Sunday, September 1, 2019

Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post crossword, “A House Divided” – Jim Q’s writeup

Constant WaPo solvers may remember a relatively recent “house themed” puzzle back in April this year and another in January (both very clever and memorable). Before you start wondering if Evan’s true calling was residential architecture rather than crossword construction, it’s worth noting that this week’s Washington Post Magazine is an issue that’s dedicated to the divisive nature of CONGRESS. And also… it’s still a damn clever puzzle. That being said, if you ever want to know about different types of houses, I’m sure Evan has researched them all. Send him an e-mail.

THEME: Types of houses are literally “divided,” and the letters that divide them spell out the revealer.

Washington Post, September 1, 2019, Evan Birnholz, “A House Divided” solution grid

THEME ANSWERS:

• 21A [Like flowers recently placed in a vase] FRESH CUT. Hut. C.
• 25A [Avoid making a hurtful comment, say] BITE YOUR TONGUE. Yurt. O. Nice to see “YOUR” instead of “ONE’S.” I never quite understood why puzzles typically insist on the latter pronoun instead of the commonly accepted vernacular. I suppose it uses letters that are more cross-friendly?
• 35A [Escaping] BREAKING LOOSE. Igloo. N.
• 55A [Process of separating genetic material into pieces] DNA FRAGMENTATION. A-Frame. G.
• 67A [“Complicated” singer] AVRIL LAVIGNE. Villa. R.
• 81A [Criminal offense often considered less serious than a felony] GROSS MISDEMEANOR.  Manor. E.
• 98A [Has any hope of succeeding] STANDS A CHANCE. Dacha. S.
• 114A [St. Olaf College, e.g.] LUTHERAN SCHOOL. Ranch. S.
• 122A [Body with a divided House … and what’s spelled out by the letters dividing this puzzle’s houses] CONGRESS. 

Birnholizian for sure. Which is to say it’s brilliant. The WaPo, in my opinion, is the most clever and enjoyable Sunday-sized puzzle out there. It’s easy to say this is a “typical” WaPo puzzle… because it is. As a constant solver, I fully expect a multi-layered accessible puzzle with clean, interesting fill that is freshly clued. It’s typical WaPo. I hope solvers can appreciate that it’s not typical anywhere else though.

I think a lot of publishers would be happy enough with the theme “A House Divided” without the extra layer of burying the word CONGRESS in the divisions themselves. That extra layer and constraint which Evan puts on himself is what makes the WaPo unique. It’s a lot to ask: Find common phrases that include types of houses that are separated by specific letters. I can’t imagine the amount of time that must be spent on Onelook.com in order to come up with symmetrically passable answers. Yet he makes it look easy. LUTHERAN SCHOOL may be a bit “green-paint”ish, and DNA FRAGMENTATION is not something I discuss on a regular basis, but even those were a joy to uncover with some inferencing. In fact, guessing DNA FRAGMENTATION with ???FR?G?M??TA?ION allowed me to pat myself on the back. And who doesn’t like those moments?

SOME WINNING CLUES TO BOOT:

• 14A [Reaction to seeing a crack on one’s phone?] LOL. That moment when the answer produces itself.
• 19A [Cardinal point?] ARIZONA. The football team, that is.
• 42A [Those who barely move around all day?] NUDISTS. Perhaps the “all day”
  

  At the world’s poshest DIVE BAR.

  part is a bit much. I hope they get a chance to loll a bit too as the clue suggests! Great clue though.

• 55A [Dilapidated place full of rusty nails?] DIVE BAR. Okay. I like it, though it may fall in the category of “too cute.” A rusty nail is a mixed drink with equal parts scotch and Drambuie. When I think of a dive bar, I don’t imagine this drink. Even if I did, it’s a bit much to think of said bar as being “full” of them. I can almost imagine the bartender of a dive Googling the recipe on his/her phone before searching in the bowels of the stored liquor to see if a bottle of Drambuie exists (“There it is! Right next to the Galliano!”) Pabst Blue Ribbon, maybe. This is a clue that needed a “, maybe,” maybe.

OTHER STUFF:

“Spell my name correctly… or else.”

• 1D [Wireless communication device] BEEPER. Too soon to add “of yore” to this clue?
• 17A [4 p.m. ritual, often] TEA TIME. Just came back from a long tour of the U.K. Clue is accurate.
• 29D [“Better Call Saul” drug kingpin Gus] FRING. Am I the only person who totally knew this, yet had no clue there was a “G” in his name?

Good stuff. Typically fantastic.

VIDEO GAME CLUE OF THE WEEK:

• 33A [“Angry Video Game ___” (web series featuring a profane game reviewer)] NERD. (NSFW)

And if you ever want to question your sanity, please listen to all nine minutes of this, as I did while typing up the theme clues:

Finn Vigeland’s New York Times crossword, “That’s A Tall Order”—Amy’s write-up

NY Times crossword solution, 9 1 19, “That’s a Tall Order!”

The theme elements display differently depending on the solving format. The web version has shaded squares; the .puz version depicted here has circled squares; and the newspaper version has conjoined squares forming rectangles. Basically, fill those spaces with tall letters, and those “tall” spaces spell out commands (“orders”) you might give to a dog: HEEL, SIT, STAY, COME. The long Across answers (otherwise unrelated) share those letter sequences, so their Down crossings just need one tall letter rather than the doubled letters seen in my grid.

So it sort of plays like an oversized Thursday gimmick, with 30 thematic squares dropped in a big ol’ 21×21 grid. What do we have to make the rest of it pay off as a themeless? COLOR WHEELS, MIC CHECK, the COMOROS, an appreciated BOOK REC(ommendation), KEEPS IT REAL, HIT JOBS, sportsy A.P. POLLS, JAMES TAYLOR, SEX COMEDIES, JALISCO MEXICO, a CAT CAFE, K-POP, JAM-PACK, AMY RYAN, an OLD SCORE to settle, IRON MAN, and BAKED BEANS. Not sure that these are enough to offset the smallness of the theme. (And yes, I know a theme with six themers of 11 to 13 letters isn’t all that slight, but when it’s the short crossers that actually need thinking in the .puz format, it ends up feeling slim.)

Did not know: 16d. [Program starting with the fifth year of college, informally], POSTBAC. Short for postbaccalaureate, and on Twitter Finn cited the example of a college grad taking a year for science prereqs needed to apply to med school. I’ve heard of postdocs, but never this term. Also unknown: 100d. [Cleaning for military inspection], GIING. Also also unknown: 97a. [Protein in Wheaties], GLUTENIN.

Five more things:

• 66a. [Looked at lasciviously], EYED UP. Feels incomplete without and down.
• 45d. [Flow of one line of a verse to the next without pause], ENJAMBMENT. Ah! English-major vocabulary. Here are some examples; scroll down for famous poem excerpts.
• 33a. [___ Min Lee, victim in the podcast “Serial”], HAE. I think this is the first time I’ve seen HAE clued as something other than the Scottish verb. Nice change-up! I don’t do podcasts, though—find me some people with moderate hearing loss who willingly seek out podcasts and I’ll be surprised. (I loathe the explosion of podcasts just as much as the media’s “pivot to video” without first figuring out how they’d provide reliably accurate captioning.)
• 76a. [“Pencils down!”], “TIME!” What’s your first thought for the context in which someone shouts, “Time!” or “Your time is up”? School test? Crossword tournament? Or The Great British Baking Show? Big thanks to Stella Zawistowski for the heads-up that a new season (“collection 7”) has just come to Netflix. I reckon I will watch episode 1 tonight. Raise your hand if you’ve taken to critiquing the baked goods you encounter, checking pastry for a soggy bottom and saying “a shame about the bake.”
• 62d. [Bygone military punishment], KP DUTY. See that “bygone” in the clue? And yet somehow so many crossword clues for KPS give no hint at all that this isn’t a thing anymore in the U.S. military.

3.25 stars from me.

Doug Peterson’s Universal crossword, “Oh, Bother!”—Jim Q’s review

Took me a solid minute or two of staring at the finished grid before I saw the theme, which (appropriately) ate at me.

THEME: Synonyms for “bother” (as a verb) start common phrases.

Universal crossword solution · Doug Peterson · “Oh, Bother!” · Sun., 9.01.19

THEME ANSWERS:

• 17A [Hobby involving thread and patterns] NEEDLE POINT. 
• 28A [Alternative to mass transit] RIDE SHARING. 
• 47A [One Direction member with the solo hit “Sign of the Times”] HARRY STYLES. 
• 63A [Wisconsin nickname, with “the”] BADGER STATE. 

I doubt the connection between the theme answers would be solid without the title, which is why I often like titled crosswords. But I still would’ve appreciated a revealer like NAG or something in that southeast corner. Yes, NEEDLE, RIDE, HARRY, and BADGER are all perfect synonyms of “bother,” but since most of those parts of the answers have other, more common definitions, it was hard for me to see the relationship between them. Of course, looking at it now in retrospect it’s completely obvious.

QUIDDITCH (just started the Harry Potter series finally!) and HAIR METAL made for fun fill.

For some reason I just assumed the clue was asking for XII when it asked for a sundial opposite at 8D. Turns out OLIXIA is not a common name. Found my error when Mr. Happy Pencil didn’t greet me at the end.

3 stars from me.

Gail Grabowski’s LA Times crossword, “Wide-Screen Display” – Jenni’s write-up

This is not my favorite kind of theme. There’s no wordplay, and the theme answers aren’t particularly entertaining. They all have one thing in common.

Los Angeles Times, September 1, 2019, Gail Grabowski, “Wide-Screen Display,” solution grid

• 27a [Aircraft carrier storage area] is a HANGAR DECK. Can’t say I was familiar with that phrase, although its meaning is obvious.
• 29a [Performer using hand motions] is a HULA DANCER.
• 37d [Real go-getter] is a HUMAN DYNAMO.
• 41d [Nutritionist’s recommendation] is a HEALTHY DIET. {rant about the idiocy that often passes for “healthy diet” recommendations deleted}
• 49a [Just okay] is HALFWAY DECENT. Also my opinion about the theme.
• 67a [Interior designer’s concern] is HOME DECOR.
• 85a [“ER,” for one] is a HOSPITAL DRAMA. Alternate clue: [Type of television show that Jenni never watches].
• 104a [Pointer, e.g.] is a HUNTING DOG.
• 109a [Certain downpour downside] is HAIL DAMAGE.

Figured it out? If not, check out 126a: [How most TV shows air, and a hint to nine puzzle answers], IN HD. It’s a solid, adequate theme that I did not really enjoy solving.

A few other things:

• 11d [“Hey, bro”] is YO, DUDE, not YO DAWG, which was my first entry.
• 20a [Portmanteau breakfast brand] is MAYPO. Maple + oatmeal = retro breakfast.
• 23a [Trendy farewell] is, apparently, CIAO. Trendy? Is that what the kids are saying today?
• 81a [Grumpy companion?] is a cute clue for DOC.
• 91d [Raid product] is an ANT TRAP. Terro Ant Killer is a trade name for a borax-based ant bait. Very effective and non-toxic to people and animals. Highly recommended.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that Abe Vigoda played SAL in “The Godfather.”