ABC sitcom about Johnsons / SUN 4-14-19 / Flower traditionally used to relieve inflammation / Dahlia Agatha in Jeeves novels by PG Wodehouse / hook's helper / Ermines in summer

Constructor: Will Nediger

Relative difficulty: Easy (9:16)


THEME:"Left/Right Symmetry" — puzzle has L/R symmetry generally, but also the L's in the grid have mirror (i.e. L/R) symmetry with the R's; also, the Down answers in which they appear are identical but for that one letter:

Theme answers:

• MOLASSES / MORASSES
• GO TOPLESS / GO TO PRESS
• SPINDLY / SPIN DRY
• BLACKISH / BRACKISH
• INCLEMENT / INCREMENT

Word of the Day: KATANAS (73A: Samurai swords) —

Historically, katana (刀 or かたな) were one of the traditionally made Japanese swords (日本刀 nihontō) that were used by the samurai of ancient and feudal Japan.The katana is characterized by its distinctive appearance: a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. (wikipedia)

This played like a themeless because it was a themeless. The whole L/R trick never registered with me, and it's unlikely to register with anyone unless you're really struggling and stop to think about what those circled squares are doing. But since the puzzle is so (comparatively) easy, it's unlikely you're going to need to do that, so ... yeah. Who cares? There are no theme answers, really? I see how a lawyer might argue that the Downs with the L/R symmetry in them are theme answers, but they have nothing in common except that little letter tweak, and, again, who cares? It's an adequate themeless puzzle, but only adequate, and the choppy, highly segmented grid is kind of annoying and results in a lot of short fill (never great). And even in the longer answers (all of which are Downs), there's not much to write home about. CABOT COVE made me happy, as I am a huge "Murder, She Wrote" fan (16D: "Murder, She Wrote" setting), but that's hardly enough spark for a whole Sunday grid. So this was a fine way to pass some time, but not what a Sunday puzzle ought to be. Though, honestly, the Sunday puzzle is almost never what it ought to be. Just a fat lot of nothing, most weeks. Themed puzzles are hard to do well, and Sundays, being big, are Especially hard to do well. The NYT seems to have given up on "well" and adopted a "this'll do" or "at least it's unusual" policy.


I found this very easy, except for one section that stretched from SCUBA in the upper middle down to BENIGNI in the middle east. The clue on SCUBA is godawful (35D: Seaside rental). You'd rent SCUBA gear. "We rented SCUBA." Ugh, stop, no. Don't letter-of-the-law me here, it's a no. "Gear" or "equipment" or go home. So yeah, SCUBA was rough for me to get. Also PIN ON and PIN TO before PIN UP (47A: Affix with a thumbtack) (which, also, why would you give PIN-UP such a boring clue??). Really flummoxed by 52D: Part of a dark cloud (GNAT). No idea if ADIOS was gonna be right for 57D: "Ciao!" I though maybe ADIEU was possible. And then spelling BENIGNI proved very challenging. I had BENNINI or BENINNI. Blech. Also wrestled with KISSY-face and especially ARNICA, which I kind of know from, maybe, the alternative medicine aisle??? I feel like someone gave me someo ARNICA cream once for some kind of pain ... not sure. Anyway, ARNICA was hard. And the clue on "BLACK-ISH" was (like the PIN-UP clue) unnecessarily and unfortunately boring (86D: ABC sitcom about the Johnsons). Vague. "The Johnsons?? That doesn't really convey ... anything about that show. It's such a common name. Be More Interesting, You Stupid Puzzle!!! ME DAY is not a thing (5A: Time to treat yourself). It's ME TIME. That is the only ME-thing that is real. Unless Maine has ME DAY and I am unaware of it.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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