Constructor: John Guzzetta
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: GO DOWN SWINGING (48A: Fight to the better end ... or a hint to the starts of 20-, 32- and 40-Across)— themers being with three words related to swinging and missing a baseball ... but they're Not a great set ... ugh ... I love love baseball, so double ugh ...
Theme answers:
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Whiff is right. At the theme level, at the fill level, this one just doesn't work. Typical Tuez. I knew before I even got out of the NW that the puzzle was gonna be rough. SHAH PACA HATH ET AL ACAI ... how do you get so much mediocrity in such a tiny space. Astonishing. And then ANAL SOL ARNO ... seriously, there is No Reason your short fill should be that dire. The theme is Not Demanding At All, so boring / ultra-common words should not dominate. I mean ANAL SOL. Really? Come on. The theme doesn't work either. Three strikes would've worked, except fan doesn't really work as a noun (the way the other two do) and strike doesn't really work as a verb (as the other two do), and "fan" usually means the full strikeOUT, so ... blah. As a baseball fan, I found the yuck factor kind of intolerable. Luckily, this was one of the easiest Tuesdays I've done in a long time. A long long time. Finished in under 3 (a full 35 seconds faster than yesterday). Speaking of yesterday, i.e. speaking of substandard puzzles, and being particularly annoyed by bad puzzles with themes relating to things you Love ... you should do this crossword by Finn Vigeland, which is a direct response to yesterday's anemic "tribute" puzzle. Finn loooooves yesterday's puzzle topic, and so, in less than 90 minutes, stem to stern, he made a decent tribute puzzle. Better than decent. And Way better than the one that appeared in the NYT. Here it is (PDF; .puz).
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Gene AUTRY and ARTIE Shaw and ESAI Morales and on and on. This really is OLDE, in all the worst ways. And [Quaint dagger]? I doubt anyone ever thought of any "dagger" as "quaint." Pretty sure DIRKs kill people, so ... I think you mean "quaint word for 'dagger.'" Kind of a big difference. Also, DIRK is a name, so you could've avoided the dagger route altogether. I have never heard of ROSE GOLD. Neither has my wife. It's real, but ... it's not interesting. Make sure your themes work. Polish your grids. Try harder, everyone. Thanks.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- WHIFF OF SCANDAL (20A: Slight sense that something is seriously shady)
- FAN FAVORITE (32A: One who really brings out the crowds)
- STRIKE FORCE (40A: Military unit assembled for sudden attack)
Rose gold is a gold and copper alloy widely used for specialized jewelry. Rose gold, also known as pink gold and red gold, was popular in Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and was also known as Russian gold although this term is now obsolete. Rose gold jewelry is becoming more popular in the 21st century and is commonly used for wedding rings, bracelets, and other jewelry. (wikipedia)
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Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]