Sunday, October 24, 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katie Hale’s New York Times crossword, “Sports Nuts”—Nate’s write-up

This week, we visit the Wacky World of Sports! Each of this puzzle’s themers is a standard sports term (or so I’m told – I’m so sports illiterate!) reclued in a fun or unexpected way.

22A: OFFENSIVE REBOUND [Your ex’s new date whom you just can’t stand?]
34A: FLOOR EXERCISE [Kegels, e.g.?]
51A: STARTING BLOCK [First square of a crosswords?]
68A: SERVICE LINE [“I’ll be your waiter tonight,” e.g.?]
82A: UNPLAYABLE LIE [Conspiracy theory so wild that it can’t be aired?]
96A: SEVEN-TEN SPLIT [Plan to leave at a very specific evening time?]
114A: DESIGNATED HITTER [Blackjack dealer?]

I enjoy themes like this where I get what’s going on but can’t quite predict what other theme entries are going to be, which motivates me to keep solving right through the end of the puzzle.

My favorite themer clues were certainly those for OFFENSIVE REBOUND and FLOOR EXERCISE, though I also thought the clue for DESIGNATED HITTER was also pretty sly. All in all, a home run for me!

Random thoughts:
– It made me smile to see MOIRA Rose show up in the puzzle, though those unfamiliar with “Schitt’s Creek” might have had trouble with the MOIRA / AMOS crossing.
– I was surprised to see DUNE clued via the book and not the just-debuting film adaptation!
– I will always be pumped to see Janelle MONAE in the crossword – her music and acting are both outstanding!
– I was surprised that EXES was crossed with OFFENSIVE REBOUND‘s clue, which contained “ex’s”. Same thing with RAISE HELL crossing DANTE‘s clue, [One hell of a writer?]. (NB: I flagged these in my test solving of this puzzle – it’s interesting to see them in the final puzzle!)
– I also wish that ATE LESS hadn’t been clued as [Dieted], as there are lots of ways to be on a diet that don’t involve eating less, and many diets involving eating less aren’t always healthy.

That’s all from me for now – let me know in the comments section what you enjoyed about the puzzle.  Thanks for the fun solve, Katie!

Morton J. Mendelson’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Border Crossing”—Jim P’s review

Today’s theme is a US MAP (71a, [Weather Channel graphic … or this grid, based on what the letters extending beyond each side spell?]). The grid itself doesn’t resemble a map, nor does it have the lower 48 states in appropriate places (I’m assuming; I didn’t check). But the grid’s edges act as borders, and if we go beyond those borders (via certain words that extend thusly), we find America’s neighbors in their appropriate places.

Note that the entries without the extended letters are still crossword-valid entries.

To the north (CANADA):

• 6d. [Pit, for a cherry] (C)ENTER
• 7d. [Tennis’ Arthur ___ Stadium] (A)SHE
• 9d. [French edict city] (N)ANTES
• 11d. [Modify formally] (A)MEND
• 12d. [Bump down in rank] (D)EMOTE
• 14d. [“The Sound of Music” mountains] (A)LPS

To the west (PACIFIC):

• 26a. [Cats and dogs] (P)ETS
• 36a. [Belittles] (A)BASES
• 52a. [Reef invertebrate] (C)ORAL
• 64a. [Principles to strive for] (I)DEALS
• 76a. [Promote relentlessly, in slang] (F)LOG. Not familiar with this usage.
• 93a. [Livid] (I)RATE
• 104a. [Gossips idly] (C)HATTERS

To the east (ATLANTIC):

• 31a. [Steam engines ushered one in] NEW ER(A)
• 42a. [Maximally icky] GROSSES(T)
• 58a. [Hearing-related] AURA(L)
• 68a. [Field of study] ARE(A)
• 83a. [Like a wasteland] BARRE(N)
• 97a. [Specialized vocabulary] ARGO(T)
• 108a. [Judo instructor] SENSE(I)
• 121a. [Ireland Baldwin’s dad] ALE(C). Ugh. You’ve got to feel sorry for the man who finds himself in an impossibly difficult situation.

To the south (MEXICO):

• 125d. [Miami Heat or Calgary Flames] TEA(M)
• 110d. [Dojo sport] KARAT(E)
• 119d. [Brand of shapewear] SPAN(X)
• 112d. [Italian sandwich] PANIN(I). I’m fine with the sandwich, but not PAN IN as a phrase.
• 127d. [Artist Chagall] MAR(C)
• 113d. [Quickly reach, as a conclusion] LEAP T(O)

Impressive execution of this theme and a perfect title. I caught on to the fact that there were extended entries up top pretty early, but then to find them all the way around the grid was a bit of a surprise. That ends up being a lot of theme material and a hefty amount of constraints for the grid.

But there’s still plenty of sparkle to go around. I especially liked WOW FACTOR, “MY PRETTY,” LUNCH DATE, “I SEE NOW,” “WHAT AM I?,” APOSTLES, MAN-EATER, NEAR EAST, and CYBORG. Aside from PAN IN, DAY STAR [The sun, for one] was the only other entry that raised my eyebrow.

Clues are mostly straightforward, but I did like [Sources of hydroelectricity?] for EELS.

Impressive grid all around. 4.25 stars.

Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post crossword, “Sea Changes”— Jim Q’s write-up

OK… let’s see what’s going on here. (pun intended. I was excited for that one.)

Haven’t determined the meta answer yet, but I’m almost positive I know how I’m supposed to find it, so let’s get to it now!

THEME: Common phrases have a letter or two altered to C, and wackiness ensues.

THEME ANSWERS:

• 23A [“Got any plans to pick up rapper Hammer?”] WILL YOU CARRY MC? I assume the base phrase here is WILL YOU CARRY ME, but I’m not positive. Sounds/feels weird.
• 30A [Ice cream purchase that’s completely safe?] NO HARM CONE. NO HARM DONE. 
• 35A [Fabled figure captured on a video recorder, briefly?] CAM LEGEND. I’m unsure of the base phrase. Oh wait… just ran the alphabet. It’s I AM LEGEND.
• 56A [Bath powder for bovines?] CATTLE TALC. Again, unsure of base phrase. Hopefully the meta will fill this one in for me. 
• 65A [Annual award for a snack?] COOKIE OF THE YEAR. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR. 
• 77A [Great pitcher that you and I genetically replicate?] ACE WE CLONE. ARE WE ALONE. 
• 97A [Malign mallards?] SLAM DUCKS. SLAM DUNKS. 
• 114A [Religious branch that forms covenants?] SECT OF THE PACTS. This one didn’t come to me immediately either, but it’s SEAT OF THE PANTS. 

Let’s put all those original letters that were changed together and hope we get something. The meta says we are looking for “…a well-known sea.”

EDI??RRANAN

Well clearly it’s MEDITERRANEAN. So let’s go back and see where I screwed up.

Oh. Duh.

Base phrase for 23A is WILL YOU MARRY ME. Which makes much more sense. I don’t know why I didn’t consider altering the first C like I did in the others.

The other one I missed was TATTLE TALE.

and I left out 99A [Rugby formation where the facts emerge?] TRUTH SCRUM. TRUTH SERUM. 

So there we have it. It’s all worked out.

Not my favorite of Evan’s metas. It was a bit confusing with some phrases having more than one C, some of the C words rhyming with the base phrase word, and some C words being a different number of words than the base phrase (like I AM / CAM or, in a sense, M.C. / ME).

But it came together. Often, Evan will have a theme-type like this, and rather than there being a meta, the “mystery word” will be a revealer.

It should be noted that there are no other C’s in the puzzle, which is an elegant touch.

New Names for Me:

Edith COWAN, JANIE Crawford, Erykah BADU. ROWEL is new to me also.

Favorite RETRO reference 49A [Like Ernest P. Worrell’s friend Vern] UNSEEN. When’s the last time you thought of the inane Ernest Goes to… series? I re-watched Ernest Goes to the Army (or something like that… I don’t care enough to google the actual title) about a decade ago. It didn’t hold up. I remember thinking that was hilarious when I was a kid.

COWS / COWAN / CATTLE is a rather strange combo in one puzzle!

Enjoy Sunday!

 

 

Zhouqin Burnikel’s Universal crossword, “Forest Ranger”— Jim Q’s write-up

THEME: Names that have deer in them.

THEME ANSWERS:

• MELISSA JOAN HART
• JANE DOE
• BUCK OWENS
• FAWN SHARP

Lovely L/R symmetry grid here. I had a ton of trouble getting started as I confidently entered ACT V for TOMB [Where Romeo last kisses Juliet] and couldn’t make much more of anything else in that corner. OPERA helped me out of the jam eventually.

FAWN SHARP is a new name for me, but I’m glad it’s not new now.

PROMO CODE was fun to see in there too. How long is “too long” to search for PROMO CODEs when you have something in your cart and are about to check out? I feel like I’ve spent a lot of time doing that.

4 stars today! Thanks for this one!

Zhouqin Burnikel’s USA Today crossword, “Storm Forecast”—Darby’s write-up

Edited by: Erik Agard

Theme: Each themed answer begins with a type of storm.

Theme Answers

• 20a [“‘Drop the Mic’ co-host”] HAILEY BIEBER
• 38a [“‘Drama’ author”] RAINA TELGEMEIER
• 57a [“2020 Masters champion”] DUSTIN JOHNSON

A nice, breezy (appropriate when storms are in the forecast) Sunday puzzle. I thought that the theme answers were nice and fresh. I did have to google RAINA TELGEMEIER, and am curious to see how many solvers are familiar with Drama.

Grid-wise, I didn’t love three plurals right a row with EGGS – ACTS – AREAS, but I still thought the cluing on each got me right where I needed to be. Knowing how close we are to Halloween, I did appreciate 4d [“Anatomy class display”] SKELETON and 40d [“Trick or ___”] TREAT. Like I said in one of my most recent reviews (the last one? It’s been a hectic weekend), it’s spooky season, y’all.

Some other fave parts of the fill:

• 3d [“Test pilot’s outfit”] – Speaking of Halloween, even though I will be traveling, the mention of a G-SUIT reminded me of my classic costume: my Top Gun flight suit.
• 22d [“Moisten with drippings”] – Storms aren’t the only things being forecast in this puzzle. Thanksgiving and the time to BASTE turkeys is right around the corner!
• 26d [“Mounds on a beach”] – I thought DUNES here was fortuitous, as the new Dune has been all over my social media feed.
• 33d [“If it lasts for 24 hours, it’s probably good”] – I loved the cheekiness of this clue for FIRST DATE. I definitely didn’t get it on my first go round, but I caught on once DATE came together.

Overall, a cute puzzle for a Sunday! Have a good week, y’all!

Gary Larson’s LA Times crossword, “Sporting Chance” – Gareth’s write-up

Gary Larson’s puzzle has two rather vague revealing moments: title “Sporting Chance” and final entry TEAMMATES. Neither seem particularly apt at conveying what is happening – answers are made up of pairs of two “big 4” (or maybe just 3? I didn’t cross-check them all to see which sport(s) they come from) US Sports teams, so no Peshawar Zalmi or NSW Waratahs. This is a common thematic road to explore, but today’s trip had a lot of potholes.

VIKINGSAINT is not a real answer, but merely a description. It stands out like a sore thumb against BROWNBEAR, HEATBILL, YANKEECLIPPER (I’d have gone for a non-sport clue here BTW – since now YANKEE means member of the YANKEES in the clue), REDGIANT, TITANROCK, BENGALTIGER and WARRIORKING (more on him in a bit) are at least defined things. Now, WARRIORKING, he isn’t notable enough to be in a puzzle, he is a good two orders of magnitude too obscure for a general puzzle. Me, if I was going to run this puzzle, would have sent it back asking for fewer, but better theme entries.

Not a lot more to comment on. Let’s see, STL, [NL Central club]; again, given the nature of the theme, I’d have eschewed sports. [Uses, as a scale], STEPSON – another really odd clueing choice, given the familiarity of STEP-SON.

Gareth