Constructor: Damon Gulczynski
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: TSAR ALEXANDER II (48A: Autocrat known as "the Liberator") —
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This started out so bad, but then got good and even very good, then briefly went stupid, then very good again. So good overall, I think. You just never want to have a NW corner like this one. BSS x/w BIGA (!?!). So, so ugly. Or maybe you do want to start that horribly, so that the bounce up to your stack of long answers feels incredible. I HAD NO IDEA over GIG ECONOMY really pulls the puzzle out of the muck, and the plane mostly stays airborne from there (I'm just gonna veer among several metaphors today, so just try to hang on). Long answers stay mostly interesting, short fill stays mostly under control. DC AREA is always bad, esp. when you say some specific entity is *based* there. NIH is headquartered in Bethesda, MD. It's a well-known, specific place. Also, [___ number] is a godawful clue for CELL. God. Awful. CALL number seemed so so so much better. Fill-in-the-blanks generally suck, but they should at least be spot-on. CELL number is just too vague. [___ phone], better. [___ block], better. Hell, [T-___], better. LOPER is of course absurd, and TSAR ALEXANDER II is King of Ridiculousness. Putting the TSAR up front takes the answer into super-stilted, awkward, horrible territory. He's just Alexander II. Stop the madness. I don't know what wordlist you've purchased, but constructors, please, delete TSAR ALEXANDER II immediately. Thanks.
But I've spent too long on the bad. The good is real good. I had forgotten about PERESTROIKA (32A: Historic "restructuring"). I had not forgotten about the SAY HEY KID, but loved seeing him here. PLAYMAKER is a nice sports colloquialism (though if you're not into sports, I'm guessing "nice sports colloquialism" is oxymoronic). RONNY Chieng is funny; glad he got the RONNY clue. I think the high point of this puzzle is EXOPLANETS / SEXPISTOLS. Again, a delightful stack of long answers makes the short fill groan a bit on the corner, but this time I hardly noticed. I had fun and I came in under 6 minutes. I'll take that.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: TSAR ALEXANDER II (48A: Autocrat known as "the Liberator") —
Alexander II (Russian: Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, tr.Aleksandr II Nikolaevich; IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ]; 29 April [O.S. 17 April] 1818 in Moscow – 13 March [O.S. 1 March] 1881 in Saint Petersburg) was the Emperor of Russia from 2 March 1855 until his assassination on 13 March 1881. He was also the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Finland. // Alexander's most significant reform as emperor was emancipation of Russia's serfs in 1861, for which he is known as Alexander the Liberator (Russian: Алекса́ндр Освободи́тель, tr.Aleksandr Osvoboditel; IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐsvəbɐˈdʲitʲɪlʲ]). The tsar was responsible for other reforms, including reorganizing the judicial system, setting up elected local judges, abolishing corporal punishment, promoting local self-government through the zemstvo system, imposing universal military service, ending some privileges of the nobility, and promoting university education. // In foreign policy, Alexander sold Alaska to the United States in 1867, fearing the remote colony would fall into British hands if there were another war. He sought peace, moved away from bellicose France when Napoleon III fell in 1871, and in 1872 joined with Germany and Austria in the League of the Three Emperors that stabilized the European situation. Despite his otherwise pacifist foreign policy, he fought a brief war with Turkey in 1877–78, pursued further expansion into Siberia and the Caucasus, and conquered Turkestan. Although disappointed by the results of the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Alexander abided by that agreement. Among his greatest domestic challenges was an uprising in Poland in 1863, to which he responded by stripping that land of its separate constitution and incorporating it directly into Russia. (wikipedia)
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But I've spent too long on the bad. The good is real good. I had forgotten about PERESTROIKA (32A: Historic "restructuring"). I had not forgotten about the SAY HEY KID, but loved seeing him here. PLAYMAKER is a nice sports colloquialism (though if you're not into sports, I'm guessing "nice sports colloquialism" is oxymoronic). RONNY Chieng is funny; glad he got the RONNY clue. I think the high point of this puzzle is EXOPLANETS / SEXPISTOLS. Again, a delightful stack of long answers makes the short fill groan a bit on the corner, but this time I hardly noticed. I had fun and I came in under 6 minutes. I'll take that.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]