Bit of Bollywood soundtrack / SUN 8-13-17 / Nickname for Oxford university / duck Chinese entree / Vaccine holder / Skinny type / Dweller in virtual city / Onetime honor for cable TV shows / Advertising icon who wears single earring

Constructor: Eric Berlin

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME:"The Magic Show"— theme answers are magic tricks that are literally depicted elsewhere in the grid:

Theme answers:

• VANISHING COIN (23A: Magic trick performed at 78-Down) (78D: Provide part of a coverage policy for) should be COINSURE, but the COIN ... has vanished)
• LINKING RINGS (47A: Magic trick performed at 119-Across and 104-Down) (those answers intersect at a RING rebus square) 
• SAWING A LADY IN HALF (67A: Magic trick performed at 123- and 124-Across) (LADY is split across ELLA and DYS)
• CHANGING CARD (91A: Magic trick performed at 55-Across) ("Peking" changed to PEACE ... I am just noticing this one as I type it, holy hell, no Wonder that area destroyed me)
• LEVITATING MAN (115A: Magic trick performed at 15-, 16- and 17-Down) (all those Downs have their first letters missing and those letters spell out M-A-N ... presumable "MAN" has "levitated" above the grid) 

Word of the Day: CONIES (96D: Furs from rabbits) —

noun, plural conies.

1.

the fur of a rabbit, especially when dyed to simulate Hudson seal. (dictionary.com) ("Hudson seal" wtf?!)

This is ambitious and, at times, very clever. But too often the phrasing on the themers felt quite off, and the overall quality of the fill was on the low side. The short bad stuff becomes a major issue when it's not offset by a preponderance of wonderful fill and/or a great theme. ERGOT LAH IBN OTOE ANNI and I hadn't gotten out of the NW yet. You can tell what the tolerance level is going to be for elder-fill pretty soon after starting a crossword. There just wasn't nearly enough snappy fill to rescue this thing. IN A SNARL ... you don't ever want to give your long answers over to such awkward phrases. Or to bygone things like the ACE AWARDs or to arcane things like TRIOLETS. Or to arbitrary things like TEN TO ONE. Or to actual old terms *signifying* oldness like GRANDDAD. It was very interesting to see how the various theme answers played out in their respective parts of the grid, but awkward theme phrasing + DUDS aplenty in the fill meant the overall solving experience wasn't so hot.


I have no idea what CHANGING CARD is. That is not a trick I know or have every heard of. I mean, I'm guessing that the magician somehow makes a card appear to change ... but it's no SAWING A LADY IN HALF, in terms of iconic magic tricks, I'll tell you that. LEVITATING MAN is worse. What is that? I know that Blaine has appeared to make himself levitate, but is that the LEVITATING MAN ... trick??? Oy. Changing KING to ACE at 55A: PEACE was absolutely brutal, especially considering that section was already blarghishly tough, what with GYM SHOES (I had OLD SHOES) and GLYPH (??) and is-it-LOA-or-is-it-KEA (worst magic trick ever) and the utterly ridiculous, please-take-it-back-and-smash-it YOWEE. I thought I was going to die in that section. And I mean die, as in not finish. At all. I stalled for what felt like a long time. I guess I would've gotten in there eventually once I noticed the theme clue indicating a CHANGING CARD but yowie that hurt. Anyway, I like the ambition but it was too rough and wobbly for me.


That said, Eric Berlin is in general an excellent puzzle-maker *and* he is one of the only people I know making top-notch puzzles *for kids*. Solve sample puzzles and sign up for a free weekly puzzle here: www.puzzleyourkids.com.

All my love to the non-Nazis of Charlottesville.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. re: 30A: Sugar found in beer (MALTOSE)


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