Constructor: David Kwong
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME:sawing LADIES / IN HALF (8A: With 63-Acorss, what some performers saw in Las Vegas? ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme)— get it? "Saw"? So ... famous "Ladies" are split in two, with half their names in circled squares on the far left of the grid and the other half on the far right:
The LADYs:
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Rough but ultimately successful outing here. Theme concept is solid and nicely executed. Themers are all ladies whose names have been *literally* halved, with each half flush to the side of the grid. Hurray consistency. Also, nice little play on the word "saw" in the revealer clue. Not sure why the ladies are sawn/seen in Vegas, but maybe Vegas magically denotes .. magic? Whatever, the theme concept works, and the execution is nice, except ... JANE GREY. She's not really cut at all. Her name already exists in two parts, so putting the one part on one side and the other part on the other side doesn't really created the same "what the!?" effect that sawing a lady in half would—that CHATT / ERLEY does, for instance. JANE and GREY already got space between them. No cut. No saw. One part just wandered off. I'd've maybe tried a different lady, like BIRD or DYNAMITE or something (I'd've said MACBETH, but you can't saw her name in *half*).
The puzzle wasn't too hard, but the few hard bits really cut my legs out from under me. The worst part was "DE DE Dinah." What the hell?! That is one of the worst partials I've ever seen. A 60-year-old #7 (!?) hit, the spelling of which can hardly be determined with one's ears ... and a partial. I had -EDE and wondered why anyone would want to CEDE Dinah, let alone sing about it. That this answer was next to the adjectivally odd INERTIAL (!) made that section doubly rough. The other answer I really struggled with was in the opposite corner of the grid: SHYOF. I had the "Y" and "O" and of course was looking for one word. And yet somehow, despite the fact that my struggles took place all over the revealer, the theme was still easy enough to pick up that my time ended up normal for a Wednesday. The very narrow openings connecting NE to E and SW to W also slowed things down. Without INERTIAL, no getting down from there, and with only SEND at 37D: Message from a short person? ("SEND CASH"), well, no getting down from there, either, for a bit. Oh, and I also made this error:
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Yes. Yes I did.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME:sawing LADIES / IN HALF (8A: With 63-Acorss, what some performers saw in Las Vegas? ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme)— get it? "Saw"? So ... famous "Ladies" are split in two, with half their names in circled squares on the far left of the grid and the other half on the far right:
The LADYs:
- GA/GA (GAG ORDER / BODEGA)
- GOD/IVA (GOD OF LOVE / SHIVA)
- JANE/GREY (JANET / AGNES GREY)
- CHATT/ERLEY (CHATTY / ADDERLEY)
• • •
The puzzle wasn't too hard, but the few hard bits really cut my legs out from under me. The worst part was "DE DE Dinah." What the hell?! That is one of the worst partials I've ever seen. A 60-year-old #7 (!?) hit, the spelling of which can hardly be determined with one's ears ... and a partial. I had -EDE and wondered why anyone would want to CEDE Dinah, let alone sing about it. That this answer was next to the adjectivally odd INERTIAL (!) made that section doubly rough. The other answer I really struggled with was in the opposite corner of the grid: SHYOF. I had the "Y" and "O" and of course was looking for one word. And yet somehow, despite the fact that my struggles took place all over the revealer, the theme was still easy enough to pick up that my time ended up normal for a Wednesday. The very narrow openings connecting NE to E and SW to W also slowed things down. Without INERTIAL, no getting down from there, and with only SEND at 37D: Message from a short person? ("SEND CASH"), well, no getting down from there, either, for a bit. Oh, and I also made this error:
[4D: Ending with hard or soft]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]