Battler of Hector in Iliad / WED 10-31-18 / CIA infiltrator during Cold War / Groups that typically meet weekly for lunch / Image on ancient mariner's map

Constructor: Bruce Haight

Relative difficulty: Easy to Easy-Medium (3:44)


THEME: CRYPT (67A: Resting place hinted at by 28-, 5-, 45-, 9- and 31-Across)— circled squares in themers are homophones of letters that, together, spell CRYPT, i.e. SEA (C), ARE (R), WHY (Y), PEA (P), TEA (T)

Theme answers:

• SEA SERPENT (28D: Image on an ancient mariner's map)
• ARE WE GOOD? (5D: "Do you still like me?")
• WHY ME? (45D: "What did I do to deserve this?")
• PEA GRAVEL (9D: Walkway option in lieu of paving)
• TEA BISCUIT (13D: Serving at a 4:00 social)

Word of the Day: PEA GRAVEL (9D) —

gravel that consists of small, rounded stones used in concrete surfaces. Also used for walkways, driveways and as a substrate in home aquariums. (wikipedia)

Here's a good example of trying to do too much. What might have been a reasonable Halloween-type thing goes all to hell with the mixed-message Jesus stuff. Is the cross supposed to be just ... a gravestone? A tombstone? Is this a graveyard? Why is it Christian? If I'm not supposed to take it as Christian, then why is is ARAMAIC dead center, right above THEME and CRYPT, and why is "WHY ME?" there, when that's basically just a condensed version of Jesus's words on the cross: "My God, My God, WHY hast thou forsaken ME?" OK, that last one is piling on, but seriously, though, I finished and didn't know what the theme was supposed to evoke, and I *sincerely* thought it had something to do with Jesus. The black-square cross + ARAMAIC sealed the deal. Now Jesus was buried in a tomb, not a CRYPT, per se, but still. The theme evokes Christ far more than it evokes, I don't know, spooky Halloween situation? Also, what is BURY doing there, all coy, like "am I part of the THEME, or am I not, who can say?" (63A: Place underground) You gotta exert better control over your theme material. You want the meaning, the desired effect, to Land. This thing has a cute concept at its core (though I've seen stuff "buried" in grids before, sometimes actually beneath (i.e. off-) grid), but I think the Christ imagery is muddying things. Also, the clue on THEME is bad (62A: Discovering the word at 67-Across, for this puzzle). My "discovering" the CRYPT is the THEME? That's awkward. The CRYPT is the theme. My "discovering" it is neither here nor there. Phrasing!


Five things:

• 1A: ___ rug (SHAG)— Me: "CUT A!"
• 27D: Worker in a trauma ward, for short (ER DOC) — sounds more like [Hesitant comment preceding a sensitive question for one's physician]
• 54D: ___ John (PAPA) — f*** this right-wing pizza guy. Terrible clue. Also, the franchise is "John's," not John. But either way, hell no. 
• 12D: Truckload at a garbage dump (FILL) — probably not the way I'd clue FILL if I were constructing a puzzle, but ... OK. (note: there was a lot of non-garbage FILL today, particularly "ARE WE GOOD?" and KGB MOLE)
• 30A: Not self-parked (VALETED) — it's a ... what? What part of speech is this? Use it in a sentence. A non-contrived, normal human sentence. "I had my car VALETED?" Doesn't swap out with the clue very well. "Self-parked" is very strange, since it can suggest both that the driver parked it him/herself, or that the car parked itself. Self-parking cars exist, or so dumb car ads tell me. Anyway, VALETED looks and is weird.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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