Constructor: Patrick Berry
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (just 'cause of the proper nouns I had Never seen, and some confusing cluing)
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: CEBU (39A: Pacific island Magellan visited in 1521) —
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Just too much stuff I'd never heard of to be really enjoyable, and this is coming from someone who Nailed 1D: Alistair ___, "The Guns of Navarone" novelist (MACLEAN) (ugh). My proper noun ignorance is really not your or anyone else's problem, and this grid is, in most ways, quite lovely and elegant, especially through the middle. But I've never heard of KORBEL, ever, or of CEBU, ever, so struggling to get them and eventually getting them did not leave an "aha!" feeling, but rather ... there was more of a dull thud sound. And then you try to convince me that TRINI is something other than old-school crosswordese [Singer Lopez]? (3D: Certain Caribbean islander, informally) I don't know. It's a very well-made grid, but Berry's puzzles are starting to feel old to me. Not old bad or old stale, but old ... like, GEORGE WILL old (33A: Newspaper columnist who wrote the book "Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball"). Culturally centered in a bygone era. Not PAX ROMANA bygone, but back there somewhere. So I admire their architectural beauty but increasingly don't really want to live inside them.
There's a METHANOL now? Inferred that one only after getting several crosses (1-Across struggle often means overall struggle). Totally doubted MACLEAN and thought briefly 17A: Clytemnestra's half sister (HELEN) was MEDEA. And I am literally in the middle of a New Yorker article that discusses the Oresteia at length, so botching a clue with Clytemnestra in it really hurts. I also literally said PAX ROMANA out loud today in class (13A: Period ushered in by Augustus), but somehow failed to look at the clue early (when it would've helped me), so despite dropping 1- and 2-Down in quickly, the NW was a mess. And then, because KORBEL meant nothing to me, I couldn't really turn the corner effectively into the center. And then of course I had TOM for JIM (9D: Huck's pal), so that was unfun. I have never heard anyone say MARKER PEN (32A: Soft-headed writer?), so that one just hurts (my ears and eyes and sensibilities). Thank god GEORGE WILL was a gimme, or I might still be doing this puzzle. Had ENSNARL at 41A: Become tangled (SNARL UP), which Really hurt, because it led to GULLS at 37D: Easy marks (DUPES). OPERA BOXES aren't anything I'm familiar with, so they were hard to get to from 49A: What a theater's grand tier is divided into. Had RTE instead of ETA at 50D: GPS guess. I basically stepped in every hole I could, and when you add that to the hot KORBEL-CEBU action, the result is a rather limping and anemic effort on my part.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. speaking of the old feel of this puzzle: AMC is absolutely not not not a 5D: Cable channel for cinephiles. It *used* to be that, but its programming took a significantly different turn FIFTEEN YEARS AGO ... ugh. Cinephiles watch TCM and FilmStruck. I know because ... I just know.
P.P.S. phrasing on the clue at 38A: What the ancient Greeks called the Hyrcanian Ocean is wicked confusing. Makes it sound like "Hyrcanian Ocean" is a current thing that we're supposed to guess the ancient Greek name of, not vice versa. [Ancient Greeks called it "the Hyrcanian Ocean"]. Confusion, eliminated.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (just 'cause of the proper nouns I had Never seen, and some confusing cluing)
Word of the Day: CEBU (39A: Pacific island Magellan visited in 1521) —
Cebu (/seˈbuː/; Cebuano: Lalawigan sa Sugbu, Filipino: Lalawigan ng Cebu) is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas(Region VII)region, and consisting of the main island itself and 167 surrounding islands and islets. Its capital is Cebu City, the oldest city and first capital of the Philippines, which is politically independent from the provincial government. Cebu City forms part of the Cebu Metropolitan Area together with four neighboring cities (Danao City, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City and Talisay City) and eight other local government units. Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Mactan Island, is the second busiest airport in the Philippines. (wikipedia)
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[10D: Unlikely winner at the Masters]
There's a METHANOL now? Inferred that one only after getting several crosses (1-Across struggle often means overall struggle). Totally doubted MACLEAN and thought briefly 17A: Clytemnestra's half sister (HELEN) was MEDEA. And I am literally in the middle of a New Yorker article that discusses the Oresteia at length, so botching a clue with Clytemnestra in it really hurts. I also literally said PAX ROMANA out loud today in class (13A: Period ushered in by Augustus), but somehow failed to look at the clue early (when it would've helped me), so despite dropping 1- and 2-Down in quickly, the NW was a mess. And then, because KORBEL meant nothing to me, I couldn't really turn the corner effectively into the center. And then of course I had TOM for JIM (9D: Huck's pal), so that was unfun. I have never heard anyone say MARKER PEN (32A: Soft-headed writer?), so that one just hurts (my ears and eyes and sensibilities). Thank god GEORGE WILL was a gimme, or I might still be doing this puzzle. Had ENSNARL at 41A: Become tangled (SNARL UP), which Really hurt, because it led to GULLS at 37D: Easy marks (DUPES). OPERA BOXES aren't anything I'm familiar with, so they were hard to get to from 49A: What a theater's grand tier is divided into. Had RTE instead of ETA at 50D: GPS guess. I basically stepped in every hole I could, and when you add that to the hot KORBEL-CEBU action, the result is a rather limping and anemic effort on my part.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. speaking of the old feel of this puzzle: AMC is absolutely not not not a 5D: Cable channel for cinephiles. It *used* to be that, but its programming took a significantly different turn FIFTEEN YEARS AGO ... ugh. Cinephiles watch TCM and FilmStruck. I know because ... I just know.
P.P.S. phrasing on the clue at 38A: What the ancient Greeks called the Hyrcanian Ocean is wicked confusing. Makes it sound like "Hyrcanian Ocean" is a current thing that we're supposed to guess the ancient Greek name of, not vice versa. [Ancient Greeks called it "the Hyrcanian Ocean"]. Confusion, eliminated.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]