Constructor: David J. Kahn
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (for a Tuesday)
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THEME: some recent art sale
Theme answers:
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Straight trivia puzzle that seems to exist only because the main themers intersect at the central "O." Just not puzzly enough. Also, CHRISTIE is not a great themer (everyone knows the house as "Christie's"). Neither is the participle (?) RESTORING. This was slapped together in order to be (somewhat) timely, and odd forms of theme answers were shoehorned into this grid to make it all come out symmetrical—an ironic way to treat a grid that exists solely because the central themers intersect symmetrically. Then there's the fact that the whole idea of paintings selling for hundreds of millions of dollars, to Saudi princes or anyone, is at best uninteresting, at worst repulsive. Not my thing.
Considering how dense the theme is, the grid is pretty clean. IN A NET is of course unfortunate, but everything else hold up. I made only one significant mistake—went with DRYAD over OREAD at 35A: Mountain nymph. Since the "R" and "A" and "D" were actually correct, it took some time for me to see the error. I looked at "MY-" at the beginning of 32D: Make a declaration with a straight face (MEAN IT) for far too long. Thought, "MY ... BAD? MY ... ???" Then surrounding answers came together and I made the switch. Nothing else here was much trouble. I was going to rate this puzzle Medium, but that's because when I was done I thought I'd solved a Wednesday. But it's Tuesday. . . it's Finals Week, so I've kind of lost track of what day is what. Anyway, this is more difficult than the average Tuesday based solely on your need to know details of recent trivia, and your need to keep eye-jumping all over the place because of the cross-referenced themers. I was slower than usual, but it wasn't what I'd call *harder* than usual, if that makes sense. Or even if it doesn't. Good day.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (for a Tuesday)
Theme answers:
- LEONARDO DAVINCI (7D: Creator of 38-Across)
- "SALVATOR MUNDI" (38A: Renaissance painting that was sold in November 2017 for a record $450.3 million)
- RESTORING (10D: Eliminating the effects of wear and tear on, as was done to 38-Across)
- OLD MASTER (35D: 7-Down, for one)
- CHRISTIE (14A: James ___, founder of the auction house that sold 38-Across)
- CHARLES I (65A: English king who once owned 38-Across)
- OIL (12D: 38-Across, for one)
- ART (60D: Work of ___ (38-Across, e.g.))
In Greek mythology, an Oread (/ˈɔːriˌæd, ˈɔːri.əd/; Ancient Greek: Ὀρειάς, stem Ὀρειάδ- Oreas/Oread-, from ὄρος, "mountain") or Orestiad/ɔːˈrɛstiˌæd, ɔːˈrɛsti.əd/; Όρεστιάδες, Orestiades) is a mountain nymph. They differ from each other according to their dwelling: the Idaeae were from Mount Ida, Peliades from Mount Pelion, etc. They were associated with Artemis, since the goddess, when she went out hunting, preferred mountains and rocky precipices. (wikipedia)
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Considering how dense the theme is, the grid is pretty clean. IN A NET is of course unfortunate, but everything else hold up. I made only one significant mistake—went with DRYAD over OREAD at 35A: Mountain nymph. Since the "R" and "A" and "D" were actually correct, it took some time for me to see the error. I looked at "MY-" at the beginning of 32D: Make a declaration with a straight face (MEAN IT) for far too long. Thought, "MY ... BAD? MY ... ???" Then surrounding answers came together and I made the switch. Nothing else here was much trouble. I was going to rate this puzzle Medium, but that's because when I was done I thought I'd solved a Wednesday. But it's Tuesday. . . it's Finals Week, so I've kind of lost track of what day is what. Anyway, this is more difficult than the average Tuesday based solely on your need to know details of recent trivia, and your need to keep eye-jumping all over the place because of the cross-referenced themers. I was slower than usual, but it wasn't what I'd call *harder* than usual, if that makes sense. Or even if it doesn't. Good day.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]