Sunday, July 9, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christina Iverson’s New York Times crossword, “A Thousand Words” — Nate’s write-up

In this week’s puzzle, there’s a bit of a twist:  each themer is represented not by a clue in words, as usual, but by a clue in literal picture form (assuming you could see the pictures).  For example, SPITTING IMAGE is, literally, an image of someone spitting, while SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is also quite literally that.  Here are the visual clues as I saw them in my version of the app:

 

 

23A: CHARACTER SKETCHES

 

 

38A: SPITTING IMAGE

49A: COMPUTER ICON

66A: LEGAL REPRESENTATION

82A: LOTTO DRAWING

95A: MOVING PICTURE

114A: SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

This theme worked okay enough for me, and I think LOTTO DRAWING was easily my favorite reimagining of the “image” related word.  I’m not sure what the clues were for any version of the puzzle that didn’t have the pictures, so let us know in the comments how the solving experience was if that was your journey.

Random thoughts:
– SNAIL at 106A and MAIL at 33A were highlight-linked in the app for me. I know that, together, they make SNAIL MAIL, but it was weird that neither clue referenced the other. Was that just an Easter egg? Or a remnant of formerly-linked clues?
– The TWITS / TO CELIA / OSHA section toward the top was a tricky one for me to unpack, but thankfully Frog’s dear friend TOAD was up there to help me out.
– [Deer departed?] for VENISON at 57D felt unexpectedly grim to me. Oof!

Late evening for me, so that’s all I have for now. What’d you think of the puzzle? Did you enjoy the picturesque themer clues? Let us know in the comments section – and have a great rest of your weekend!

Kevin Curry and Jeff Chen’s Universal crossword, “A House Divided”—Jim’s review

Debut alert for Jeff’s co-constructor! Congrats on that. The pair of them bring us theme answers that are familiar phrases whose outer letters (indicated by circles) spell out a room in a house. The revealer is PARTITIONED (38d, [Like seven circled rooms in this puzzle]). (Good, apt title, too.)

• 23a. {[ / sapped / shambles / ] = confusing voicemail} GARBLED MESSAGE. Garage.
• 28a. {[ / ___ Vegas / pad / ] = welder’s tool} PLASMA TORCH. Porch.
• 68a. {[ / erode / applause / others / avail / ] = Schubert composition} DEATH AND THE MAIDEN. Den.
• 110a. {[ / pale / perform / ] = legal drama} LAW AND ORDER. Larder.
• 117a. {[ / Staples staple / Swenson from “Benson” / } = Spotify service] STREAMING AUDIO. Studio.
• 31d. {[ / “sixth sense” / trauma ctrs. / ] = marketer} SALESPERSON. Salon.
• 47d. {[ / inflection / existed / ] = like some jeans} STONEWASHED. Shed. This one was a bit confusing since it crosses the circled letter of another theme answer.

Nice enough theme with good theme answers. Some of the rooms feel a bit quaint (larder, salon), but it all still works nicely.

I see what our constructors have done in extending the partitioning idea into the theme clues and answers. For example, DEATH AND THE MAIDEN consists of the outer DEN plus EAT, HAND, THEM, and AID. This must have put some limits on potential theme answers. But for the solver, the end result is that those clues became quite cumbersome. Once I realized I could get at the answer just by looking at what came after the equal sign, that’s what I did, ignoring everything before it. Going back later and fully grokking how the clues and entries are broken apart didn’t provide me much joy. The theme of PARTITIONED rooms is satisfied with the circled letters; the partitioning of the rest of the entry doesn’t add to it (IMO), especially when some of those partitioned words are things like DO, WAS, and ERS.

There’s plenty of fun long fill topped off with “…OR WHATEVER” and MCLOVIN. Other goodies include CLEAN CUT, HEATED SEAT, “ALL’S WELL,” RAW DEAL, and ABOUT ME. Not so keen on whatever IN A SWOON is nor a green paintish NEW PHASE, but for the most part, the fill is smooth and solid.

Clues of note:

• 109a. [Roald who created the Snozzcumber]. DAHL. Apparently the Snozzcumber is a fictional foodstuff from The BFG.
• 76d. [Purchase if you don’t get Lucky?]. LEE. Needed all the crossings to realize we’re talking jeans here.

Good, if ambitious theme. The extra partitioning of the theme answers got in the way of the solve, but perhaps there are solvers out there for whom it helped.

3.25 stars.

Universal, “Themeless Sunday 41” by Rafael Musa — norah’s write-up; 3:28

THEME: None

FAVORITE ENTRIES:

• STORYOFMYLIFE 37A [“Ugh, this happens to me all the time”]
• IMEANITTHISTIME 3D [“You can trust me now!”]
• YOULOOKFAMILIAR 11D [“I feel like we’ve met before”]
• MOCKTRIAL 49A [Hearing test?]

OTHER NOTES:

Another blazer today at 3:28; new pr.

As usual, Rafa provides an ultra clean grid with fun long phrases and delightful cluing all over. Among the medium-length stuff I love HOTMIC [What might catch an embarrassing sound bite], GOINTO [Really unpack], and AUTHOR [Hanya Yanagihara, for the novel “A Little Life”]. Two Doja Cat clues!

OKRA and CUKE both clued as veggies!

Thanks Rafa and the Universal team!

Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post crossword, “Captain Obvious Goes to the Beach” — Matthew’s write-up

Evan is recently back from vacation. Can you tell? Another edition of his “Captain Obvious” series hits us from the beach, and takes a literal bent on common idioms:

• 23a [“___, and you’ll have jumped into the ocean] MAKE A SPLASH
• 33a [“___? Put it back; it won’t survive on land”] FISH OUT OF WATER
• 51a [“___? That means you knocked over that pail with your foot”] KICKED THE BUCKET
• 68a [“___, and it may be hard to breathe”] BURY YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND
• 88a [“___, so we have this whole beach to ourselves”] THE COAST IS CLEAR
• 104a [“___ is where you should go to start tanning”] A PLACE IN THE SUN
• 121a [“___? That’s impossible, unless you can control how waves move”] TURN THE TIDE

This theme conceit could get tiring, but I get a true chuckle out of each successive punchline landing and Evan is judicious about spacing it out among his other puzzles.

Other notes:

• 41a [Religious figure who was once an aspirant] NUN. This isn’t just a generic use of “aspirant” applied to a specific goal, but “aspirant” is a stage in a person’s discernment whether to join a community of nuns.
• 42a [2022 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Buck] O’NEIL. 2022 was long overdue for O’Neil, who had a lengthy playing career for the Kansas City Monarchs, an influential term as a scout for the Chicago Cubs, and spearheaded the campaign to establish the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, which is a can’t-miss if you’re a baseball fan in the area.
• 59a [With 36 Down, library patron’s penalty] LATE FEE. There’s a trend to do away with late fees, the thinking being that they discourage reading and even engaging with library services at all.
• 75a [Like hot and cold deserts] ARID. I’m always pleased when there’s recognition that a desert need not be hot – indeed, much of Antarctica is a desert.
• 77a [Contraction that rhymes with “brittle”] IT’LL. Sometimes you just have to clue the thing and move on, eh?
• 87a [Do re mi fa ____ la ti do] SOL. A chuckle from me after Evan’s solfege-themed meta a few puzzles back.
• 124a [Tennis player Raducanu] EMMA. Raducanu had a splashy run a few years ago, winning the US Open in 2021, but injuries have hampered her since.
• 5d [Single-stranded messenger molecule] RNA. I do appreciate when a clue specifies single- or double-stranded instead of something more generic that could be either RNA or DNA.
• 14d [Tiny body part in a drawing of a T. rex] ARM. It feels like a different era of the internet, and I couldn’t tell you which site it was on, but I always got a smile out of the “T. rex trying” webcomic (?) which hinged on the dino’s overlarge head and small arms.
• 29d [Gin’s accompaniment] TONIC. Today, this brings to mind the excellent Douglas Adams and his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series: “It is a curious fact, and one to which no one knows quite how much importance to attach, that something like 85% of all known worlds in the Galaxy, be they primitive or highly advanced, have invented a drink called jynnan tonnyx, or gee-N’N-T’N-ix, or jinond-o-nicks, or any one of a thousand or more variations on the same phonetic theme.”
• 30d [Left/Right candy bar] TWIX. There was a time when TWIX didn’t do the left-right advertising thing, yes? I recall something about “two for me, none for you,” perhaps?
• 79d [1990s NBA star nicknamed “The Reign Man”] SHAWN KEMP. I am not familiar with this nickname (though I have heard of Kemp). Seems it was popularized by Seattle’s in-house announcer and took off in the way the best nicknames do.

Matthew Stock’s USA Today crossword, “P.S. I Love You” — Darby’s write-up

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme: Each themer contains two words, the first letters of spell out PS.

Theme Answers

• 17a [“Where to buy Sherwin-Williams or Valspar products”] PAINT STORE
• 26a [“Fundamental change in understanding”] PARADIGM SHIFT
• 46a [“Spot next to a car’s driver”] PASSENGER SEAT
• 59a [“Meat-and-veggie stir-fry dish”] PEPPER STEAK

I appreciated that we got four themers in this cute puzzle! PARADIGM SHIFT and PEPPER STEAK were particularly fun for me, though I did also really like PAINT STORE and PASSENGER SEAT. They were nicely spaced throughout, though it was clear that they were each part of the theme.

This puzzle had a lot of great fill, and I moved pretty smoothly through it. Starting off with 1a [“Toy train’s path”] TRACK was super cute, and there was such a nice mix of references and definition clues to work with, making each crossing very fair.

Some of my favourites included:

• 25a [“Nose, cutesily”] – Who doesn’t love a good SNOOT boop in dog videos?
• 5d [“Actor Troy who won an Oscar for ‘CODA’”] – I only recently watched CODA for the first time, but it’s clear that Troy KOTSUR deserved every award he received for the film. He also performed the national anthem at the most recent Super Bowl.
• 38d [“‘Don’t fall for that!’”] – The Star Wars fan in me will always hear “IT’S A TRAP” in Admiral Ackbar’s voice, no question. I like the cluing angle in this puzzle though.