Constructor:Andrew Zhou
Relative difficulty:Easy
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THEME:None
Word of the Day:BOETHIUS(11D: "The Consulation of Philosophy" author) —
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius,[1][2] commonly called Boethius[3] (English: /boʊˈiːθiəs/; also Boetius/boʊˈiːʃəs/; c. 480–524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, magister officiorum, and philosopher of the early 6th century. He was born four years after Odoacer deposed the last Roman Emperor and declared himself King of Italy, and entered public service under Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great, who later imprisoned and executed him in 524 on charges of conspiracy to overthrow him.[4] While jailed, Boethius composed his Consolation of Philosophy, a philosophical treatise on fortune, death, and other issues, which became one of the most popular and influential works of the Middle Ages. (Wikipedia)
It seems Rex found himself staring into the inky void of a technological blackout last night (no, he didn't pass out and spill whiskey on his computer, into his USBPORT-- it's a cable outage), so it's Lena here to wish you a happy Friday.
And so it is. This was a fun solve for me, and a quick one too. I scooted through the North and thought "hey hey slow down, puzzle, quit being so easy and intuitive." Remember my last sub-in post? So fun. But yeah that was also an Andrew Zhou puzzle! Maybe there are cosmic Crossworld forces afoot.
SHOCK JOCK (1A: One making waves over the waves) went in first, although I entertained SURF-something for a few seconds. SURFCELEB? "Shock jocks" were mentioned in a clue in Chris King's latest puzzle, so it was fresh in my brain on some level. WOMANIZING towering over INANIMATE OBJECTis pretty great, and the clue on the latter is both straightforward and clever: (17A: It has no life).
Lots and lots of good fill, which always makes a soupçon of classic crosswordese more obvious-- ERNEZEESUTEIBAR. Now that that's out of the way, let's pack up the car and take a trip to Natick.
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BOETHIUS (11D: "The Consolation of Philosophy" author) crossing ROCHE (23A: Company that makes Tamiflu) must have tripped some folks up. Speed-sovling darling Austin Burns wasn't sure of that H in their crossing but ultimately guessed correctly:
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I knew ROCHE but that's because I ordered thousands of dollars worth of antibodies from them in grad school. My problem was entirely BOETHIUS. I ordered antibodies from ROCHE and in my spare time didn't read philosophy. I know the heavy-hitters well enough, but BOETHIUS seems awfully underground, awfully "indie," as Philosophers go. And if you're clueless like me, there's no real indication that "The Consulation of Philosophy might be the work of ANCIENTS like (12A: Aeschylus, Sophoclese and Aristophanes) so that you don't start getting nervous when a funky ancient name starts to appear.
But the rest of the long fill really is very good: YOUVE BEEN SERVED, SCREENTIME, USB PORTS, AUTOTUNE.
Oh, and FOAMCORE may be (34D: Material for mounting photos), but it is also now my new favorite rock genre.
And speaking of music, enjoy some Joe Jackson-- this one goes out to Rex!
Signed, Lena Webb, Court Jester of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty:Easy
Yup that's supposed to be a D but I'm not re-filling in this grid and taking another screen shot
THEME:None
Word of the Day:BOETHIUS(11D: "The Consulation of Philosophy" author) —
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius,[1][2] commonly called Boethius[3] (English: /boʊˈiːθiəs/; also Boetius/boʊˈiːʃəs/; c. 480–524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, magister officiorum, and philosopher of the early 6th century. He was born four years after Odoacer deposed the last Roman Emperor and declared himself King of Italy, and entered public service under Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great, who later imprisoned and executed him in 524 on charges of conspiracy to overthrow him.[4] While jailed, Boethius composed his Consolation of Philosophy, a philosophical treatise on fortune, death, and other issues, which became one of the most popular and influential works of the Middle Ages. (Wikipedia)
• • •
It seems Rex found himself staring into the inky void of a technological blackout last night (no, he didn't pass out and spill whiskey on his computer, into his USBPORT-- it's a cable outage), so it's Lena here to wish you a happy Friday.
And so it is. This was a fun solve for me, and a quick one too. I scooted through the North and thought "hey hey slow down, puzzle, quit being so easy and intuitive." Remember my last sub-in post? So fun. But yeah that was also an Andrew Zhou puzzle! Maybe there are cosmic Crossworld forces afoot.
SHOCK JOCK (1A: One making waves over the waves) went in first, although I entertained SURF-something for a few seconds. SURFCELEB? "Shock jocks" were mentioned in a clue in Chris King's latest puzzle, so it was fresh in my brain on some level. WOMANIZING towering over INANIMATE OBJECTis pretty great, and the clue on the latter is both straightforward and clever: (17A: It has no life).
Lots and lots of good fill, which always makes a soupçon of classic crosswordese more obvious-- ERNEZEESUTEIBAR. Now that that's out of the way, let's pack up the car and take a trip to Natick.
BOETHIUS (11D: "The Consolation of Philosophy" author) crossing ROCHE (23A: Company that makes Tamiflu) must have tripped some folks up. Speed-sovling darling Austin Burns wasn't sure of that H in their crossing but ultimately guessed correctly:
I knew ROCHE but that's because I ordered thousands of dollars worth of antibodies from them in grad school. My problem was entirely BOETHIUS. I ordered antibodies from ROCHE and in my spare time didn't read philosophy. I know the heavy-hitters well enough, but BOETHIUS seems awfully underground, awfully "indie," as Philosophers go. And if you're clueless like me, there's no real indication that "The Consulation of Philosophy might be the work of ANCIENTS like (12A: Aeschylus, Sophoclese and Aristophanes) so that you don't start getting nervous when a funky ancient name starts to appear.
But the rest of the long fill really is very good: YOUVE BEEN SERVED, SCREENTIME, USB PORTS, AUTOTUNE.
Oh, and FOAMCORE may be (34D: Material for mounting photos), but it is also now my new favorite rock genre.
And speaking of music, enjoy some Joe Jackson-- this one goes out to Rex!
Signed, Lena Webb, Court Jester of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]