Constructor: Finn Vigeland
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: Finn's adoration of the creator of "Hamilton" ... or, none
Word of the Day: THESSALY (17D: Region near Mount Olympus) —
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My first thought on opening the puzzle was, "Why ... is this themeless 16-wide? Oh, god, it's not *themed*, is it? Please god no..." My second thought was, "Oh, god ... 15 stacks are (often) bad enough, but 16 stacks?" My third thought was "woo hoo, ORGAN, nailed it!" (1A: Player in a baseball stadium). I don't remember the thought order from there. I've never seen a Revealer in a themeless puzzle before, but LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA (29A: Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama) functioned precisely that way, giving me a huge aha moment, as I suddenly realized why the damn grid was 16 wide: Finn's tremendous love for Mr. Miranda. And a. why not? and b. he's certainly not alone there. It's slightly adorable, this puzzle. It's also just very solid, stem to stern, with some really delightful moments (not MOs, though, dear god who says that!?!?!) (11A: "Hold on ___!" => A MO). I somehow struggled all over the place *and* finished in a better-than-average time. Weird.
OK, SO I had trouble with OK, SO, for sure, especially the "K," as, despite the fact that I listened to "Serial" three years ago or whenever that was, I totally forgot Sarah KOENIG's name. Also the "G" was no help with GENET (embarrassingly) (3D: French novelist/dramatist associated with the Theater of the Absurd). My brain kept going "try GODOT!" while my second brain kept going "shut up, first brain!" Spelled NIHAU thusly. Had no idea what two-letter word followed STOOD (23A: Went to bat (for)). Never ever ever heard of GOLDEN PEN. So there was flailing, but I got out OK, and as soon as I saw that 29A clue, I knew the answer and had a crucial, central base of operations from which to solve the rest of the puzzle. Still, forgot LIZ was anyone's "boss" on "30 Rock" and so kept trying to remember Jack's name, and since I had the "L" all I could come up with was LEO, which is somebody's boss's name, right? Maybe on "West Wing" or something (never watched it). Threw down MYNAHS for MACAWS (34D: Colorful birds), so that hurt, but not as bad as throwing down SWISHER for SWIFFER (45A: Big name in mops). Yikes. That one nearly destroyed me in the SE, where I could see neither FLIED nor FOCAL. That NICOLE clue was no help, either (58A: Wife in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is the Night"). SW was pleasantly pliable. Not too thrilled about the "ha-ha, alcoholism is hilarious" clue onDTS (36D: Letters that come before AA?), but overall I found this immensely entertaining.
Most improbable solving success came when I went at the northern section via successive short Downs and ... got All Of Them Wrong. Starting with 6D, I went LAG / SEAR / MOMA / ABIT. No / No / No / No. And *yet*, the "R" from (wrong) SEAR helped me see REDEEMER (22A: Jesus, with "the"), and I managed to correct everything from there. Lucky. Dumb lucky. OK, bye!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: THESSALY (17D: Region near Mount Olympus) —
Thessaly (Greek: Θεσσαλία, Thessalía; ancient Thessalian: Πετθαλία, Petthalía) is a traditional geographicand modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia (Greek: Αἰολία, Aíolía), and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey.Thessaly became part of the modern Greek state in 1881, after four and a half centuries of Ottoman rule. Since 1987 it has formed one of the country's 13 regions[2] and is further (since the Kallikratis reform of 2010) sub-divided into 5 regional units and 25 municipalities. The capital of the region is Larissa. Thessaly lies in central Greece and borders the regions of Macedonia on the north, Epirus on the west, Central Greece on the south and the Aegean Sea on the east. The Thessaly region also includes the Sporadesislands. (wikipedia)
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My first thought on opening the puzzle was, "Why ... is this themeless 16-wide? Oh, god, it's not *themed*, is it? Please god no..." My second thought was, "Oh, god ... 15 stacks are (often) bad enough, but 16 stacks?" My third thought was "woo hoo, ORGAN, nailed it!" (1A: Player in a baseball stadium). I don't remember the thought order from there. I've never seen a Revealer in a themeless puzzle before, but LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA (29A: Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama) functioned precisely that way, giving me a huge aha moment, as I suddenly realized why the damn grid was 16 wide: Finn's tremendous love for Mr. Miranda. And a. why not? and b. he's certainly not alone there. It's slightly adorable, this puzzle. It's also just very solid, stem to stern, with some really delightful moments (not MOs, though, dear god who says that!?!?!) (11A: "Hold on ___!" => A MO). I somehow struggled all over the place *and* finished in a better-than-average time. Weird.OK, SO I had trouble with OK, SO, for sure, especially the "K," as, despite the fact that I listened to "Serial" three years ago or whenever that was, I totally forgot Sarah KOENIG's name. Also the "G" was no help with GENET (embarrassingly) (3D: French novelist/dramatist associated with the Theater of the Absurd). My brain kept going "try GODOT!" while my second brain kept going "shut up, first brain!" Spelled NIHAU thusly. Had no idea what two-letter word followed STOOD (23A: Went to bat (for)). Never ever ever heard of GOLDEN PEN. So there was flailing, but I got out OK, and as soon as I saw that 29A clue, I knew the answer and had a crucial, central base of operations from which to solve the rest of the puzzle. Still, forgot LIZ was anyone's "boss" on "30 Rock" and so kept trying to remember Jack's name, and since I had the "L" all I could come up with was LEO, which is somebody's boss's name, right? Maybe on "West Wing" or something (never watched it). Threw down MYNAHS for MACAWS (34D: Colorful birds), so that hurt, but not as bad as throwing down SWISHER for SWIFFER (45A: Big name in mops). Yikes. That one nearly destroyed me in the SE, where I could see neither FLIED nor FOCAL. That NICOLE clue was no help, either (58A: Wife in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is the Night"). SW was pleasantly pliable. Not too thrilled about the "ha-ha, alcoholism is hilarious" clue onDTS (36D: Letters that come before AA?), but overall I found this immensely entertaining.
Most improbable solving success came when I went at the northern section via successive short Downs and ... got All Of Them Wrong. Starting with 6D, I went LAG / SEAR / MOMA / ABIT. No / No / No / No. And *yet*, the "R" from (wrong) SEAR helped me see REDEEMER (22A: Jesus, with "the"), and I managed to correct everything from there. Lucky. Dumb lucky. OK, bye!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]