1943 conference site / SUN 3-12-17 / Turnaround too tempting to pass up / French ice cream flavorer / Popular landscaping plants

Constructor:Alan Arbesfeld

Relative difficulty:Easy


THEME:"Taking the Fifth"— the sound of the *fifth* letter ("E") is added to the end of familiar phrases, creating wacky phrases

Theme answers:

• "TABLE TENNESSEE" (23A: "Put that Southern state on next month's agenda"?)
• NANNY GOATEE (32A: What a male babysitter may sport?)
• OFF THE MARQUEE (56A: Like a fired Broadway star?)
• HOT CROSS BUNNY (78A: Sweaty, irritable rabbit?)
• THE BIG CHILI (101A: What'll feed everyone at a tailgate party?)
• ATTILA THE HONEY (114A: Reformed barbarian?)
• IRRESISTIBLE UIE (17D: Turnaround too tempting to pass up?)
• "LOOK AT THAT MESSI" (44D: "Check out the Argentine soccer star!"?)

Word of the Day:HEGIRA(57D: Exodus) —

noun

singular proper noun: Hegira; singular proper noun: Hejira

1. Muhammad's departure from Mecca to Medina in AD 622, prompted by the opposition of the merchants of Mecca and marking the consolidation of the first Muslim community.

   • the Muslim era reckoned from the Hegira.

     noun: Hegira; noun: Hejira; noun: Hijra

     "the second century of the Hegira"
   • an exodus or migration.

     noun: hegira; plural noun: hegiras (google)

This puzzle doesn't merit a write-up. It doesn't merit anyone's close attention because it is entirely phoned-in ... from a phone booth in 1987. It is the most basic add-a-sound imaginable, with tedious, unfunny, not-even-smirkworthy theme answer results. "Look at that mess" is a terrible base phrase, only slightly less terrible than the utterly unimaginable (even in Wacky Land) "LOOK AT THAT MESSI." How Many Messis Are There? This is garbage, stem to stern. The NYT should be embarrassed to run this piece of uninspired dreck on Sunday—the marquee day, the most popular solving day, the showcase! Ugh. I would add that the fill is, like the theme, remarkably poor, but you can see that, and what's the point? POTHERS? I mean, really. This is a semi-competent first effort from a novice Sunday constructor, if it were the '80s, maybe the '90s. But it's not, and the constructor is faaaaar from a novice, and I can't believe this type of puzzle is still seeing the light of day. I can almost guarantee you that the LAT puzzle will be better than this. Even the Newsday is likely to be better than this. MENTHE ABATER! Now I'm just typing random entries to keep myself amused. Total fail. Writer the editor and complain. Good night.


Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. as if this puzzle wasn't bad enough, it also contains Hitler (33D: Unpopular baby name). Let's all ritually burn our puzzles now. Evil spirits, be gone!

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