It was boosted by Atlas / FRI 2-16-18 / Most populous city in Oceania / Sci-fi character who graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2359 / Plastic Clue weapon / Name related to Rex

Constructor: David Steinberg

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none

Word of the Day: James B. EADS (52D: James B. ___, diving bell inventor) —

Captain James Buchanan Eads (May 23, 1820 – March 8, 1887) was a world-renowned American civil engineer and inventor, holding more than 50 patents. [...] When he was twenty-two, Eads designed a salvage boat and showed the drawings to two shipbuilders, Calvin Case and William Nelson. Although Eads had no previous experience and no capital for the project, Case and Nelson were impressed with him and the three became partners.

At that time, salvaging wrecks from the Mississippi River was nearly impossible because of strong currents. Eads made his initial fortune in salvage by creating a diving bell, using a forty-gallon wine barrel to retrieve goods sunk in riverboatdisasters. He also devised special boats for raising the remains of sunken ships from the river bed. Eads did much of the diving himself because the work was so dangerous. His work gave Eads an intimate knowledge of the river, as he explored its depths from the Gulf of Mexico to Iowa. Because of his detailed knowledge of the Mississippi (the equal of any professional river pilot), his exceptional ability at navigating the most treacherous parts of the river system, and his personal fleet of snag-boats and salvage craft, he was afforded the much prized courtesy title of "Captain" by the rivermen of the Mississippi and was addressed as Captain Eads throughout his life. (wikipedia)

Found this one more irritating than interesting, largely because of short proper nouns I had no idea about that really slowed me down. South AMBOY (?) and James B. EADS both mean zero to me. Actually, I've vaguely heard of AMBOY, but mainly as part of the title of the book "The AMBOY Dukes" by Irving Shulman, which I must own a copy of (somewhere deep in my 3000+-strong collection of vintage paperbacks). Cluing was hard and then fussy and straining-clever all over. Lots of four-letter "Star Trek" characters, so that TROI clue was pffft (1A: Sci-fi character who graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2359). SALARY is a "sensitive subject"? OK, I guess, for some, but not like AGE or WEIGHT, so ...??? Kind of forced to say a D STUDENT *is* 60-something, even with the "?" on the clue (9D: One who's 60-something). No idea that COLADA (bad on its own) meant "strained" (43A: Strained, at the bar). Very rough clue on STRAY (57A: Part of a pound?) crossing an exceedingly rough clue on AGENA (which is a thing I barely know, and have only ever seen referenced in crosswords) (44D: It was boosted by Atlas). I don't even really know how the whole Atlas-AGENA thingamajig was supposed to work. I guess AGENA was a "satellite bus" (?) and one of the rockets used was the Atlas? In days of yore? Jeez, trying to get all cutesy with your Atlas clue on what is really the crosswordesiest answer in the grid seems like a horrible idea. ONE NO will always be bad fill to me. Nothing says "Maleskaesque" like bridge slang. GOMER? (45D: Cloddish sort, in slang). Sigh, I guess. There just weren't a lot of "cool!" moments, and bunch of DIRE ones, so this one just didn't work for me, especially considering where I expect Friday (the greatest puzzle day of the week) to be.

The whole grid has a dusty feel about it. Back from when people had BOX CAMERAs and used words like BEAU and INAMORATA. Almost nothing feels fresh or current, despite the fact that there are some very solid answers, like PENTHOUSE SUITE and YOGURT SMOOTHIE and FLAMBOYANT. Much of the rest of the grid, though, seems tossed off. Whole center feels irrelevant and dull. Very idea of the "Honey-do" list always gives me the creeps 'cause it's grossly sexist, and the whole point is you don't say "NO, DEAR" anyway, so what is this clue even doing? (32D: Rejection of a honey-do list). Again, the whole premise feels both implausible and dated, like it's out of some bygone era. PIXELATED clue is pretty good (56A: Like privates, often), though the euphemism "privates" also feels old-fashioned (and semi-childish). Again, as with that Atlas clue on AGENA, the cluer is trying haaaaard to go for the misdirect, and ... well, I just keep making this wrinkled-nose expression as I try to describe my feelings about this puzzle, and I think the expression probably says more than my words ever could. The grid is reasonably well put-together, but it feels stale and off rather than zingy and exciting. The cluing is not the only problem, but it's the main one.




Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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