Constructor: Alan Arbesfeld
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: a punny quip: WHEN A DENTIST / AND MANICURIST / ARGUE / THEY MUST FIGHT / TOOTH AND NAIL
Word of the Day: punny —
If you think I'm the only one who thinks this, just ask around. Many of these puzzles lately are just bad, and certainly far below the standard that the NYT ought to be holding. Because of scale / brand name, most solvers assume the NYT remains the apex puzzle, but honestly it's not even close now. Even among dailies, WSJ gives the NYT a run for its money, and is preferred by some. And indie puzzles absolutely crush the NYT in terms of originality, currency, and craft, on a regular basis. Feel free to write me off as that crank who keeps yelling into his computer. But I still have a lot of residual love for the NYT puzzle, and what's happening now is frankly hard to watch. As for this particular puzzle—and I say this with absolutely no malice—it's not worth my time to review it in any detail.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: punny —
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... and sincerely wanted to shut it all down. Just walk away. It's like time-traveling 30 years into the past so you can do puzzles that were mediocre even then. You know, it's an editor's responsibility to say 'no' sometimes, even to veteran constructors. The only reason this *wasn't* actually physically painful to solve was that it was so easy. I did my groaning right away, as soon as I saw "punny quip," so I was mostly NUMB as the "quip" filled itself in. And since I had BONE at 57D: Poor dog's portion, in rhyme (NONE) at first, the quip came out "TOOTH AND BAIL," so not only was the puzzle itself rough on the whole, it also somehow managed to step on its own bad punchline. I mean, this is a total disaster.From the constructor who brought you A FAREWELL TO OMS (like, three &$^%ing days ago), comes ... this. This. I stopped after three answers in the NW (specifically, after ELIHU, the President of Crosswordese University) just to take a deep breath and recommit myself to getting through this thing. And then I hit this ...
If you think I'm the only one who thinks this, just ask around. Many of these puzzles lately are just bad, and certainly far below the standard that the NYT ought to be holding. Because of scale / brand name, most solvers assume the NYT remains the apex puzzle, but honestly it's not even close now. Even among dailies, WSJ gives the NYT a run for its money, and is preferred by some. And indie puzzles absolutely crush the NYT in terms of originality, currency, and craft, on a regular basis. Feel free to write me off as that crank who keeps yelling into his computer. But I still have a lot of residual love for the NYT puzzle, and what's happening now is frankly hard to watch. As for this particular puzzle—and I say this with absolutely no malice—it's not worth my time to review it in any detail.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]