Constructor: Andrew J. Ries
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (5:29)
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: Arpad ELO (4D: Arpad ___, eponymous creator of an international ratings system) —
A nice, pleasant, easyish Friday. Clean center stack—actually, all of the center of the puzzle is pretty good—with corner that are less interesting (because crammed with short stuff) but perfectly serviceable. I mark up my grid in ink after I've finished and printed it out, with the ink going primarily to stuff that was ugly and stuff that slowed me down (these aren't always the same things, but there is a lot of Venn diagram OVERLAP). Today, most of the ink is in and around the NE area, for two reasons. The first: two crossing proper nouns I've never heard of. Are you really trying to convice me that RON RICO is a "competitor" of Captain Morgan? Really? Does Captain Morgan even know RON RICO exists?
Bullets:
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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (5:29)
Word of the Day: Arpad ELO (4D: Arpad ___, eponymous creator of an international ratings system) —
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor.The Elo system was originally invented as an improved chess rating system over the previously used Harkness system, but is also used as a rating system for multiplayer competition in a number of video games, association football, American football, basketball, Major League Baseball, table tennis, Scrabble, board games such as Diplomacy and other games.The difference in the ratings between two players serves as a predictor of the outcome of a match. Two players with equal ratings who play against each other are expected to score an equal number of wins. A player whose rating is 100 points greater than their opponent's is expected to score 64%; if the difference is 200 points, then the expected score for the stronger player is 76%. (wikipedia)
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A nice, pleasant, easyish Friday. Clean center stack—actually, all of the center of the puzzle is pretty good—with corner that are less interesting (because crammed with short stuff) but perfectly serviceable. I mark up my grid in ink after I've finished and printed it out, with the ink going primarily to stuff that was ugly and stuff that slowed me down (these aren't always the same things, but there is a lot of Venn diagram OVERLAP). Today, most of the ink is in and around the NE area, for two reasons. The first: two crossing proper nouns I've never heard of. Are you really trying to convice me that RON RICO is a "competitor" of Captain Morgan? Really? Does Captain Morgan even know RON RICO exists?
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| [Captain Draper] |
Captain Morgan is an icon, while RON RICO works nights behind the bar at The Sandy Crack Crab Shack. Whatever rum I have in my house, it isn't RON RICO. Maybe RON RICO lives in ROSEDALE; he certainly crosses it. ROSEDALE is ... ugh (23D: Queens neighborhood with a floral name). I mean, a Queens neighborhood? All the love in the world to Queens, but that is not a known thing outside NYC (or maybe even inside parts of NYC, I don't know). Thank god the clue *knew* that ROSEDALE was an obscurity and threw that "floral" bit in there, otherwise, who knows, we might've had a RON NICO living in NOSEDALE situation (probably not, but it's fun to think about).
The other issue I have with the NE is BEDSORES. Honestly ... I'm totally fine with certain kinds of diseases and medical conditions, but BEDSORES is pushing it. The bigger problem with BEDSORES, however, is that you've decided to give it a cutesy clue? Why would you do that? "Hmm, a serious and painful condition ... how can we exploit this for wordplay value?" Jarring to have the puzzle try to get cute with something like BEDSORES. I had BEDSIDES for a bit. That was a pleasant 10 seconds.
Bullets:
- 5A: Trip ... or start a trip (SET OFF) — I had SET OUT, which only works for the second part of the clue, I realize
- 35A: It's pulled by students before graduation (SENIOR PRANK)— had SENIOR PR- and somehow decided the answer should be SENIOR PROMS
- 36D: Joint protector (KNEE CAP)— had KNEE PAD. Glad they didn't go with the mafia violence clue on this one
- 57A: Some subatomic particles (MESONS) — went with BOSONS, which are either also subatomic particles, or else those dudes who are in charge of a ship's deck
- 9D: Outdoor security system component (FLOOD LAMP) — neglected the "outdoor" part of this clue and went with FLOOR LAMP
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