Constructor:Parker Lewis
Relative difficulty:Medium Mondayish level
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THEME:fractions— a fraction progression where the numerator remains "1" throughout but the denominator moves from "5" to "1"; so one FIFTH, one FOURTH, one THIRD, one HALF, and finally one WHOLE
Theme answers:
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This theme has definitely been done over and over again where FIFTH, FOURTH etc. are ordinals, but I guess the surprise fraction twist is new. It's also mildly awkward, in that you have to imagine "a" or "one" in front of the first words for the progression to really make sense, and WHOLE is not really the correct finale. Should probably be ONE something. And why is this 16 wide—totally unnecessary. All that having THIRD TIMES A CHARM in here does is open up the classic THIRD TIME'S A CHARM vs. THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM debate, and no one wants to open up that can of worms. That controversy tends to get real ugly, real fast. I'm definitely team THE, but I've learned to live with my A neighbors. Coexist, man. But seriously, THIRD BASE? THIRD DEGREE? You're going 16 wide ... why? I'm not a fan of breaking the rules for no good and possibly even bad reasons. But I guess I did get about 20 extra seconds of Monday puzzle today. Maybe that was worth it.
Puzzle gets pretty chock full o' crosswordese at times, especially over there in the east where "ERNO and the T-MAN"® climb Mt. ETNA in search of the fabled ODEON of Apolo (Ohno). It's a pretty epic adventure—they even wrote a SESTET about it. But I guess most of the fill is OK. I messed up my Biblical verb and wrote DOEST instead of DOETH. I also totally blanked on the MASAI, even though I did this whole report on them in 7th grade Geography (27A: Native Kenyans). Actually, the report was on Tanzania, but they were in there. Sorry, Mrs. Stevens. Got very confused by [Center of a place setting], especially when I got it down to PLA-E and was like "... uh ... PLACE?" I think that's all I have to say about this puzzle.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty:Medium Mondayish level
THEME:fractions— a fraction progression where the numerator remains "1" throughout but the denominator moves from "5" to "1"; so one FIFTH, one FOURTH, one THIRD, one HALF, and finally one WHOLE
Theme answers:
- FIFTH ELEMENT (17A: 1997 Bruce Willis sci-fi film, with "The")
- FOURTH ESTATE (23A: Journalistic profession)
- THIRD TIMES A CHARM (38A: Saying about persistence paying off)
- HALF MARATHON (48A: Race just over 13 miles long)
- WHOLE SHEBANG (60A: Entirety, informally)
The Rift is a virtual realityhead-mounted display developed by Oculus VR. It was initially proposed in a Kickstarter campaign, during which Oculus VR (at the time an independent company) raised US$2.5 million for the development of the product. (wikipedia)
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Puzzle gets pretty chock full o' crosswordese at times, especially over there in the east where "ERNO and the T-MAN"® climb Mt. ETNA in search of the fabled ODEON of Apolo (Ohno). It's a pretty epic adventure—they even wrote a SESTET about it. But I guess most of the fill is OK. I messed up my Biblical verb and wrote DOEST instead of DOETH. I also totally blanked on the MASAI, even though I did this whole report on them in 7th grade Geography (27A: Native Kenyans). Actually, the report was on Tanzania, but they were in there. Sorry, Mrs. Stevens. Got very confused by [Center of a place setting], especially when I got it down to PLA-E and was like "... uh ... PLACE?" I think that's all I have to say about this puzzle.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]