Wednesday, January 31, 2018, Josh Radnor and Jeff Chen

6:50

What a weird-looking grid today! The middle section seems isolated from the north and south swaths of white, but the flow was not really all that bad for me. And that start of the puzzle was outstanding, with the triple stack of 8-letter answers.

So Mr. Radnor, who I recognize barely when I Google his name and see his picture, has crafted a winner of a celebrity puzzle, with Mr. Chen's expert help. I really love the revealer, which definitely wins for best revealer of the week so far (perhaps the previous two days set the bar a bit low, I admit). 50A: Calculated ... or a punny hint to 18-, 24-, 32- and 44-Across (PREMEDITATED) is a lovely way to reveal why OM- was added to each of the theme answers. I didn't need "punny" in the clue, however.

Meanwhile, the theme answers are pretty good. My favorite is 44A: Makes an unabridged humor book? (OMITSNOJOKE). It takes a definitely recognizable standard phrase ("it's no joke"), completely reworks it by adding the OM-, and then has a truly wacky clue. The idea of an immense book of jokes that leaves not a single one out is chuckle-worthy.

The others aren't quite as good, although I'm impressed by finding so many ways of using the OM- starter, particularly OMALLEYRATS, with the unexpressed apostrophe.

Meanwhile there is so much lovely stuff in the fill. I had a good feeling with 1A: Not seen by the theater audience (OFFSTAGE), perhaps a nod to Mr. Radnor's day job. But then to include the Ferris Bueller reference with DRONESON, and the fine clue at 16A: Women rush to get into it (SORORITY) was fine stuff.

I'm not convinced by OCTOPOD, but we ended with a nice reminder of things we hope to see on Sunday with TDPASSES. Oh, and 38D: It has no point (INTEGER) is going on the list of best clues of 2018.

- Colum

Tuesday, January 30, 2018, Emily Carroll

6:27

Certainly today's revealer answer is more appealing to the esthetic senses than yesterday's. Even if it brings to mind specific activities that take place at the less appealing end of your pet dog. But taken literally, HOUSEBROKEN refers to the fact that four kinds of houses are split in pieces across different answers. I find it interesting that they change levels as well. For DUP / LEX, that makes the most literal sense. For RAN / CH it makes no sense at all. I suppose an AF / RAME and a CHAL / ET could go either way.

The things I liked about this puzzle include the two long down answers. 3D: Growing problem in cities? (URBANSPRAWL) adds a decent clue. 27D: Subject of some September sports reporting (PENNANTRACE) is a bit of a tortured clue. I also really enjoyed the clue at 5A: Like the Llwynywermod royal estate (WELSH). It could be nothing else. And I challenge you to pronounce it correctly.

I can see how all those circled letters probably constrained the grid. Ms. Carroll has done an excellent job in segregating these sections of words by all of the diagonal black squares. It also makes for a bisected puzzle, which is never high on my list of things that I am fond of.

Meanwhile, my heavily penciled corrections show a slew of errors. Somehow I spelled AMNOT as AMNOn. I wanted ADmEn for ADREP, which in retrospect ignores that the clue specifies an individual, not several individuals.  I wanted GOTyou for GOTCHA and spYHOLE for KEYHOLE. And that about explains the longer time than expected for a Tuesday.

In the end, I didn't love it, but it's definitely interesting.

- Colum

Monday, January 29, 2018, Lynn Lempel

4:45

What an excellent Monday! I've been trying to be more positive in my approach to reviewing, especially in light of others in the NYT Xword blogosphere, and also in response to my sunnier co-reviewers. But today it wasn't really a stretch.

The theme is fun, outside of the negative connotations of the revealer at 62A: Diminish the work force ... or a literal hint to the answers to the four starred clues (DOWNSIZE). I like that the answers progress along the standard list of sizes of S-M-L-... uh, J? Well, I guess XL wouldn't have worked, and once you open that can of worms, in modern day America, you'd have to include XXL and XXXL, I imagine.

I also enjoyed that the sizes themselves move downward from top to bottom in their respective answers: thus SMALLWORLD has "small" at the top, while MUMBOJUMBO has its size at the bottom, with the other two in between.

Meanwhile, you find REDDIWIP and LASSI in the fill, two things that don't really do much to fill you up, in my experience. There's a NAUTICAL ADMIRAL, and Hedy LAMARR ("That's Hedley!").

MINGLER is not a great answer, and ESSES always feels a little desperate. But otherwise I have little to complain about. I appreciated having MODELUN and WEBMD on a Monday. A little tougher than usual!

- Colum

Sunday, January 28, 2018, Priscilla Clark and Jeff Chen

Surprise Endings

Fun theme today, and one that aptly describes both the theme answers in the puzzle, and today's review. I'll write the beginning of the review, and then our esteemed colleague, Mr. Amory, will takes over and who knows what he'll write. Something for us to look forward to. For once. :)

Today's theme clues summarize movie plots and then offer a twist on the endings. The answers are the corresponding movie titles with the last letter changed to match the plot twist (which is what, aptly, the circled letters spell out. Aptly!) My two favorites are LICENSETOKILT and ABOUTABOT. TAXIDRIVEL is nice, too, and we've all been there. NOLIE.

Regular readers may not be surprised to hear that I enjoyed the north east corner with AIME crossing AMOUR and with a Spanish TILDE thrown in to accent the foreign language mini theme. I also enjoyed the shout out to the old school Boston area word for soda pop, tonic.

I also liked EARCANDY, USURP, DOWEL, SPEEDDATE, DRAB, SWILLS, and PASTES.

The plural OJS for Tropicanan products isn't ACES, but nothing to open a VEIN about. It took me a long time to figure out the clue "Bon" time (SOIR), but I console myself with the thought that it's a weird clue.  :)

~Frannie.

What, it's already time for me to start blogging again? I didn't sign up for this. Oh, wait, yes I did.

No worries. I'm back from a week in sunny Los Angeles (work-related though), so what better to do than write some paragraphs on the puzzle? At first I didn't love this theme, until I picked up on the meta aspect. See, the changed letters spell out PLOTTWIST. That's fun! TAXIDRIVEL was my favorite theme answer.

My favorite non-theme answer was:

BRENT!

Let's have a fun week!

- Colum

Saturday, January 27, 2018, Mark Diehl

59:53

My time is nothing to CROW about, but at least I completed the JOB today, which cheered me up after yesterday's DNF fiasco. For me, the solve alternated between AHH (That's the spot) and WIDE (Hard to get around, say). MIDMARCH, MARIECURIE, and MOZART made the north west go like a hot knife through butter, while JANEANE and ERRATAPAGE quickly broke open the south east for me. But it was LATE before I could populate the diagonal swathe running from the bottom left to the top right. Problem areas for me included HEME (Deep red pigment), TRASHMOUTH (One spewing obscenities), and CLAMJUICE (Ingredient in a Caesar cocktail - I was sorry to learn about that. Ignorance was bliss!) I also had way too much trouble with "Word with mother or sharp" (TONGUE). That one took me forever, but it shouldn't have. I felt like  a real POMACE when I finally figured it out.

In the south west, I got nowhere fast thanks to Native of Thimphu (BHUTANI). "Tied up, in the operating room' (LIGATED) was another no know for me. And, also, ick.

I enjoyed Space race? (ALIENS) and its companion EARTHLINGS. I thought Side with? was a great clue for ABUT, even though it gave me a lot of trouble. "Hellenic character" was a nice clue, especially as there are six possible Greek letters that fit. I enjoyed BEERGUT and UMLAUTS (the rock variety in this case), and TEMPEH, although I prefer its relative, Tofu). I was surprised by the clue, "Coconuts, to a maroon on an island, maybe" (STEADYDIET). I didn't think anyone but Bugs Bunny could use maroon as a noun.

DINGER reminds me of the excellent Simpsons episode where Bart discovers that Major League Baseball is spying on everyone. When Bart asks Mark McGwire why, he replies, "do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see me sock a few dingers?"

The puzzle contained a number of words I've never encountered before including HEME, POMACE, and PAWL, while at the same time duplicating an entry from Thursday's puzzle, causing me to wonder, is SITBY the new eel?

I thought D.C body (CONG) was weak, and  I wasn't  less keen on THINKYOUNG as the answer to "Be open-minded, maybe." I am going to respectfully disagree with Mr. Diehl on this one. In my experience, open mindedness isn't  a function of age. There, I said it.

~Frannie.

Friday, January 26, 2018, Caleb Madison

DNF

I ran out of time today. I had to get some answers from Horace so I could finish the puzzle and get the review out before the clock strikes midnight. I'm not sure I could have finished even if I had more time. Mr. Madison and I do not appear to be on the same clue/answer wavelength. I was able to fill in the bottom half of the grid, but on the way to the top, my ability to figure out the answers MAKESAUTURN - and not in a good way. I didn't  know TORTA, NYRANGERS, EROS, CARRERE, or LORDE in the north east. I should have been able to get SPLIT and SITINON (among others) but I had tried so  many different guesses up there that I had some wrong letters stranded in the grid and wrong-headed notions stuck in my mind. In the north west, it was KARATEKID, ANION, and AKON for the block.

Sharp-looking footwear (STILETTOS) was nice, likewise "Act without originality" for COVERBAND, but generally speaking, I found the clues in this puzzle less apt than I like. In particular, I didn't like "Dead" for INANIMATE or "Sloppy planting job?" for WETKISS. And, I might clue both KIDDO and REUNE as WORDVOMIT.

~Frannie.

Thursday, January 25, 2018, Alex Eaton-Salners

33:04

Today, we go ISLANDHOPPING (Yachter's itinerary, maybe, or a hint to understanding the answers to the starred clues) and boy am I pooped. Ha. The revealer is encircled by four theme answers, each harboring an island within it that has to be "hopped" to connect the beginning and end of the answer word. My favorite was S/CUBA/TANK (CUBA/STANK) (Smelled). I couldn't help but think of Hoobastank, a band, I read on the Wikipedia, that initially signed with Island Records. Quelle coincidence! Of the other three island visits, I stayed the longest on CON/CRETE/S because it was surrounded on all sides by the unknown: to the north and south by OLINE and ORS and to the east and west by CANOEING and NOHO -  I knew this last one was some kind of HO, I just didn't know which direction to go with it. It didn't help that OLES and RAHS have been so drummed into me, that it took me a minute to figure out today's "Stadium sounds" (ROARS).

9D (Part of España) confused me briefly, too. I very much wanted something like estado, but that was incorrecto. TILDE was a nice twist. Likewise, I thought "Is from Issy?" (EST) was a nice twist, but that one didn't trick me. Other fun clues were Tiniest complaint (PEEP) and Ball boy? (DESI).

Interesting to learn about the book, "Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages." I wasn't aware of it, but I sure wish I had thought of that idea first.

We have another royal appearance today (WILLIAM), along with a relative of a royal (PIPPA). Horace and I have recently been enjoying "The Windors," a spoof of the current British Royal Family on The Netflix. The Pippa character is a hoot.

Durant and Love may be greats in the NBA, but KEVINS isn't great fill, and TEL (Hotel room feature: Abbr.) is weak, but really, that's all I have to complain about. I loved SADLOT, OHSNAP, EVILTWIN, BERTOLT, MONOCLE, INDENIAL, and SUAVE. And while there were a number of three-letter chestnuts (EDU, ANT, ONO, the aforementioned EST) most were enhanced with fun or interesting clues. Certainly not enough to end on a SOURNOTE.

~Frannie.