Constructor: Josh Knapp
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: AQUA-LUNG (56A: Breather?) —
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Very weird solving experience. Got nowhere in the NW, then blazed through everything else, only to end up back at the NW, stuck again. Half my solving time, at least, was spent stuck in that corner (despite my having NOUS, DURST (21A: Limp Bizkit frontman Fred), and "I'M HURT"). Even when I was able (finally) to back myself into stuff I just didn't know (ZITI) (23A: Ingredient in some pastitsio) or couldn't see at first (NETIZEN, GRAVITY), I was stuck for a bit. Once again, the culprit was wrong answers: specifically, "AM I LYING?" for 1A: "You doubt me?" ("AM I WRONG?") and INT for 25A: Football stat. (ATT). Didn't know OVID (despite loving his poetry) (6D: J. M. W. Turner's "___ Banished From Rome") and didn't know WEISS and so ... well, not GAME OVER, but it felt like it, for a bit. Somehow was able to see MAX OUT despite having a wrong "N" in that terminal space, and took the puzzle down from there. Seriously, I don't even remember what happened with the other 75-80% of the grid. I flew through it like it was Tuesday.
As of right now, I have no idea what "TWO!" is supposed to mean as an answer to 34D: Shout repeated at a basketball game. I have attended many basketball games in my life, and this "shout" has never happened. Who is shouting it? Why? Mystifying. The only halfway decent rationale I've heard for this clue (from Jeffrey K, on Twitter) is that the ref is shouting it, as the ball is in the air, to indicate that the shot was a 2-pointer and not, as it might've appeared on a long jump shot, a 3-pointer. But this is a stretch.
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Nothing else in this puzzle registered much with me. I had EVENNESS (?) instead of EVEN KEEL for a few seconds. But otherwise, my only minor- to major struggles were north and west of the ACE TEN line (26A: 21 in blackjack). I like the underwaterness of DIVING BELL (19A: Relative of a bathysphere) and AQUA-LUNG (56A: Breather?) sharing space in this grid. I should probably praise the hell out of the smoothness of the grid, esp. given those big, open corners in the NE and SW. I just wish they'd made more of an impression.
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: none
Word of the Day: AQUA-LUNG (56A: Breather?) —
Aqua-Lung was the original English name of the first open-circuit, self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (or "SCUBA") to reach worldwide popularity and commercial success. This class of equipment is now commonly referred to as a diving regulator or demand valve. The Aqua-Lung was invented in Paris during the winter of 1942–1943 by the engineer Émile Gagnan and the lieutenant de vaisseau (ship-of-the-line lieutenant) Jacques Cousteau, both of France. (wikipedia)
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As of right now, I have no idea what "TWO!" is supposed to mean as an answer to 34D: Shout repeated at a basketball game. I have attended many basketball games in my life, and this "shout" has never happened. Who is shouting it? Why? Mystifying. The only halfway decent rationale I've heard for this clue (from Jeffrey K, on Twitter) is that the ref is shouting it, as the ball is in the air, to indicate that the shot was a 2-pointer and not, as it might've appeared on a long jump shot, a 3-pointer. But this is a stretch.
