Constructor: Dan Caprera
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium - about my average Wednesday
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THEME: Pirate Treasure Map— Theme answers spell out directions to find where there is buried treasure in the grid, starting at a skull and crossbones in the first square. The puzzle's only X marks the spot.
Theme answers:
Word of the Day:TRUNCHEON(10D: Officer's Baton)
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I'm guessing that there will be a mix of opinions on this one, between the "whimsical and different" camp and the "puzzles shouldn't have homework" crew. Personally, I think it works nicely enough—the premise is goofy, and the cluing really leans into that, which gets the puzzle across the line into "cute" territory. Opening up the grid knowing I was blogging, and seeing a special little icon in the corner, actually gave me a small scare—just my luck if it was going to be something confusing, or a grid that couldn't be expressed in the app. Once I then started looking at the theme clues, though, which are long and very much not reproduced above, I saw that the themers would be instructions and relaxed a bit. It's nice that the design team will add little (largely) aesthetic touches for specific puzzles, even for the app solvers.
But on the downside, the clues were so long, and I knew the instructions would be somewhat arbitrary, so I basically decided to start by ignoring the themers until they started to take shape. Looking back at them afterwards, I see that the themers rhyme as part of clue couplets, and that there are actually some hints to make the answers less arbitrary, like an instruction in 22A to "turn toward the dawn" being a hint about going east. So the clues absolutely do serve a purpose, and thought went into them, not just goofy pirate speak. But looking at them initially, they just seemed like a lot of work to parse and deal with. I was relieved that this didn't end up being a theme with dot-connecting after the solve or other homework, but the theme definitely took a back seat for me until the end, which isn't ideal. Seems totally fair to not be in love with this one, or to find it kind of charming, your mileage may vary.
And overall, congrats to Dan Caprera for having a memorable puzzle with an unexpected theme and some clever construction—not too shabby for a constructor's debut.
On the fill, there's a bit of classic glue like suffix ENE (13A: Suffix with acetyl), the perennial IRAE (36A: "Dies ___" (hymn)), the partial NUEVA (63A: ___ York (biggest city in los Estados Unidos)), and the usually-regrettable SSS (67A: Sound from a punctured tire). But given 60+ theme squares, it didn't feel like a ton. I can see more of them if I go hunting in the grid, but they were less of a presence during the solve, which is what I care about. Some of the cluing caught me off-guard, as I wouldn't normally consider ESME (12D: Salinger heroine) to be a "heroine" per se, given the story, and ORB for (30D: Magic 8 Ball, e.g.) makes me nervous that the 8-Ball may actually be magic. I'd probably give minor-to-moderate sideeye to DISCI (42D: Things hurled at the Olympics) as a plural. I also resisted putting in TEAL (48A: Pond swimmer), as it took me a minute to remember that it's a term for a duck, so that one's on me.
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Balancing out some of the glue, there were definitely enough happy-making entries and clues, including some longer fill, that helped to balance it out. I was kind of neutral on ENTENTES (38D: Diplomatic arrangements)and MARQUISES (31D: French noblemen or noblewomen), but some other stuff to like:
Clues of the Day:
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Signed, David Harris, King for a Day of CrossWorld
[Follow David Harris on Twitter]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium - about my average Wednesday
THEME: Pirate Treasure Map— Theme answers spell out directions to find where there is buried treasure in the grid, starting at a skull and crossbones in the first square. The puzzle's only X marks the spot.
Theme answers:
- START AT THE SKULL (16A: [Piratey jargon clue])
- EAST TWELVE PACES (22A: [Piratey jargon clue])
- SOUTH SEVEN STEPS (49A: [Piratey jargon clue])
- WEST FIVE THEN DIG (58A: [Piratey jargon clue])
- PRIZE (53D: Pirate's booty, say)
- SEIZE (65A: Grab, as booty)
Word of the Day:TRUNCHEON(10D: Officer's Baton)
A baton or truncheon is a roughly cylindrical club made of wood, rubber, plastic or metal carried by law-enforcement officers, correctional staff, security guards, and military personnel.
• • •
David Harris here, filling in for Rex today—and looks like today's puzzle is a debut from Dan Caprera, so congrats, it's a whole day of folks you've never heard of before!I'm guessing that there will be a mix of opinions on this one, between the "whimsical and different" camp and the "puzzles shouldn't have homework" crew. Personally, I think it works nicely enough—the premise is goofy, and the cluing really leans into that, which gets the puzzle across the line into "cute" territory. Opening up the grid knowing I was blogging, and seeing a special little icon in the corner, actually gave me a small scare—just my luck if it was going to be something confusing, or a grid that couldn't be expressed in the app. Once I then started looking at the theme clues, though, which are long and very much not reproduced above, I saw that the themers would be instructions and relaxed a bit. It's nice that the design team will add little (largely) aesthetic touches for specific puzzles, even for the app solvers.
But on the downside, the clues were so long, and I knew the instructions would be somewhat arbitrary, so I basically decided to start by ignoring the themers until they started to take shape. Looking back at them afterwards, I see that the themers rhyme as part of clue couplets, and that there are actually some hints to make the answers less arbitrary, like an instruction in 22A to "turn toward the dawn" being a hint about going east. So the clues absolutely do serve a purpose, and thought went into them, not just goofy pirate speak. But looking at them initially, they just seemed like a lot of work to parse and deal with. I was relieved that this didn't end up being a theme with dot-connecting after the solve or other homework, but the theme definitely took a back seat for me until the end, which isn't ideal. Seems totally fair to not be in love with this one, or to find it kind of charming, your mileage may vary.
And overall, congrats to Dan Caprera for having a memorable puzzle with an unexpected theme and some clever construction—not too shabby for a constructor's debut.
On the fill, there's a bit of classic glue like suffix ENE (13A: Suffix with acetyl), the perennial IRAE (36A: "Dies ___" (hymn)), the partial NUEVA (63A: ___ York (biggest city in los Estados Unidos)), and the usually-regrettable SSS (67A: Sound from a punctured tire). But given 60+ theme squares, it didn't feel like a ton. I can see more of them if I go hunting in the grid, but they were less of a presence during the solve, which is what I care about. Some of the cluing caught me off-guard, as I wouldn't normally consider ESME (12D: Salinger heroine) to be a "heroine" per se, given the story, and ORB for (30D: Magic 8 Ball, e.g.) makes me nervous that the 8-Ball may actually be magic. I'd probably give minor-to-moderate sideeye to DISCI (42D: Things hurled at the Olympics) as a plural. I also resisted putting in TEAL (48A: Pond swimmer), as it took me a minute to remember that it's a term for a duck, so that one's on me.
Balancing out some of the glue, there were definitely enough happy-making entries and clues, including some longer fill, that helped to balance it out. I was kind of neutral on ENTENTES (38D: Diplomatic arrangements)and MARQUISES (31D: French noblemen or noblewomen), but some other stuff to like:
Clues of the Day:
- ASPHALT— 26D: It covers a lot of ground. Nothing you could do about this joke, it just happens to you.
- TIMEOUT— 23D: Preschool punishment. My brain immediately wanted this, even though the clue doesn't telegraph it especially hard—just some good fill.
- DELVES— 47D: Looks closely (into). A word that you probably either never hear, or hear way too often because that one guy uses it in every meeting.
- BETHESDA— 5D: Where the National Institutes of Health is headquartered. It seemed like random trivia that I'd get from crosses, but Bethesda *does* actually make me think of hospitals, so I ended up appreciating this one.
- BOT— 35D: Spam generator. Nice clue, succinct but decidedly modern.
Signed, David Harris, King for a Day of CrossWorld
[Follow David Harris on Twitter]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]