Constructor: Patrick Berry
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: GNEISS (51A: Banded metamorphic rock) —
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I feel like some of the zip has gone out of Patrick Berry's puzzles of late. They are still elegantly made, but they feel staler and more plodding. I love YOU'RE FREE TO GO and I GOT THIS, BANG BANG and SOUNDBITE, but that middle stack, with an -ING over an -ING and ... whatever SHIP OF THE LINE is (?!?) ... is just dull. The corners don't add much to the party either. He's still the greatest living constructor, probably, but it's been a while since I went *Damn*!. Felt like I struggled a lot, especially in the area of SHIP OF THE LINE (again, ?!?) and MISDO (a word I hate So Hard, as no one uses it or says it ever ever ever)—really really wanted the latter to be MINCE, and even changed 32A: World's oldest currency still in use to FRANC STERLING just to make it happen (briefly). Yes, I am serious. And yet somehow I finished in 5:39, which is definitely on the fast side for me, for Friday. Not lightning, but snappy. Strange to have that disconnect between feeling (struggle) and actuality (speeding).
To me TRUMBO is the Orioles' DH, so I was really unsure filling in 7A: Title role for Bryan Cranston in a 2015 biopic. Last biopic I remember him in involved ... maybe LBJ? Or was that on stage? Ooh, looks like stage *then* TV movie. TRUMBO is the blacklisted screenwriter guy, right? Yes. Dalton TRUMBO. Anyway, I had TRU- and wrote in TRUMAN. 2/3 correct! Didn't know what the first vowel was in DELOVELY, but RESIN solved that. Couldn't understand 34A: Grate catches? even after I got it down to HEE-S. Even now I'm not sure. Do you "catch" your (high?) HEELS in "grates" ... on the sidewalk? My first answer here was ASHES, and this will also be true for tens of 1000s of solvers today. Grates catch ASHES. That's just what they do. ASHES was a crossword reflex. Anyway, I don't think I MISDO'd anything else.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: GNEISS (51A: Banded metamorphic rock) —
Gneiss (pronunciation:/ˈnaɪs/) is a common distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks. It is often foliated (composed of layers of sheet-like planar structures). The foliations are characterized by alternating darker and lighter colored bands, called "gneissic banding". (wikipedia)
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To me TRUMBO is the Orioles' DH, so I was really unsure filling in 7A: Title role for Bryan Cranston in a 2015 biopic. Last biopic I remember him in involved ... maybe LBJ? Or was that on stage? Ooh, looks like stage *then* TV movie. TRUMBO is the blacklisted screenwriter guy, right? Yes. Dalton TRUMBO. Anyway, I had TRU- and wrote in TRUMAN. 2/3 correct! Didn't know what the first vowel was in DELOVELY, but RESIN solved that. Couldn't understand 34A: Grate catches? even after I got it down to HEE-S. Even now I'm not sure. Do you "catch" your (high?) HEELS in "grates" ... on the sidewalk? My first answer here was ASHES, and this will also be true for tens of 1000s of solvers today. Grates catch ASHES. That's just what they do. ASHES was a crossword reflex. Anyway, I don't think I MISDO'd anything else.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]