Constructor:Jim Peredo
Relative difficulty:Easy
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THEME:BATMAN (71A: 1960s TV icon whose name follows a pair of letters found, appropriately, 16 times in this puzzle's Across answers)— themers begin with comic book sounds and then, I guess "NA" appears 16 times? because ... of the TV theme?:
Theme answers:
Wow. The "NA" x 16 thing probably sounded interesting in your head, but on paper all it does is create a weak-fill train wreck. Oy. Talk about stressing out the grid for No Good Reason. Actually theme material is really thin, and then remaining answers are blah to bad much of the time (N, NE, S, ABEAR, ANEG, etc.). I love BATMAN, but this did nothing for me. Counting NAs? Nah. Also, as you can see, those comic books noises that open the themers aren't the ones that appear over the actual nananananananana opening theme. Where is my ZOK! answer?:
Exceedingly easy to solve: more Tuesday than Wednesday. Every single bit of resistance in this puzzle, for me, came from "BLACK MASS," of which I have never, ever heard. I also had trouble with the WHAMMY BAR cross (don't really know what that is), and so I was sitting on BLACK _ASS for a bit, and you could've convinced me that many different letters went there. On reading the summary of "BLACK MASS," I see that I definitely remember hearing about the basic subject matter of this movie, but the title? No. Did it win anything? Nominated for anything? Do huge box office? Bueller? Bueller? ANYONE? ANYONE? (48D: Question repeatedly posed by Ferris Bueller's teacher).
Nothing much interesting to comment on. I flagged the clue on ANYONE? (which is good), and ... that's it. This is a puzzle! The end!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty:Easy
Theme answers:
- BANGALORE (21A: City called the "Silicon Valley of India")
- BAMBINAS (34A: Little Italian girls)
- POWER NAP (45A: Post-lunch pick-me-up)
- WHAMMY BAR (55A: Hendrix famously used one in his Woodstock rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner")
Black Mass is a 2015 American biographicalcrimedrama film directed by Scott Cooper and written by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, based on the 2001 book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill. The film has an ensemble cast including Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Jesse Plemons, Peter Sarsgaard, Rory Cochrane, Adam Scott, Dakota Johnson, and Corey Stoll. // The film follows the criminal career of infamous American mobster Whitey Bulger (Depp). Principal photography of the film began on May 19, 2014 in Boston, and wrapped on August 1, 2014. It had its world premiere at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival. The film was released by Warner Bros. worldwide on September 18, 2015. (wikipedia)
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Wow. The "NA" x 16 thing probably sounded interesting in your head, but on paper all it does is create a weak-fill train wreck. Oy. Talk about stressing out the grid for No Good Reason. Actually theme material is really thin, and then remaining answers are blah to bad much of the time (N, NE, S, ABEAR, ANEG, etc.). I love BATMAN, but this did nothing for me. Counting NAs? Nah. Also, as you can see, those comic books noises that open the themers aren't the ones that appear over the actual nananananananana opening theme. Where is my ZOK! answer?:
Exceedingly easy to solve: more Tuesday than Wednesday. Every single bit of resistance in this puzzle, for me, came from "BLACK MASS," of which I have never, ever heard. I also had trouble with the WHAMMY BAR cross (don't really know what that is), and so I was sitting on BLACK _ASS for a bit, and you could've convinced me that many different letters went there. On reading the summary of "BLACK MASS," I see that I definitely remember hearing about the basic subject matter of this movie, but the title? No. Did it win anything? Nominated for anything? Do huge box office? Bueller? Bueller? ANYONE? ANYONE? (48D: Question repeatedly posed by Ferris Bueller's teacher).
Nothing much interesting to comment on. I flagged the clue on ANYONE? (which is good), and ... that's it. This is a puzzle! The end!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]