Constructor: Sophia Maymudes and Jeff Chen
Relative difficulty: Medium (10:50)
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THEME:"That's Another Story" — fiction titles clued as if they were biographies:
Theme answers:
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This theme is an arbitrary jumble of book titles. The end. Why "Willie Mays" for LORD OF THE FLIES? That could be [Biography of [any famous outfielder]?). And why aren't these just funnier, or at least more audacious? [Biography of Conan O'Brien?] => THE GINGER MAN. [Biography of Rip Van Winkle?] => THE BIG SLEEP. [Biography of the president?] => WHITE NOISE ... or HEART OF DARKNESS ... you've got options here. My point is you can do this with lots of book titles, and the examples in this puzzle aren't that funny. A FAREWELL TO ARMS is a groaner (literally a dad joke)—so tired that the biography subject (Venus de Milo) is obvious w/o even seeing the clue. Same with THE ONCE AND / FUTURE KING. King, Elvis, yup, not exactly surprise there. The clues are transparent, not trying hard enough. Plus the grid is choppy as heck so there's too much short stuff / not enough interesting stuff. Too segmented. Too many black squares. And then there's the obvious "word list" stuff like ICE CORES and SILENT E'S, stuff that no one would think of and that actually aren't that interesting.
I thought I was going to die in the SE corner. I had FUTURE and couldn't think of any title with that word in it (hilarious side note: I've taught Arthurian literature for two decades). But I could not get LUNGE or ELF or FREES or SAGES (??) or TINGE (thought maybe TINCT?), but worst of all was SHAKUR. I can't stop laughing at the idea of anyone's just referring to him as SHAKUR. In case you don't know, the person in question is legendary rapper TUPAC SHAKUR, whom (almost) literally everyone calls TUPAC (or just 'PAC). So I had SHA--- for 95D: Artist with seven posthumous platinum albums and just ... nothing. Ravi SHANKAR wouldn't fit. SHAKIRA also wouldn't fit, and is still alive (to the best of my knowledge). "The artist is ... SHAKUR." Nope, can't hear it. I had to exit that corner, get THE ONCE AND, then come back, put in KING, and even then it was dicey. Also, ELF is not not not not not not a [Giant's opposite]. What the hell? Are we talking size? Then it's dwarf. I mean, if we're staying in the realm of fantasy literature. Halfling, maybe, if we're going the D&D route. ELF??? Elves aren't (necessarily) small! Did no one see "Lord of the Rings"!? Which, by the way, was *absolutely* the thing I had in the grid before amending it to LORD OF THE FLIES. Further, SCARY is a pretty weak answer for [Lovecraftian], which suggests EERIE and unCANNY for more than mere SCARY. Here you go. Read up. Oh, I did very much like one thing about this puzzle, and here it is:
Congratulations to Jesse Lansner on winning the Finger Lakes Crossword Competition for the second year in a row. I had a great time there as judge and introductory speaker. It's a nice local charity tournament to benefit Tompkins County Learning Partners, an adult literacy organization. If you live anywhere near the central NY area, you should consider coming next year (roughly same time). OK, bye.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium (10:50)
Theme answers:
- GONE GIRL (31A: Biography of Amelia Earhart?)
- A GAME OF THRONES (4D: Biography of Thomas Crapper?)
- MARLEY AND ME (23A: Biography of Ebenezer Scrooge?)
- LIFE OF PI (34A: Biography of Archimedes?)
- OF MICE / AND MEN (43D: with 44-Down, biography of Walt Disney?)
- LORD OF THE FLIES (13D: Biography of Willie Mays?)
- A FAREWELL TO ARMS (110A: With 112-Across, biography of Elvis?)
- THE ONCE AND / FUTURE KING (112A: See 110-Across)
John Leonard Olson (May 22, 1910 – October 12, 1985) was an American radio personality and television announcer. Olson is perhaps best known for his work as an announcer for game shows, particularly the work he did for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. Olson was the longtime announcer for the original To Tell the Truth and What's My Line? early in his career and spent over a decade as the announcer for both Match Game and The Price Is Right, and he had been working on the latter series at the time of his death. (wikipedia)
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I thought I was going to die in the SE corner. I had FUTURE and couldn't think of any title with that word in it (hilarious side note: I've taught Arthurian literature for two decades). But I could not get LUNGE or ELF or FREES or SAGES (??) or TINGE (thought maybe TINCT?), but worst of all was SHAKUR. I can't stop laughing at the idea of anyone's just referring to him as SHAKUR. In case you don't know, the person in question is legendary rapper TUPAC SHAKUR, whom (almost) literally everyone calls TUPAC (or just 'PAC). So I had SHA--- for 95D: Artist with seven posthumous platinum albums and just ... nothing. Ravi SHANKAR wouldn't fit. SHAKIRA also wouldn't fit, and is still alive (to the best of my knowledge). "The artist is ... SHAKUR." Nope, can't hear it. I had to exit that corner, get THE ONCE AND, then come back, put in KING, and even then it was dicey. Also, ELF is not not not not not not a [Giant's opposite]. What the hell? Are we talking size? Then it's dwarf. I mean, if we're staying in the realm of fantasy literature. Halfling, maybe, if we're going the D&D route. ELF??? Elves aren't (necessarily) small! Did no one see "Lord of the Rings"!? Which, by the way, was *absolutely* the thing I had in the grid before amending it to LORD OF THE FLIES. Further, SCARY is a pretty weak answer for [Lovecraftian], which suggests EERIE and unCANNY for more than mere SCARY. Here you go. Read up. Oh, I did very much like one thing about this puzzle, and here it is:
[12D: Elvis Costello hit that starts "I've been on tenterhooks / Ending in dirty looks"]
Congratulations to Jesse Lansner on winning the Finger Lakes Crossword Competition for the second year in a row. I had a great time there as judge and introductory speaker. It's a nice local charity tournament to benefit Tompkins County Learning Partners, an adult literacy organization. If you live anywhere near the central NY area, you should consider coming next year (roughly same time). OK, bye.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]