Constructor:Bruce Haight
Relative difficulty:Easy
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THEME:"Action Stars"— actors whose names are turned into past tense verbs and clued as fill-in-the-blanks at the beginnings of vaguely movie-related sentences:
Theme answers:
Jodie Fostered ...
Cary Granted ...
Fredric Marched ...
Robert Donated ...
Gregory Pecked ...
James Earl Jonesed ...
Geoffrey Rushed ...
Sally Fielded ...
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... and that's just when I thought the theme was actually consistent. Then I noticed GLENN CLOSED, the only answer where just "D" and not "ED" is added. If you just add "D," well, as you can imagine, more names become available (Demi Moored, Tom Cruised, Russell Crowed, Geraldine Paged, Stephen Read, etc., etc.). This theme is cornball, mediocre in conception and average (at best) in execution. The clues sometimes relate directly to the actors in question ... sometimes ... not (James Garner's in particular seems not right). I wonder if the cluing wasn't the result of the editor's just trying to salvage this thing. Trying to make something out of not much of a thing. You are all being acclimated to a new normal, similar to the way our country will acclimate to a new normal over the next four years. "It's fine ... it's fine." And then eventually you're wallowing in filth. This Mediocre Madness Must End. I mean, it won't, I'm just one voice in the wilderness, but solvers of "the best puzzle in the world" shouldn't have to settle for this lukewarm stuff. They should be AGOG or AGLARE or ADEN or something.
Fill was decent, if largely non-descript. I wonder if the constructor got a hold of a more robust wordlist. YEAH I BET and ZIPCAR and a few others are a bit more ... lively than what I've come to expect. ECOTAGE is more what I expect (ugh, 119A: Actions of environmental extremists) (also, see clue for LEED (36D), which has "Eco-" in it—no no no). Honestly, there isn't really anything here to comment on.Fill, fine. Cluing, pretty straightforward. Short. Dull. I hope you had more fun than I did.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty:Easy
THEME:"Action Stars"— actors whose names are turned into past tense verbs and clued as fill-in-the-blanks at the beginnings of vaguely movie-related sentences:
Theme answers:
- ORLANDO BLOOMED ... into a major film star (23A)
- HELEN HUNTED ... for just the right film role (34A)
- JAMES GARNERED ... several filmmaking awards (52A) ("filmmaking??")
- SEAN PENNED ... a new film adaptation (66A)
- BRAD PITTED ... two film studios against each other (69A)
- SHELLEY LONGED ... for meatier roles (83A)
- GLENN CLOSED ... the film deal (96A)
- RUSSELL BRANDED ... himself as a big-screen film star (111A)
Princess Tiana of Maldonia is a fictional main character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' 49th animated feature film The Princess and the Frog (2009). Created by directors Ron Clements and John Musker and animated by Mark Henn, Tiana is voiced by Anika Noni Rose as an adult, while Elizabeth M. Dampier voices the character as a child. // Tiana is loosely based on two princesses. Firstly, Princess Emma, the heroine of E. D. Baker's novel The Frog Princess. Secondly, the princess that appears in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale titled The Frog Prince (published in 1812) by which E.D. Baker's novel was originally inspired. (wikipedia)
• • •
Jodie Fostered ...
Cary Granted ...
Fredric Marched ...
Robert Donated ...
Gregory Pecked ...
James Earl Jonesed ...
Geoffrey Rushed ...
Sally Fielded ...
Fill was decent, if largely non-descript. I wonder if the constructor got a hold of a more robust wordlist. YEAH I BET and ZIPCAR and a few others are a bit more ... lively than what I've come to expect. ECOTAGE is more what I expect (ugh, 119A: Actions of environmental extremists) (also, see clue for LEED (36D), which has "Eco-" in it—no no no). Honestly, there isn't really anything here to comment on.Fill, fine. Cluing, pretty straightforward. Short. Dull. I hope you had more fun than I did.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]