Constructor: Freddie Cheng
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (though my wife had to explain to me how NUMBERS fit the theme... even though I now notice that the theme clues themselves tell you ... this is why I don't typically solve first thing in the morning) (3:47)
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THEME: HAPPY FOURTH (60A: Annual greeting ... or a hint to the ends of 17-, 26-, 39- and 48-Across) — ends of themers are the fourth in a series of ... something:
Theme answers:
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Not nearly tight enough, or fourthy enough, for a holiday puzzle. PRESS is the fourth estate. MADISON is the fourth US president. There are lots of things that are the "fourth" of something, is what I'm saying. Why these? As I noted above, I had no idea how NUMBERS was the fourth of anything because I somehow (!?) failed to read the ends of every theme clue (the part with the brackets that explains the frame of reference). Googled all the others with [___ is the fourth...] and the autosuggestion confirmed the answer every time. Googled [NUMBERS is (and "are") the fourth...] and the autosuggestions all thought I wanted something about exponents (i.e. the fourth power). I'd hardly call NUMBERS *iconically* fourth. The fact that the first answer was number-related and the second themer had PRIME in it had me slightly confused too, for a bit, after I was done. "FOURTH ... NUMBERS ... PRIME ... wait, four isn't a prime ..." I also sincerely, ALBEIT briefly, thought TIME was the "fourth" word in "Once Upon A TIME." I mean, it is—demonstrably so—so I'm going to say my interpretation is correct, and all y'all can keep shouting "it's the fourth *dimension*!", I don't care.
1-Across Dread is a real thing, and today I had it. That's when the first answer you put in (for me, usually 1-Across) is some piece of OVERDONE crosswordese that makes you go, "Oh, no, one of these puzzles..."ASSAM is *real*, but it is also a grid weed from a bygone era, almost always clued in relation to tea (as here). Perhaps you, a constant solver, have never bothered to locate ASSAM on a map, so here you go.
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The point here is not whether ASSAM itself is acceptable; the point is that hitting crosswordese prevalent in a bygone era right off the bat presages a pretty stale grid, and I'd say that presage was largely borne out, though nothing here made me truly groan—except OKRAS, plural, wtf? ... I just had the most ridiculous OKRAS conversation with my wife. Me: "is OKRA a plant? I mean, we eat the pods, right? Does anyone ever deal with the rest of the 'plant'?" Her: "And isn't OKRA plural? 'I cooked some OKRAS'? No, it's OKRA, singular, OKRA, plural." She was saying OKRA a lot and I really wish I'd recorded it. The entire conversation became nonsensical, kind of like plural OKRAS is nonsensical. By the way, what is it with lady's fingers as a metaphor. They're cookies! They're OKRAS! It's a weird metaphor fetish, or metaphetish, a NEOlogism I hand-crafted just for you.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (though my wife had to explain to me how NUMBERS fit the theme... even though I now notice that the theme clues themselves tell you ... this is why I don't typically solve first thing in the morning) (3:47)
Theme answers:
- EVEN NUMBERS (17A: Identifications on left-hand pages, traditionally [the Bible])
- PRIME TIME (26A: Setting for a popular show [dimensions])
- PEARL RIVER DELTA (39A: Dense megalopolis that includes Hong Kong, Macau and Guangzhou [Greek alphabet])
- BRUNO MARS (48A: Singer with the 2017 Album of the Year "24K Magic" [planets])
Goran Ivanišević (Croatian pronunciation: [ɡǒran iʋanǐːʃeʋitɕ]; born 13 September 1971) is a retired Croatian professional tennis player and current tennis coach. He is the only person to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001, having previously been runner-up at the championships in 1992, 1994 and 1998. Before the 2001 tournament, he was ranked 125th and after his victory he was 16th. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 2 (behind Pete Sampras) in 1994. He coached Marin Čilić from September 2013 to July 2016, leading Čilić to his biggest achievement to date, the 2014 US Open title. (wikipedia) (emph mine)
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1-Across Dread is a real thing, and today I had it. That's when the first answer you put in (for me, usually 1-Across) is some piece of OVERDONE crosswordese that makes you go, "Oh, no, one of these puzzles..."ASSAM is *real*, but it is also a grid weed from a bygone era, almost always clued in relation to tea (as here). Perhaps you, a constant solver, have never bothered to locate ASSAM on a map, so here you go.
[wishbone-shaped!]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]