Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (normal Tuesday time, but it's 16 wide, so ... must've been easier than normal, by a bit)
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THEME: INTERIOR DESIGNER (41A: Elle Decor reader ... or any of the names hidden in 18-, 28-, 52- and 66-Across) —there are *fashion* DESIGNERs in the INTERIOR of every theme answer:
Theme answers:
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SPECIAL MESSAGEfor the week of January 10-January 17, 2016
Hello, solvers. Somehow, it is January again, which means it's time for my week-long, once-a-year pitch for financial contributions to the blog. The idea is very simple: if you read the blog regularly (or even semi-regularly), please consider what it's worth to you on an annual basis and give accordingly. In making this pitch, I'm pledging that the blog will continue to be here for you to read / enjoy / grimace at for at least another calendar year, with a new post up by 9:00am (usually by 12:01am) every day, as usual. This year is special, as it will mark the 10th anniversary of Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle, and despite my not-infrequent grumblings about less-than-stellar puzzles, I've actually never been so excited to be thinking and writing about crosswords. I have no way of knowing what's coming from the NYT, but the broader world of crosswords looks very bright, and that is sustaining. Whatever happens, this blog will remain an outpost of the Old Internet: no ads, no corporate sponsorship, no whistles and bells. Just the singular, personal voice of someone talking passionately about a topic he loves. As I have said in years past, I know that some people are opposed to paying for what they can get for free, and still others really don't have money to spare. Both kinds of people are welcome to continue reading my blog, with my compliments. It will always be free. I have no interest in cordoning it off, nor do I have any interest in taking advertising. I value my independence too much. Anyway, if you are so moved, there is a Paypal button in the sidebar, and a mailing address here:
Rex Parker
℅ Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton NY 13905
And here: I'll stick a PayPal button in here for the mobile users.
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For people who send me actual, honest-to-god (i.e. "snail") mail (I love snail mail!), this year my thank-you cards are "Sibley Backyard Birding Postcards"—each card a different watercolor illustration by ornithologist David Sibley. You could get a Black PHOEBE. A California TOWHEE. Or maybe even a picture of some fabled SCARLET TANAGERS (15). Or give via PayPal and get a thank-you email. That's cool too. Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just say NO CARD. As I say in every thank-you card (and email), I'm so grateful for your readership and support. So thanks, not A TAD, but A TON (partial fill! coming in useful!). Now on to the puzzle …
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Yeow, this one was bumpy. Once I fully grasped what the theme was (well after I completed the puzzle and finished surveying the wreckage), I gained some appreciation for what the puzzle was trying to do. It's a nice repurposing of the phrase INTERIOR DESIGNER, and it can't have been easy to embed that many *well-known* designers names inside two-word phrases. However, there are several problems. Minor: somehow INTERIOR DESIGNER does not seem repurposed enough; that is, we're still talking about designers, and what with Vera WANG getting into home furnishings (maybe she's been there a long time already; I wouldn't know), somehow the distance between the revealer phrase and the concept of a fashion designer isn't stark enough to make the reveal really snap. This is to say that the revealer doesn't have the snappy wow factor that comes when we are forced to really reconceive what a phrase means, to think of it in a completely different way. Yes, we do have to think of it literally (designer's name physically situated in the "interior" of the theme phrase), and that is different, but we stay firmly in the realm of fashion / design. Moving from interior design to fashion design ... just doesn't have pop. There's also the obscurity / strangeness RADIO RANGE (which I would've thought meant how far a radio signal reaches) and the utter green paint* of ANKLE INJURY. I might accept HEAD or NECK or BRAIN INJURY as a stand-alone "body part INJURY" phrase, but all other body parts feel arbitrary. EYE INJURYs are real, but would you really buy EYE INJURY in your puzzle? (hint: you would not).
But ... BUT ... the biggest problem here is the fill, which is painful in many, many places. I winced my way through this one, from beginning to end. From the LO FAT TAE BO of the NORTE to the KOI of the IONIAN ISLA in the south. And those aren't even the nadir. SES!?!? SSTAR??! ITI!?!?!?!?!?!?!? It's an easy Tuesday puzzle; we shouldn't be seeing even one of those answers, let alone all of them. Over and over again, the fill made me shake my head and grimace. You gotta do better than this. And can we please, please, in the name of all that is holy, retire TAE BO. Just put it in a crosswordese retirement community with ERLE Stanley Gardner and Perle MESTA and other fine people who shouldn't be allowed near crosswords any more. I hear Florida's nice. Lastly, [Scalp] does not equal RESELL. It. Does. Not. "Scalp" specifically implies massive mark-up. Also, illegality. The word RESELL has No Such Connotation. This is like cluing HOUSE as [Igloo].
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*green paint (n.)— in crosswords, a two-word phrase that one can imagine using in conversation, but that is too arbitrary to stand on its own as a crossword answer (e.g. SOFT SWEATER, NICE CURTAINS, CHILI STAIN, etc.)
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (normal Tuesday time, but it's 16 wide, so ... must've been easier than normal, by a bit)
THEME: INTERIOR DESIGNER (41A: Elle Decor reader ... or any of the names hidden in 18-, 28-, 52- and 66-Across) —there are *fashion* DESIGNERs in the INTERIOR of every theme answer:
Theme answers:
- FARM ANIMALS (18A: Most of the leading characters in "Babe")
- SNOW ANGELS (28A: Things kids make in the winter)
- RADIO RANGE (52A: Aerial navigation beacon)
- ANKLE INJURY (66A: Serious setback for a kicker)
- Ernie ELS (10D: 1994 P.G.A. Tour Rookie of the Year)
- Alex Rodriguez aka A-ROD (69A: Youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs, familiarly)
- STU Ungar (43D: Poker great Ungar)
• • •
SPECIAL MESSAGEfor the week of January 10-January 17, 2016
Hello, solvers. Somehow, it is January again, which means it's time for my week-long, once-a-year pitch for financial contributions to the blog. The idea is very simple: if you read the blog regularly (or even semi-regularly), please consider what it's worth to you on an annual basis and give accordingly. In making this pitch, I'm pledging that the blog will continue to be here for you to read / enjoy / grimace at for at least another calendar year, with a new post up by 9:00am (usually by 12:01am) every day, as usual. This year is special, as it will mark the 10th anniversary of Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle, and despite my not-infrequent grumblings about less-than-stellar puzzles, I've actually never been so excited to be thinking and writing about crosswords. I have no way of knowing what's coming from the NYT, but the broader world of crosswords looks very bright, and that is sustaining. Whatever happens, this blog will remain an outpost of the Old Internet: no ads, no corporate sponsorship, no whistles and bells. Just the singular, personal voice of someone talking passionately about a topic he loves. As I have said in years past, I know that some people are opposed to paying for what they can get for free, and still others really don't have money to spare. Both kinds of people are welcome to continue reading my blog, with my compliments. It will always be free. I have no interest in cordoning it off, nor do I have any interest in taking advertising. I value my independence too much. Anyway, if you are so moved, there is a Paypal button in the sidebar, and a mailing address here:
℅ Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton NY 13905
And here: I'll stick a PayPal button in here for the mobile users.
• • •
But ... BUT ... the biggest problem here is the fill, which is painful in many, many places. I winced my way through this one, from beginning to end. From the LO FAT TAE BO of the NORTE to the KOI of the IONIAN ISLA in the south. And those aren't even the nadir. SES!?!? SSTAR??! ITI!?!?!?!?!?!?!? It's an easy Tuesday puzzle; we shouldn't be seeing even one of those answers, let alone all of them. Over and over again, the fill made me shake my head and grimace. You gotta do better than this. And can we please, please, in the name of all that is holy, retire TAE BO. Just put it in a crosswordese retirement community with ERLE Stanley Gardner and Perle MESTA and other fine people who shouldn't be allowed near crosswords any more. I hear Florida's nice. Lastly, [Scalp] does not equal RESELL. It. Does. Not. "Scalp" specifically implies massive mark-up. Also, illegality. The word RESELL has No Such Connotation. This is like cluing HOUSE as [Igloo].
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*green paint (n.)— in crosswords, a two-word phrase that one can imagine using in conversation, but that is too arbitrary to stand on its own as a crossword answer (e.g. SOFT SWEATER, NICE CURTAINS, CHILI STAIN, etc.)
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]