Constructor: Hal Moore
Relative difficulty: Medium (10:30)
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THEME:"Mixed Feelings"— a Schrödinger puzzle where two different words inhabit the same square, one (LOVE) for the Across and another (HATE) for the Down. Revealer in the center of the puzzle is: LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIPS (63A: They involve mixed feelings ... or a hint to four squares in this completed puzzle)
Theme answers:
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Hey! This theme was interesting, and the grid was clean, so hurrah. There are lessons to be learned here. First, the theme is tight; the revealer is apt, and the execution of the theme is nicely done—sqauares are spread out but not (predictably) symmetrical, and the squares are surprising, and found inside interesting answers. Further, by having just four squares, i.e. by not trying to cram more theme squares in, the grid is allowed to b r e a t h e, and so the non-theme fill is largely smooth and lovely, as opposed to pinched and awful. HUNTER-GATHERER! THE FAR SIDE! CONDO FEE! IDIOT LIGHTS! And the shorter stuff stays, at a minimum, inoffensive. Sundays often skew toward tedium, with high volume of themers trying to make up for low concpetual value. Give me this puzzle over X puzzle with 10 dumb add- / subtract- / change-a-letter "joke" answers.
I moved through this one pretty quickly but the theme did not reveal itself for a long time. I had moved, in interlocking fashion, from the NW all the way to the SE before I figured out what was going on with the theme (picked it up at ROLLOVER IRA / WORDS TO THAT EFFECT). Unsurprisingly, all the sticky spots in this puzzle were located in and around the theme squares. I especially had trouble in the NW, which is where I started *and* ended. Thought a [No-goodnik] was a CAD. Don't know the Bond villain well or even the movie he's from (weird to omit that?) (it's "Goldfinger"), and MAO SUIT isn't the most familiar term to me, so even if the clue had been clearer, I might've struggled there. And then SNOW UNDER ... something feels slightly off or finagled or jury-rigged there, esp. as clued (22A: Overwhelm). It googles OK ... somehow I'm just having trouble hearing anyone's actually saying it. Sounds like a drunk person trying to say "it's no wonder..." And then you've got the LOVE/HATE square there, so yeah, the NW gave me minor fits. But only minor. My time was pretty dang normal.
Bullets:
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Relative difficulty: Medium (10:30)
Theme answers:
- SLOVENIA (26A: Neighbor of Hungary) / WHAT ELSE IS NEW? (23D: "Why am I not surprised?)
- BATTING GLOVES (37A: Pair of diamonds?) / CALIPHATE (12D: Islamic state)
- ROLLOVER IRA (83A: Option for moving an investment) / WORDS TO THAT EFFECT (45D: Basically what was said)
- FOUR-LEAF CLOVER (102A: Symbol of luck) / CHATEAU (98D: Fancy French home)
The Yat-Sen Suit, also called the Mao suit, Chinese tunic suit or Zhongshan suit, is a style of Chinese menswear associated in China with Sun Yat-sen (better known to mainland Chinese as "Sun Zhongshan"), although it is more commonly associated in the West with Mao Zedong.Sun Yat-sen introduced the style shortly after the founding of the Republic of China as a form of national dress with distinct political symbolism. Following the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, Mao and other leaders continued to wear the garment as a symbol of proletarian unity and as an Eastern counterpart to the business suit. It became less popular after the Opening Up of China under Deng Xiaoping but is still commonly worn by Chinese leaders during important state ceremonies and functions.In the 1960s and 1970s the Mao suit became fashionable among Western European, Australian, and New Zealander socialists and intellectuals. It was sometimes worn over a turtleneck. (wikipedia)
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I moved through this one pretty quickly but the theme did not reveal itself for a long time. I had moved, in interlocking fashion, from the NW all the way to the SE before I figured out what was going on with the theme (picked it up at ROLLOVER IRA / WORDS TO THAT EFFECT). Unsurprisingly, all the sticky spots in this puzzle were located in and around the theme squares. I especially had trouble in the NW, which is where I started *and* ended. Thought a [No-goodnik] was a CAD. Don't know the Bond villain well or even the movie he's from (weird to omit that?) (it's "Goldfinger"), and MAO SUIT isn't the most familiar term to me, so even if the clue had been clearer, I might've struggled there. And then SNOW UNDER ... something feels slightly off or finagled or jury-rigged there, esp. as clued (22A: Overwhelm). It googles OK ... somehow I'm just having trouble hearing anyone's actually saying it. Sounds like a drunk person trying to say "it's no wonder..." And then you've got the LOVE/HATE square there, so yeah, the NW gave me minor fits. But only minor. My time was pretty dang normal.
Bullets:
- 114A: Certain break point (AD OUT) — wow this one threw me. My brain was translating the clue as "breakING point," so tennis was not on my mind. (Although it's on my mind now—that Serena / Osaka final, damn and dear lord!). Oh, and CIO (104D: Certain tech exec) ... what is that? Chief ... Information Officer? Ah, yes. OK. CEO and CFO I know, other Os I'm iffier on.
- 81D: Bribes (PAYOFFS)— because of the ambiguity of the clue (verb or noun!?) I had PAYS OFF at first.
- 88D: Suffix with large numbers (-AIRE) — ok this is not good. I found a not-good thing. To its credit, the clue doesn't try to get cute. Just keeps it simple and literal so you can Move On (nothing to see here!)
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