Constructor: Ruth Bloomfield Margolin
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
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THEME: NO NO — Themers become common sayings when the word "NO" is added in front
Theme answers:
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Happy December, CrossWorld! Matthew the radio nerd back in for Rex today. This puzzle felt all over the place for me (hence the slower-than-average time), and I'll start with a bit of good. For starters, I think the theme works pretty nicely, even as the second Thursday in a row to break the "three-words-or-longer-only" rule. I ~love~ the bottom two themers, especiallyMAN IS AN ISLAND— I really can't explain why I found it so funny. TWO WAYS ABOUT IT is nice, too. Which brings us to ... the middle of the grid ... where it feels like everything is — somewhat flippantly — about pain and suffering?
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Bullets:
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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: NO NO — Themers become common sayings when the word "NO" is added in front
Theme answers:
- (NO) TWO WAYS ABOUT IT (20A: Choice of routes?)
- (NO) SKIN OFF MY BACK (24A: Result of some sunburn I had?)
- (NO) MAN IS AN ISLAND (44A: Declaration concerning British geography?)
- (NO) LAUGHING MATTER (51A: Nitrous oxide?)
... snowveralls?
• • •
Happy December, CrossWorld! Matthew the radio nerd back in for Rex today. This puzzle felt all over the place for me (hence the slower-than-average time), and I'll start with a bit of good. For starters, I think the theme works pretty nicely, even as the second Thursday in a row to break the "three-words-or-longer-only" rule. I ~love~ the bottom two themers, especiallyMAN IS AN ISLAND— I really can't explain why I found it so funny. TWO WAYS ABOUT IT is nice, too. Which brings us to ... the middle of the grid ... where it feels like everything is — somewhat flippantly — about pain and suffering?
You have SKIN OFF MY BACK (which I have never heard before) crossing the rosily-clued FLAYS (was expecting something more Ramsay Bolton-esque here) crossing the somewhat-aloofly-clued MYANMAR (see also: Myanmar) crossing the painfully-ignorantly-clued YEMEN (see also: Yemen) ... but hey, at least there's the ever-ugly YSER ever-more-ugly Comic SANS to cheer you up!
This whole stretch left a really sour taste in my mouth. While I do believe that crosswords can and shouldserve as a leisurely escape from the drudgery of our lives, I also believe that puzzlers have the obligation to educate when the situation presents itself. Cluing MYANMAR — the country that has denied citizenship to Rohingya and persecuted Rohingya to egregious extremes for over 30 years — as "Home to the Rohingya" feels a bit disingenuous. And cluing YEMEN as anything other than a reference to what's going on in 2018 feels wrong as well.
As an aspiring constructor, I sincerely admire the amount of work that goes into these puzzles. But this felt like it could have been better. Happy holidays, y'all.
- PARTAKE (11D: Not teetotal, say) — Let's please get teetotal as a crossword answer!
- RACEDAY (43D: Time for a mint julep in Louisville) — One of my former roommates is a Louisville native, and I couldn't be more excited to visit and check the Kentucky Derby off my sports bucket list someday.
- LARGEST (41D: Like the outer matryoshka doll) — Gold star for this clue for making a very commonplace word into an interesting piece of a puzzle.
- SKI BIB (9D: Certain attire when hitting the slopes) — I'm from Texas ... this is a thing?!
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