Constructor: Jake Halperin
Relative difficulty: Challengingish (this was a 5am wake-up solve, though, and I despised this thing from square one, so that *might* have affected my time...) (5:19)
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THEME: colloquial infinitive phrases, clued as if they were "Tasks" :(
Theme answers:
This puzzle is a cry for help. Or a middle finger to the solving audience. You decide. All I know is that a theme this thin should not have fill This Bad. Egregious. Painful. Answers starting in the NW quadrant *alone* were bad enough that I would've quit if I didn't have to write this thing up. It is inexcusable to have so much room, so much space, so much leeway (given your very weak, barely-there theme), and still lard the puzzle with garbage like ABITOF INE ONENIL ANACE ALGAL ATPAR ASLOPE (!??!?!?!?!). That right there is enough junk to sink an entire puzzle, but as you'll note, I haven't even made it out of the NW yet. Does it get better? Well, it doesn't get worse, but honestly, how could it? And is the theme worth it? Well, no theme is worth this, and this theme in particular deserves very little in the way of special dispensations. TO NAME A COUPLE is horrible. Horrible. You don't have much to go on with this theme, so All You Themers Have To Land. As every English speaker knows, the phrase is "to name a few."TO NAME A COUPLE is some jury-rigged, kinda/sorta, lawyer-needing baloney. I have no problem struggling with difficult puzzles that are supposed to be difficult because it's late in the week, the clues are clever or tricky, etc. I have tons of problems with difficulty that arises because of constructorial / editorial incompetence. Any self-respecting editor, any editor editor who is not in a sinecure and not too complacent to do his job, should have (if this theme "tickled" him) Sent This Back For A Complete Refill. How do you not make your constructor do better? I've seen rejected puzzles that were So much better than this that just didn't pass the "tickle" test. It's maddening. LOATHE doesn't even begin ...
The whole experience was made worse by the fact that even clues on normal, decent fill meant nothing to me much of the time. MONDO? Shrug (19A: Mario's world). LEVELA? What the hell (41A: Like the most protective hazmat suits). Who knows hazmat suit rating levels?!?!? Further, who knows what key "Isn't She Lovely" is in!? (OK, you hardcore music types might, but yeeeeeesh—that is bad fill made infinitely worse) (and how, How, do you make something Worse by *adding* Stevie Wonder to it? That might be a first in human history) (17A: INE). Your clue for LAW (a fine word) is 41D: Part of LSAT??!? Do you hate clever clues? joy? the English language? Why steer us back *into* an abbr. when you don't have to??? And why oh why steer is *into* some *very old* and *German* song (LOL "hit") for the very simple, you-could-do-anything-with-it answer ARE!?! (43A: What "bist" means in the 1930s hit "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"). This is Bad Decision Theater at its baddest. And we wrap it up with [checks notes] HOR over ENS ... [chef's kiss]. Sigh. Goodbye.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. In case you were wondering, 68A: Non-majority? is ENS because the ENS (the actual letters: the "n"s) make up the "majority" of the prefix "non" ... I'm sorry, but it's true.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Challengingish (this was a 5am wake-up solve, though, and I despised this thing from square one, so that *might* have affected my time...) (5:19)
Theme answers:
- TO NAME A COUPLE (20A: Task for new parents of twins?)
- TO PUT IT MILDLY (38A: Task for a Thai chef cooking for typical Americans?)
- TO SAY THE LEAST (55A: Task for a Benedictine monk?)
Erika Jane Christensen (born August 19, 1982) is an American actress and singer whose filmography includes roles in Traffic (2000), Swimfan (2002), The Banger Sisters (2002), The Perfect Score (2004), Flightplan (2005), How to Rob a Bank (2007), The Tortured (2010), and The Case for Christ (2017). For her performance in Traffic, she won the MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female Performance and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture along with her co-stars.In 2006, she starred on the short-lived drama series Six Degrees on ABC. From 2010 until its ending in 2015, Christensen starred as Julia Braverman-Graham on the NBC family drama series Parenthood. In 2014, she won a Gracie Award for her performance in the role. Christensen portrayed Betty Beaumontaine on ABC's short-lived crime drama series Wicked City. (wikipedia)
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| NATASHA's face is my face |
[deep inside I hope *you* feel it too...]
The whole experience was made worse by the fact that even clues on normal, decent fill meant nothing to me much of the time. MONDO? Shrug (19A: Mario's world). LEVELA? What the hell (41A: Like the most protective hazmat suits). Who knows hazmat suit rating levels?!?!? Further, who knows what key "Isn't She Lovely" is in!? (OK, you hardcore music types might, but yeeeeeesh—that is bad fill made infinitely worse) (and how, How, do you make something Worse by *adding* Stevie Wonder to it? That might be a first in human history) (17A: INE). Your clue for LAW (a fine word) is 41D: Part of LSAT??!? Do you hate clever clues? joy? the English language? Why steer us back *into* an abbr. when you don't have to??? And why oh why steer is *into* some *very old* and *German* song (LOL "hit") for the very simple, you-could-do-anything-with-it answer ARE!?! (43A: What "bist" means in the 1930s hit "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"). This is Bad Decision Theater at its baddest. And we wrap it up with [checks notes] HOR over ENS ... [chef's kiss]. Sigh. Goodbye.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. In case you were wondering, 68A: Non-majority? is ENS because the ENS (the actual letters: the "n"s) make up the "majority" of the prefix "non" ... I'm sorry, but it's true.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]