Early Indus Valley inhabitant / MON 8-27-18 / Leveling wedge

Constructor: Susan Gelfand

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (2:58)

THEME: two first names of people in same profession make complete name of someone else in the same profession... —

Theme answers:

• KIRK DOUGLAS (21A: Actor Cameron + actor Fairbanks = actor ___)
• STEVE MARTIN (31A: Comedian Carell + comedian Short = comedian ___)
• JAMES TAYLOR (40A: Singer Brown + singer Swift = singer ___)
• BILL RUSSELL (50A: Basketball player Walton + basketball player Westbrook = basket ball player ___)

Word of the Day: MONOSKI (9D: Relative of a snowboard) —

A monoski is a single wide ski used for skiing on snow. The same boots, bindings, and poles are used as in alpine skiing. Unlike in snowboarding, both feet face forward, rather than sideways to the direction of travel. Similar equipment includes the skwal and the teleboard, with feet in tandem formation (one ahead of the other). (wikipedia)

Quick write-up tonight. It's a mildly weird concept we've got here. Not a lot holding it together, but which I mean ... the professions represented are totally arbitrary. Also, taking the first name from another person's first name does not strike me as that interesting. You're really just looking for someone whose last name can be a first name. Is this hard? I'm not gonna try, but it seems like you shouldn't have too much trouble coming up with names that fit the bill for, say, authors, or, I don't know actresses (speaking of, this puzzle is Kind of a sausagefest—I guess Taylor Swift is in there as one of the clue names, but all the themers are dudes, and all the other clue names are dudes). Author Miller + author Baldwin = author HENRY JAMES. That took zero time. The theme just feels a little lackluster, is all. Also, the idea that Kirk Cameron (of "Growing Pains" and literally no other fame) is in this puzzle with all these legitimately famous, even legendary people ... doesn't feel right. Fill-wise, it's fine. Mostly clean. I don't get why anyone puts ARYAN in their puzzle when they don't have to (it's a Monday, the grid is not demanding, no need to put in a word that evokes Nazism—don't believe me, just google). Not keen on the idea of "ogling" a HUNK either. I get that you're trying to do a little table-turning here, but [Object of an ogler] is always a gross clue. Why introduce "ogling" into the equation at all? We get LEER and OGLE plenty enough as it is.


I floundered a lot on this one but still ended up under 3, which tells me it must've been pretty easy. As usual, I screwed up right away, in the NW, but putting in LOUT for LUNK (2D: Blockhead) and then REP (!?) for RTE (4D: Traveling salesperson's assignment: Abbr.). So much typing and untyping and retyping. Ugh. Once out of there, things got much easier. Botched the HUNK clue, and first wrote in POKES (?) for PRIES (29D: Gets nosy), but no problems otherwise until the very end, when I tried to get cute and guess the first name based only on RUSSELL. I guessed KURT. Wah WAH. This meant that I considered BITTEN (???) for 44D: Swindled (BILKED) and just generally lost precious seconds on the clock. Oh well. In the end, a pretty average experience on all fronts.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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