Constructor: Jacob Stulberg
Relative difficulty: Challenging (by far my slowest Monday time since I've been recording them) (4:09)
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THEME: CHEESE / SPREAD (28A: With 45-Across, savory topping found in tubs ... and the circled squares?) — four-letter cheeses are S P R E A D out inside theme answers:
Theme answers:
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You wouldn't describe this as "Hard" but I don't know, man, it played like a tough Tuesday / easy-medium Wednesday for me. Something about the way the revealer is laid out AND cross-referenced, and then some of the proper nouns, and some of the potential traps you might fall into, made this not a normal Monday, difficulty-wise. Again, it's a minute of my day. A minute off of average. But a minute on Monday is F O R E V E R. I just finished a Manhattan, and I definitely get a little sloppy and slow when I've been drinking, but even so, I thought I was gonna come in somewhere in the mid-3s. But over 4??? I don't have a recorded *Tuesday* time that's over 4. I don't think the puzzle is difficult overall. Or maybe it is, but my particular downfall was a couple of mistakes, one understandable (and lethal) the other just a dumb misreading of the clue on my part. In the first case, I answered 5D: "Start working!" as GET TO IT! Oh, man, did that hurt. The wrong part went right through the first half of the revealer, so ... ouch. Also, I totally convinced myself that maybe TOSSES could work for 21A: Orders (around) (BOSSES) and PODS could work for 24A: Beginning blossoms (BUDS). The clue on COMFY was awkward-sounding to begin with (33A: Feeling good to wear, say), but throw in a wrong letter, and things ... well, they got ugly. And the second error was due to a too-quick reading of the clue at 37A: "Where there's ___, there's hope" (LIFE). I wrote in WILL, because clearly my brain thought "Where there's a WILL there's a way" was what was happening there. Where is this dumb unattributed quote from. Dum spiro, spero, I know—is that what this is? Footnote, please!
BIANCA Jagger is a "Human rights advocate"??? I didn't know she was ... I just haven't seen her name at all, in a million years, so that clue meant nothing to me. Honestly, I'm not sure I saw the clue. I think I filled her in entirely from crosses. I was lucky to know BURL IVES, though I'm not sure how easy that is for non-TCM fan solvers. I struggled through BILGE PUMP. I have a vague idea what it is, but it's a pretty technical term. It's weird to call AARP a [Grp. making after-work plans?] because ideally you've made "plans" before you are even eligible to *join* AARP. I mean, what is my IRA if not a "plan"? Or maybe the "plans" are just ordinary junk one might do. Non-financial. It's just that the phrasing of the clue implies that the planning is happening Before You've Stopped Work, in which case... probably not in AARP yet. See, when you get cute, I get picky. It's a tit for tat situation. I don't know what I thought of the theme. As someone who once made a cheese-themed puzzle himself, I guess I'm favorably inclined toward this one. I don't know. But CHEESE SPREAD ... I don't eat that (I couldn't even name a type or brand), so it's not on my radar, and "savory topping found in tubs" didn't help one iota. But honestly, I barely noticed the theme and (as you can see) had bigger problems to deal with.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Challenging (by far my slowest Monday time since I've been recording them) (4:09)
Theme answers:
- FREE TRADE (17A: Zero-tariff policy) (FETA)
- DEAD CALM (31A: Complete lack of wind, as at sea) (EDAM)
- BURL IVES (43A: "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" actor) (BRIE)
- BILGE PUMP (58A: Device to remove water from a ship) (BLEU)
SoBe (stylized as SoBe) is an American brand of teas, fruit-juice blends and enhanced water beverages owned by PepsiCo. The name SoBe is an abbreviation of South Beach, named after the upscale area located in Miami Beach, Florida. In the past, the SoBe name has also been licensed for gum and chocolate products. SoBe switched from glass bottles to plastic bottles for all of its beverages in 2010. (wikipedia)
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BIANCA Jagger is a "Human rights advocate"??? I didn't know she was ... I just haven't seen her name at all, in a million years, so that clue meant nothing to me. Honestly, I'm not sure I saw the clue. I think I filled her in entirely from crosses. I was lucky to know BURL IVES, though I'm not sure how easy that is for non-TCM fan solvers. I struggled through BILGE PUMP. I have a vague idea what it is, but it's a pretty technical term. It's weird to call AARP a [Grp. making after-work plans?] because ideally you've made "plans" before you are even eligible to *join* AARP. I mean, what is my IRA if not a "plan"? Or maybe the "plans" are just ordinary junk one might do. Non-financial. It's just that the phrasing of the clue implies that the planning is happening Before You've Stopped Work, in which case... probably not in AARP yet. See, when you get cute, I get picky. It's a tit for tat situation. I don't know what I thought of the theme. As someone who once made a cheese-themed puzzle himself, I guess I'm favorably inclined toward this one. I don't know. But CHEESE SPREAD ... I don't eat that (I couldn't even name a type or brand), so it's not on my radar, and "savory topping found in tubs" didn't help one iota. But honestly, I barely noticed the theme and (as you can see) had bigger problems to deal with.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]