Constructor: Samuel A. Donaldson and Doug Peterson
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (9:29)
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THEME:"Paper Work"— clues are familiar kinds of paper (all following pattern [___ paper?]), but the answers reimagine the meaning of the first word in the clue, creating ... well, not wacky answers; the answers are very normal things; they're just wacky in relation to the expectations of the original clue:
Theme answers:
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I just can't win with Sundays. This one is consistent enough, thematically, and the fill is mostly fine (no idea wtf KALB is, but otherwise, mostly fine). But it's a one-note gag, and in a Sunday, that means the one-note gag recurs and recurs and recurs. There's no feeling of "aha" or "good one!" Just "Oh ... yeah, that works. Sure." There's nothing funny or pleasing going on. And look at those themers. That really is a singularly dull set of themers. It's a list of things. Forgettable things. There's obviously a cleverness to the gimmick, so the wordplay, you know, works, but there just wasn't any delight here. I was getting through it to get through it. Incidental joy came from a few stray non-theme answers (SCHOOL TIE was interestingly weird, for instance), but mostly this felt like homework. Sundays are clearly the hardest puzzles to get right. A theme that might be OK over 15x15 just fizzles in a 21x21 format. It's like when an OK movie goes over 2 hours—no. OK is fine for 90 minutes, but once you hit 2 hours, your movie needs to be increasingly above-average for every minute that passes. You have to earn those minutes!
This felt easy except for the parts where I shot myself in the foot with typos or my failure to remember which Roman numeral is which (wrote in LVI for 78A: 506 in old Rome and ended up with ELWINA as the actress, which ... I mean, she could've been an ELWINA for all I know. I certainly don't know EDWINA either (71D: Actress Findley)). Had trouble with STRING ART because what the hell is that? And then there was the aforementioned bygone so-and-so named KALB. The hardest part was the final section, the SW, where BED ROLL was not ... is not ... a thing I really understand (95D: Portable place to sleep). That's just a roll-up-able mat type dealie? Like a thick yoga mat or something? COTS, I get (106D: Portable places to sleep). BED ROLL is more mysterious to me. Also down in that corner was the horrendous word TURTLER. Ugly and gruesome (121A: Terrapin catcher). Is the TURTLER the boat? The contraption that actually catches the turtles. I feel like turtles should be left alone. The only ones who should be turtling are turtles. "To turtle" should mean "to behave like a turtle," not "to murder turtles." It's also just a stupid-sounding word. You sound like an idiot saying it, let's be honest. I did like (love!) BELLYRUB, though. Answer and clue (113A: Doggy treat). My doggy certainly thinks it's a treat. Gonna go give her a BELLYRUB now, and look forward to a more joyful solving experience on Monday.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (9:29)
Theme answers:
- LOTTERY TICKET (23A: Scratch paper?)
- BUILDING PERMIT (36A: Construction paper?)
- BOARDING PASS (48A: Fly paper?)
- RECORD DEAL (67A: Wax paper?) (lol music is mostly streaming now but OK)
- SHEET MUSIC (70A: Note paper?)
- SEATING CHART (91A: Position paper?)
- COLLEGE DIPLOMA (100A: Wall paper?)
- BREAKFAST MENU (119A: Crepe paper?)
String art uses coloured string, wool or wire to create geometric patterns. The 'string' is normally held between nails hammered into a base board. Multiple straight lines of string can form shapes ranging from simple curves to more complex designs resembling flowers, sailing boats, etc. (stringartfun.com) (?)
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This felt easy except for the parts where I shot myself in the foot with typos or my failure to remember which Roman numeral is which (wrote in LVI for 78A: 506 in old Rome and ended up with ELWINA as the actress, which ... I mean, she could've been an ELWINA for all I know. I certainly don't know EDWINA either (71D: Actress Findley)). Had trouble with STRING ART because what the hell is that? And then there was the aforementioned bygone so-and-so named KALB. The hardest part was the final section, the SW, where BED ROLL was not ... is not ... a thing I really understand (95D: Portable place to sleep). That's just a roll-up-able mat type dealie? Like a thick yoga mat or something? COTS, I get (106D: Portable places to sleep). BED ROLL is more mysterious to me. Also down in that corner was the horrendous word TURTLER. Ugly and gruesome (121A: Terrapin catcher). Is the TURTLER the boat? The contraption that actually catches the turtles. I feel like turtles should be left alone. The only ones who should be turtling are turtles. "To turtle" should mean "to behave like a turtle," not "to murder turtles." It's also just a stupid-sounding word. You sound like an idiot saying it, let's be honest. I did like (love!) BELLYRUB, though. Answer and clue (113A: Doggy treat). My doggy certainly thinks it's a treat. Gonna go give her a BELLYRUB now, and look forward to a more joyful solving experience on Monday.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]