Sunday, March 17 2024, Simeon Seigel

In preparing for today's review, at a time when a whiff - a soupcon - of existentialism has crept its way into this blog - I observed something I don't think I've seen before: the last four crosswords, starting from last Thursday, have a new editor - Joel Fagliano instead of our beloved Will Shortz.  What's up, I wonder..  well, everybody needs a break from time to time!  Mr. Shortz may be conserving the energy he will surely need to control the unruly hordes at the ACPT in a few weeks...

But on to the business at hand.  It was apparent very early what the theme was - American tourist attractions - after 2D "Attraction in 69-Across that's part of America's first national park", which, the first two letters already in the grid, was the write-in OLDFAITHFUL.  Similarly, the attractions in the seven other theme clues were sufficiently well-known to allow writing them in with just a few crossers - without really reading the clues themselves, all of which refer to '69-Across', and that clue is where the true cleverness lies - it could be either THENORTHWEST or THESOUTHEAST or either of the other two US quadrants, thanks to four crossing clues that can each be answered in two different ways:

• "Division for a tennis match" = NET or SET
• "Word before fly" = HORSE or HOUSE
• "'No' in a certain dialect" = NAE or NAW
• "Touch gently" = PAT or PET.

I was oblivious to this until after completing the puzzle (and finding the typo that caused the "Grrr" message).  On the last clue above, as I entered PAT, I wondered if it might turn out to be PET, and didn't think anything more of it.  I could have twigged right then, but no!  Anyway, this is a very cool device.  Bravo Mr. Seigel!

All good otherwise.  It took me longer than it should have to suss out ONTARIAN for "Person living in London".  I do have a minor beef with "Didn't swipe right?" (STOLE).  Is there really a right and a wrong way to swipe something?  Also, does "America" really end with a SCHWA?  Or do we foreigners put undue emphasis on that last vowel?  I'd never heard of SOCA as a Caribbean music genre, but OK - learn something new every day ...  Particularly liked WARROOM as a "General meeting place" - took me a while to "get" that one.  And it is technically true that SHINS are "attached to their calves", though the anatomist in me raises its eyebrows slightly.

That's all you get today.  Nice fun Sunday puzzle.  See you tomorrow!

-philbo