lot to say on the subject!