Constructor: Olivia Mitra Framke
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (9:50)
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THEME:"To The Point"— a puzzle about THE US OPEN Tennis Championship (59A: Annual sporting event that is this puzzle's theme)
Theme answers:
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Mixed (doubles?) feelings about this one. On the one hand, it's just a bunch of US Open / tennis answers. Nothing particularly ... special about the content. On the other hand, I mostly really liked the fill, which is saying something, given that there are a lot of throwaway 3-letter answers (never very sexy). EXEMPLAR SHOEHORN DERBYWINNER CALLMELATER, all good. And there are intersecting themers, which is always a tough thing to pull off. And hey, there's sort of a picture there, with the four squares that spell out BALL and then the racquet, which I didn't even see until I was finished, but ... [squints at puzzle] ... yeah, that's definitely a racquet. Or "racket." Frankly, neither spelling feels right, but I think that's all the spellings there are so. Take your choice. I had a horrible time getting started (which appears to be recurring theme in my solving life of late), but eventually I took off—after the whole opening NW / N debacle (about which, more below), the only places that slowed me down at all were the far east (ENJOY instead of EAT UP hurt (53D: Relish), and I couldn't get STONY no matter what I did (54D: Rugged, as a landscape)) and the SW (long Downs were rough ... but I very luckily guessed All the short Acrosses correctly on the first try). Started at DITZY (sorry, I mean WOOZY) and ended at SHUSH.
It's so bizarre that I threw down DITZY at 1A: Lightheaded and then confirmed the "Y" *and the "Z"*, which made me pretty damn certain DITZY was right. So when confronted with 3D: Low soccer score with "T" in the first position, I blithely and semi-confidently wrote in TWOONE. I mean ... it's *pretty* low. But things not surprisingly fell apart from there. I got back on the horse in reasonable time, only to fall right back off in the north, where I had either nothing or SORRY for 6D: "Alas ..." (SADLY) and then MARS for 7D: One of a well-known septet (ENVY) (how many planets are there again...?) and then woo hoo a gimme with LEN Cariou but then two big whiffs with ESC (instead of ALT) (10D: Computer key) and DRAB (instead of BLAH) (11D: Utterly uninspiring). This left the north a complete wreck. I kind of tripped my way down the west coast, and ended up finding my way into the racket center, which was very easy, and then whoosh, I flew out of there in all directions, the whole bottom of the grid was a blur. I had to go back eventually and pick up the north (the NE I managed to figure out w/ little trouble). Then it was back for my last stand in the SE, where the main problem was parsing THRIVE ON (81D: Do well with). I just couldn't figure out the context for the clue, so I kept wanting ARRIVE ON (which is a phrase, but one that alas, SADLY, has nothing to do with the clue). And that's it. I had more fun than I normally have on Sunday, that much I can say with confidence.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (9:50)
Theme answers:
- ADVANTAGE (23A: Follower of deuce) (it's always AD IN. or AD OUT, never just ADVANTAGE, so ...)
- LONG RALLY (25A: Lot of back and forth?)
- HARDCOURT (27A: Alternative to grass)
- BACKHAND SHOT (43D: One way to answer a server?)
- GAME SET MATCH (46D: Winning words)
- ARTHUR ASHE (94A: Stadium name new Citi Field)
- GRANDSTAND (96A: Spectators' area)
- QUEENS, NEW YORK (109A: Location of 59-Across)
Emerson College is a private college in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," the college offers more than three dozen degree programs in the area of Arts and Communication and is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Located in Boston's Washington Street Theatre District on the edge of the Boston Common, the school also maintains buildings in Los Angeles and the town of Well, The Netherlands. (wikipedia)
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[98A: James ___, Belgian painter in the movement Les XX]
It's so bizarre that I threw down DITZY at 1A: Lightheaded and then confirmed the "Y" *and the "Z"*, which made me pretty damn certain DITZY was right. So when confronted with 3D: Low soccer score with "T" in the first position, I blithely and semi-confidently wrote in TWOONE. I mean ... it's *pretty* low. But things not surprisingly fell apart from there. I got back on the horse in reasonable time, only to fall right back off in the north, where I had either nothing or SORRY for 6D: "Alas ..." (SADLY) and then MARS for 7D: One of a well-known septet (ENVY) (how many planets are there again...?) and then woo hoo a gimme with LEN Cariou but then two big whiffs with ESC (instead of ALT) (10D: Computer key) and DRAB (instead of BLAH) (11D: Utterly uninspiring). This left the north a complete wreck. I kind of tripped my way down the west coast, and ended up finding my way into the racket center, which was very easy, and then whoosh, I flew out of there in all directions, the whole bottom of the grid was a blur. I had to go back eventually and pick up the north (the NE I managed to figure out w/ little trouble). Then it was back for my last stand in the SE, where the main problem was parsing THRIVE ON (81D: Do well with). I just couldn't figure out the context for the clue, so I kept wanting ARRIVE ON (which is a phrase, but one that alas, SADLY, has nothing to do with the clue). And that's it. I had more fun than I normally have on Sunday, that much I can say with confidence.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]