Friday, September 7, 2018, Josh Knapp

0:10:18

A smooth, fun Friday, if a little SPEEDY. Much of it fell on the first GOROUND for me, and what didn't fall just right didn't do much harm. I guessed bAnAnATREE, for "17A: Part of a Central American grove," but the As still worked, so it wasn't all bad. :) Oh, and that reminds me of a good clue - "15D: What a colon might denote" (EYES).

 

The corners are chunky, especially the NW and SE, which contain stacked tens crossed by triple-sevens. (Jackpot!) The crosses are definitely better up top, with DOPPLER, INAHOLE, and STPAULS. And I'll throw in CHASTE, too, for the Shakespeare (Cymbeline) clue "As ____ as unsunn'd snow." In the SE we've got the unusual TENTBED (35D: Comfy safari digs) (Huh.), WETCELL (37D: Battery type) (not too common anymore, are they?), two proper names, and WASABI (40D: Hot green stuff), which is always welcome.

I liked QUICKSAND (23A: It takes time to sink in), ABOMINABLE (47A: Foul), SHEAVE (38D: Bundle up), LAUNCHPADS (26D: What shuttles leave from), and SKETCHBOOK (9D: Resource for an artist to draw on?). That's a lot of nice, long material. And HEADSHOPS (41A: Pipe sellers) is timely for solvers in Massachusetts. I just read an article about hopeful head-shop-owners trying to get through all the necessary permitting and licensing so they can open up in Harvard Square. I'll still believe it when I see it, but supposedly, it's going to happen.

There's almost no glue in here. Maybe BARER, or the one-L IDYL... and BALDPATE and REPROVE are a little unusual, but it's not much. Clean, full of interesting answers, just a bit quick, maybe.

- Horace

Thursday, September 6, 2018, Jeff Chen

0:15:25

First of all, did anyone else see the little flashes that occurred when certain letters were put in? I think mine said "1/2 Done!" and "3/4 Done!," but I am not sure, because they kind of puffed out of the square and disappeared, and the first time it happened, I had already moved on to look at the next clue. For me, they appeared when I filled in the very SE square (last letter of 56-Down), and then the last letter of 59-Down. And those two answers aren't even part of the theme, so I think it must just be a new thing that shows your progress. And btw, I'm solving on a laptop on the web version. Not in Across Lite or the iPad app.

Anywhoo, that little bit of weirdness aside, we've got a nice puzzle today with an iceberg in it. I'm not sure whether the black squares are trying to make a picture of an iceberg or not, but we know it's in there because the tip of it is floating just above the surface of the puzzle! The letters I-C-E-B-E-R-G must be assumed above every other column, starting with 2-Down. I figured the C out pretty early on with [C]OVERCHARGES (4D: Entry fees), and then I think I got [I]SLAM and [E]MERGES, so for a while I thought it might just be "ICE" up there, maybe twice. Eventually, though, I got [B]ARES (7D: Exposes) and everything clicked.

The beautiful thing is that each theme answer is still a word without the hidden letter, but is clued to force it. It makes me wonder if this could ever happen accidentally. If I went back and carefully scrutinized every NYT puzzle, could I make words that would stick off the top (or sides or bottom) in a regular pattern? Seems unlikely, but who knows? These words all look pretty normal - "slam," "unit," "Ares," ... Seems like it could be a good project for someone like David Steinberg. How 'bout it, Dave? It would be pretty cool if you found one! And then, as a follow up question, could you then re-submit the exact same puzzle with new clues to support the found word(s)? Sounds like it could be "transformative use" to me!

Great clues today. The afore-pictured KONG was wonderful, "Exchange of swear words?" makes IDOS totally acceptable, "It's between an A and a B" (NINETY) was tricky. (I feel like on a Saturday, the articles would have been left out, which would have made it even harder.)

It's a shame about SEARACE crossing PRATE, but, well, what are you going to do? It's not the worst I've seen. And I'm kind of amused by ATEOF (40A: Tasted), but I would have been more amused if the clue had been "Tasted, biblically." Heh. No. Maybe not.

Fun, Thursday, and a solid start to the Turn!

- Horace

Wednesday, September 5, 2018, Erik Agard, Amanda Chung, and Karl Ni

0:07:28

Opening Day for the NFL is tomorrow! Neither team playing in the first game is in this puzzle, but six other teams are, and they are "built" by way of compound clues. As in, 24A: Frat dude + Cpls. and sgts. (BRO + NCOS =  BRONCOS). Or, better yet, 50A: Butter square + Hilarious people (PATRIOTS). Excellent. The most obscure clue for me was the TI of TITANS ("Whatever You Like" rapper), but the crosses were more than fair. I like the theme, I like the revealer, TEAMBUILDING, and I like the bonus theme material - CHEERLEAD (18A: Root on) and KNEEL (37A: Take a stand by not standing).

Three other sports crowd into the puzzle, with TENTHINNING (11D: Bonus in baseball), NHLGAME (45D: Stanley Cup matchup, e.g.), and my favorite, 57A: Course overseer, for short (PGA).

The fill had a few rough spots. LUNISOLAR seems to be a thing, but it's not a super common thing, and I suppose UBUNTU is super common to many, but not to me. Add to that OAS (Organization of American States), ARI, NAE, ONES, TWOS, ORA and ORO, and you've got a noticeable amount of glue.

But then you've also got THEDOGATEIT (3D: Classic schoolkid's alibi), IVEGOTAPLAN (27D: "Hmm, leave this to me"), DATELINE (40D: It runs down the middle of the Pacific), and NOFEWERTHAN (25D: At least), which is kind of a lot of bonus long material.

On balance, I'm giving it a thumbs up. Turns out I was ready for some football.

- Horace

Tuesday, September 4, 2018, Bruce Haight

0:04:26

The "A-T"s is the theme today. My least favorite musical decade (that I've lived through) (see: OATES), but a fine Tuesday crossword puzzle theme. Three of the four theme answers are in every day use, but I wanted ANCHORTENANT (63-Across, once) (really, but not really) to be "anchor store." Still, it's fine. Besides,  "ATEIs," "tBERT," "oOISE," FrNG," "AeDHOW," and "INI_" didn't work. Heh. I can't believe I just typed all that out. What's more, I can't believe I'm going to leave it in my review! :)

It's a WORLDCLASS blog I tell ya. WORLDCLASS.  :)

I like all the two- and three-word answers today. UPFOR (12D: Enthused about), GOTBY (13D: Coped, barely), IMOFF (1A: "Gotta go!"), TAGUP, ASIAM (32A: Just the way you see me), NOSIR (49D: Polite refusal), and ANDHOW (47D: "You can say that again!"), to name just seven. And then, of course, there's also PIANOTUNER (11D: One involved with a grand opening?). Great clue there. And speaking of clues, my last letter was the V of MVP (54A: Star athlete, for short). After I got the "Congratulations" screen, I went back to look once more at "55D: Pair of skivvies?," and wouldn't you know it, they got me again! I just could not make sense of that when I was solving, but after the fact, I see it's yet another meta-clue (there are two Vs in skivvies) that stumped me. UGH!

Fine theme with good bits (SPURN, LOIN, WREST, SOLAR) scattered around. A fine Tuesday.

- Horace

Monday, September 3, 2018, Trent H. Evans

0:04:13

The progression today changes from sitting, to standing, to walking, to running, and once running, the CHASE goes on with NOEND in sight. I don't actually think that 1-Across and 65-Across are part of the theme, but they kind of go along with it if you open your mind a bit. YIPES!, I'm not getting all "Show me your AURA, BRO," I'm just saying that a reviewer MAKESDO with the material that s/he is given. GEESE! :)

Seriously, though, the theme is solid. All the phrases are completely quotidian (in the good way), and the progression is strong. Sure, I started writing in RUNNINGgag, but when I saw I was going to have one square left I changed it right away.

Another thing is that the theme is not overdone, which gives some LEA-way for a few excellent Downs: AWKWARDAGE (11D: Middle school years, notably), ARROWHEADS (28D: Images on Kansas City Chiefs' helmets), and PARAGON (43D: Model of excellence). There's a DAB of AAS, OSS, ARI, RIC, and UKE, but it's not overwhelming.

I'd say it's a very nice debut puzzle (Congratulations, Mr. Evans!), and a solid start to the week.

Happy Labor Day to all!

- Horace

Sunday, September 2, 2018, Tom McCoy

GOING HEAD TO HEAD

A fun theme of classic foes going head to head. It's more like back to back, in my opinion, but then that wouldn't be much of a pun, so I guess I'll agree with Mr. McCoy. And really, the heads of each word are touching, so... it's fine. What am I complaining about!

And a pretty nice trick it is to have made eight of these work. SUESEHTMINOTAUR (22A: Showdown in Greek mythology) was the one that finally broke it for me, and by then I had quite a few crosses in place for the others, which let them all fell pretty fast. Well, all except OIRAMBOWSER (28A: Showdown in classic video games) because I did not know the name Bowser. In fact, I didn't know ELISE (15D: Stefanik who is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress) (30, NY) either, and guessed a "z" in that spot at first, leading to a FWOE. AHME.

I enjoyed quite a bit the bonus material found in the Downs today, especially NOSTRILS (4D: They're found under a bridge) (Tricky!), COOKIECUTTER (60D: Undistinguished, as many a subdivision house), AMENTOTHAT (3D: "I couldn't agree more"), and NOCALLLIST (75D: Numbers to avoid) (All those Ls!). What I thought was a bit UNIDEAL were things like NOWISE (37A: Not in any way), SCHS (47A: Univs., e.g.), and WORST (38D: Defeat). Can that even be used in that way? "It was the WORST WORST in the team's history." "That WORST really stung!" "The thrill of victory, the agony of WORST." What am I not understanding here?

Still, there's only a little bit of junk, and overall I really liked this puzzle. The cluing was lively (18A: Strong suit? (ARMOR), 11A: Word that looks like its meaning when written in lowercase (BED), 66A: Brightly colored blazer (SUN), 34A: Tours can be seen on it (LOIRE)), and the theme was well done.

Thumbs up!

- Horace

Saturday, September 1, 2018, Randolph Ross

0:19:50

I fought with this Saturday puzzle right down to m last letter, which for me was the O of STIMSON (1D: Secretary of war to Taft, Roosevelt and Truman) and OLES (24A: Encouraging words). I just looked at xwordinfo.com to see if "Encouraging words" had ever been used to clue OLES before, and it turns out that it has been, twice, both in the 1990s. So it's new to me. But that wasn't the only thing that slowed me down.

The central Down entry in this unusual grid pattern, EASTERNER (19D: Connecticut Yankee, e.g.) was another one. I was not aware that the term was so general. And I'm not familiar with the phrase NOTHINGBURGER either. CONTORTIONIST (15D: One who gets bent out of shape), on the other hand, I am all too familiar with. We recently saw the Cirque du Soleil, and the contortionist in the show that night seemed to have no spine at all. There were moments in his performance where I honestly could not be sure which were arms and which were legs. So disturbing.

I'm not sure I buy TENMILE as a "Road Runners' race classification." The only one that I've ever heard of was Charlie's Road Race in Worcester, but that was back in the '80s! Are there others? Well, I guess Mr. Ross must know of a few...

 

But I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. I enjoyed the challenge, I liked many of the entries, and I thought the SE corner was particularly nice. But still... I guess I didn't love it.