Thursday, October 13, 2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: Fireball is a contest this week. We’ll have a review after the submission period closes.

Peter A. Collins’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Can I Get In on That?”—Jim P’s review

Theme: The letter I is added to familiar phrases, resulting in crossword wackiness.

• 17a. [Starts of Scottish lawsuits?] HIGHLAND FILINGS. Highland flings.
• 25a. [Pairs in need of couples therapy?] TIRADE UNIONS. Trade unions.
• 47a. [Thing heard on Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” raga version?] SITAR OF DAVID. Star of David.
• 62a. [Groundbreaking workout routine?] TECTONIC PILATES. Tectonic plates. I like this one. If you’re not making the earth move, you’re doing it wrong.

This would have felt much more elegant to me without the other I’s already present in the original phrases. That said, I appreciate the consistency in finding words in which the added I’s go in the second position. Since there are myriad ways in which one can add an I to a word to make a new word, this constraint limits the theme and gives it some focus. And that said, I really only enjoyed the last entry; the others didn’t do much for me.

I did enjoy EGG CARTON and the quaint-sounding “LEAVE IT BE” in the fill. I kept trying to make ENIAC fit where UNIVAC belonged.

Clues of note:

• 31a. [Headed for the fence, perhaps]. HOT. As in stolen.
• 64a. [Frosts]. IRKS. “Frosts” as a verb meaning “annoys”? Is this slang (new or old)?
• 2d. [Nociceptor’s detection]. PAIN. Your vocab word of the day. From Wikipedia, “A nociceptor is a sensory neuron that responds to damaging or potentially damaging stimuli by sending ‘possible threat’ signals to the spinal cord and the brain.” The word comes from the Latin nocere (“to harm or hurt”) which is the source of the phrase “no siree.” (That was a joke.)
• 4d. [Gardener’s “Moonfire,” e.g.]. DAHLIA. There it is in the picture. Pretty!
• 36d. [Transferred from brown to auburn, say]. DYED. I like the angle here, though “transferred” isn’t quite right, and the lack of capital letters was a dead giveaway.
• 40d. [Raiders’ org.]. ATF. I bet a vast majority of us went with AFC here.
• 43d. [Summer field]. DISCO. Donna Summer, that is.

3.5 stars.

Lewis Rothlein’s New York Times crossword—Zachary David Levy’s review

Difficulty: Mostly average (13m12s)

Today’s theme: SKIP TOWN (Run off … or how to make the answers to 17-, 21-, 34-, 44- and 53-across fit their clues)

• RUBUTTED (Butte, MT) = RED
• BLARED OUT (Laredo, TX) = BUT
• CHEERIEST (Erie, PA) = CHEST
• HOME SALES (Mesa, AZ) = HOLES
• PROVOLONE (Provo, UT) = LONE

Another puzzle that speaks to my inner road trip fanatic.  Saw BUTTE pretty quickly, went straight to the revealer, and was able to figure out what was going on before leaving the NW corner.  In fact, this would have played really easy (6-7 minute range, close to a PB for a Thursday), except I spent as much time in the SW as I did on the rest of the puzzle.  Really wanted RECIPROCAL to be REVERSIBLE, and did not know ELAINE Thompson-Herah.  Struggled with John DONNE, MALTED Milk, TRAVAIL.. nothing too unreasonable, just couldn’t see anything for the longest time.

I wonder if this would have been better as a 21x, as longer theme answers may have allowed the “skipped” phrases to be more colorful (no pun intended) than RED, BUT, LONE, etc.  Still, kudos for the dense theme material and Americana flavor.

Cracking: LIMONCELLO — delicious.  Tried to make my own once when returning from Sorrento.  Did not work out.

Slacking: WDS — an unusual instance of ugly fill that has appeared primarily in the Shortz era (25 times) and rarely before that (once in 1989, once in 1979).  And it’s not like RSS, or PDF, or something that was waiting to be invented before being put to xword use.

Sidetracking: OLDMAN — reportedly set to reprise his role as George Smiley in “Smiley’s People”, having first played the part for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”.  Now all we need is a proper adaptation of “A Perfect Spy”, perhaps one of the five greatest novels of the 20th century.

 

Sally Hoelscher’s Universal crossword, “Malpractice” — Sophia’s write-up

Theme: All the theme answers start with the name of an evil DR.

• 17a [*Underwater defense stored in sacs] – OCTOPUS INK
• 28a [*Negative attitude] – DOOM AND GLOOM
• 44a [*Regardless] – NO MATTER WHAT
• 59a [Austin Powers’ foe, or a hint to the start of 17-, 28- or 44-Across] – DOCTOR EVIL

Great title today! We’ve got Dr. Octopus from Spider-Man, Dr. Doom from Marvel, and Dr. No from James Bond – who knew there were so many evil doctors with last names that were common words?? OCTOPUS INK threw me off a little bit because I have almost always heard his name as “Doc Ock” or “Dr. Octavius”, but the internet tells me that is in fact his full name. I didn’t see the theme until the revealer, but once I did it felt very clever.

Other random thoughts on the puzzle:

• Lots of animals in the fill today, with KITTENS, OCTOPUS, POSSUM, DOE, COW, and, uh, CAT CORA.
• I didn’t know the definition at 11d [Free to travel] for FOOTLOOSE. To me, that’s just the song/movie.
• 47d [Sandwich that might save you from hunger pangs] for HERO is a clever clue… almost too clever for me, since I kept thinking “won’t any sandwich save you from hunger pangs?”
• I only know PAULA Poundstone from “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me” but I’m not surprised that she has a podcast – has anyone in the comments ever listened?
• Things I learned in the puzzle: 8d [Where Zain Asher is an anchor] for CNN, 33d [
  ___ cello (instrument that resembles a jumping toy)] for POGO.

Amanda Rafkin’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary

Today’s puzzle by Amanda Rafkin features a revealer that I don’t know much about. Scarlet Witch apparently wields CHAOSMAGIC, which is used to indicate a cryptic style scrambling of the letters in MAGIC, found in the middle of several answers. So:

• [*”Love Story” star], AL{IMACG}RAW.
• [*Sports event whose medals feature braille inscriptions], PARALYMP{ICGAM}ES. You’d think they’d all have those…
• [*Candy smokes], BUBBLEGU{MCIGA}RS. Also new to me. We did have hard candy cigarettes growing up, but I haven’t seen them in 25 years, because well laws around advertising cigarettes to children are a thing.

Fast five:

• [PPO counterpart], HMO. Guessed right here at the intersection with [“Ms. Marvel” star Vellani], IMAN. The clue didn’t really help me, and I considered HBO as well…
• [Top 10 Lionel Richie song with the lyric “Honey, you’re everything I need”], MYLOVE. Song #3 in his run of 13 Billbooard top 10s in a row.
• [Like tote bags and metal straws], REUSABLE. I wish our restaurants used metal, since plastic has gotten the boot, they mostly offer paper which gives everything a weird texture…
• [Oil in some dispensary products], CBD. Don’t think I’ve seen this used in a puzzle til now.
• [Fish stick?], ROD. This perplexed me mid solve.

Gareth

Erik Agard’s USA Today Crossword, “Move Down a Row” — Emily’s write-up

Whoa. Just whoa. Stellar all the way around—loved, loved, love it!

Theme: the word ROW is in each down themer, moving downward from top NW to the SE.

Themers:

• 4d. [Equipment for a full-body workout], ROWINGMACHINE
• 13d. [Ethiopian chicken stew], DOROWAT
• 25d. [“If it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life…” orator], BROWN
• 37d. [Javelin competitor], THROWER
• 18d. [Michelle Alexander book about mass incarceration], THENEWJIMCROW

Most of the themers were partially filled, given that I start with across, so they filled in more easily. ROWINGMACHINE starts off the set getting solvers ready for a (mental) workout. For me, DOROWAT is delicious and filled right in for me though I do prefer fir fir from our local restaurant. The Abolitionist John BROWN was known for his final speech at his trial. THROWER is new fill for me though had fair crossings to give me enough to complete it without a struggle. THENEWJIMCROW is a non-fiction work that has an impressive Wikipedia page for anyone wanted a detailed overview including the court cases it covers. In addition, the word ROW begins at the top of the grid in the first themer with R at the top and moves down the grid (with the next R just below the previous W even!) until the bottom of the grid ends in ROW with the last themer and the final W is at the bottom. The themers also are one row apart, with the third in the middle of the grid. Beautiful construction indeed! Pulling all of this off in one puzzle is truly impressive to me.

Favorite fill: OUTWITTING, RUHROH, BECOOL, and MORETOCOME

Stumpers: DOLAPS (needed a few crossings today), BAMA (needed crossings), and PRIORTO (this one got me today, especially with 20d for some reason and I also needed crossings for it)

What puts it over the edge for me is how well designed the grid is for this theme—it is so visually stunning to behold. Kudos! This just topped my all-time-favorite puzzles list. The theme, the incredible bonus fill, the grid design–I’ll say it once more, in case it wasn’t abundantly clear: whoa.

5.0 stars

~Emily

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1513, “Pig Bun”—Darby’s review

Theme: Each theme answer switches out a B and a P for a BIG PUN (aka a PIG BUN).

Theme Answers

• 17a [“Apply ointment to a Georgia fruit”] BALM PEACH / PALM BEACH
• 21a [“‘That film director Michael, such a whiner!’?”] BAY THE PILL / PAY THE BILL
• 34a [“One vampire over some Camels?”] A BAT ON THE PACK / A PAT ON THE BACK
• 43a [“‘Mission: Impossible’ actress Barbara mid-golf stroke?”] BAIN IN THE PUTT / PAIN IN THE BUTT
• 58a [“With 66-Across, carefully placed obstruction in one’s premiere bit of smut?”] & 66a A BOX ON YOUR FIRST BORN / A POX ON YOUR FIRST BORN

BEQ had some technical difficulties with posting this grid, and I wasn’t able to print the PDF as I’m out of town, so sorry for the delay here.

When I first saw BEQ’s title, I was so curious. Were there going to be oinking creatures involved? While my guess was off base, I thought that this grid was solidly very punny. BAY THE PILL made me laugh, and I thought that A BAT ON THE PACK was worth it, even if it’s a little different from the other themes because it starts with the indefinite article instead of the B of the two switched letters. PAIN IN THE BUTT was also really fun, and figuring out the theme can be helpful even if you don’t now who Barbara Bain is.

I finished the NE corner first, knowing the Across answers in that corner easily, moving from 9a [“Rami of ‘Amsterdam’] MALEK to 16a [“Seek forgiveness”] ATONE to 19a [“‘The Nose’ short-story writer Nikolai”] GOGOL to 26a [“Small, sandy island”] CAY. The SE was also pretty solid, with 62a [“Only Swedish group in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”] ABBA and 70a [“Answered the cattle call”] MOOED really anchoring it for me.

Some other faves:

• I loved the TED Lasso reference in 50a [“Sam, Dani, and Jamie’s soccer coach”].
• I recently got my flu shot, and 54a [“Booster, e.g.”] JAB feels like an apt description. My arm was so sore.
• 29a [“One who gets what’s coming to them”] was something I assumed had to do with karma, so I was pleased at the aha moment when I filled in HEIR.

That’s all from me for today!