RIGHT ON THE MONEY
Money has the power to divide people, and today it has the power to divide answers. Five Downs are given double clues, and when they hit a unit of currency, they split apart to form two separate answers. And it's not just the unit of currency that you have to read - you have to finish going down as far as possible after the currency. So 3-Down, "Treats favorably / Has a very good effect" is DOESWELLBY if you read straight down, and DOES[WON]DERS when you follow the money. The best one might be 52D: Masters / Elaborated (EXPERTS / EX[POUND]ED).
There's not really any reason that the split should happen at a unit of currency, and there's nothing that really connects any of the answers besides the common beginnings, but whatever. It's fine. It's a Sunday. The NYT loves themes, and there seems to be a premium on "new ideas," so we end up with things like this.
With a vertical theme, one might hope for some good bonus material in the long Across answers, but today we get such entries as AREACODEMAPS, AMEXCARDS, LEERERS, ASSORTS, and DADGUMIT (Euphemistic cry of frustration). Yeesh.
On the up side, I don't remember hearing that a DOGIE was a "Motherless calf." I always assumed it was just a nickname for any bovine. So that's nice to know. And "What a Tyrannosaurus rex grapples with?" (SMALLARMS) got a chuckle.
Colum said yesterday that we start the week on Sunday here, but I sometimes like to pretend that Sunday is its own thing, apart from the week. Additionally, I like to follow the ISO-8601 protocol wherein the week starts on Monday. So let's just call this one a Sunday and move on.
- Horace
Grumpers!!! I must point out, the theme is "RIGHT on the money", and that's what the theme clues do, sort of. I mean, from the perspective of the answers themselves in the grid, one could argue that they actually turn LEFT (and then right)......
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