Wednesday, February 28, 2018, Peter A. Collins

0:07:00

Yikes! A TRIGonometry-based theme! What else should we expect from a constructor whose day job is being a math teacher, I suppose, but it's bound to HITANERVE with some folks. And I admit, I was more comfortable "being graded on a scale" in MUSICSCHOOL, or learning about BRECHT or ECUADOR, THANI was dealing with functions. I'm sure, though, that some of our regular readers will be delighted, and for that, I am happy.

The "container answers" as we'll call them, are all fine. STAYSINSIDE (17A: Is a recluse) is just two words smashed together, whereas MORSECODE (52A: Where S is ...) (Nice!) is a two-word phrase you hear together all the time. In fact, you can barely hear either of those words without thinking of the other. But STAYSINSIDE is clued fairly, and really, I don't have as much of a problem with "just two words smashed together" as some people do. Speaking of which, I chuckled at the clue for LEFTRIGHT (35A: When repeated, marching orders?) when I finally understood it. Ha!

There's some nice mid-length material in STAMINA, EPDEMIC, ZEALOTS, and RAMRODS, but that middle section was pretty brutal. RETOW (28D: Haul back to the auto pound) next to VIRNA (29D: Actress ____ Lisi of "How to Murder Your Wife") (Who?) crossed by ONAT (41A: Go ____  great length)... none of it made any sense to me for what seemed like a long time.

In stark contrast to yesterday's opener, I loved today's: 1A: Like recollections of people trying to avoid perjury? (HAZY). Hahahahaha! Very nice.

- Horace

p.s. The clue/answer 23A: Marshall's successor on the Supreme Court (THOMAS) is the saddest thing I've read in quite some time.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018, Ross Trudeau

0:06:03 (with major mistake that took quite a while to discover)

So what do we think of starting a puzzle with 1A: On VHS, say (TAPED)? Me, I don't love it. The word has never been clued exactly like that before, but do we want to be so dated? Wouldn't it be dreamier to dream up a new clue that's more modern? Oh well, I can dream, can't I...

Hmmm... that reminds me of something... oh, right, the theme! Four clues using the word "dream:"

19A: "Montage of a Dream Deferred" poet (LANGSTONHUGHES) - Excellent.
29A: "The Interpretation of Dreams" writer (SIGMUNDFREUD) - Hack.
39A: "Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening" artist (SALVADORDALI) - Provoking and entertaining, but was he great?
52A: "All I Have to Do Is Dream" singers (EVERLYBROTHERS) - Ahh... nostalgia...

Interesting that the theme exists only in the clues. I wonder how many times that's happened? I don't remember any off the top of my head in the last few years.

I liked the paring of APPLEPIE and PARADIGM, and ARISTOTLE and TAMARIND are always welcome.

My mistake was half-reading the long clue for 43D, "Businesses that tend to be busiest at the starts and ends of months" and entering MOVing without much thought. Then when I finished, it took me over a minute before I noticed RiDALERTS, GnUB, and EgP. Those three boxes would all have been EXES at the tournament, and I would have been very, very disappointed. Let that be a lesson to me! On Thursday I start printing the puzzles out and solving on paper (as Colum has been doing for about a month already!). We'll see if I can avoid any FWOEs (or worse) after that.

I hope your solve went smoothly.

- Horace

Monday, February 26, 2018, Mark Diehl and Andrea Carla Michaels

0:04:14

Strange little theme of finding an old SAW - "Still waters run deep" - in the first words of four theme answers. The theme answers themselves are all common enough, although I tend to associate DEEPTHOUGHTS (52A: "What is life?," "Why are we here?," etc.) with comedy rather than philosophy, thanks to one Mr. Jack Handy, whose DEEPTHOUGHTS run more like this:

If God dwells inside us, like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that’s what He’s getting!

ORLON is a lousy word (coined in 1941 by Dupont) and a lousier fabric. Synthetics release hundreds of thousands of microparticles into the water stream each time they are washed. You may think the shirt is CLEAN, but it makes the EEL and his friends DOUR. Kind of takes the SHEEN off of all those artificial fabrics, eh?

I enjoyed SMOLDERS (4D: Burns slowly) and its neighbor AIRKISS (5D: Simulated smooch), and maybe I'm just giddy, but the clue for GIANT (39A: "Fee-fi-fo-fum" sayer) also made me chuckle. KEENLY (44D: With enthusiasm) is nice, and I prefer seeing AEIOU (33D: "Wheel of Fortune" purchases) to the singular "an o" or "an i" any day.

Overall, I thought this was a perfectly serviceable Monday.

- Horace

Sunday, February 25, 2018, Will Nediger

LETTER RECYCLING

We love recycling around here, so this cross-referenced, letter-borrowing puzzle was right up our alley. The theme answers were perfectly symmetrical, which I find kind of amazing, and the theme answers, while not really scintillating, were solid enough. Our favorite over here was NATHANHALE/ETHANALLAN.

SWATS (5A: Tries to beat the buzzer?) was amusing, and FLUB (43A: Screw up) got a chuckle, as did NAILEDIT (28D: Sarcastic response to a fail). I dropped in "eskerS" at 11D: Glacial ridges (ARETES). D'oh! They meant the kind of ridge that's cut away, not the kind of ridge that's deposited. Sometimes, I guess, it's possible to know too much about quaternary geology. :)

31A: Order to go (MUSH) was tricky, and I could not think of KEYUP (19A: Energize) for the life of me. I kept thinking of "pep up" and even "gin up." Hmph. 

The fill was pretty solid, without too much crosswordese. Well, ok, maybe ODEA and ORES, but they don't GRATE too much. Good cluing (69A: You can lend one without letting go of it (EAR)), interesting fill (FIGMENT), and a Gilbert and Sullivan reference (MIKADO), what's not to like?

My favorite clue/answer - 117A: Sun spot? (SKY). Hahahahahahaa! That's some quality work right there.

- Horace

Well, I'm not so high on this theme. So they're synonyms that use the same letters. Not enough for me, although I see how the amount of crossing answers adds a level of difficulty to the construction. Truth is, the answers themselves just aren't interesting enough.

My grid (in pen) is a mess of mistakes. I tried erE at 32D: Word before "before" (USE), thinking it was a clever way of talking about archaicisms. But no, it was just a random word before "before." I also tried Pac at 44A: Fund-raising org. (PTA). WENTSolo was corrected fairly quickly to WENTSTAG.

I do like the odd letter collections of CDTOWER, SURFNTURF and MODELTS. And EGBERT went in right off the clue, so there's useless knowledge for you.

I think my standards were raised unnecessarily high by the last several days. Ah well. Over to you, Horace!

- Colum

Saturday, February 24, 2018, John Guzzetta

10:40

Yes! I've been loving doing the puzzle this week, from Wednesday through Saturday (and even Monday and Tuesday were not so terrible). Today's is not nearly so stunning as yesterday's, and it was easier to boot.

I finished all but the NW corner in just over 7 minutes, which left nearly 4 minutes for that section alone. Of course, our most devoted readers will know that I don't love the ultrasegmentation of the grid, which leaves the NW and SE corners as their own minipuzzles. Still, they're large enough sections that it felt like there were multiple possible toeholds to get in.

I broke in with EST, CRU, and NEO in the SW corner. Crosswordese to the rescue! I'm not sure I agree with the tone of 31D: Slow and steady types (PLODDERS). Couldn't one rather think of them as careful, or meticulous? Meanwhile, each of the long answers at 32A, 31A, and 28A went in off the first letter alone. SLIPPERYSLOPE is such a wonderful term. And we don't know anything about BINGEWATCHING in this household.

By the way, has anybody seen Scott and Bailey, a British detective series starring two women with another woman as their Detective Chief Superintendent? It's so well done, we've been watching it non-stop round here.

Oh. Yeah, about that binge watching? Um...

The other long answers in the corners are quite good as well. I particularly like CANTILEVERS and RUMORMONGER.

I was not convinced by RESHIPS until I finished the puzzle and looked at it again. The clue, 21D: Forwards, is quite vague. I had __SHIPS, and was convinced it would be a nautical direction. Thus I missed the actual meaning of receiving a package and sending it along to where it was meant to end up. Between that answer and COLLET, I was definitely worried I might have FWOE'd, but all is well that ends well, as they say.

26D: Buster of myths (SNOPES) gets my nod for favorite answer of the day.

- Colum

Friday, February 23, 2018, Trenton Charlson

15:59

This has been a great turn so far, especially if you include Wednesday's surprise rebus puzzle. Today's Friday themeless was everything I look for in a strong themeless puzzle. So many strong entries, some fun clues, and a tough corner I had to really work hard to figure out.

The layout of the grid is a classic. The longest words are only seven letters long, but there are 36 of them (!). The onus is on the constructor to make the puzzle zing, and to avoid too much glue to make it hold together.

My first entry was very encouraging. 8A: Co-star of "The Office" who played Ryan Howard (BJNOVAK). Oh, all those crunchy Scrabbley letters. This corner filled in fast. 8D: Ghostwriters lack them (BYLINES) is excellent. ASTARTE, KEEBLER (I do love those E.L.Fudge cookies), LUDDITE. Wonderful stuff.

I swung counterclockwise into the NW. 21D: Top part of a face (XII) is a nice misdirection. 7D: The point of church above all? (STEEPLE) is just silly fun. I was going great guns at this point. NOXZEMA, OXIDATE, DADJOKE. Such great words.

My first difficulties came in the SW corner. I had put RIotACT in at 57A: Mob law? (RICOACT). I'd say I wasn't far off, but the correct letters made me reluctant to take anything out. I left some letters blank once I had put in HEATMAP and saw 58D: Published (OUT) and had tUT in place. I just couldn't come up with any reason why that would be right. In the end, figuring out CAPTCHA, an excellent contemporary reference, cleared up the confusion.

The SE corner was actually my hardest, and it was definitely my fault. With only the ____O at 62A: Creamy Italian dish (RISOTTO), I popped in alfredO. That's not a dish. It's a sauce. I should have known better. I even wanted SADIE at 51D!

I love 41D: Stage holdup? (CUECARD). Dated? Sure, but great stuff. Also, IMPIETY and XSANDOS, which fooled me only for a short period. 41A: Baker's shortcut (CAKEMIX) was also wonderful.

I will not OPINE on any negatives today. Strong work, Mr. Charlson, AMIRITE?

- Colum

Thursday, February 22, 2018, Zhouqin Burnikel

10:50

Mmmm... this was such a wonderful Thursday puzzle, just the antidote to a crazy crazy day at work. That plus a nice glass of wine, don't you know.

60A: Backtracking ... or what 170, 27- and 46-Across are doing? (REVERSINGCOURSE) explains the clever stuff that's going on in the other three long clues. Three different examples of "courses" are placed in the grid backwards. Thus 17A: Home of the Masters (that is, Augusta National) shows up in the grid as LANOITANATSUGUA. Do you know what's really crazy here? I had the ____ANAT____, and unfortunately, the "...ional" fit in the remaining squares in the standard direction! This set me back for a while.

The other two "courses" are pre-algebra (27A: Something unknowns are introduced in - ARBEGLAERP - I love that clue), and appetizers (46A: Starters - SREZITEPPA). Such a great idea, and so well executed.

But you get lovely additions, as is to be expected with Ms. Burnikel's work. GONDOLA... PICANTE... SHREDS. There's the outstanding 3D: "Easy! Everything will be O.K." (DONTPANIC).

I really loved the clue at 11D: Nonmonetary donation (ORGAN). Also 68A: What bagpipes are often played in (KILTS) - not a musical key. Which by the way is typically in the key of OH MY GOD THAT'S SO FREAKING LOUD.

The pièce de resistance was AUNATUREL crossing LEISURE. And that clue! 39A: It's not working. Hah!

- Colum