Article 0

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Relative difficulty: Medium (Easy-ish for a Friday)


THEME: None

Word of the Day: TATAMI MAT (55A: Sight in many a Japanese restaurant) —

A tatami (畳) is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. Traditionally made using rice straw to form the core, the cores of contemporary tatami are sometimes composed of compressed wood chip boards or polystyrene foam. With a covering of woven soft rush (igusa 藺草) straw, tatami are made in standard sizes, with the length exactly twice the width, an aspect ratio of 2:1. Usually, on the long sides, they have edging (heri縁) of brocade or plain cloth, although some tatami have no edging. (wikipedia)

Hi ho! Keri Gagnon here filling in for Rex today and already checking "Muppet reference" off the list in my first line. I have to admit that I normally print the crossword out because I really enjoy hand-writing it in pen (we type everything these days!), but a photo of my printed out (and scribbled on) crossword seemed sad, so here we are.

Sometimes I love a good themeless puzzle because of the random long form answers the constructor is able to cram in there (hellooo STALINERA and EMPTYWORDS). This one I found pretty enjoyable, and with NATALE, NOEL, and ICEPALACE, we almost have a pseudo-winter/Christmas theme going on.


I'll admit I got good and stuck in the SW for a while ... I had BAA instead of MAA (56D: Goat's cry) because apparently I can't keep my ovine and caprine sounds straight. TEE I filled in easily (58D: One of 18 on a golf course) as well as CMAS, helping me get to ICEPALACE. But I can't say I've ever had PASTIS in my life and I had SCALIA instead of SOUTER (45D: Colleague of 23-Down for 15 years) so I floundered for a bit. With OCONNOR (23D: Retired justice who wrote "Out of Order: Stories from the History of the Supreme Court") as the linked clue I was loving the timely SCOTUS references because well, have you read/watched the news at all lately? I always appreciate when the NYTX feels current because so often it just... doesn't.

Well, that's it for me tonight -- thanks for joining me in one of my favorite corners of the interwebs. I'll leave you with some highlights of mine and a song that never gets old.

Bullets:

•  2D: Unwanted messages (HATEMAIL) — This one tripped me up for a bit because I kept reading it as ---EMAIL and could only think of SPAM. Once STUBS fell into place (also great cluing) it dawned on me the answer was mail of the snail variety.  
• 19A: Instagram filter shade (SEPIA) — The cluing on this one was clever because SEPIA isn't a filter name on Instagram but it is technically a shade of a filter. Show me a puzzle with INKWELL in it and then we're talking. And yes, I know I am showing my millennialism here and I'm sorry.  
• 32A: Fruits that ripen after being picked (AVOCADOS) — Despite the fact that living in California we put avocados on just about every thing here, this answer didn't immediately occur to me due to the lack of GUAC/GUACAMOLE reference. I liked it. And yes, I will take avocado on my puzzle, please. 
• 62A: Took courses under pressure (STRESSATE)— Oh, how I loved this one. Clever, modern, and who doesn't do this sometimes?!?

Signed, Keri Gagnon, Enthusiastic Citizen of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]