Constructor:Kyle Mahowald
Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium
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THEME:cold people puns— famous names turned into winter-related puns (I think)
Theme answers:
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I imagine the constructor first noticed the Snowden / "SNOWED IN" pun, then tried to find way to build a puzzle around it, and this is the result. EDWARD SNOWED IN is interesting. It's kind of funny. The others are less so, on both counts. JODIE FROSTER doesn't even make sense. What's a "froster?" Someone who frosts cakes? No, that's not in keeping with the winter theme. Seriously, when would you use "froster" in relation to cold weather? Or at all? Weren't there better answers out there? No EDDIE BLIZZARD (or WOLF BLIZZARD, I guess, but that's pretty awful)? FRIGID BARDOT? SLEET ULRICH? CLAMMY DAVIS, JR. (I guess the puns are all last names, so those wouldn't be consistent)? LASSE HAILSTORM? JAKE CHILLING ALL? BUSTA RIMES? AARON BRRR? Pick one. There are probably (many) more. I don't think having some form of "ice" in all the clues works either, as "icy storms" rarely "snow" anyone "in." Also, Dwight D. Ice in Shower is so bad it's not even groanworthy. It's grotesque. This puzzle wants desperately to be cute, but hits the mark only with its first theme answer. After that, the whole thing comes apart quite a bit.
I blazed through the non-theme parts of this—cluing seemed very Monday—but I couldn't even understand the theme for the longest time. JODIE FROSTER took forever, even with most of the crosses, for reasons largely explained above (i.e. WTF?). What I like about the puzzle is that the longer Downs seem to have been chosen with care, and with an eye to novelty. Well, most of them, at any rate. THE REAL ME andNEW IN TOWN are both nice, and BAD WORD and PHRYGIA (41D: Realm of King Midas), bring a colloquial and classical quality to the grid, respectively. This is important, because the rest of the fill is kind of subpar (With so much 3- and 4-letter stuff, this isn't terribly surprising). I couldn't make any sense of EXOD. for way too long (22D: Gen. follower) (abbr. of "Exodus," in case that wasn't yet clear). Mostly the fill isn't cringeworthy so much as it's dull—of the OLLA / ATAD / APSE variety. Puzzle skewed old, but not painfully. I suspect plenty of people will find the icy puns enjoyable. I am just not one of those people. Probably because of my icy, icy heart. Oh well.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium
THEME:cold people puns— famous names turned into winter-related puns (I think)
Theme answers:
- EDWARD SNOWED IN (20A: Informant trapped after an icy storm?)
- JODIE FROSTER (26A: Actress with an icy stare?)
- CURT CHILLING (44A: Pitcher of ice?)
- BARRY COLD WATER (52A: Next Republican nominee after Dwight D. Ice in Shower left office?)
Veep is an American HBOpolitical comedy television series, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, set in the office of Selina Meyer, a fictional Vice President, and subsequent President, of the United States. The series was created by Armando Iannucci, who created the British political comedy series The Thick of It, and also wrote and directed that series' film spin-off In the Loop (2009), all of which feature the same writing staff. [...] Veep has received critical acclaim and won several major awards. It has been nominated four years in a row for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, winning the award for its fourth season. Its second season won the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy Series, and its third season won the TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. Louis-Dreyfus has won four consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards, one Screen Actors Guild Award, two Critics' Choice Television Awards and one Television Critics Association Award for her performance. (wikipedia)
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I blazed through the non-theme parts of this—cluing seemed very Monday—but I couldn't even understand the theme for the longest time. JODIE FROSTER took forever, even with most of the crosses, for reasons largely explained above (i.e. WTF?). What I like about the puzzle is that the longer Downs seem to have been chosen with care, and with an eye to novelty. Well, most of them, at any rate. THE REAL ME andNEW IN TOWN are both nice, and BAD WORD and PHRYGIA (41D: Realm of King Midas), bring a colloquial and classical quality to the grid, respectively. This is important, because the rest of the fill is kind of subpar (With so much 3- and 4-letter stuff, this isn't terribly surprising). I couldn't make any sense of EXOD. for way too long (22D: Gen. follower) (abbr. of "Exodus," in case that wasn't yet clear). Mostly the fill isn't cringeworthy so much as it's dull—of the OLLA / ATAD / APSE variety. Puzzle skewed old, but not painfully. I suspect plenty of people will find the icy puns enjoyable. I am just not one of those people. Probably because of my icy, icy heart. Oh well.
- Phoebe Snow (10)
- Edgar Winter (11)
- Robert Frost (11)
- Vanilla Ice (10)
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]