Hi, all!
Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day and will enjoy this short week! I've officially started my law clerk summer job, and so far my only complaint is that I have to deal with rush hour times on the Metro in DC. Ugh!
Anyway, on to the puzzle!
Constructor: Aimee Lucido
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: BUTT HEADS(64A: Disagree... or a hint to the starts of 17-, 26-, 40- and 49-Across) —Four answers all begin with some synonym for the word "butt."
Theme answers:
“Della Street is the fictional secretary of Perry Mason in the long-running series of novels, short stories, films, and radio and television programs featuring the fictional defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner” (Wikipedia)
So that was a pretty weird-ass puzzle, wasn't it? And, to that effect, what a weird "ass" puzzle. Ha ha. Get it? I thought the theme was fun and surprising, albeit kind of weird. It was certainly different and unexpected. I definitely chuckled when I figured out what the theme was. At first, I thought the puzzle might lead to something with an acting theme, with REAR WINDOW and BEHIND THE SCENES, but that never went anywhere. (Side note: Anyone who hasn't seen "Rear Window" before should go see it ASAP — it's Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly at their absolute best.) It turns out the puzzle was getting a little saucy with a theme of BUTTHEADS, along with DAMNRIGHT (3D: "Hell, yeah!"), which I initially had as "darnright." We usually don't see any curse words in the puzzle.
Overall, I liked the construction. It didn't feel super heavy, and, though I got a bit stumped in some places, the puzzle never felt like a slog. The theme answer all the way across worked well in the middle of the grid and provided some support for those clues I was struggling with.
I did get stuck in the southwest with BEADS (49D: Alternative to a door between rooms) crossing DELLA. I mean, I've seen beads in doorways before, but they're really a '70s thing, and it never crossed my mind that that was what the puzzle was referring to. Especially because I had no idea who DELLA Street was (a character who, while famous in her time, was in a show that went off the air in 1966). So, I lost a lot of time trying to puzzle that crossing out.
In general, the fill was clean — if you don't mind the usual ETTE, ELL, NEO, SSN, ERE, EAU, ARAL, and SPA. I'm against seeing RAE (15A: Singer Carly __ Jepsen) in puzzles now because I feel like I've seen her on overload recently — the Times could learn a couple more current singers. Or something. But I do like her music, so it's nothing personal!
Overall, there were some fun words and themers. I particularly liked BUMAROUND. And, seeing DUNGEON (21A: Basement of a castle, perhaps) in the puzzle was kind of fun (mostly becaue it's medieval, and that just appeals to me). I'm not sure, though, about INTERFACE at 37D: Communicate (with). I at first thought it was kind of cool and just a different word, but I now wish it had been clued differently because, as I've learned from my grammar freak Dad, INTERFACE is actually a noun, not a verb.
Misc:
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Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day and will enjoy this short week! I've officially started my law clerk summer job, and so far my only complaint is that I have to deal with rush hour times on the Metro in DC. Ugh!
Anyway, on to the puzzle!
Constructor: Aimee Lucido
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- BUM AROUND (17A: Wander locally with no plans)
- REAR WINDOW (26A: Hitchcock movie with James Stewart and Grace Kelly)
- BEHIND THE SCENES (40A: Backstage)
- BOTTOM LINE (49A: Final amount)
“Della Street is the fictional secretary of Perry Mason in the long-running series of novels, short stories, films, and radio and television programs featuring the fictional defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner” (Wikipedia)
• • •
So that was a pretty weird-ass puzzle, wasn't it? And, to that effect, what a weird "ass" puzzle. Ha ha. Get it? I thought the theme was fun and surprising, albeit kind of weird. It was certainly different and unexpected. I definitely chuckled when I figured out what the theme was. At first, I thought the puzzle might lead to something with an acting theme, with REAR WINDOW and BEHIND THE SCENES, but that never went anywhere. (Side note: Anyone who hasn't seen "Rear Window" before should go see it ASAP — it's Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly at their absolute best.) It turns out the puzzle was getting a little saucy with a theme of BUTTHEADS, along with DAMNRIGHT (3D: "Hell, yeah!"), which I initially had as "darnright." We usually don't see any curse words in the puzzle.
Overall, I liked the construction. It didn't feel super heavy, and, though I got a bit stumped in some places, the puzzle never felt like a slog. The theme answer all the way across worked well in the middle of the grid and provided some support for those clues I was struggling with.
I did get stuck in the southwest with BEADS (49D: Alternative to a door between rooms) crossing DELLA. I mean, I've seen beads in doorways before, but they're really a '70s thing, and it never crossed my mind that that was what the puzzle was referring to. Especially because I had no idea who DELLA Street was (a character who, while famous in her time, was in a show that went off the air in 1966). So, I lost a lot of time trying to puzzle that crossing out.
In general, the fill was clean — if you don't mind the usual ETTE, ELL, NEO, SSN, ERE, EAU, ARAL, and SPA. I'm against seeing RAE (15A: Singer Carly __ Jepsen) in puzzles now because I feel like I've seen her on overload recently — the Times could learn a couple more current singers. Or something. But I do like her music, so it's nothing personal!
Overall, there were some fun words and themers. I particularly liked BUMAROUND. And, seeing DUNGEON (21A: Basement of a castle, perhaps) in the puzzle was kind of fun (mostly becaue it's medieval, and that just appeals to me). I'm not sure, though, about INTERFACE at 37D: Communicate (with). I at first thought it was kind of cool and just a different word, but I now wish it had been clued differently because, as I've learned from my grammar freak Dad, INTERFACE is actually a noun, not a verb.
Misc:
- I liked the clue for LIBRA (52D: Cooperative, balanced type, they say) because I definitely wasn't originally thinking about Zodiac signs, so I found it amusing when I worked it out. I don't put much stock in Zodiac, though, because I'm a Cancer, and Cancers are supposed to be super emotional, and I'm just... not!
- I grew up singing the song "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" by Shania TWAIN (9D), so it's fun to see it in the puzzle — though it must've been something to see a 10-year-old singing a song about being a woman. (As I'm writing this, the song is playing in the Bruins-Blues hockey game. Maybe Boston's good taste in music is the reason the Bruins won the game.)
- I could eat NUTELLA (27D: Chocolatey spread) by the spoonful. I will again say that NUTELLA is the best thing to put on crepes.
- I found the clue for 68A as UNCLE cute because I love the royal family and, like most girls, once dreamed of being a princess. I do feel bad for Prince Louis, who apparently, didn't rate for this puzzle.
- Loved the clue/answer for 67A: Basket part grabbed after slam-dunking as RIM. You didn't think I could finish a write-up at this time of year without talking about my Warriors, did you? I can't wait to see some epic dunks from the Warriors where they grab the RIM— I'm just glad we don't have to face Giannis, who might've been the one doing the dunking against the Dubs. (Anywho, go, Warriors!!)
- Jesse OWENS (22D) is one of the greatest American athletes of all time and a huge inspiration to me.
- I only know HEATH (16A) bars because it's a candy I got at Halloween each year that I'd always threw away.
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