Constructor: Julie Bérubé
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME: ON/OFF — The words "on" and "off" are next to each other and rebuses in various answers. In the center, the words "on and off" are written out.
Theme answers:
Hello everyone, Rex is unavailable today, which means it’s time for a guest post! Megan and Tristan, competent co-solvers and soon-to-be college graduates, are back to annotate a great puzzle from Julie Bérubé.
Megan: Right off the bat, I had some fun clues. LOIS Lowry (26A: Children’s author Lowry) was one of my favorite authors when I was in junior high. The Giver is, of course, her seminal contribution to YA dystopic fiction, but all of her stuff is great. And I got Alan ALDA (fun cluing btw - 17A: Famous Alan whose last name shares three of the four letters of ALAN) right away from watching the West Wing last year, so then OLAF was a gimme (1D: Frozen character).
Tristan: Can’t forget about Number the Stars, another A-list young adult work from Lois Lowry and my personal favorite. The on/off idea is tried and tested, but this puzzle did a good job of keeping the concept lively, especially since some of the letters were spaced between words. Realizing PERSON OF FAITH (63A) and IMMIGRATION OFFICE (47A) had ON/OFF in them was a nice “aha” moment for me.
Megan: Yeah, we both figured something rebus-y was going on, but couldn’t really hack it for a while (having Dr. Frankenstein as the initial answer for 28A: Third in a horror series did not help). We got the ON/OFF deal once we got ONION (19D: Tearjerker?) and SCOFF (8A: Say “Yeah, right!,” say) and then figured it was SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, and then the rest kind of rolled along.
Bullets:
Signed, Megan and Tristan, Court Chroniclers of CrossWorld
[Follow Tristan's Twitter and Megan's Twitter]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- CARBON OFFSETS = (18A: Greenhouse gas mitigators)
- SON OF FRANKENSTEIN = (28A: Third in a horror series)
- ON AND OFF = (39A: Intermittently)
- IMMIGRATION OFFICE = (47A: Adminsterer of citizenship tests)
- PERSON OF FAITH = (63A: Churchgoer e.g.)
William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (/ˈkɑːrlɒf/), was an English actor who was primarily known for his roles in horror films. He portrayed Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). He also appeared as Imhotep in The Mummy (1932).
In non-horror roles, he is best known to modern audiences for narrating and as the voice of Grinch in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966). - Wikipedia
• • •
Megan: Right off the bat, I had some fun clues. LOIS Lowry (26A: Children’s author Lowry) was one of my favorite authors when I was in junior high. The Giver is, of course, her seminal contribution to YA dystopic fiction, but all of her stuff is great. And I got Alan ALDA (fun cluing btw - 17A: Famous Alan whose last name shares three of the four letters of ALAN) right away from watching the West Wing last year, so then OLAF was a gimme (1D: Frozen character).
Tristan: Can’t forget about Number the Stars, another A-list young adult work from Lois Lowry and my personal favorite. The on/off idea is tried and tested, but this puzzle did a good job of keeping the concept lively, especially since some of the letters were spaced between words. Realizing PERSON OF FAITH (63A) and IMMIGRATION OFFICE (47A) had ON/OFF in them was a nice “aha” moment for me.
Megan: Yeah, we both figured something rebus-y was going on, but couldn’t really hack it for a while (having Dr. Frankenstein as the initial answer for 28A: Third in a horror series did not help). We got the ON/OFF deal once we got ONION (19D: Tearjerker?) and SCOFF (8A: Say “Yeah, right!,” say) and then figured it was SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, and then the rest kind of rolled along.
Tristan:Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is great! I think it gets a little underrated in terms of quality because of the pop culture profileration of the monster, but the book is a must-read. However, I’m sure classic horror film buffs were happy to see BELA Lugosi (2D) and Boris KARLOFF (14D) make appearances.
Bullets:
- 34A:Where you might go for a spell? (BEE)— Fun clue! Tristan won his school spelling bee in middle school, whereas I only made it to my elementary school-wide spelling bee’s third round before getting out on “odyssey.” Still stings.
- 71A: Uptown, so to speak (TONY)— I can’t really parse this, but I’m sure a commenter can…. Does it have to do with the Tony Awards? If so, that would be topical, as the nominees were announced just yesterday (Wednesday).
- 23A: Contraction to start a sentence (TWAS)— Lots of contractions can start sentences, but this is a more fun way to clue TWAS than using the Christmas rhyme. I’ll take it!
- 4A: Pandora and others (APPS)— Who still uses Pandora?
- 43A: _____ Railway, backdrop of “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (BURMA) — So many movie references!
Signed, Megan and Tristan, Court Chroniclers of CrossWorld
[Follow Tristan's Twitter and Megan's Twitter]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]