Constructor: Mark Diehl
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: GRACE CUP (9D: Final toast of a meal) —
Saw the constructor's name and thought, "uh oh, here comes a tough one." And in fact that is how it played for the first minute or so—tough. I always work the Downs sequentially on a puzzle like this, with long Acrosses up top, and I got jack squat on my first pass (though my first thought was DORRIT for that Dickens clue, so ... mild self-congratulation there). I had CAB at 4D: Plane compartment (BIN) and nothing else. Then I went to short Acrosses up there and that's where I finally got going. SEER --> STIR --> SOLTI --> ELITE. At some point I finally looked at the Across clue I *should've* looked at right off the bat: 14A: "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" composer (ENNIO MORRICONE). Total, complete, utter gimme. Now, even with that in place, those Downs up top didn't get That much easier, but I was able to work my way back along the top pretty systematically. Then I got an assist from below due to RIESEN --> NIBS --> EBAY --> BENE --> ESTAB, and the upper half was pretty much taken care of. GRACE CUP gave me a ton of problems because I had no idea what that was. But after I got that answer finally pinned down, I moved into the lower half of the grid—and took off like a shot.
I'd say I spent 3x as much time solving the upper half as I did solving the lower. Maybe 4x. There was almost no resistance down below, mostly because I had terribly good luck in the proper noun department. Dropped SAL BANDO off just the SA- (34D: Three-time World Series champ with the A's). Dropped JOAN MIRO from just the J- (37D: "Triptych Bleu, I, II, III" artist). Biggest score was getting ELLEN DEGENERES off of almost nothing. I had the "D" from SAL BANDO and then a wrong letter from the greatest wrong answer of the day: at 41D: How hair dye may make you look (YOUNGER), I had written in YOUR AGE. But the clue suggested "not into men" and funny, and unsurprisingly, ELLEN's name sprang to mind. Once she went in, I just crushed everything. Finished by dropping COHEN NESTLE IMPELS ALINE and DODO, in quick succession. Very triumphant finish to what I think is a fine Saturday grid.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: GRACE CUP (9D: Final toast of a meal) —
(dictionary.com) noun 1.acup,asofwine,passedaroundattheendofthemealforthefinalhealthortoast.2.thedrinkpassed.
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| DOUBLE DOG DARE |
I'd say I spent 3x as much time solving the upper half as I did solving the lower. Maybe 4x. There was almost no resistance down below, mostly because I had terribly good luck in the proper noun department. Dropped SAL BANDO off just the SA- (34D: Three-time World Series champ with the A's). Dropped JOAN MIRO from just the J- (37D: "Triptych Bleu, I, II, III" artist). Biggest score was getting ELLEN DEGENERES off of almost nothing. I had the "D" from SAL BANDO and then a wrong letter from the greatest wrong answer of the day: at 41D: How hair dye may make you look (YOUNGER), I had written in YOUR AGE. But the clue suggested "not into men" and funny, and unsurprisingly, ELLEN's name sprang to mind. Once she went in, I just crushed everything. Finished by dropping COHEN NESTLE IMPELS ALINE and DODO, in quick succession. Very triumphant finish to what I think is a fine Saturday grid.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]