Constructor: Brandon Koppy
Relative difficulty: Medium (3:58)
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THEME: FLIP-FLOPS (63A: Questionable political moves suggested by the answers to the nine starred clues) — phrases or compound words where the first part and last part are switched, forming a different (unclued) phrase or word ...
Theme answers:
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I think this drive to cram the grid with as many themers as possible is more common in younger / novice constructors, and I want to beg aspiring constructors to reconsider. Here we have a pretty decent concept, but the solving experience was rough and choppy and there's some fill here that never should've left the STA(tion). The fill problems could likely have been cleared up if the grid weren't just glutted with themers—a full complement, in both directions, often intersecting. I can tolerate your run-of-the-mill crosswordese like OTT and ITSY and ANYA and ESTO and PTAS and SRA and ASP and STA and OGEE and SOLI and OED and QEII and even the awkward plural ESQS, but KISLEV is way too obscure to appear in any grid, especially a Wednesday, and especially crossing DURST, whose name *I* remember well... but not everyone will (19A: Fred ___, lead vocalist for Limp Bizkit). And then there's SIEG (21A: Victory, in German). This is just a puzzle-killer. There is no way you can include that word in an American crossword puzzle and not evoke Nazis. It's the first word in the Nazi salute. That is the only context in which the Overwhelming majority of Americans know that word. You can wish it were otherwise, but it's not. So, if you don't want solvers think of Hitler while solving your puzzle (and you probably don't), never put SIEG in your puzzle. Or HEIL, for that matter.
I didn't think the revealer quite captured what was going on with the themers. I really, really wanted it to be a word that *also* flip-flopped, but FLOP FLIPS ... is not a thing, sadly. So the revealer was kind of a let-down. Not a let-down: some really fabulous current fill, like FORTNITE (!), APPLE PAY and ANTIFA, as well as some ultra-current cluing on POD (64D: "___ Save America" (popular downloadable political show)) ("downloadable," LOL, nice avoidance of "podcast"). This business about Mr. Peanut having a ... oh, fudge, I just realized my error. I was like, "Mr. Peanut has a monocle! Since when does he have a GLASS EYE!? How would we know!?" But of course that's a flip-flopped answer, so I guess he has an EYEGLASS (?). Is that another word for "monocle"? Yes. Yes it is. OK, I'm glad I cleared that up for myself. Safe travels if you're traveling. I'll see you back here on Thanksgiving Day.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium (3:58)
Theme answers:
- HEADBUTT (3D: *Half of a 1990s cartoon duo)
- TAKES OUT (36D: *Bloopers, typically)
- OVERPASS (25D: *Spring festival)
- GLASS EYE (22D: *Mr. Peanut accessory)
- HOUSE CAT (10D: (*Informal term for a brothel)
- HOME TOWN (40D: *Residence in a row)
- TRADE FAIR (17A: *Principle of international economic pacts)
- MAN CAVE (30A: *Neanderthal)
- PACK RAT (48A: *Noted Vegas entertainers of the 1960s)
Fortnite is an online video game first released in 2017 and developed by Epic Games. It is available as separate software packages having different game modes that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine. The game modes include Fortnite: Save the World, a cooperative shooter-survival game for up to four players to fight off zombie-like creatures and defend objects with fortifications they can build, and Fortnite Battle Royale, a free-to-play battle royale game where up to 100 players fight to be the last person standing. Both game modes were released in 2017 as early access titles; Save the World is available only for Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, while Battle Royale has been released for those platforms in addition for Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android devices.While both games have been successful for Epic Games, Fortnite Battle Royale became a resounding success, drawing in more than 125 million players in less than a year, and earning hundreds of millions of dollars per month, and since has been a cultural phenomenon. (wikipedia)
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I didn't think the revealer quite captured what was going on with the themers. I really, really wanted it to be a word that *also* flip-flopped, but FLOP FLIPS ... is not a thing, sadly. So the revealer was kind of a let-down. Not a let-down: some really fabulous current fill, like FORTNITE (!), APPLE PAY and ANTIFA, as well as some ultra-current cluing on POD (64D: "___ Save America" (popular downloadable political show)) ("downloadable," LOL, nice avoidance of "podcast"). This business about Mr. Peanut having a ... oh, fudge, I just realized my error. I was like, "Mr. Peanut has a monocle! Since when does he have a GLASS EYE!? How would we know!?" But of course that's a flip-flopped answer, so I guess he has an EYEGLASS (?). Is that another word for "monocle"? Yes. Yes it is. OK, I'm glad I cleared that up for myself. Safe travels if you're traveling. I'll see you back here on Thanksgiving Day.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]