Constructor: Sam Trabucco
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: SCAR (22A: Bare place on the side of a mountain) —
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Didn't feel that great about my opening—felt like I was cheating my way into the grid with crosswordese (TAFT to TATAR to ALIA). But once I got going, things started feeling a little better. Answers got more interesting, clues provided a little more resistance. Then I dropped the double-Q QUEEQUEG (off the initial "Q," of course), and realized "oh, it's gonna be one of *those* puzzle (meaning "those puzzles that throw All The Scrabble Tiles at you). And then immediately came the confirmation, with BUZZFEED QUIZZES and MIKE PIAZZA. Often *those* puzzles go south, buckling under the weight of their own misguided ambition, but today's actually ended up kinda nice. Lots of unusual fill—modern phrases and items, slang and colloquialisms. Things stayed varied and interesting throughout, and the gruesome fill was pretty minimal (though I'm never gonna forget FIDOS, which becomes the new paradigmatic example of Absurd Plural Names).
"Wheelchair-bound" is a pretty shitty way to refer to someone in a wheelchair (33A: Wheelchair-bopund "Glee" character), mostly because it reinforces a lot of stupid, negative stereotypes. People in wheelchairs aren't tragic figures. The chair is enabling, not stigmatizing. Just google "wheelchair bound" and you'll see—It's a term that's been flagged as ableist for many years now. So stop it. Once again, maybe a *teeny* bit of diversity in the editing corps would help prevent tin-eared stuff like this from slipping through. I'm not *terribly* offended (I mean ... like ... I'm not FIDOS-offended), but some will be, and I don't blame them.
Bullets:
P.S. probably not the greatest idea to have "buzzkill" in a clue (41A) and BUZZFEED in the grid
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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: SCAR (22A: Bare place on the side of a mountain) —
Definition of scar
• • •
"Wheelchair-bound" is a pretty shitty way to refer to someone in a wheelchair (33A: Wheelchair-bopund "Glee" character), mostly because it reinforces a lot of stupid, negative stereotypes. People in wheelchairs aren't tragic figures. The chair is enabling, not stigmatizing. Just google "wheelchair bound" and you'll see—It's a term that's been flagged as ableist for many years now. So stop it. Once again, maybe a *teeny* bit of diversity in the editing corps would help prevent tin-eared stuff like this from slipping through. I'm not *terribly* offended (I mean ... like ... I'm not FIDOS-offended), but some will be, and I don't blame them.
Bullets:
- 3D: Trading hub (PORT)— I had MART. Only other misstep was SQFT for SQIN (19A: Abbr. in many an area measure)
- 22A: Bare place on the side of a mountain (SCAR)— wow, I just do not know this word. Kind of embarrassing, but ... nope, it just missed me, somehow.
- 5D: Hit sci-fi video game set around the 26th century (STARCRAFT)— also don't know this, but don't feel that bad about it. You can't know everything.
- 49A: "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" detective Diaz (ROSA)— Like this. Don't know this. Shrug. You work in out from crosses, move along.
- 61A: "D'oh!" ("I'M AMORON")— this borders on contrived, but ... I'll accept it, I guess.
- 25A: Live, in a way (UNTAPED)— this seems even more contrived ... :(
- 54D: Not a candidate for the invoking of the 25th Amendment, say (SANE)— too soon, NYT! Or maybe not soon enough, I'm not sure.
P.S. probably not the greatest idea to have "buzzkill" in a clue (41A) and BUZZFEED in the grid
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]