Constructor: Caleb Madison
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (6:09)
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: OSSICLE (38D: Anvil, hammer or stirrup) —
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Aggressively now, this puzzle is. That's better than "aggressively dated," for sure, though sometimes this kind of hyper-contemporariness feels slightly precious and put on. Like the puzzle is about to morph into a meme or a Vine or something aaaaaany second. I believe the 17A clue when it says that THE MET GALA has been a thing since 1948, but it hasn't really been a Thing Everyone Talks About On Social Media for very long at all. Feels like last five years, and more this year and I've ever seen. The ILLUMINATI is some boring conspiracy theory stuff I can't even laugh it. Like, I don't get it and have no desire to get it (this is how I feel about 99% of conspiracy theories). GO COMMANDO is a phrase that's been around a while. I associate it with Joey from a specific episode of "Friends" (late '90s?), which makes it not exactly fresh ... but not like NEATO- or NERTS- or HEP-old, either. BEATS BY DRE have been around for a little over a decade now—that was the first clue I looked at and the first answer I got (dropped it in immediately and went to work on the crosses).
Anyway, all of this "Down With The Olds!" stuff is perfectly good fill. I have a question about the clue on TRANSGENDER, though (31A: Taking on a new identity, in a way). First, the part of speech seems off, but let's just say that the clue is being used essentially adjectivally ... OK, fine. The bigger issue is ... is that what TRANSGENDER is? It's not a makeover. It's not "The New You." It's just ... you. You with a gender expression that is different from the one that conventionally corresponds with your sex at birth. I mean, you might come out as TRANSGENDER, and coming out is a kind of "taking on a new identity." But lots of people just *are* TRANSGENDER. It's not a new identity. It's ... their identity. Also, something about the cluing makes being TRANSGENDER seem like dyeing your hair or getting really into cycling or something. I dunno. It's not an offensive clue, and I recognize the trickiness of being accurate and concise and (ideally) clever while cluing a term about which people are understandably sensitive. Still, this one missed a little, for me.
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Errors include SNYDER for SNIDER (despite having seen him in a puzzle very recently), NOTTE (?) for NOZZE (25A: Mozart's "Le ___ di Figaro"), and ... nope, I think that's it. OK, goodnight.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (6:09)
Word of the Day: OSSICLE (38D: Anvil, hammer or stirrup) —
nounANATOMYZOOLOGY
• • •
Anyway, all of this "Down With The Olds!" stuff is perfectly good fill. I have a question about the clue on TRANSGENDER, though (31A: Taking on a new identity, in a way). First, the part of speech seems off, but let's just say that the clue is being used essentially adjectivally ... OK, fine. The bigger issue is ... is that what TRANSGENDER is? It's not a makeover. It's not "The New You." It's just ... you. You with a gender expression that is different from the one that conventionally corresponds with your sex at birth. I mean, you might come out as TRANSGENDER, and coming out is a kind of "taking on a new identity." But lots of people just *are* TRANSGENDER. It's not a new identity. It's ... their identity. Also, something about the cluing makes being TRANSGENDER seem like dyeing your hair or getting really into cycling or something. I dunno. It's not an offensive clue, and I recognize the trickiness of being accurate and concise and (ideally) clever while cluing a term about which people are understandably sensitive. Still, this one missed a little, for me.
I stormed out of the gates on this one, but after the NW, things slowed a little. Balked at singular STRAIT. Really really balked at SCRIPT (do you mean "cursive"?) (34A: Once-standard subject no longer taught in most schools). Two answers were just total mysteries to me: this BYRNES guy (39D: James F. ___, Truman secretary of state) and OSSICLE, which sounds like something a toddler calls a "Popsicle" (38D: Anvil, hammer or stirrup). The clue on IT IS SO ... I dunno ... IT IS SO off, to my ears (36A: "That must be the case"). There is still an element of surmising in the clue phrase, whereas IT IS SO is straight-up certain. "That must be the case" sounds like something you'd say when you're making your best guess. IT IS SO is something ... well, no actual human would say, but maybe a religious figure in a movie? Someone certain of their utterances, at any rate. Lastly, what's with the "L" in in FRIZZLES (12D: Makes curly).🎶"Take the L out of FRIZZLES and it's FRIZZES!"🎶 ... which is the only word I recognize here.
Errors include SNYDER for SNIDER (despite having seen him in a puzzle very recently), NOTTE (?) for NOZZE (25A: Mozart's "Le ___ di Figaro"), and ... nope, I think that's it. OK, goodnight.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]