Broad Australian accent informally / SUN 4-21-19 / Boatercycle / 1958 #1 hit in foreign language / Let float as currency

Constructor: Grant Thackray

Relative difficulty: Medium (11:40)


THEME:"The Inside Story"— PICTURE-IN-PICTURE (70A: Small screen superimposed on a large screen ... or a hint to this puzles' shaded squares) [above, circled squares]—movie titles embedded in other movie titles, creating wacky phrases

Theme answers:

• THE LITTLE METER MAID (24A: Who has trouble reaching a windshield to place a ticket?) [1989, 1982]
• CRAYON TACT (17D: Good manners in kindergarten drawing?) [1997, 2004]
• MINI-CARSONS (42A: Talk show host Johnny's children?) [2015, 2006]
• BOTHERING RAT (52A: Traitor who gets on one's nerves?) [2006, 2002]
• PETITER PAN (77D: Smaller piece of cookware?) [1953, 2017]
• STARTED WARS (102A: Initiated global conflicts?) [1977, 2012]
• GETS CREAM OUT (95A: Prepares for guests who don't like their coffee black?) [2017, 1996]
• DOCTOR'S WALLET RANGE (123A: Selection of billfolds for medical professionals?) [2016, 2008]

Word of the Day: STRINE (120A: Broad Australian accent, informally) —

noun

1. 1. 

   the English language as spoken by Australians; the Australian accent, especially when considered striking or uneducated.

adjective

1. 1. 

   relating to Australians or Australian English.

   
   

   "he spoke with a broad Strine accent" (google)

The revealer should've been the title. Mostly because the title is terrible and inaccurate (there's also an "outside" story so wtf?), and also because the fill could use a little breathing room. One less theme answer might've let some air in, let some actually interesting non-theme answers in. I think this is an ingenious play on the phrase PICTURE-IN-PICTURE, though the results are a real mixed bags. Too often, the resulting wacky phrases are painfully contrived, so much so that they can't even be clued very plausibly. CRAYON TACT makes sense on no lever. The clue doesn't help, but honestly, there isn't a good clue, because the phrase is nonsense. BOTHERING RAT, also awkward. Clue turns "bothering" into an adjective ... which, again, awkward, as no one uses "bothering" that way—to mean, essentially, annoying. Then there's STARTED WARS, which is so ordinary a phrase that it undermines the whole premise. We were promised wacky! Seems like something close to cheating to use so many very short movie titles as the inserts. "IT"? Really? That's a novel, and it (!) is not much of an accomplishment, inserting that into a film to get a wacky phrase. Watch: "PULPIT FICTION." Nailed "It"! Check please!?


Further: "IT" is a novel. I know, it was made into a movie. But if you put, say, "EMMA" in this puzzle, while you'd technically be correct (there are movie versions of the Austen novel), "EMMA" is really best known as a novel. See also "Doctor Strange," who is a comic book character. His self-titled movie ... man, who can keep track of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). I've seen every MCU movie thru "Black Panther" and I couldn't tell you a damn thing about "Doctor Strange," because he's not popular and no one cares. Hey, did you know there *is* a movie called "Doctor Strange ... love?" It's true! Really wish that could've been the movie involved here. Biggest theme no-no is having a stray "shaded square" (i.e. circled square in my grid) from a Down themer appear in the middle of an Across themer. Keep your shaded squares discrete. Only shaded squares in a themer should be ones involving the movie title. Stray shaded squares = sloppy. Also, re: "PETITER PAN"?—"Petiter"??? Use words that people actually use! Sounds like you don't know how to say "potato."


SAWS LOGS is no good because it's practically adjacent to RIPSAW. That's a SAW too far. I think the WET dupe might actually be worse, though, as WET WIPE (47A: Moist towelette) and WET ONE (133A: Slobbery kiss) are actually The Same Thing (though I see how you've tried to clue WET ONE as a kiss ... nice try):

SLOP. I struggled in two places. First, I had Beetle Bailey as a SGT (6D), so for the second day in a row, wrong answers cost me dearly. Since PBANDJ had a very tough clue (I guess it's "packed with juice" in a child's lunchbox?), and "boatercycle" is a stupid term I've never heard, and I thought the father on "black-ish" was maybe ABE (??), and I kept wanting to change BOLT DOWN to WOLF DOWN (7D: Eat quickly), that section was a nightmare. But it all started with SGT. The other tough part was STRINE. That is a word known only to Australians. My Kiwi wife hadn't even heard of it, though god bless her for saying it out loud, because until she did, I actually had no idea how to pronounce it or how it might signify a "broad Australian" accent. If you say STRINE (rhymes with "line"), then I believe you are modeling how someone with said broad Australian accent would, in fact, say the word "Australian." Anyway, this is the most obscure thing I've ever seen in the puzzle. This is someone trying very very hard to be oh-so-clever and get a "new" word into the grid, reasonableness be damned. Annoying.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. "I DIG" does not mean "sounds good!" At all. No. It means, "I understand."

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