Constructor: Kurt Krauss
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: MIDDLE INITIAL (38A: See 17-, 21-, 53- and 61-Across) — all theme clues are [Famous person with a [letter] as 38-Across]
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: MOREL (6D: Gourmet mushroom) —
Slow start, fast middle, slow finish. The slow parts were very small, though, so overall this played on the easy side. Problem up front was RUTH. I was looking for someone named RUTH. Didn't help that I had ACRID instead of ACERB (5D: Sharp-tasting), so had RUTHRR- as the opening of that answer. Ugh. Once I got MARY BLIGE, I knew what was going on and flew through everything until ROCKEFELLER. My brain wanted *only* NELSON. Couldn't even think of another ROCKEFELLER. Needed all crosses to see JOHN. Oh well. Still, as I say, easy otherwise.
Theme doesn't thrill me. Very arbitrary assortment of names. List of names of potential theme answers here is virtually endless. CRAIG NELSON? JAMES POLK? MICHAEL FOX? ALFRED NEUMAN? Theme does provide an interesting manner of cluing, but otherwise, the concept leaves me pretty cold. Fill seems fine. Solid. Workmanlike. Inoffensive.Wish I had more to say about this one, but I don't. Guess I'll see you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. Wife's puzzle was a total train wreck in the NW, as she did not know OROSCO (understandable) or ASHBY (somewhat understandable) or BREL (semi-understandableish) and also wrote in OSU for ORU (2D: Tulsa sch.). So she had Jesse OSOTCO and Jacques OREL and Hal ATHOY. So be glad you weren't her, I guess.
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- RUTHERFORD HAYES
- MARY BLIGE
- ROBERT LEE
- JOHN ROCKEFELLER
Word of the Day: MOREL (6D: Gourmet mushroom) —
n.
Any of various edible mushrooms of the genus Morchella and related genera, characterized by a brownish spongelike cap.[French morille, from Old French, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *maurīcula, feminine diminutive of Latin Maurus, Mauritanian, Moor. See Moor.]
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/morel#ixzz2YVixCL00
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Slow start, fast middle, slow finish. The slow parts were very small, though, so overall this played on the easy side. Problem up front was RUTH. I was looking for someone named RUTH. Didn't help that I had ACRID instead of ACERB (5D: Sharp-tasting), so had RUTHRR- as the opening of that answer. Ugh. Once I got MARY BLIGE, I knew what was going on and flew through everything until ROCKEFELLER. My brain wanted *only* NELSON. Couldn't even think of another ROCKEFELLER. Needed all crosses to see JOHN. Oh well. Still, as I say, easy otherwise.
Theme doesn't thrill me. Very arbitrary assortment of names. List of names of potential theme answers here is virtually endless. CRAIG NELSON? JAMES POLK? MICHAEL FOX? ALFRED NEUMAN? Theme does provide an interesting manner of cluing, but otherwise, the concept leaves me pretty cold. Fill seems fine. Solid. Workmanlike. Inoffensive.Wish I had more to say about this one, but I don't. Guess I'll see you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. Wife's puzzle was a total train wreck in the NW, as she did not know OROSCO (understandable) or ASHBY (somewhat understandable) or BREL (semi-understandableish) and also wrote in OSU for ORU (2D: Tulsa sch.). So she had Jesse OSOTCO and Jacques OREL and Hal ATHOY. So be glad you weren't her, I guess.