Constructor: David J. Kahn
Relative difficulty: Medium (6:47—on the high side for me, but I solved this around 12:30am after napping for the better part of four hours (!), so the slowness-upon-waking adjustment applies)
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THEME: MAY 1718 (37A: See 18- and 60-Across) — apparently the cities of NEW ORLEANS and SAN ANTONIO were founded in that ... year .. three hundred years ago this ... month? OK.
Theme answers:
I don't get this at all. We celebrate city foundings? By month? Since when? And who cares? This puzzle exists because NEW ORLEANS and SAN ANTONIO have the same number of letters. That is the only reason this puzzle exists. Do you want to know how thin this theme is? I'll tell you. Please consult the long Downs. I mean ... it's like you knew, "man, this is not enough for a theme," and so you were like "let's put in a couple answers associated with the cities! Brilliant. OK, what's iconic?" And then your idea of iconic is ... [drumroll] ... the ALAMO! (nice) ... DOME! (.... what?). And then some JAZZ BANDS. Iconitude complete! The End! [kisses fingertips] [daps] [Tebows] [moonwalks out of room]
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Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. it's a *scarlet* A
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium (6:47—on the high side for me, but I solved this around 12:30am after napping for the better part of four hours (!), so the slowness-upon-waking adjustment applies)
Theme answers:
- 11D: 60-Across site (ALAMO DOME)
- 33D: 18-Across sights (JAZZ BANDS)
Ilya Mikhailovich Frank (Russian: Илья́ Миха́йлович Франк) (23 October 1908 – 22 June 1990) was a Soviet winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1958 jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Igor Y. Tamm, also of the Soviet Union. He received the award for his work in explaining the phenomenon of Cherenkov radiation. He received the Stalin prize in 1946 and 1953 and the USSR state prize in 1971. (wikipedia)
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I don't get this at all. We celebrate city foundings? By month? Since when? And who cares? This puzzle exists because NEW ORLEANS and SAN ANTONIO have the same number of letters. That is the only reason this puzzle exists. Do you want to know how thin this theme is? I'll tell you. Please consult the long Downs. I mean ... it's like you knew, "man, this is not enough for a theme," and so you were like "let's put in a couple answers associated with the cities! Brilliant. OK, what's iconic?" And then your idea of iconic is ... [drumroll] ... the ALAMO! (nice) ... DOME! (.... what?). And then some JAZZ BANDS. Iconitude complete! The End! [kisses fingertips] [daps] [Tebows] [moonwalks out of room]
The numbers-in-the-grid thing is only irksome because today is May 17, 2018, so what the hell was the date gonna be? Even when I (finally) got that numbers were supposed to go in there, I didn't know if I was looking for a specific date (May 18 ... some year?) or what. Further, "7" and "8" are properly numerical, whereas "1" and "1" are stupidly numerical (i.e. no one writes them like that). Further furrther, the fill is not good, and it's especially bad in the NE. I mean, ILYA / MYNA? Blargh.
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| [SAME! (10A)] |
I kinda like the concept of a TATTOO RIOT and also the phrase, "DON'T ASK, DOORMAT." That's exactly what you'd say to a DOORMAT who got too nosy, and then the DOORMAT would of course reply, "sorry, sir / ma'am." Because that's what DOORMATs do. SEISM remains one of the ugliest words and SRTAS one of the absurdest abbrevs., while DAZS remains a sad name part. WE WON? No. IN A WORD, no.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. it's a *scarlet* A
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]