Cloth made infamous by infomercials / TUE 10-11-16 / School about 40 miles from SLC / Seller of Soderhamn sofa / Rag covered in dirt / Supposed sighting in Tibet

Constructor:Samuel A. Donaldson and Doug Peterson

Relative difficulty:Challenging (*for a Tuesday*)

THEME:"H" to "CH"—sound change, four times

Theme answers:

• ARTIFICIAL CHART (17A: PowerPoint slide with fake data?)
• CHEESE SO FINE (26A: Sliced serving with ritzy crackers?)
• I'M OUT OF CHEER (48A: Pep squad member's lament?)
• CHAIN'S UNDERWEAR (63A: Briefs from Walmart or Target?)

Word of the Day:SHAMWOW(47D: Cloth made famous by infomercials) —

This was a nice enough puzzle, but man it played hard for me, largely because I could not figure out (mid-solve) what the theme was. Getting the themers was brutal. Wacky "?" + sound change + no explanatory revealer ... just didn't compute. Good minute over my Tuesday norm. Bigger than my theme comprehension problem, however, was my central clue comprehension (38A: Rag covered in dirt?). I think it's an incredibly cheap shot to put a "?" clue on a central Across (i.e. a likely, common theme answer position), when all the other themers have "?" clues ... and then have that answer Not be a themer. I actually think it's terrible form. Anyway, I absolutely died there because 40D: School about 40 miles from S.L.C., I had _YU and honestly have no idea at first glance what "S.L.C." is (since I never see that abbr. ever) and so it's a school, it's _YU ... I write in "N." NYU. *Further*, you give me an Einstein quote for 41D: "God does not play ___ with the world": Einstein???? Well, with _ICE in place, perhaps you can guess what perfectly plausible letter I put in there. Again, it's "N." So I ended up with my favorite "theme answer" of the night: TANLOIN! Too bad it was only a "theme answer" in an imaginary puzzle where you change a long "I" sound to an "OY" sound. VOICE SQUAD! "THE ROCKFORD FOILS" Etc. But TANLOIN in *this* puzzle. Just wrong. Ugh.


Rest of the grid seems pretty strong and clean. One big struggle was figuring out 57D: Successfully treat, only because I could only see "treat" in the sense of "pay for the meal of." My brain kept glitching, "Successfully?? You just ... treat. What's this 'successfully' bull&%^$?" I don't think of "treat" and CURE as synonyms at all. "Treat" means "manage" to me. You "treat" your psoriasis. CURE implies "eliminate." Ugh again. OK, I'm done. Gotta go watch Cubs, who have somehow scored 3 runs early off the normally un-score-off-able (in the postseason) Madison Bumgarner. Good night.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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