Defrocked villain on Buffy Vampire Slayer / SUN 7-21-13 / Tatooine race in Star Wars saga / Atlantean Superhero of DC Comics / River that sweats oil tar T.S. Eliot / Capone's top henchman / J Carrol Oscar nominee Sahara / Dairy consumer's enzyme

Constructor: Tracy Bennett

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium



THEME: "Artful Thinking" — puns on artists' names. All clues are "?" clues and have "artist" in them somewhere.

Word of the Day: BOODLES (62A: Monetary bribes) —

n. Slang

1. 1. Money, especially counterfeit money.
   2. Money accepted as a bribe.
2. Stolen goods; swag.
3. A crowd of people; caboodle.

[Dutch boedel, estate, from Middle Dutch bōdel.]

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/boodle#ixzz2ZdV93LAI

If I'm going to solve a pun puzzle (and I'd rather not, but if ...), then artists' names is a topic I can definitely live with. I didn't think these puns quite landed though. They seemed forced and awkward in many places. You gotta really be rooting for the puzzle ... I mean, you gotta be the puzzle's mom or something ... to be proud of the KAHLOS = "colors" pun. And what's with the artist plurals? That seems pretty cheap. Obviously if you are referring to multiple paintings by an artist, then a plural of the artist's name is perfectly fine, but in the context of this puzzle, it seems inconsistent and weak. Surely are a billion phrases (give or take) that have "color" (singular) in them. Slightly less than a billion containing "mirror," but still. You gotta be a perfectionist about these things. Another thing—this puzzle would've been 100 times better if the pun phrases were at least plausibly grammatical and had clues that made them funny. ["What's up, Salvador!"] is a way better clue for "HELLO, DALI!" than 68A: Artist's favorite musical? I realize that you are using "artist" in every clue to provide continuity and signal the theme, but that's what the title's for? Or maybe a revealer. But a phrase like ONE TOO MANET is just wrong on many levels. First, MANET doesn't sound like "many" at all (accent on wrong syllable, For One). Second, the phrase makes no sense. You couldn't even invent a funny clue to make it make sense. In short, this puzzle is conceptually under-developed. There are many things that could've taken it in the direction of inventive, entertaining, funny, but instead it's just mildly amusing and kind of awkward.


Theme answers:

• 23A: Artist's favorite spiritual? (WADE IN THE WATTEAU)
• 15D: Artist's line of weary recognition? (HERE WE GAUGUIN)
• 41D: What the tipsy artist had at the bar? (ONE TOO MANET)
• 68A: Artist's favorite Broadway musical? ("HELLO, DALI!")
• 56D: What the artist confused people with? (SMOKE AND MIROS)
• 89A: Artist's expression for "Such is life"? (QUE SERA SEURAT)
• 112A: How the expert artist passed her exam? (WITH FLYING KAHLOS)

Haven't seen the dated, semi-sexist COEDS in a long, long time. You'd think clue would at least mentioned its bygoneness. But no (34D: What Morehouse College lacks). Never heard of BOODLES or this NAISH person (though I am nearly certain that I have said that about NAISH before—he shall have a special, gilded chair in the Crosswordese Hall of Fame) (98D: J. Carrol ___, Oscar nominee for "Sahara"). Because I can't spell sometimes, I wrote in GAUGHIN and so had a bunch of trouble figuring out what was up with 70A: Revival meeting miracles (CURES). I had CHRES. At least it was *clearly* wrong, so I caught my mistake. Also screwed up a few other things. With with QAT at 89D: Holy city of Iran (QUM). QAT is a chewed stimulant popular in the Middle East (possibly in QUM—I read about it a story about Yemen). I fixed it. Biggest hole I fell into was EGG / GANGES instead of HAM / THAMES (113D: Easter purchase / 121A: River that "sweats oil and tar" in T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land").


I enjoyed the urban transportation pairing of HOP A CAB and CATCH A BUS right next to each other. Also enjoyed remember that the JAWA existed. I went with JEDI at first, knowing as I wrote it in that JEDI are not a "race" (1D: Tatooine race in the "Star Wars" saga). No idea about CALEB (75A: Defrocked villain on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and I got AKEEM 80% from crosses (97D: Arabic name meaning "wise"). Otherwise, nothing too tough. Finished somewhere in the 11s. Pretty normal for Sunday. A bit on the fast side.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld