Constructor: Jeff Chen
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (would've been sub-16 if not for 32D)
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THEME: INSIDE OUT— Two-word phrases are clued as if they were one word inside of another, like so:
Word of the Day: DULCINEA (84D: Don Quixote's unseen beloved) —
Some good stuff in the fill; [18A: Cured salmon]: GRAVLAX is supertasty on rye bread with a sprig of dill, just like its cousin Nova lox is supertasty on an everything bagel with a shmear (not a SMEAR [81D: Besmirch]). Sometimes through the MOONROOF[61A: Sliding item on a car], you can SEE STARS[75A: React to a haymaker]. I also particularly liked [30A: 1970s-'90s chess champion]: KARPOV crossing [3D: Does his name ring a bell?]: IVAN PAVLOV. The other day, a patron came into the library looking for a book about Pavlov's dog and Schrödinger's cat; I said that it rang a bell, but I didn't know whether it was there or not.
I'm feeling somewhat FERVID[63D: Ardent] at the moment, like someone has ROUSED[69D: Lit a fire under] me, given that the parent publisher of the New York Times Crossword Puzzle, a newspaper called The New York Times (perhaps you've heard of it), has just published an astonishingly positive profile of a Nazi asshole, making him seem like just a normal dude who goes grocery shopping and watches Seinfeld (WTeverlovingF?). I'm glad, for once, that the crossword makes enough independent income that one could presumably keep a subscription to the puzzle without one's hard-earned virtual dollars supporting what journalism has apparently become. However we decide to fight fascism, can we at least agree that "Nazis: They're Just Like Us!" is an ICKY[56A: Unpleasant] take? If the point is to remind us all of the banality of evil, Hannah Arendt already had it covered. [94D: "You shouldn't have done that"]: NOT COOL, New York Times.
Bullets:
Signed, Laura Braunstein, Sorceress of CrossWorld
[Follow Laura on Twitter]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (would've been sub-16 if not for 32D)
THEME: INSIDE OUT— Two-word phrases are clued as if they were one word inside of another, like so:
- [22A: Lists about a port on the Black Sea]: ROYAL TASTERS
- [28A: Neighborhoods surrounded by crime]: THE FAR EAST
- [43A: Metal pin stuck in parts of sinks]: DRIVE TRAINS
- [68A: Flourishes around monsoon events]: BRAIN SURGEONS
- [92A: Fear among underground workers]: MIND READERS
- [109A: Coming up in vetoes]: NIXON TAPES
- [116A: Crew found inside again and again]: THROWING RICE
Word of the Day: DULCINEA (84D: Don Quixote's unseen beloved) —
"Dulcinea del Toboso" is a fictional character who is unseen in Miguel de Cervantes' novel Don Quixote. Don Quixote describes her appearance in the following terms: "... her name is Dulcinea, her country El Toboso, a village of La Mancha, her rank must be at least that of a princess, since she is my queen and lady, and her beauty superhuman, since all the impossible and fanciful attributes of beauty which the poets apply to their ladies are verified in her; for her hairs are gold, her forehead Elysian fields, her eyebrows rainbows, her eyes suns, her cheeks roses, her lips coral, her teeth pearls, her neck alabaster, her bosom marble, her hands ivory, her fairness snow, and what modesty conceals from sight such, I think and imagine, as rational reflection can only extol, not compare." (Wikipedia)
• • •
It's Rex's birthday today, so I (Laura) am here to blog for you, giving him a night off and some chocolate cake. I thought this was a perfectly decent theme, though for consistency's sake I would've liked to see all of the "inside" words span the two-word base phrases, whereas our last entry, THROWING RICE, has ROWING only as part of the first word. Happy Birthday, Mr. Rexident
Some good stuff in the fill; [18A: Cured salmon]: GRAVLAX is supertasty on rye bread with a sprig of dill, just like its cousin Nova lox is supertasty on an everything bagel with a shmear (not a SMEAR [81D: Besmirch]). Sometimes through the MOONROOF[61A: Sliding item on a car], you can SEE STARS[75A: React to a haymaker]. I also particularly liked [30A: 1970s-'90s chess champion]: KARPOV crossing [3D: Does his name ring a bell?]: IVAN PAVLOV. The other day, a patron came into the library looking for a book about Pavlov's dog and Schrödinger's cat; I said that it rang a bell, but I didn't know whether it was there or not.
I'm feeling somewhat FERVID[63D: Ardent] at the moment, like someone has ROUSED[69D: Lit a fire under] me, given that the parent publisher of the New York Times Crossword Puzzle, a newspaper called The New York Times (perhaps you've heard of it), has just published an astonishingly positive profile of a Nazi asshole, making him seem like just a normal dude who goes grocery shopping and watches Seinfeld (WTeverlovingF?). I'm glad, for once, that the crossword makes enough independent income that one could presumably keep a subscription to the puzzle without one's hard-earned virtual dollars supporting what journalism has apparently become. However we decide to fight fascism, can we at least agree that "Nazis: They're Just Like Us!" is an ICKY[56A: Unpleasant] take? If the point is to remind us all of the banality of evil, Hannah Arendt already had it covered. [94D: "You shouldn't have done that"]: NOT COOL, New York Times.
[19A: Jazzy Anita]: O'DAY
Bullets:
- [48D: Another name for Dido]: ELISSA— Classical epic/myth trivia is the best trivia, though still trivial.
- [86D: Award won by "Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"]: BEST PLAY— Nice misdirect. The clue is referring to the stage adaptation, which won the Tony in 2015, as opposed to the novel, which won the Whitbread Award, among others, in 2003.
- [32D: Climbing plant in the pea family]: VETCH— This is a series of letters that I usually see only with a K in front of them.
Signed, Laura Braunstein, Sorceress of CrossWorld
[Follow Laura on Twitter]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]