Thursday, June 9, 2022

Thursday, June 9, 2022, Dan Ziring

I knew something was up when I couldn't fit AR[ET]HA into 5 squares. And I was certain when AH[IT]UNA couldn't fit either. But those are different letters! It can't be one rebus across the entire puzzle!

The answer comes when you answer 37A/39A (SHORT/FILMS). In each case, the rebus is a two-letter movie name: E.T., It, Us, and Up. I have seen two of the four, and Up is definitely the better of the two, although I did enjoy E.T. when it came out.

It's nice that SOULM[US]IC and the aforementioned Queen of Soul are both involved in rebus answers. The clue for RADIOED[IT]S is excellent. I had forgotten that "Forget You" had a more X-rated title in its original form. In fact, I had forgotten all about that song to begin with. Nowadays with Spotify or Apple Music, you don't generally hear the edited versions.


Did you chuckle at 23A: Distribute, as pinapples? (DOLEOUT). I had no idea where that clue was going until I had some crossings, and then I LOL'd. 

I find the pairing of HEISTED and SUGARED odd. These are two participles that simply were not begging to be created. I'm sure they're acceptable, just not used.

Not much else to report on here. I found many of the longer answers merely okay, rather than interesting or exciting, but it's perfectly fine as a puzzle. The one thing I learned was 69A: Genderqueer identity (ENBY), which is from NB, or non-binary.

- Colum

2 comments:

  1. This was fun and it took me a while to twig to the theme. When ET first came out, it was so popular among my contemporaries that I made a contrarian vow to a friend that I would never watch it. Still holds to this day! and geez I had to look back at the puzzle just now to notice that it was RADIOEDITS and not RADIOHITS. I really need to start paying more attention :(

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  2. I had A[RE]THA (no, not.from.knowing the movie from memory, from searching around for two letter movie names). But in addition to working with the crosses, I'm sure E.T. is better known as a movie than ...Re, at least to the average NY Times solver (and perhaps even in general, I'm not sure the latter got especially famous).

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