Constructor: Ross Trudeau
Relative difficulty: Medium to Medium-Challenging (for a Tuesday) (3:46)
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THEME: FASHION POLICE (35A: Wearers of 17-, 24-, 50- and 59-Across)— ordinary phrases where the last word can be an article of clothing, clued as if they related to the sartorial habits of law enforcement:
Theme answers:
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Yeah, so, I actually thought this was an OK theme with an OK revealer. There's some inconsistency in the theme execution (someone in law enforcement might DUST or TRAIL or FOLLOW (uh, those are the same words, but whatever ...) but they probably wouldn't HOLDING—they would HOLD), but the revealer is snappy and ties the themers together in two ways: at the level of fashion and at the level of police. So it's a step way up from a simple "last words"-type of puzzle, where the last words all have something in common but, really, who cares? Weirdly, I think HOLDING TANK is the outlier for being the *most correct* of the bunch. The most parallel. Clues all start [Proper attire for verb-ING something], so the -ING in the clue is actually very appropriate-seeming. You could probably get a Sunday-sized puzzle out of this if you go to the -INGs and then add, you know, an ARRESTING phrase and maybe a GRILLING phrase, I dunno. Anyway, I thought this was fine, at least at the theme level.
The "?" nature of the themers and the highly segmented grid and some awkward / odd fill made this one play slightly tough for me. TRUE SELF and PAYABLES and EMERSION and especially THE (the!) NBA all required tons of crosses. Cluing THENBA as simply a [Sports org. ...], w/ absolutely no indication of what sport, when you've also gone and put the stupid definite article in there, is just weird and cruel. RARITAN is of local interest, I guess, because I don't know that at all. Or, rather, I know it as a ... literary journal? Is that right? Ah yes, a quarterly review from (geographically appropriately, I see) Rutgers. I sort of learned something!
Five things:
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Relative difficulty: Medium to Medium-Challenging (for a Tuesday) (3:46)
Theme answers:
- DUST JACKET (17A: Proper attire for taking fingerprints?)
- TRAIL BLAZER (24A: Proper attire for picking up a series of clues?)
- HOLDING TANK (50A: Proper attire for detaining a perp?)
- FOLLOW SUIT (59A: Proper attire for shadowing a suspect?)
The Raritan were bands of the Lenape people living around the Raritan Riverand its bay, in what is now northeastern New Jersey and Staten Island, New York. (wikipedia)
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The "?" nature of the themers and the highly segmented grid and some awkward / odd fill made this one play slightly tough for me. TRUE SELF and PAYABLES and EMERSION and especially THE (the!) NBA all required tons of crosses. Cluing THENBA as simply a [Sports org. ...], w/ absolutely no indication of what sport, when you've also gone and put the stupid definite article in there, is just weird and cruel. RARITAN is of local interest, I guess, because I don't know that at all. Or, rather, I know it as a ... literary journal? Is that right? Ah yes, a quarterly review from (geographically appropriately, I see) Rutgers. I sort of learned something!
Five things:
- 29A: Hicks and Judge of Major League Baseball (AARONS) — pretty long name to pluralize, but nice attempt at trying to legitimize it by making both the AARONS baseball players. I was lucky to know these guys, as well as the nearby baseball answer FUNGO (22A: Bat for hitting practice fly balls), as I was not able to slide smoothly from NW to NE via TRAILBLAZER and so needed to reboot completely in the NE. Baseball!
- 43D: Wino, e.g. (SOT) — laughing and sneering at alcoholics is one of my least favorite things the crossword regularly does. These are essentially slurs. Also, not great fill. I would avoid SOT if I could. You couldn't just made it YET. (Please don't tell me EEE is worse than EEO because that is manifestly untrue, as EEO is among the worst things a puzzle could ever have to offer)
- 51D: Put into categories (GROUP) — ugh, this clue. I had GR- and wrote in GRADE.
- 31D: 1D: Cousin of a pollock (COD) — I thought this clue word was a slur as well. But it's a fish. Gotta love COD x/w OREO. Enjoy your breakfast!
- 12D: Model Chrissy who wrote the best seller "Cravings" (TEIGEN) — glad they went with "who wrote the best seller..." as opposed to "married to John Legend," which she is, famously, but ... nice for women to stand on their own in crosswords (see also clues for AMAL Clooney). Actually, I think she may be more famous in her own right than he is (despite his EGOT). I'm surprised I haven't seen TEIGEN in a grid before.
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