Tuesday, May 31, 2016, Sarah Keller

3:39

At first, I thought the theme would be phrases or names that start with a single letter. Then when I hit 35A: Phrase on the back of a buck (EPLURIBUSUNUM) - great clue, by the way - and saw the repeated E, I knew where we were going. I liked it a whole bunch. I could complain about having AOSCOTT in the grid, because of the extraneous answer with initials to start, but it doesn't bother me.

I was going to say that the I of ILOVEPARIS is an outlier, but the E in the Latin phrase is likewise a standalone word. OHENRYTWIST was immediately understandable, although I've never heard of it referred to that way. There is also an O. Henry Prize, which would have fit in the same space. But I can see there would have been possibly insurmountable difficulties in filling in that corner.

I zipped through this puzzle, so I hardly noticed some good stuff. I like both KLEE and MIRO, and they're placed symmetrically to boot. MAESTRO is fun, and reminds me of Mozart In The Jungle (worth it just to watch Gael García Bernal, even if his attempts at conducting are laughable). ASTUTE reminds me of Paul Simon and "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes".

MAGGOT is unpleasant.

1A: "Gotta run!" (IMOFF) - I know people come down on both sides of the debate on the use of colloquial exclamations, but I enjoy them. I give this a B+. I also want to add that I put CRass in at 14A: Potty-mouthed (CRUDE), and for a while was very pleased to notice that the word has "ass" in it, which seemed appropriate. Until it was wrong. Then I was no longer pleased. It's not nearly as much fun that the actual answer has "rude" in it. But that's me.

YIKES! It's the end of May. Let's all welcome Horace and Frannie back into the driver's seat for tomorrow.

- Colum

Monday, May 30, 2016, David Woolf

4:26

TOSSEDSALAD! Yes, I love this kind of theme, even when I had it figured out about half-way down the grid. Great to have five solid theme answers with different anagrams of "salad". Four of the five have the anagram across two words, all except PINACOLADAS - I'm inclined to let that pass. Turns out there are 60 possible permutations of this letter string, so it would definitely be too much to include all possibilities.

Plus also we get DOUGLASADAMS in full, one of my favorite authors of all time.

• "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."
• "What's so unpleasant about being drunk? Ask a glass of water."

One could go on. But in any case, I like the theme. And I don't think the fill suffered much at all. Things I didn't like: AVIA, LADED, and the fact that KIA and KOA are both in the same grid. And there's also KEEPITREAL and LAZYSUNDAY.

1A: Funny Groucho or Harpo (MARX) didn't need the first word in the clue. I give it a B-.

I don't have too much else to say on the matter. I think it was a good Monday puzzle. Happy Memorial Day!

- Colum

Sunday, May 29, 2016, Kevin G. Der

BEST PICTURE ADAPTATIONS

FWOE

We've seen many puzzles with themes similar to this one, especially surrounding Oscar winners for Best Picture. This is the first I've seen like this: take a film title and change one letter, forming a new word and phrase, which is then clued accordingly. There's an incredible density of theme here, with no fewer than nine theme answers, including two pairs which are actually stacked on each other. That's a lot of constraint, and I think the fill suffers accordingly.

So let's look at the theme answers first. I got 24A: ... inaudible metrical poetry, with "The"? (SILENCEOFTHEIAMBS). So that's pretty funny, to be honest. I don't love that the definite article is left out of the answer (for purposes of symmetry, of course), and that's true of two other answers as well. BEERHUNTER doesn't have the same panache.

My favorite of all of them has to be 67A: ... a reed and percussion duet? (GONGWITHTHEWIND). I absolutely love that. It's a ludicrous image (a gong and some woodwind instrument going at it together), and it's the full title of the original film as well. MYHAIRLADY comes second.

1A: 2013 Best Picture nominee in which a main character isn't human (HER) plays into the theme. Wouldn't it have been interesting if it had been an actual theme answer? Like this: 1A: Best Picture adaptation about ... a crossword puzzle constructor? (DER). That would have been hi-larious. As it is, it gets a C+ for a good clue.

There is not much that sparkles in the fill. The two long down answers are both quite good (RAVEREVIEWS and RANLIKEMAD). Otherwise it's a ton of 3-letter answers (forty of them!), and there's only so much you can do with all of that. EYE and EAR. UNA and UNI. ENT and ENE. OEO! I feel like I'm singing a song from The Wizard of Oz.

I wish we could get rid of answers like STARER. It adds nothing for me. Plural ALEROS... Yeah, you get the idea. On the other hand, I had no idea that you needed a Dutch EDAM to make queso relleno.

So I liked the theme, but I wish there had only been 7 theme answers. I bet everything would have been better for it.

- Colum

Saturday, May 28, 2016, Frederick J. Healy

13:13

I really enjoy this shape for a grid. There's so much flow between sections, and there are the staggered stacks of 11-letter answers crossing each other in the middle, which allows for some nice sparkle. I've learned from reading Jeff Chen's blog that those triangular sets of black squares makes the construction much easier.

My first solid entry came at 14D. I tried "Andre Agassi", which fit, but I was pretty sure that even in Portuguese, South would start with S (SUL). Thus PETESAMPRAS, which made a lot more sense, because he really did live and die by his serve. RON Rivera was a gimme (he did coach the losing team in the Super Bowl), and with HADST and ROSETEA, I recognized that the 60s sitcom family in 21D was ____MUNSTER, but I couldn't recall her first name.

I worked into the SW corner, where ELOISE was a help (has rawther been a family favorite in this household). I ran into the [Spoiler alert!] Horace referred to yesterday with HANSOLO. It wasn't until I came around the corner here that I found the clue for 31A: 1999 parody featuring the starship Protector (GALAXYQUEST). Not only is that a wonderful entry for the puzzle with all of those fun letters, it's also one of my favorite all-time movies, so the puzzle is a winner in my book, just because of that.

The other longer answers aren't quite as exciting. 34A: What 28 states are (NATOMEMBERS) confused me because I was thinking of various states of this country. HIPHOPMUSIC is straightforward. DELUXEMODEL is good.

1A: Case closer (ZIPPER) is fine, and I like the unexpected straightforwardness of the clue. I give it a B+. ATTELET is entirely unknown to me, so I've learned something new today. Will I remember it, say, three days hence? Hard to say.

I tried RETRead and RETRACk before I got RETRACE. I like 36D: Like many cheeses and tablets (COATED). I wanted it to refer to iPads, but it was not to be.

- Colum

Friday, May 27, 2016, Damon Gulczynski

11:51 (FWOE)

I definitely had the most difficulty with the NW corner, which took up about 3 minutes of my time at the end. My first attempt at entry came at 4D: Not straight up (ATILT), where I tried "on ice", funnily enough (see below). I saw that was wrong immediately with Don LARSEN, owner of baseball's only postseason perfect game. I got none of the downs off of that answer, but 21A: "Bluebeard's Castle" composer (BARTOK) was a gimme for me, and I was off to the races.

So, let's see: the SW corner had some great long answers. REALTROOPER is great, but NOTAGBACKS is outstanding. GRETZKY is great to see in a grid. It has to be paired with NAACP in order to make all those consecutive consonants work. The price we pay is AME (which apparently refers to African Methodist Episcopal, a title I'd never seen before), RIAL, and SSR. I'm glad HARPY was not clued in a demeaning to women way, or at least not overtly so.

I was able to work the middle at this point, coming off Simon LEBON. 34A: Attraction temporarily shut down and partly moved to Siberia during W.W. II (LENINSTOMB) gets top marks for that great piece of trivia. What did they move? His beard? His suit? Enquiring minds wish to know. Ah, just his body. How boring.

Amusing to cross the hallmark of Communism with GERALDFORD. But it allowed me down into the SE. This is an outstanding stack of three 9-letter answers. OPIONEERS, RICOCASEK (well known to Boston area folks), and DESDEMONA. We pay for it a little with partial APIE and standard Spanishism ESO. But how about 54D: Motor problems (TICS)? Love me some Neurology in my Friday puzzle.

I really love 12D: Uses flowery language (WAXESPOETIC). That's a wonderful entry. IND is a good reminder of where our beloved Bernie came from. I will not let politics enter the blog. I will not! Bad.

EMBANK and TAXON... whew. Not so great. And OVATE isn't wonderful either. I do like HOTMESS and HAWED though.

I finally broke the NW when I put SWf in. I fixed the M before the end of the puzzle. I do like 1A: Anagrams (SCRAMBLES), although I think of those more as "jumbles". I'll give it an A-. WHATAJERK is also great, even more so because it allows the divine BJORK into the puzzle. And that's a nice pair of "single-named artists" with ERTE. I tried Enya at one point.

And SKINFLICKS! Very nice. It ended the puzzle for me, only it didn't, because I'd put oNICE at 28D. And that's why it was funny, see, because I was wrong twice in the same puzzle with the same answer.

- Colum

Thursday, May 26, 2016, Andrew Zhou

8:13

There are times when a Thursday themed puzzle is more difficult than a Friday themeless. Today is not one of those days. I sort of figured out the theme fairly early, with 4D: When shortened, winning symbols (VITALSIGNS). You see, what's going on here is that a standard term that begins with an initial has been "expanded" to another standard phrase where the initial apparently stands for the first word. V-signs, see.

I like the idea, especially when I hit on the second theme entry at 34D: When shortened, topic in sexology (GUESTSPOT). That's... pretty darned racy. I also liked TAPASBARS because it expanded on a too common crosswordese term, t-bars. We could have also done "tubetops" for "t-tops".

The theme is really dense, with seven answers. There are two pairs that cross each other, and also abut parallel to two other theme answers. The last fits neatly in the middle. It's a very nice set up, with minimal strain on the grid, except in the middle section.

I had some difficulty with the eastern half, mostly because I put BroaDSIDES in at 31D (BLINDSIDES). Once that was corrected, there wasn't much more of a fight. I like the two battle sites (ALAMO and SARATOGA), mostly because I guessed them both quickly and correctly. I'm not as fond of the three consecutive Greek letters (RHO, SIGMA, and TAU). Meh on that.

1A: Foe of the Ottomans (SLAVS) could have been nearly anything, considering that Empire's reach. It's fine, a B in my book. But I liked its symmetric clue and entry at 67A: Grateful? (ASHES). That's very nicely done. 6D: Titles of lawsuits?: Abbr. (ESQS) saves a pretty blah answer.

UNPC seems to be the theme of the political season, at least on one side. Certainly, I can imagine that candidate making dumb blonde jokes. I'm not sure I agree with 37A: Music box music (LILT). For one thing, I don't usually find music boxes to have a pleasant sound, although I recognize that's my own opinion. But still, it seems like the term is not quite accurate.

PAAVO Järvi is not as familiar to me as his father, Neeme Järvi, whose recordings of Prokofiev's symphonies with the Scottish National Symphony have always been a favorite of mine.

Also, chicken tikka MASALA. Yum.

- Colum

Wednesday, May 25, 2016, Andrew J. Ries

6:29 (FWOE)

Everybody knows KARAT is spelled with a K. When it's referring to gold, that is. Why I chose to spell it with a C will be a mystery forevermore.

Four people with the first name Johnny, with their last name used in a standard phrase. I get the idea, but how does JOHNNYONTHESPOT refer to this? I was looking for places where "Johnny" could be hidden in a black square. That fits better. That being said, the four individuals are all well known, if a little outdated. When you google the name, first up is Johnny Depp, followed by Johnny Manziel (yuck), and then Johnny Cash. So that's one anyway. Johnny Rotten was born John Lydon, but is best known by his stage name.

There are some nice entries in the fill. ONSLAUGHT is excellent, as is 6D: Spanish steps? (FANDANGO), with a nice reference to Rome (ROMA?) there. A hidden capital redeems 14A: Sessions, e.g.: Abbr. (SEN). I also like the clue for 30A: Class with many unknowns: Abbr. (ALG). It's just too bad there had to be so many Abbrs. 37D: Bad name for an anger management counselor? (STU): hah!

1A: Start of a Latin 101 conjugation (AMO): D. Okay, I like Latin as much as any of us, I think. But to start a puzzle off with this sort of ancient (see what I did there?) crosswordese doesn't make us look forward to the remainder. And indeed, there is a lot of crosswordese: AJA (fine album), EDINA (there was a shocking Minneapolis suburb in the Sunday puzzle: Eagan), ADLAI, AMATI, SEGER.

I thought it was funny that UTURN almost made the full turn, crossing URN. You could read it either direction and get the same answer.

I didn't love it.

- Colum