Old nickname for China / FRI 12-4-15 / Cliffside detritus / 2004-11 Lakers forward / Actor Spall of Life of Pi / Candy counter eponym / Scopes Trial city

Constructor:Martin Ashwood-Smith

Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium


THEME:none 

Word of the Day:APIS(35D: Egyptian bull god) —

In Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis (alternatively spelled Hapi-ankh) is a bull-deity that was worshipped in the Memphis region. "Apis served as an intermediary between humans and an all-powerful god (originally Ptah, later Osiris, then Atum)." [quote: Virtual Egyptian Museum] // Apis was the most important of all the sacred animals in Egypt, and, as with the others, its importance increased as time went on. Greek and Roman authors have much to say about Apis, the marks by which the black bull-calf was recognized, the manner of his conception by a ray from heaven, his house at Memphis with court for disporting himself, the mode of prognostication from his actions, the mourning at his death, his costly burial, and the rejoicings throughout the country when a new Apis was found. Auguste Mariette's excavation of the Serapeum at Memphis revealed the tombs of over sixty animals, ranging from the time of Amenophis III to that of Ptolemy Alexander. At first each animal was buried in a separate tomb with a chapel built above it. (wikipedia)

15x16 to accommodate that central quad-stack. Super-segmented grid typical of grids like this, where you gotta keep a majority of those quad crosses pretty short; thus the top and bottom tend to play like completely separate (and usually much easier) puzzles. So structure-wise it's a fairly typical specimen. Fill-wise, given the severe limitations imposed by quad-stacking, I'd say it comes out OK. You've got the Egyptian bull gods and hare constellations and minor Homeric characters that inevitably congregate around this kind of puzzle, but they certain don't overwhelm the grid. I'd argue that COMPUTER MONITOR and OPERATING SYSTEM and APPLIED RESEARCH are really, severely, aggressively, perversely dull 15s—all straight out of some nondescript building in some office park in suburban D.C. But the other 15s are pretty interesting, as are the longer answers that shoot through the quad-stack.


I had zero luck starting out in the NW, and so ended up getting traction in what felt like a weird place—first with ROM, then ODOM, then MGS, then IRISH SHA APRILS. Thus:

Felt like I was clinging to the rock with my fingertips. Also felt like I was starting on the wrong end of the puzzle. Working right-to-left-always feels slightly backwards to me, so it was especially odd to find myself, not much later, with the east side of the grid filled in, but totally unable to make any of the 15s shoot back across the grid:

Actually, at this point, I probably looked back up and realized that the Who title was "I CAN SEE FOR MILES" (37A: The Who's only U.S. top 10 hit). Earlier, I was thinking it was MILES AND MILES or "FOR MILES AND MILES" ... whatever I was thinking, it wasn't working. I also have never ever head of DAYTON, TENNESSEE, so front end of that was tough ... especially when I threw down MISSISSIPPI at 24D: Their state song is a waltz (MISSOURIANS). In my defense ... I don't know. It fit? Anyway, that gave me DAYTIN, which ... really looks (and is) wrong. No idea who that RAFE dude is. He was RENÉ for a hot second somewhere in there. Aren't THREE TENS actually better than a [Pretty good poker hand]. Wouldn't you win most of the time with that hand? Three of a kind, esp. THREE TENS ... I don't know, "pretty good" seems insufficient. I had no idea that you could use PAX without following it with "Romana" (54D: Time of wide-ranging stability). It literally means "peace," but I guess that since the Romans committed some amazing atrocities during their PAX, maybe the clue definition is, in fact, more accurate. I discovered today that I hate guns so much that I don't even want to see them in my crosswords any more. I didn't find the ARMED clue funny (48D: Piece-keeping?). This is not the fault of the constructor or editor. It's a matter of personal taste. I've just had it.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]