Constructor: Herre Schouwerwou
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: ANIMAL / CRACKERS (54A: With 56-Across, lunchbox snacks ... or a hint to the black squares before 18-, 29-, 35- and 45-Across)— those black squares "crack" (?) (as in "break into two pieces) the names of different animals. So:
Theme answers:
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Weird. I was taking my time with this one, waiting for the gimmick to present itself, but it never did, and meanwhile I was writing in answers as soon as I looked at clues, zip zing. Couldn't figure out what the hell was going on? Why is my Thursday puzzle so weirdly easy?, I wondered. I finished in the high 3s—very fast for a Thursday ... and then remembered that tomorrow is Wednesday, not Thursday. Thaaaaaat ... actually makes sense now. This theme is essentially invisible, and having the revealer reference the "black squares" actually makes the whole endeavor kind of awkward. Further, those black squares don't "crack" the animals—they *break* them in two. If I crack a plate, it isn't in two pieces. I finished never having seen the damned animals, and then when the revealer told me, "Hey, look!", I looked and didn't care. Those sure are animals. *Broken* animals. Thanks for putting STELE in my grid. Hope you're satisfied.
Weird to have rows 2 and 14 not be themed when their adjacent rows (with identical white/black square patterns) are. AJOKE is a pretty bad partial. I don't really believe SMAZE exists in real life—I have only ever seen it in crosswords (and I spent a good chunk of my young adulthood in southern California). I had NO-GO ZONE instead of AREA at first, despite the fact that the clue has "zone" in it (that's how much better NO-GO ZONE is as an answer) (3D: Forbidden zone). Just watched "Clueless" last week, so STACEY Dash was cake (would've been cake even without the rewatching, to be honest; I know that movie really well). PALSY-walsy is an absurdity, both because people rarely say it in the 21st century, and because the clue word has 80% of the same letters (in the same places) as the answer word. "I HOPE NOT" and "OH COME ON!" are pretty lively answers. But they weren't enough. From a real-time solving standpoint, this was essentially a dull themeless.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. about those successive [Cars are "parked" in it] [Cars are parked in it] clues (49A, 50A). That is very cute, except, *again* from a real-time solving standpoint, the cuteness is not visible—unless you are either a neophyte or a psychopath and solve your crosswords by reading the Across clues in order (?). Successive *Down* clues have a much higher chance of actually being read successively, because successive *Down* clues will often be in the same general section, whereas successive Acrosses *never* are.
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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- MCGREGOR ILL ASK
- PERSIMMON KEYED
- IN A DAZE BRANAGH
- STELE PHANTASMS
A stele (/ˈstiːli/, STEE-lee) is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected in the ancient world as a monument. Grave steles were often used for funerary or commemorative purposes. Stelae as slabs of stone would also be used as ancient Greek and Roman government notices or as boundary markers to mark borders or property lines. // The surface of the stele usually has text, ornamentation, or both. The ornamentation may be inscribed, carved in relief, or painted. (wikipedia)
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Weird to have rows 2 and 14 not be themed when their adjacent rows (with identical white/black square patterns) are. AJOKE is a pretty bad partial. I don't really believe SMAZE exists in real life—I have only ever seen it in crosswords (and I spent a good chunk of my young adulthood in southern California). I had NO-GO ZONE instead of AREA at first, despite the fact that the clue has "zone" in it (that's how much better NO-GO ZONE is as an answer) (3D: Forbidden zone). Just watched "Clueless" last week, so STACEY Dash was cake (would've been cake even without the rewatching, to be honest; I know that movie really well). PALSY-walsy is an absurdity, both because people rarely say it in the 21st century, and because the clue word has 80% of the same letters (in the same places) as the answer word. "I HOPE NOT" and "OH COME ON!" are pretty lively answers. But they weren't enough. From a real-time solving standpoint, this was essentially a dull themeless.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. about those successive [Cars are "parked" in it] [Cars are parked in it] clues (49A, 50A). That is very cute, except, *again* from a real-time solving standpoint, the cuteness is not visible—unless you are either a neophyte or a psychopath and solve your crosswords by reading the Across clues in order (?). Successive *Down* clues have a much higher chance of actually being read successively, because successive *Down* clues will often be in the same general section, whereas successive Acrosses *never* are.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]