Constructor: Lisa Loeb and Doug Peterson
Relative difficulty: Medium (normal Tues. time)
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THEME: #1 songs ... reimagined—themers are familiar phrases beginning w/ the (one-word) titles of #1 songs, and clued as if they were about the song:
Theme answers:
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Hello fellow solvers. Full disclosure: Doug Peterson is my friend and I just hung out with him all weekend, and heard a lot of (secret) (not really) back story about the creation of this puzzle. Also, he gave me a small stack of sleaze paperbacks to add to my collection, so I am good and buttered up and totally biased. I found the puzzle fairly entertaining, though the theme felt really, really loose. There are a gajillion one-word #1 songs, it turns out—so many, in fact, you'd think there'd be some way to create greater coherence among the themers, a way to create a cluing concept that unites the entries all ... just, more. Even the "played ..." concept ("played at a potluck" / "played for Little Red Riding Hood") would've been nice if it had been carried all the way through. But it wasn't. FANTASY FOOTBALL, MAGIC CARPET RIDE (15!), BURN NOTICE, SMOOTH MOVE, FAITH HEALER, STILL LIFE, LADY MACBETH ... I figure if you just churn out as many of these first-word-is-a-#1-song phrases as you can think of, some pattern will begin to emerge, something you can use to make the theme ... theme-ier. But maybe not. It's a light, cute theme as it is, but it feels a bit slight.
STAY FOR DINNER is (ironically) the weakest of the bunch, UMBRELLA POLICY the strongest. The long Downs are solid all the way around. Short fill gets a bit rough in places (ESE ENE ENS ECO AGIN SHES etc.) but I'm mildly impressed that there's no bad fill anywhere near that SW corner, given the spectacular amount of Scrabble-f**king that is going on there. Three Zs in a tiny corner, and all the answers solid? Nice. I really wish the editor would stop forcing the president* into (seemingly) every damn puzzle. There are (a million) other ways to make your puzzle contemporary—try one of those. OBAMA got in on the merits of his name (vowel consonant vowel consonant vowel). The puzzle's obsession w/ this non-crossword-friendly president* is gratuitous and weird. ALEC has done many other things ... and is also a Waugh or a Guineess, if you want to go that route.
I loved the clue at 5D: Adam's family member (ABEL) because of the way it evokes the (two-d) Addams Family TV show / cartoon. Also think [Jabba-esque] is one of the better / more original / less abusive-sounding clues I've seen for OBESE. [Hit home?] is a brutally hard clue for SIDE A, but it's clever, and the crosses are all easy. I had two great wrong answers today: AND I for LION (14A: "The ___ King") (!?!?) and TYSON for MYERS (28D: Mike who played filmdom's Austin Powers). Once again, I say to you (and myself), it helps to read the clue carefully and completely.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. you might find this site ... interesting: http://didrexparkerlikethepuzzle.com/
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium (normal Tues. time)
Theme answers:
- "UMBRELLA" POLICY (20A: Regulation regarding a 2007 #1 Rihanna hit?)
- "HAPPY" HOLIDAYS (33A: Special observances for a 2014 #1 Pharrell Williams hit?)
- "STAY" FOR DINNER (41A: 1994 #1 Lisa Loeb hit played at a potluck?)
- "BABE" IN THE WOODS (52A: 1979 #1 Styx hit played for Little Red Riding Hood?)
Not suitable/safe for work or NSFW is an Internet slang or shorthand tag used in e-mail, videos, and on interactive discussion areas (such as Internet forums, blogs, or community websites) to mark URLs or hyperlinks which contain nudity, intense sexuality, profanity or disturbing content, which the viewer may not wish to be seen accessing in a public or formal setting such as in a workplace or school. (wikipedia)
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STAY FOR DINNER is (ironically) the weakest of the bunch, UMBRELLA POLICY the strongest. The long Downs are solid all the way around. Short fill gets a bit rough in places (ESE ENE ENS ECO AGIN SHES etc.) but I'm mildly impressed that there's no bad fill anywhere near that SW corner, given the spectacular amount of Scrabble-f**king that is going on there. Three Zs in a tiny corner, and all the answers solid? Nice. I really wish the editor would stop forcing the president* into (seemingly) every damn puzzle. There are (a million) other ways to make your puzzle contemporary—try one of those. OBAMA got in on the merits of his name (vowel consonant vowel consonant vowel). The puzzle's obsession w/ this non-crossword-friendly president* is gratuitous and weird. ALEC has done many other things ... and is also a Waugh or a Guineess, if you want to go that route.
[" ... ella, ella, ella ..."]
I loved the clue at 5D: Adam's family member (ABEL) because of the way it evokes the (two-d) Addams Family TV show / cartoon. Also think [Jabba-esque] is one of the better / more original / less abusive-sounding clues I've seen for OBESE. [Hit home?] is a brutally hard clue for SIDE A, but it's clever, and the crosses are all easy. I had two great wrong answers today: AND I for LION (14A: "The ___ King") (!?!?) and TYSON for MYERS (28D: Mike who played filmdom's Austin Powers). Once again, I say to you (and myself), it helps to read the clue carefully and completely.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. you might find this site ... interesting: http://didrexparkerlikethepuzzle.com/
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]