Constructor: Mark Diehl
Relative difficulty: Medium (10:41 - the app says my average is 13-something, but it's probably right about 10-11)
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THEME: Themeless
Word of the Day: SKIPJACKS (1A: Certain fish ... or sailboats) —
This was a very well done Saturday puzzle with little bad to say about it. There's almost no bad fill, which is all the more remarkable because it's a pangram!
I started off pretty swiftly demolishing the NW (it helped to plunk down LAYSIEGETO with no crosses (16A: Beset, as a castle)). I'd just had a delicious omakase sushi dinner featuring SKIPJACKS last week (the fish, not the sailboats), so that one fell in quickly after our good friends ANG (6D: Lee with three Oscar-garnering films), JOE (5D: Regular guy), and CHESTER (7D: President between James and Grover).
From there I basically proceeded in order, knocking off the NE, then SW, then SE, and winding up in the middle. Along the way, I enjoyed AQUAZUMBA (11D: In-pool fitness program), which I wanted desperately to be AQUACISER or something like that. I also loved (nerd alert) AT ODDS crossing DATA MINERS (42D: Out of sync / 59A: Computer statisticians), because it obviously made me think of the courses I teach on logistic regression (however AT ODDS was right next to ATE AT (45D: Irked constantly), which is not great).
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The reason this was average and not easy, for me, was the mid-west and center of the puzzle. I've never read, nor seen Alice in Wonderland, so I wasn't familiar with the term MARCH HARE (29A: Tea party member), and I could. not. parse. SHOE (19A: Makeshift fly swatter) crossing KATHY (8D: Lead female role in "Singin' in the Rain"). Plus STOOPS (9D: Gets down, in a way) felt like it could be STOMPS, so I stared at that section for a while before plunking in the H and hearing the "success" jingle.
So, overall, this is very strong effort, with very little questionable fill. CITYPLAZA (23A: Urban open space) seems a little green paint-ish. NOTA (51A: "___ problem") is not a good answer. And I don't really get the singular/plural situation on ADMIN (34A: Ones in charge, for short).
Bullets:
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Relative difficulty: Medium (10:41 - the app says my average is 13-something, but it's probably right about 10-11)
THEME: Themeless
Word of the Day: SKIPJACKS (1A: Certain fish ... or sailboats) —
The skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) is a medium-sized perciform fish in the tuna family, Scombridae. It is otherwise known as the aku, arctic bonito, mushmouth, oceanic bonito, striped tuna, or victor fish.
The skipjack is a traditional fishing boat used on the Chesapeake Bay for oyster dredging. It is a sailboat which succeeded the bugeye as the chief oystering boat on the bay, and it remains in service due to laws restricting the use of powerboats in the Maryland state oyster fishery.
• • •
Hello there, puzzlers! Morgan here, filling in for Rex while he (and presumably every possible other guest blogger on the planet) is having a ball at Lollapuzzoola. I'm not good enough to join them just yet, but maybe one of these years... This is my second time filling in here, so by now I should have this down pat, right?This was a very well done Saturday puzzle with little bad to say about it. There's almost no bad fill, which is all the more remarkable because it's a pangram!
I started off pretty swiftly demolishing the NW (it helped to plunk down LAYSIEGETO with no crosses (16A: Beset, as a castle)). I'd just had a delicious omakase sushi dinner featuring SKIPJACKS last week (the fish, not the sailboats), so that one fell in quickly after our good friends ANG (6D: Lee with three Oscar-garnering films), JOE (5D: Regular guy), and CHESTER (7D: President between James and Grover).
From there I basically proceeded in order, knocking off the NE, then SW, then SE, and winding up in the middle. Along the way, I enjoyed AQUAZUMBA (11D: In-pool fitness program), which I wanted desperately to be AQUACISER or something like that. I also loved (nerd alert) AT ODDS crossing DATA MINERS (42D: Out of sync / 59A: Computer statisticians), because it obviously made me think of the courses I teach on logistic regression (however AT ODDS was right next to ATE AT (45D: Irked constantly), which is not great).
So, overall, this is very strong effort, with very little questionable fill. CITYPLAZA (23A: Urban open space) seems a little green paint-ish. NOTA (51A: "___ problem") is not a good answer. And I don't really get the singular/plural situation on ADMIN (34A: Ones in charge, for short).
Bullets:
- OH SANTA (40D: Mariah Carey holiday song that was a #1 Adult Contemporary hit) — As an AVOWed homosexual (58A: State as a matter of fact), I call shenanigans, because I have legitimately never heard of this song. That said, I'm a Jew, and while I've come around on virtually everything Christmas since marrying a WASP, I still hate Christmas music.
- MUDFACIAL (12D: Rejuvenating treatment at spa) — As I start my ninth year at USC and I no longer get confused for students, perhaps one of these will help me out?
- OCARINA (36A: Primitive wind instrument) — I honestly only know this word from playing Ocarina of Time on N64.
- ATTIC (38A: Story of past glories, maybe?)— I guess some people keep crap in their attics, which is better than using a Public Storage facility, but we just store cobwebs.
- TWO (54D: Derek Jeter's retired number)— By coincidence, two is also the highest place Derek ever finished in the MVP voting.
[Follow Morgan Polikoff on Twitter (but not if you don't like posts about education policy and liberal politics)]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]