Thursday, December 14, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marshal Hermann’s Fireball Crossword, “Long-Term Effects” – Jenni’s write-up

The last Fireball of 2023 is not blazingly hard. That’s OK. We’re all busy and tired and it was enjoyable anyway. My end-of-year thanks to Peter and his band of merry constructors for nearly-weekly challenge, fun, and groans. I hope it’s clear from my reviews that I know these are among the best puzzles out there. Wednesdays are a highlight of my puzzling week. Not that my weeks are mysterious – you all know what I mean. And if our tags are accurate, this is Marshal’s debut on Fiend. Yay!

This 15×17 goes the extra mile for us.

• 17a [Remnants of a growth spurt] are MMMAAARRRKKKSSS.
• 22a [Rides cut in half during assembly]  is LLLIIIMMMOOOSSS.
• 60a [Workout bottoms] are PPPAAANNNTTTSSS.
• 65a [Crowdsourcing incentives after achieving the intended funding] are GGGOOOAAALLLSSS.

And the revealer: 41a [Skeptic’s comment hinting at this puzzle’s theme] is THAT‘S A STRETCH. STRETCH MARKS, STRETCH LIMOS, STRETCH PANTS, STRETCH GOALS. I didn’t realize until I started typing out the answers that each one is five letters so stretches nicely to fifteen. That takes it from fun and satisfying to seriously impressive – the best kind of impressive when a feat of construction is also a good solve.

A few other things:

• 11d [Pitch stats] are ASSISTS and I was all set to go on a rant about how Peter clearly doesn’t understand baseball when it dawned on me that cricket is played on a pitch and they have assists. I’m relieved not to have made a complete fool of myself. Yet.
• 15a [Golfs, e.g.] are CARS. VWs.
• 24d [OJ quality] is LOW PH.
• 49d [Indispensable dispenser for a mover] is a TAPE GUN and the clue made me chuckle. English is weird.
• Rachel’s brother-in-law ESAU and father-in-law ISAAC both appear. Her husband Jacob is nowhere in sight.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that skateboarding backward is called riding FAKIE. Also did not know that the first word of Massachusett’s motto is ENSE. The whole thing is “Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem” or “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.”

Looks more sideways to me.

Esha Datta’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up

Difficulty: Easy (8m16s)

Today’s theme: YOU’RE ON MUTE (Oft-used phrase during Zoom meetings … or the reason for the misunderstandings at 17-, 26-, 50- and 60-Across?)

• BEANS(TALK)
• MAGI(C HAT)
• TI(RE MARK)
• PIKE(S PEAK)

Nice puzzle.  Surprised we didn’t see a theme like this sooner, especially with the surge of pandemic-era submissions coinciding with peak ubiquity of phrases like “Can you see my screen?” and “YOU’RE ON MUTE” (or the closely related [and what I’ve previously suggested should be a new IRL insult] “please mute yourself”).  The Utah blocks framing the revealer are mitigated by 6/6/6/5 and 7/7/8 stacks in the NW/SE and SW/NE corners, respectively, which give you room to breathe.  I’m assuming (since an 11-character revealer is usually begging to be in the area of 60-across) that the constructor tried the terminal position first before settling on the center location, but what do I know — I am not a cat.  Aaaaaaaand that’s how you tie everything up in a neat little bow.

Cracking: the clue on YEARBOOK (Collection of senior moments?)

Slacking: I was up this morning, and yesterday morning, that’s two consecutive AWAKES, more to come tomorrow (inshallah).

Sidetracking: speaking of TIRE MARKs…

Sam Acker’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Sinkholes”—Jim’s review

Theme answers in the Down direction all feature the letters MINE, but those letters should be skipped when looking at the crossing entries. However, those crossing entries are still valid (though unclued) crossword words when you take into account those key letters. The revealer is MINESWEEPER (26d, [Warship that made its way through the Across answers but not the Down answers]).

• 3d. [Grain of Thailand ] JAMINE RICE. The crossing entries are AL(M)OST, PA(I)RS, (N)BAJA(M), and TI(E)S.
• 7d. [Natural glow?] BIOLUMINESCENCE. Crossers: (N)BAJA(M) again, AS(I)A, RA(N)GE, P(E)ER.
• 9d. [“Godzilla” rapper] EMINEM. Crossers: (M)ELBA, (I)SLAM, LAI(N), UNT(E)AMED. Not sure where anyone would ever encounter the word UNTEAMED, but okay.
• 47d. [Candy heart request] “BE MINE.” Crossers: (M)OLE, SWAM(I), RAVE(N), STAG(E).

So I guess the way to interpret the revealer and its clue is that the mines have been removed from the Across answers, but not the Down answers. Okay, that works for me.

I caught on fairly early into the solve, but it still took some work to get through to the end. Nice and chewy for a Thursday! I really like how the Across entries in the grid are still valid when taking the missing letters into account (UNTEAMED notwithstanding). I especially like NBA JAM becoming BAJA when its beginning and end are removed. A lovely find, that!

Despite theme entries in both directions and with all the Across ones stacked atop each other, the fill is impressively smooth. I wouldn’t expect to find much flashy fill in a theme with this many constraints, but INDOOR PET is quite nice. Not so keen on REMAP and SORBS was a tough one for this non-chemist, but other than those, the fill is solid.

Clues of note:

• 14a. [Spacewalk, in NASA shorthand]. EVA. Maybe this clue was chosen since AVA is elsewhere in the grid clued as a name. I didn’t know that it stands for Extravehicular Activity.
• 6d. [UPS dropoff spot, sometimes]. MAT. The welcome mat, I presume? Bleh.

Nice puzzle. Four stars.

Emma Oxford’s Universal crossword, “Before and After” — Sophia’s write-up

Theme: Each theme answer is a two word phrase. The word TIME can follow the first word or precede the second word to make valid phrases.

• 17a [*King or queen, e.g.] – FACE CARD
• 32a [*A fitted one is hard to fold] – BEDSHEET
• 43a [*Occasion to hire a babysitter] – NIGHT OUT
• 61a [*Assist on “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?”] – LIFE LINE
• 37a [Midwestern clock setting … and a hint to what can follow the start and precede the end of each starred clue’s answer] – CENTRAL TIME

Great finds for the theme here! I like how many uses of TIME are present, and all the answers are solid on their own besides. (The clues are good too! Just the right amount of tricky). I also really like the title – it’s “before and after” both in the, like, Jeopardy category sense of the term, but it’s also literally time related here. Good stuff.

Quick takes on the rest of the puzzle:

• Fill highlights: OUGHTA, CANCAN, MEDUSA, COME IN. The fill is overall very strong, although I’m not sure I’ve ever heard IMPEND used much without the “-ing”.
• Clue highlights: [Claudius : “Hamlet” :: ___ : “The Lion King”] for SCAR, [$200, for the world’s most expensive fries] for COST – where are these sold??? Do people actually buy them???
• New to me: [Actor Auberjonois] for RENE
• [Color on 74% of world flags] – RED. Fun fact, did y’all know that Jamaica is the only country in the world to have a flag without red, white, or blue? It’s true!
• Very apt to have JEWISH as a puzzle answer on the last night of Hanukkah!

Catherine Cetta’s LA Times Crossword – Gareth’s summary

SPINATALE is the revealer in Catherine Cetta’s puzzle, and all four 2×2 sets of circled squares spell out TALE, whilst rotating anti-clockwise. LATECOMER is opposite SPINATALE; maybe it’s a bonus answer, but for me the spun TALE is more of a distraction.

The downside of a puzzle theme like this is very little longer, show-offy, answers. What are the most interesting answers today? [Strikes and rebounds], CAROMS; [Potatoes-and-peas pastry], SAMOSA (it has two O’s in South African English); maybe [__ cocktail], SHRIMP? It’s clean, and fills out, but there wasn’t too much memorable today.

Gareth

Ada Nicolle & Thea Kendal’s USA Today Crossword, “Ending Explained” — Emily’s write-up

You’ve got this!

alt=”Completed USA Today crossword for Thursday December 14, 2023”
USA Today, December 14 2023, “Ending Explained” by Ada Nicolle & Thea Kendal[/caption]

Theme: each themer ends in a portion of the word “explained”

Themers:

• 19a. [Mya song about a past lover], CASEOFTHEEX
• 35a. [Flat land by the water], COASTALPLAIN
• 55a. [Class where students may learn three-point turns], DRIVERSED

Today’s themer set begins with CASEOFTHEEX which I needed a few crossings for, followed by a lovely COASTALPLAIN, and rounded out with DRIVERSED. With today’s theme, we get –EX, —PLAIN, and —ED which together make “EXPLAINED” with the themer endings. Too cool!

Favorite fill: LAILAALI, AROACE, POPOVERS, CAPRI, and ONLEAVE

Stumpers: TART (thought only of “danish”), ERICA (new to me), and AMID (needed a couple of crossings)

First, I’ve gotta say this grid is awesome! So many great designs lately—I’m loving this trend. Lots of fresh fill and fun lengthy bonus fill. Plus, the cluing is excellent as well. I really enjoyed this great collab!

4.5 stars

~Emily

Robyn Weintraub’s New Yorker crossword – Kyle’s write-up

For those disappointed by the lack of a New Yorker write-up earlier today, my apologies–I couldn’t get to the puzzle before leaving for work, so here we are. The silver lining, for me at least, was that I had a Robyn Weintraub puzzle to look forward to when I got home.

Quick thoughts: I’m excited to see Robyn’s work in this grid style, which is quite a departure from her typical design (long answers in the corners and running into the middle of the grid, with an open center). The long answers around the perimeter all sing: BEACH READ, SOFT-HEARTED, “DON’T MENTION IT”, DINNER PARTIES, TAKES A STAND, “LESSON LEARNED”, RAIN GARDENS, WATERGATE, SOCIAL CLIMBER, DANCE SCHOOL. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this clue for ARIL (41A): [Juicy part around a pomegranate seed] Yum! Fill like this doesn’t make me frown when the clue makes me smile.

Thank you Robyn!