Nickname in early jazz piano / FRI 6-7-19 / Early Nahuatl speaker / Outline in Arby's logo

Constructor: Michael Hawkins

Relative difficulty: Medium (5:51)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Earl "FATHA" Hines (5A: Nickname in early jazz piano) —

Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one major source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".

The trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie (a member of Hines's big band, along with Charlie Parker) wrote, "The piano is the basis of modern harmony. This little guy came out of Chicago, Earl Hines. He changed the style of the piano. You can find the roots of Bud Powell, Herbie Hancock, all the guys who came after that. If it hadn't been for Earl Hines blazing the path for the next generation to come, it's no telling where or how they would be playing now. There were individual variations but the style of ... the modern piano came from Earl Hines."

The pianist Lennie Tristano said, "Earl Hines is the only one of us capable of creating real jazz and real swing when playing all alone." Horace Silver said, "He has a completely unique style. No one can get that sound, no other pianist". Erroll Garner said, "When you talk about greatness, you talk about Art Tatum and Earl Hines".

Count Basie said that Hines was "the greatest piano player in the world". (wikipedia)

Very nice Friday grid, for the most part. Lots of colloquialisms, and slang, so it felt very fresh. I'm on record as despising the term ADULTING, but it's a word in the world and I am learning to coexist with it (though I'll neeeeevvvvvver use it). The cluing was off my wavelength much of the time. "ARE YOU GOOD?" in particular felt strangely clued "Is there anything else I can help with?" sounds like something a sales clerk would say to a customer, whereas "ARE YOU GOOD?" decidedly does not. Mostly, though, the clues didn't seem wrong; I just struggled (a bit) to pick up their meaning. Also there was a bunch of trivia I didn't know, like Einstein's wife's name (ELSA) and the Lone Ranger's real ("real") last name (REID). I always confuse Buck OWENS and Buck O'NEIL and did again today. I felt slightly guilty about getting CORY so easily—I really was too old for that show, but that didn't keep me from watching it. A lot. Man I was depressed in grad school. Any way... thank you for not making me spell TOPENGA (TOPANGA!?)


The one huge, obvious, glaring, how-did-you-not-fix-this flaw with this puzzle—an objectively bad spot—is the FATHA / TOLTEC crossing. I have that "T" circled and a giant "YIKES" written next to it on my puzzle print-out. Predictably (I mean, Very Predictably) the first Twitter responses to this puzzle overwhelmingly pointed to this cross as a problem. The fact that I have heard of TOLTEC, and knew FATHA from earlier puzzle failures, doesn't make me feel any more accepting of this cross. Proper nouns are very dangerous, and when you get complacent with them, you create areas where a good chunk of the solving population is going to have to guess. In short, this cross is a total Natick—two not-extremely well-known proper nouns crossing at a non-inferrable letter. Honestly, for the constructor, for the editors, that cross should be glowing neon. It needs fixing. It's a blot on an otherwise good grid. It means that many solver will remember only one thing about this puzzle. Bound to leave a bad taste in solvers' mouths. Not worth it.

I am lucky that the long Downs in the NE (DINE AND DASH, ADULTING) were gimmes, because that section was hard for me otherwise. Couldn't convince myself that ECUMENISM was as word (I know the word "ecumenical," but ... not this weird -ism), and I didn't understand the clue for LEDGES until I typed in the "S" (my last letter in the grid). If I wasn't so annoyed by the FATHATOLTEC Natick, I'd've had a lot more to say about the ridiculousness that is the "word"NAPERY (47D: Table linens). Who says that? Come on. "Table linens" are table linens. NAPERY sounds like KNAVERY and JAPERY's annoying little cousin. It sounds like hijinks that people get up to specifically and solely in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. It is, in short, a hella dumb word and should go back to the obscure place it whence it came. Good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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