Constructor: Stu Ockman
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (disconnected sections + classic names = ?)
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THEME: THE TIES THAT BIND (56A: Shared beliefs ... like this puzzle's circled four-letter words) — circled words are things you can "bind" with, and they MAKE CONNECTIONS (17A: Network) between the upper and lower sections to the center section (which is otherwise free-floating)
The binds:
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Once this was done, I noticed the gimmick and thought, "Oh, clever." But while I was solving, hoo boy, "clever" was not the word on my mind. The concept here is lovely but the execution is brutal. The fill was rough and dated all over. Everywhere. The worst part for me was flat-out guessing LENE (all the crosses checked, which is the only way I got even a single letter of that answer) and then discovering that the *only* reason LENE was even in the grid (I assume) was that PLIERS / LENE could not be turned to PRIERS / RENE because (astonishingly) PRIER was already in the grid (?) (28D: Inquisitive one) (28D: Inquisitive one). It just feels like whole corners should've been torn down and rebuilt. And the center in particular is really rough. PULLA? ALTAI? WIS? YOS? ALLEWIS!?!?! This was very unpleasant to solve. Discovering the theme at the end was kind of sad—no reason this concept couldn't have been executed smoothly.
Soooo many pop culture names. I've never seen "Frozen" or "Real Housewives of Atlanta," so this didn't start so well for me, what with HANS (1A: Prince in "Frozen") crossing SHEREE (?) (4D: Whitfield of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta") in the NW. Please don't try to sell me on SHEREE's being good or modern or whatever. It's here because it's 5/6 super-common letters (a good sign that a grid section is under considerable stress). Then there's the bully in "Calvin & Hobbes" (forgot him) (MOE), some character from "Veep" (GARY), Grandpa forkin' Munster (ALLEWIS), EDIE Sedgwick. ANNETTE Bening is legit famous (12D: Actress Bening), but the rest of those names are varying degrees of rough. It's not any one of them that's the issue—it's just that there are so many of them. And then two "old" or "classic" gas brands in the same corner!? (AMOCO / ESSO). To say nothing of the ordinary crosswordese that abounds (SRTA, DER, ONCD,two kinds of ELY/I, ORI (?), ADO, RADII, ETA, RATA, DYS, HIE). This might've been interesting and doable as a Sunday puzzle concept, with more sections to bind, more binders, etc., and then much more room for the grid to breathe.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (disconnected sections + classic names = ?)
The binds:
- ROPE
- LACE
- WIRE
- CORD
[I honestly can't even find a good definition of this online ... they're all circular and weird an unhelpful. If I google [lene voiceless], almost all I get are crossword sites... I mean, look:
Noun(plural lenes)
- (phonetics) The smooth breathing (spiritus lenis).
- (phonetics) Any of the lene consonants, such as p, k, or i (Greek pi, kappa, tau). (yourdictionary.com)
• • •
Soooo many pop culture names. I've never seen "Frozen" or "Real Housewives of Atlanta," so this didn't start so well for me, what with HANS (1A: Prince in "Frozen") crossing SHEREE (?) (4D: Whitfield of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta") in the NW. Please don't try to sell me on SHEREE's being good or modern or whatever. It's here because it's 5/6 super-common letters (a good sign that a grid section is under considerable stress). Then there's the bully in "Calvin & Hobbes" (forgot him) (MOE), some character from "Veep" (GARY), Grandpa forkin' Munster (ALLEWIS), EDIE Sedgwick. ANNETTE Bening is legit famous (12D: Actress Bening), but the rest of those names are varying degrees of rough. It's not any one of them that's the issue—it's just that there are so many of them. And then two "old" or "classic" gas brands in the same corner!? (AMOCO / ESSO). To say nothing of the ordinary crosswordese that abounds (SRTA, DER, ONCD,two kinds of ELY/I, ORI (?), ADO, RADII, ETA, RATA, DYS, HIE). This might've been interesting and doable as a Sunday puzzle concept, with more sections to bind, more binders, etc., and then much more room for the grid to breathe.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]