Constructor:David Steinberg
Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium
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THEME: add -STER— ... for wackiness
Theme answers:
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As "+ X = Wackiness" themes go, this was OK. -STER changes the meaning of the word it's added to each time. I can't believe HAM-to-HAMSTER wasn't somehow involved, since the potential for primo wackiness there seems quite high. Also, the clues were either tepid of slightly off-seeming. "Ostentatious" is "flash-y" more than it's FLASH. Why FLASH wasn't imagined as a verb in that clue, I will never, ever, know, since that's the much funnier way of imagining the phrase FLASH MOBSTER. Also, there is nothing about "alt-rock concert" that makes me think HIPSTER. Zero. I barely know what "alt-rock" means anymore. *Maybe* "indie rock" would've got you there. This "Definitive Guide to Hipster Music Genres," while tongue-in-cheek, is pretty wide-ranging, and while alt-folk and alt-rap make appearances, alt-rock, no. Be accurate. Shoegaze. Twee. Those are ... closer, anyway.
This puzzle should've been very, very easy, he said to himself, looking back over the grid. So why was my time average, even slightly above. Well, in a ... word? I guess it counts as a word. In a word: FO'C'SLE (6D: Ship part spelled with two apostrophes). That is the horrid outcome of someone's wanting CHASE SCENE so bad that he's willing to completely ignore the nightmarish -CS- consequences in the cross. English doesn't want to do that. So we get this ship part I've literally never heard of or seen in this form, which, btw, may be spelled with two apostrophes but is also spelled with three apostrophes (in fact, the 3-apostrophe spelling seems much more apt, since that's how many you need to account for all elisions). If you had asked me what FO'C'SLE was short for, I would not have been able to tell you. Even on a guess. I looked it up, saw "Forecastle," and went "... huh. OK." Also, FIND as 6A: Edit menu option??? I can't think of a duller, more horrible terrible boring and unthoughtful clue for FIND. Infinite clues, and we get this beige, office-manager nonsense. Ugh. So, yeah, I was held up a lot right in the north.
Turns out I really hate the word AGLET (48A: Tip on a sweatshirt string). Just ... hate it. It looks stupid, and it doesn't look like it's pronounced, and it can also be spelled AIGLET, and I would never use it. AD REP exists only in crosswords, so I'm not fond of it either. It has all the excitement of [Edit menu option]. How is TOOT a [Palindromic blast]? I get the palindromic part, but ... is it "blast," like "good time.?" Because it sure as hell isn't "blast" like "blast your horn."TOOT is to "blast" what "whisper" is to "yell." Had the D- and thought 35D: One of a Disney septet was (duh) DWARF. Completely and utterly forgot who Nathan Hale was (?!) (SPY). Had ZESTY for ZIPPY (64A: Full of oomph). I think that's all the trouble spots. Good day.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- HIPSTER FLASK (20A: Something carried surreptitiously into an alt-rock concert?)
- DREAM TEAMSTER (27A: Perfect truck driver for the job?)
- DRAGSTER QUEEN (44A: Female street-racing champion?)
- FLASH MOBSTER (52A: Ostentatious member of the Mafia?)
Forecastle (pron. fowk-sul; commonly abbreviated "fo'c's'le") refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase "before the mast" which denotes anything related to ordinary sailors, as opposed to a ship's officers. (wikipedia)
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This puzzle should've been very, very easy, he said to himself, looking back over the grid. So why was my time average, even slightly above. Well, in a ... word? I guess it counts as a word. In a word: FO'C'SLE (6D: Ship part spelled with two apostrophes). That is the horrid outcome of someone's wanting CHASE SCENE so bad that he's willing to completely ignore the nightmarish -CS- consequences in the cross. English doesn't want to do that. So we get this ship part I've literally never heard of or seen in this form, which, btw, may be spelled with two apostrophes but is also spelled with three apostrophes (in fact, the 3-apostrophe spelling seems much more apt, since that's how many you need to account for all elisions). If you had asked me what FO'C'SLE was short for, I would not have been able to tell you. Even on a guess. I looked it up, saw "Forecastle," and went "... huh. OK." Also, FIND as 6A: Edit menu option??? I can't think of a duller, more horrible terrible boring and unthoughtful clue for FIND. Infinite clues, and we get this beige, office-manager nonsense. Ugh. So, yeah, I was held up a lot right in the north.
[43D: Tight hug]
Turns out I really hate the word AGLET (48A: Tip on a sweatshirt string). Just ... hate it. It looks stupid, and it doesn't look like it's pronounced, and it can also be spelled AIGLET, and I would never use it. AD REP exists only in crosswords, so I'm not fond of it either. It has all the excitement of [Edit menu option]. How is TOOT a [Palindromic blast]? I get the palindromic part, but ... is it "blast," like "good time.?" Because it sure as hell isn't "blast" like "blast your horn."TOOT is to "blast" what "whisper" is to "yell." Had the D- and thought 35D: One of a Disney septet was (duh) DWARF. Completely and utterly forgot who Nathan Hale was (?!) (SPY). Had ZESTY for ZIPPY (64A: Full of oomph). I think that's all the trouble spots. Good day.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]