Friday, November 30, 2018, Robyn Weintraub

0:10:56

Ms. Weintraub is quickly becoming one of my favorite constructors. This puzzle was a delight! Right from the first clue (a gimme, for old people like me) 1A: "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" singer, 1972 (CROCE), I had a good feeling about it. In fact, the first three answers went in like it was a Monday, but after that I needed several crosses before the excellent HOLDMYBEER (13A: Modern phrase said before doing something foolish) became clear.

Good clues were everywhere today.

15A: Coping mechanisms? - SAWS
20A: One might tell you to do the math - TUTOR - Hah!
22A: Warm and toasty, e.g.: Abbr. - SYNS
54A: Employer of some shepherds - CANINEUNIT
12D: Message that might be sent in a storm? - TWEET
47D: Plastered - GONE 

I also appreciated the updated clues for STYE (16D: Possible reason to forgo mascara), CHE (24D: Jost's "Weekend Update" co-anchor), and even EGOS (31D: Bigwigs may have big ones).

And then there was all the sparkly fill:

EMPTYNESTERS - 5D: They may have rooms to spare
NANNYSTATE - 11D: Overprotective government, so to speak
ACOLYTE - 23A: Follower
ABBEYROAD - 30D: "Something" can be heard on it
COINOPERATED - 21D: Like many laundromat appliances

I'll take a little OLIN, ELIE, and TCU for all that puzzling goodness.

Loved it.

- Horace

Thursday, November 29, 2018, Herre Schouwerwou

0:18:45 (F.W.O.E.)

Boy, this grid looks weird, doesn't it? I love seeing that circle in the middle, but I can't help wishing there were some way to enter something into it! Not that it would have made sense here, but still...

Arrowed answers today need to be answered "in a roundabout way." I think the arrows gave away a bit too much, maybe, but it still took me a little while to figure out that I had to take the first exit in the rotary rather than driving all the way through and continuing straight ahead.

This is TOLE. Who knew?

I think all five theme answers are strong. SPROUTWINGS (33A: Become angelic, figuratively) was my favorite.

And there's lots of interesting fill material, too. BRACERO (54A: Seasonal migrant worker from Mexico) is nice and topical, what with all the immigration noise lately, and THRASH, STROBE, BOTCH, OOLITES (Lucky I was just at a gem & mineral show a week or two ago!), and ROOFTOP are all quite good. I am not too familiar with the term LACKWIT (23D: Blockhead), but I like both it and its clue, so that's all good.

I was tripped up by 16A: President in the 2009 film "Invictus." (MANDELA). I entered "Freeman," but they wanted the president portrayed, not the portrayer of the president. My error came just before that, at 15A: Patsy (SCHNOOK). I entered SCHmOOK, thinking, apparently, that it might be an alternate spelling of "schmuck." 9D: Old channel that showed "Hee Haw" didn't help, because Hee Haw originally aired on CBS, and then it was in syndication, and Wikipedia lists it being on TNN from 1996-1997. Anyway, I should have known that TmN wasn't any network at all, I guess. Gotta be more careful!

There's a little glue (SIMI and KEA are my least favorite, but why? I usually like geographical answers...), but not too much, and not nearly enough to diminish the fun of a good ol' crazy Thursday puzzle. Great start to The Turn!

- Horace

Wednesday, November 28, 2018, David J. Kahn

0:13:08

I love France, but I did not love this puzzle. Its theme of FRENCHREVOLUTION - the "Historical event suggested by each of the six groups of circled letters," was just ok. The circles are symmetrical, which is nice, and I'm sure that to have 28 triple-checked squares and a 16-letter revealer must have really handcuffed the constructor (I sure hope it did!), but I'm not sure that the final result was worth it.

The living room in the house I grew up in had French doors, but I had to look them up just now to realize that. And French cuffs are probably equally unfamiliar to most people. The best of the circles is obviously French pastry.

We have tried to reduce our criticism of weak fill here at the blog, but today I can't help myself. I'll keep it to a simple list:

MIFF - Not normally seen in the present tense.
APSES, ESTERS,  - plurals of crosswordeses
BADACTOR, KICKUPAROW, INAPT, FEDIN - uncommon, odd expressions
OLAF - minor character who appeared on and off between 1989 and 1999.
OCTA, AREEL, OLE, RUBIK, MIR, ESTEE, EEO, HOC, OSA, ERTE, FARO, OOP, AGORA - Tired, old, crosswordese.
ISERE, OSSO, TULLE, BENNY, ALMA, ICC, DRT - Specialized or obscure knowledge most commonly found in crosswords.
RON Darling - last played in 1995, but he was a Met, and he is still in broadcasting, so I guess it's fair for New York sports fans.

Some of that would be fine. Not all of that.

But I'll end with some entries that I liked:

HAWKED - 35A: Peddled - Nice words, both.
USERID - 40A: Surfing moniker - An unexpected and fresh answer!
ART - 9D: "What you can get away with, according to Andy Warhol - So true.
DEANS - 13D: Emory board feature? - Emory University, I presume. Kind of a cute, if nearly impossible clue.
WHIRL - 30D: Attempt, informally

Here's to looking forward to BETTERDAYS.

- Horace

Tuesday, November 27, 2018, Erik Agard

0:06:28

I liked this puzzle because, for me anyway, it put up more of a fight than I am used to on Tuesdays, and its theme was one that I thought was fresh and well-done.

Let's take the theme first. The revealer, GOTTARUN (59A: Parting words from 18-, 23-, 36- and 54-Across?) cutely anthropomorphizes the other theme answers, all of which can be said to "run." And those other four are all perfect. Sure, maybe someone would argue that not every FRIEDEGG runs, but I would counter-argue that those people are frying their eggs incorrectly. And I might further argue that not every candidate should actually run for office... but that would just make everyone sad, and that's not what we're about here. :)

Now let's talk about my shortcomings. Have you got the time? Why can I never remember the spelling of UHURA's name? Luckily, crosses eventually corrected my initial attempt. And I really wanted to be able to come up with BORNEO (7D: Largest Asian island) without crosses, and spent not a little time blankly staring at the empty squares, but in the end a couple crosses were necessary. WOMANISM (3D: Social theory popularized by Alice Walker), on the other hand, I had no hope of getting without crosses. I should have, sure, and Frannie, maybe, dropped it in, but not me. And one last thing - my ego swelled a bit after entering adenOID at "25D: Neck gland," only to have to slowly extract it as letter after letter turned out to be wrong. And ok, sure, maybe the adenoids are slightly higher than the neck... but jeez!

Other things I enjoyed: SUNGOD, DUKEITOUT, NONAMES, RETINUES, and HOTHOTHOT. And how 'bout how they just dropped "soca" in the clue like we all know everything there is to know about Lord Shorty and his "soul of calypso" genre? SLY.

Overall, I thought this puzzle was LIT.

- Horace

Monday, November 26, 2018, Evan Kalish

0:03:55

It could be argued that anyone who solves crossword puzzles, and certainly anyone who reads this blog, is a nerd. And given that, everyone I am reaching now will have enjoyed discovering a hidden nerd in the five theme answers today. My favorites are DINNERDATE (32A: Partner at a table for two) and BANNERDAYS (42A: Times when everything goes perfectly), because those are perfectly normal and they both conjure up pleasant thoughts. DESIGNERDRUG and WEINERDOG conjure up unpleasant things, and SCREENERDVDS seems like it shouldn't really be a thing anymore, what with the streaming and all.

In the central West of the puzzle are two conversational answers that you don't see very often - HIDEME (28D: Plea from a fugitive) and ANDITSGOOD (29D: Announcer's cry after a successful field goal attaempt). (That second one is something the Vikings are wishing they heard a couple more times last night!) The rest of the fill holds little that is scintillating, but I did enjoy seeing HOARDS (10D: Stockpiles), and SEVERE (22D: Extreme). ARGUER, RVERS, GMOS, and TOV were less enjoyable.

Overall, it was a fine Monday. And on a personal note, I'm happy I was able to start the week cleanly.

- Horace

Sunday, November 25, 2018, Joon Pahk

SILENT FINALES

I am thankful, at the end of this Thanksgiving weekend, for having been reminded all week by Colum that there are plenty of things to be thankful for. Even while SEALEVEL rises and rhetoric sinks, we can find things to keep our spirits on an even keel. One of which, cited on Wednesday, the very raison d'être of this blog, is the NYT crossword, which today made me smile yet again.

Today's puzzle is just what a big Sunday grid ought to be. It's got a word-game like title that perfectly describes its theme, and that theme is executed beautifully with examples found in both Across and Down answers. By the addition of a final, silent E, common phrases are made to answer contrived clues, and I'm pretty sure that every single one of them made me smile. Well, all except maybe BYEALLRIGHTS (38A: What you're effectively saying when you sign a waiver?), because while this is a nice warning to those who do not read what they are signing, not all contracts need be agreed to as is. Negotiate, people! And walk away when the terms are not just. Mini-TIRADE over.

The rest of them, beginning right away with ASTARISBORNE (23A: Photo caption for the winning team's M.V.P. being carried off the field?) and ending with CASTELOTS (81D: Places for specific social classes to park?) were absurdly amusing. My favorite might actually be the straightforward and short SEMIPROSE (67A: Piece of writing that's half in verse?). It's funny because it's true!

In addition to the amusing and satisfying theme, the fill had lots to like as well. ATHEEL (65D: Following close behind), SCRAPE (42D: Minor altercation), APOLOGIA (22A: Formal defense), and UMPTEEN (70D: Scads of) were all unusual and fun. And the clues for MISSPELL (25A: Get an F in physics?) and EAST (83D: Heading in the right direction?) were excellent, despite the "north on top" bias displayed in that last one.


This is what I consider a BESTCASE Sunday crossword. It provides a LETHEAN ESCAPE from the daily BANE of CBSNEWS. The Romans were right: We need such bread and circuses, and for them, I am thankful.

- Horace

Saturday, November 24, 2018, David Steinberg

7:56

Thanksgiving week is done, and the mad dash of commercialism leading up to Christmas is upon us. So as my last thanks of the week, let me express gratitude for the quiet moments in life. Companionable time spent reading with a friend, walking a dog in the woods, a warm drink in hand after a cold day outside. Sometimes it's nice to get away from the yammer of constant updates and news alerts and tweets. And thanks to all of our readers for allowing me to wax poetical this week.

Today's puzzle went by remarkably quick, helped by knowing immediately 1A from my days of watching Dora the Explorer with my kids. The entire N third of the puzzle was done in under a minute. I was most amazed by finding that NIETZSCHE's name is nine letters long. Only the Germans and other Northern European speakers can make a two-syllable word have that many letters.

I was mightily impressed by the quality of all six 15-letter answers. SWIPERNOSWIPING, YERTLETHETURTLE, and THECLAWSCOMEOUT all are colorful and fun answers. The other three are not on the same level, but are elevated by their clues. I particularly enjoyed 17A: It's not backed up (IDLESPECULATION).

Two answers for the price of one pic

The quality of the crossing answers is also high for these kinds of triple-stack puzzles. I really fell for 5D: Trio of mummies (EMS) yet again! 58D: Member of a crossword aviary? (EMU) is an odd sort of way to acknowledge the crosswordese of this venerable feathered friend. I'm not sure the "?" is merited, though. It seemed like such a straightforward answer!

Otherwise, outside of the bland INITIATOR and NCOS, I had little to complain about. Nice work, Mr. Steinberg! One of my favorites of your efforts.

- Colum