Constructor: Brendan Emmett Quigley
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME:"Size Matters"— sound "sigh" is added to familiar phrases creating wacky phrases etc:
Theme answers:
So the title is a penis joke? I mean, if you google "Size matters," the first hit you get is this video:
Anyway, the "sighs"matter in this grid. This is a very typical add-a-sound puzzle, with very typical (for me) results, i.e. most answers are corny at best, and some of the phrasing / cluing feels quite awkward or forced. The "phon" in "siphon" and the "fin" in "shark fin soup" (gross) do not have the same sound, so that one klunked. "Lent support" is a super weak base phrase, as is "On commission." Your wordplay word should be more stable / significant than that. Changing "on" feels like ... not much. And "lent support" is just a verb phrase. Not remarkable. Are "PC clones" still things in the 21st century. No one thinks that way about PCs now. Oh, look: wikipedia: " The use of the term "PC clone" to describe IBM PC compatible computers fell out of use in the 1990s; the class of machines it now describes are simply called PCs." Thanks, wik.
Fill doesn't do much for me either. It's just fine, but there's not much that's remarkable. Probably too much of the "please delete it from your wordlist" junk like ONENO (hate So Much), GAI (crossing MAI, crossing MMES!), UIE, AAR, LALAS (no), YLEM🙁. We do get treated (if that's the right word) to a non-Katarina WITT (56D: Alicia of "Urban Legend," 1998) and a non-judge, non-baritone, non-Colorado Park ESTES (2D: Photorealist painter Richard). Neither of those clues will stick, but they are different, I'll give them that.
Two things—that episode of "The Allusionist" podcast that was taped at Lollapuzzoola last month (featuring me and my wife and many, many other crossword types) was named one of the 20 best podcast episodes of the summer by Indiewire. It also generated so much interest in Lollapuzzoola that they *reopened* their solve-at-home sales. So you can get the tournament puzzles again if you somehow missed the first window. Listen to the podcast, solve the puzzles ... maybe in reverse order? Not sure. Anyway, in whatever order, do both.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- STATIC CYCLING (22A: Spin class activity?)
- SILO FREQUENCY (32A: Number of appearances in a grain holder?)
- PC CYCLONES (50A: Storms that don't offend?)
- DRAWS SINAI (86A: Makes a quick map of an Egyptian peninsula?)
- SILENT SUPPORT (100A: Opening performers that are all mimes?)
- SAIGON FISHING (116A: Rod-and-reel event in old Vietnam?)
- SHARK, SIPHON SOUP (awk) (3D: Order to a pool hustler to suck up some broth?)
- SCION COMMISSION (48D: Government group on offspring?)
Lake Ladoga (Russian: Ла́дожское о́зеро, tr.Ladozhskoye ozero; IPA: [ˈladəʂskəjə ˈozʲɪrə] or Russian: Ла́дога, tr.Ladoga; IPA: [ˈladəgə]; Finnish: Laatokka [earlier in Finnish Nevajärvi]; Livvi-Karelian: Luadogu; Veps: Ladog, Ladoganjärv) is a freshwaterlake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia just outside the outskirts of Saint Petersburg. // It is the largest lake entirely in Europe, and the 14th largest freshwater lake by area in the world. Ladoga Lacus, a methane lake on Saturn'smoonTitan, is named after the lake. (wikipedia)
• • •
So the title is a penis joke? I mean, if you google "Size matters," the first hit you get is this video:
Anyway, the "sighs"matter in this grid. This is a very typical add-a-sound puzzle, with very typical (for me) results, i.e. most answers are corny at best, and some of the phrasing / cluing feels quite awkward or forced. The "phon" in "siphon" and the "fin" in "shark fin soup" (gross) do not have the same sound, so that one klunked. "Lent support" is a super weak base phrase, as is "On commission." Your wordplay word should be more stable / significant than that. Changing "on" feels like ... not much. And "lent support" is just a verb phrase. Not remarkable. Are "PC clones" still things in the 21st century. No one thinks that way about PCs now. Oh, look: wikipedia: " The use of the term "PC clone" to describe IBM PC compatible computers fell out of use in the 1990s; the class of machines it now describes are simply called PCs." Thanks, wik.
Fill doesn't do much for me either. It's just fine, but there's not much that's remarkable. Probably too much of the "please delete it from your wordlist" junk like ONENO (hate So Much), GAI (crossing MAI, crossing MMES!), UIE, AAR, LALAS (no), YLEM🙁. We do get treated (if that's the right word) to a non-Katarina WITT (56D: Alicia of "Urban Legend," 1998) and a non-judge, non-baritone, non-Colorado Park ESTES (2D: Photorealist painter Richard). Neither of those clues will stick, but they are different, I'll give them that.
Two things—that episode of "The Allusionist" podcast that was taped at Lollapuzzoola last month (featuring me and my wife and many, many other crossword types) was named one of the 20 best podcast episodes of the summer by Indiewire. It also generated so much interest in Lollapuzzoola that they *reopened* their solve-at-home sales. So you can get the tournament puzzles again if you somehow missed the first window. Listen to the podcast, solve the puzzles ... maybe in reverse order? Not sure. Anyway, in whatever order, do both.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]