FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2013

Constructor: Ian Livengood and Brad Wilber

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium



THEME: themeless

Word of the Day:STANCH (30D: Stop) —

stanch 1  (stônch, stänch, stnch) also staunch (stônch, stänch) tr.v. stanched also staunched, stanch·ing also staunch·ing, stanch·es also staunch·es 1. To stop or check the flow of (blood or tears, for example). 2. To stop the flow of blood from (a wound). 3. To stop, check, or allay: "My anxiety is stanched; I am at peace" (Scott Turow). See Usage Note atstaunch1. [thefreedictionary.com]

Wazzah! Caleb Madison here, filling in for Rex who continues to play Dale Cooper in the Pacific Northwilderness. Hey, Rex- if you're reading this, good news! That gum you like is coming back in style! Sorry in advance, but this wont be extensive as my usual ramblings. I got places to go, people to see, excuses to make.



Ugh I just love themelesses. What beautiful testaments to the clutter of the human mind! If it were up to me, Thursday-Saturday would be themeless, and Wednesday would be a super tricky Thursday-type theme. But enough about me. On second thought, it's never enough. Mr. Livengood is my successor at the JASA Crossword class (Shoutout to all my JASA homies reading this! whut whuuuut!), and an all around talented guy/good constructor, and I've admires Mr. Wilber's themeless work since I started solving, so the bar was set high when I saw the byline.


And the puzzle didn't let me down! TBH, I kind of wished it was a little trickier (I finished ~7 minutes), but I've been feeling that's a general NYT trend lately. Maybe I'm getting better :) ;) :) :o :p

The only significant hesitation I had was in the SW corner. Unfamiliar with this MORAN (39-A: Longtime Capone rival) dude, and I've only waltzed like twice in my whole life (waltz means poop your pants, right?) and I've only ever seen BOX STEP (32-Across: Waltz component) clued as [Part of a staircase made of shipping containers] WHICH IS ITS MOST COMMON MEANING!!! Come Brian (Brad + Ian), get your $h!t together!

Fave crossing: SEX SHOP [49a: Business that may be a zoning target] and STDS [50d: The E.P.A. issues them: Abbr.]- which is such a surprising clue because you'd think the EPA would be smart enough to use protection! Anyway, Brian, I heed your encoded warning and will restrain myself from both kinky stores and federal environmental health protection agencies. HAHA omg someone should make a parody of Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" called "Sex Shop". You wouldn't even have to change his first line! I'm an idiot.



Bullets:

• [36a: Magician's prop] WAND— Whoa- how about "Magician's tool"? I don't like the implication here that a magicians is some sort of charlatan. The other day, a magician used his wand to defeat an EVIL UNDEAD OVERLORD in a movie. Still think it's a prop?
• [34d: Intern's duty, maybe] XEROXING— I liked this clue because it's a perfect transition to talking about ME! I'm interning at 2 cool (literally- they both have AC) places this summer: the Oxford English Dictionary, and the American Values Club crossword. Xeroxing at neither. Ooh ooh ooh if you liked this puzzle/want more themeless meat, check out the MASSIVE 23x23 themeless that the constructors of the AV Club collaborated on here. Yummy. 
• [46a: In the loop, with "in"] CLUED— my clue for this would have been, "Like this answer, after I finish typing"
• [22a: Overzealous promgoer's choice, maybe] TAILS — ok THIS is awkward because:

Signed, Caleb Madison, Justin Bieber of CrossWorld