Constructor: Amanda Chung, Karl Ni and Erik Agard
Relative difficulty: Easy (4:18, which would be more an Easy-Medium time, but the puzzle is oversized, so ... Easy)
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THEME: TEAM-BUILDING (38A: Goal for six answers in this puzzle?)— NFL teams are clued in two parts, like an equation, [X + Y], where X and Y are both real words (or names):
Theme answers:
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The core gimmick here seems pretty solid to me. I just thought the revealer was a dud. It's a kind of weak, corporate-esque term to begin with, and then the whole equation-like cluing didn't really suggest "building" to me, and finally they are all NFL teams but there is absolutely nothing NFL-y about the revealer. Coulda been any teams from any sport (side note: slightly) weird that there is significant baseball *and* hockey content in this puzzle as well). The long Downs are really something, and the grid as a whole is very nice, but ... I just wasn't feeling the revealer or the "+" cluing. Seems like it would've been more fun / interesting to clue themers with "?" clues; like, just clue BRO NCOS, just clue G.I. ANTS. I don't know what your revealer would be in that case, but certainly solving the themers would've been more entertaining.
I was surprised at how quickly I finished this one given that it contains two answers I've never heard of, and they're *crossing*. UBUNTU is super-duper new to me. Like ... just a bunch of letters. And LUNISOLAR is new to me as well, though there I could use some rudimentary knowledge of Latin roots to piece it together. What word would that even modify? Weird. I also nearly tanked BATHOS because I had PATHOS at first (58A: Sentimentality). I think of BATHOS as anti-climax. Is that wrong? [Checks] Nope, it is not:
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Relative difficulty: Easy (4:18, which would be more an Easy-Medium time, but the puzzle is oversized, so ... Easy)
Theme answers:
- TITANS (9A: "Whatever You Like" rapper + Gets some color at the beach) (the rapper is T.I.)
- BRONCOS (24A: Frat dude + Cpls. and sgts.)
- DOLPHINS (26A: Actor Lundgren + Elected officials)
- PATRIOTS (50A: Butter square + Hilarious people)
- BENGALS (52A: London's Big ___ + Ladies)
- GIANTS (66A: U.S. soldier + Little scurriers)
noun
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I was surprised at how quickly I finished this one given that it contains two answers I've never heard of, and they're *crossing*. UBUNTU is super-duper new to me. Like ... just a bunch of letters. And LUNISOLAR is new to me as well, though there I could use some rudimentary knowledge of Latin roots to piece it together. What word would that even modify? Weird. I also nearly tanked BATHOS because I had PATHOS at first (58A: Sentimentality). I think of BATHOS as anti-climax. Is that wrong? [Checks] Nope, it is not:
noun(especially in a work of literature) an effect of anticlimax created by an unintentional lapse in mood from the sublime to the trivial or ridiculous. (google)Huh. Odd. I'm sure [Sentimentality] is in some dictionary, somewhere, but it's not what I would call a Great clue. No other problems except writing in EXTRA INNING instead of TENTH INNING (11D: Bonus in baseball). Oh, and I forgot that JACOB was a "Twilight" thing just as I have largely forgotten "Twilight" was a thing. Weird how that very popular book / movie series just ... disappeared from cultural relevance. Harry Potter, on the other hand, promises never to fade from memory, which is fine with me. Interesting NFL-related clue on KNEEL (37A: Take a stand by not standing), especially considering Nike *just* made Colin Kaepernick the face of their new marketing campaign. Is a DSL MODEM still a thing? Whatever, it looks pretty cool in the grid.
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