Constructor: Andy Kravis
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (my time was a tad north of normal)
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THEME: vowel progression, with the last word in each themer going from LANE to LUNE through all the other long vowel sounds
Theme answers:
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I guess every constructor makes at least one of these vowel progression puzzles in their career. I know I did (STALE STEEL STYLE STOLE STOOL). Anyway, it's as good a reason as any for a (Monday) theme, as long as the theme answers are interesting in their own right (check) and the fill holds up (double check), so thumbs up. I had trouble with several of the longer answers, starting with ROCK CAVES. Are there other ... caves? Besides the Batcave? Spelunkers explore caves, that I knew, but ROCK CAVES added a level of specificity that I did not know existed. I also know of the concept of a VICTORY LAP, but VICTORY LANE ... is that the specific area where the winner pulls up his car and jumps on top of his car and like ... makes it rain milk on his crew, or something. You can see I'm a Huge racing fan. Got TOE THE and wanted LINE but had to delve into the crosses to know what the missing part was (PARTY, of course, makes sense). Front end of MICROLOAN was not clear to me. Again, needed several crosses to pick it up. Also had ICES for OFFS (45A: Does in, in mob slang), which really muffed things up (was relying on that answer to help pull me up from the south and into that SW corner, but instead of having F--CES (which would've given me FORCES immediately at 46D: Troops) I had C--CES, which gave me only CIRCES and CROCES and possibly Las CRUCES (all wrong).
Oh, and then there was ONRUSH, which I didn't understand for the Longest time, even after the puzzle was done. I look at that and see two words, e.g. "I ordered it next-day delivery ... you know, ON RUSH." But it's a noun. A deluge, an ONRUSH. The definition is apt. My familiarity with that word (in the sense of how often I actually see or hear it) is pretty low. And then there's THE NFL—I had THE, but somehow thought the clue was asking about the investigators or doctors or scientists or whatever, not the org. that actually caused the concussions (31D: Org. featured in 2015's "Concussion"). Looking at all my mistakes and misunderstandings, it's a wonder I came in as fast as I did. Played more like a Tuesday for me, but no matter. I had a good time. The puzzle is clean. Hurray.
Congratulations to my friend, a great constructor, and now, officially, the fastest crossword solver on the planet—Erik Agard! Yesterday, he became the newest American Crossword Puzzle Tournament champion, *smoking* the finals puzzle in under 5 minutes.
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Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (my time was a tad north of normal)
Theme answers:
- VICTORY LANE (17A: Site of a postrace celebration)
- DAVID LEAN (26A: Director of "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago")
- TOE THE PARTY LINE (38A: Follow one's political group)
- MICROLOAN (48A: Helping hand for a low-income entrepreneur)
- CLAIR DE LUNE (60A: Classic Debussy work that translates as "Light of the Moon")
[definition unfound]
• • •
Oh, and then there was ONRUSH, which I didn't understand for the Longest time, even after the puzzle was done. I look at that and see two words, e.g. "I ordered it next-day delivery ... you know, ON RUSH." But it's a noun. A deluge, an ONRUSH. The definition is apt. My familiarity with that word (in the sense of how often I actually see or hear it) is pretty low. And then there's THE NFL—I had THE, but somehow thought the clue was asking about the investigators or doctors or scientists or whatever, not the org. that actually caused the concussions (31D: Org. featured in 2015's "Concussion"). Looking at all my mistakes and misunderstandings, it's a wonder I came in as fast as I did. Played more like a Tuesday for me, but no matter. I had a good time. The puzzle is clean. Hurray.
Congratulations to my friend, a great constructor, and now, officially, the fastest crossword solver on the planet—Erik Agard! Yesterday, he became the newest American Crossword Puzzle Tournament champion, *smoking* the finals puzzle in under 5 minutes.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]