Constructor: Ori Brian
Relative difficulty: Easy (3:10)
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THEME: START A FIRE (61A: Ignite something ... or what the first words of 17-, 23-, 38- and 51-Across)— those first words can precede the word "fire" in familiar phrases:
Theme answers:
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Great, now I've got Billy Joel in my head. "We didn't START A FIRE! Little Rock! Pasternak! Chia Pets! Crack is wack!" Etc. The weirdest thing about this puzzle is that I've spent the better part of an hour since I finished it engaged in furious debate online about the proper spelling of AHH (5D: Sound of contentment), which my brain considers entirely improper. But I now realize this is because I have been crossword-conditioned. I am very much correct that in crosswords, the proper spelling is AAH. I know this because I've done roughly seven million puzzles. Also, I looked it up:
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Anyway, my Twitter poll has AHH winning in a laugher, with AAH far behind and AHA and AJA getting hardly any votes at all:
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OK, maybe we should talk about the rest of the puzzle. It's ... there. There it is. It's got two main problems: it's basically just a "first words can precede" puzzle, which is old hat and shrugworthy; and the revealer is about as scintillating as START A CAR, START A BLOG, or START A TIMER. That "A" really, really kills it. I mean, it's not BONAFIRE. Overall, the fill (FILL!) seems pretty solid, if not terribly shiny. I had all kinds of trouble in and around SURE, WHY NOT and AHH and TAY, and particularly WARS (really wanted it to be WARES) (!?) (18D: Hawks push them). But after that semi-rough patch, I took off barely hesitated the rest of the way. HALL (45A: Concert venue) and FILL (35D: Occupy completely) weirdly took work. But otherwise, zoom.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy (3:10)
Theme answers:
- SURE, WHY NOT? (17A: "What's there to lose?")
- CROSS-COUNTRY (23A: Way to run or ski)
- BON JOVI (38A: Band with the 12x platinum album "Slippery When Wet")
- BACK-TO-SCHOOL (51A: Like some August sales)
The Firth of Tay /ˈteɪ/ (Scottish Gaelic: Linne Tatha) is a firth in Scotland between the council areas of Fife, Perth and Kinross, the City of Dundee and Angus, into which Scotland's largest river in terms of flow, the River Tay empties. The firth has a maximum width of 3 mi (4.8 km) at Invergowrie.Two bridges span the firth, the Tay Road Bridge and the Tay Rail Bridge.The firth has one major island, the marshy Mugdrum Island. (wikipedia)
Great, now I've got Billy Joel in my head. "We didn't START A FIRE! Little Rock! Pasternak! Chia Pets! Crack is wack!" Etc. The weirdest thing about this puzzle is that I've spent the better part of an hour since I finished it engaged in furious debate online about the proper spelling of AHH (5D: Sound of contentment), which my brain considers entirely improper. But I now realize this is because I have been crossword-conditioned. I am very much correct that in crosswords, the proper spelling is AAH. I know this because I've done roughly seven million puzzles. Also, I looked it up:
But apparently in the so-called "Real" world, AHH is considered correct. People were tweeting me in horrified disbelief that anyone could believe otherwise. My best friend (a longtime copy editor) kindly (read: haughtily) directed my attention to a this Dictionary of Interjections, where AAH is fright or shock, and AHH is either relaxation or understanding. I think we can all agree that the sound you make at the doctor / dentist is AH and never extends beyond two letters. Although Poison begs to disagree:
OK, maybe we should talk about the rest of the puzzle. It's ... there. There it is. It's got two main problems: it's basically just a "first words can precede" puzzle, which is old hat and shrugworthy; and the revealer is about as scintillating as START A CAR, START A BLOG, or START A TIMER. That "A" really, really kills it. I mean, it's not BONAFIRE. Overall, the fill (FILL!) seems pretty solid, if not terribly shiny. I had all kinds of trouble in and around SURE, WHY NOT and AHH and TAY, and particularly WARS (really wanted it to be WARES) (!?) (18D: Hawks push them). But after that semi-rough patch, I took off barely hesitated the rest of the way. HALL (45A: Concert venue) and FILL (35D: Occupy completely) weirdly took work. But otherwise, zoom.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]