Constructor: Alex Eaton-Salners
Relative difficulty: Medium (9:31)
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THEME:"Bird Play" — Four answers have circled squares that literally represent some bird idiom (those idioms are also theme answers):
Theme answers:
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Underneath all the technical / architectural glitz of this one is just a bunch of groany dad puns. Visual dad puns. There's nothing theme-y about any of this except the HILARY (SWAN)K answer, which makes it a wicked outlier. None of the other themers have anything funky going on with them at all. They're just straight clue/answers with circled squares in the answers. The SWAN DIVE is a real anomaly. Another anomaly (that bugged me more) was the non-bird circled squares OFF, used as part of the visual representation of OFF ON A LARK. All the others are birds (or, I guess, partial birds, in the case of HICKEN). OFF is not a bird. So boo to that. Also, if you want to go full groan-joke, it's OFF on *A* LARK not U LARK. But the real issue is circled OFF. I mean, whatever, it's all just wackiness and who cares, on one level, but it was a bit too wobbly in the execution for me, and the payoff wasn't great. Was nice to find the bottom half of the grid so easy, though. Once you've got those circled squares in place, it's real easy to see what phrases they represent. This is my fifth (recorded) Sunday in a row where I've finished in under 10 minutes. Not sure if they've gotten easier or I've gotten faster, but this one only felt fast in the second (lower) half. The first (upper) half felt normal, maybe even slightly tougher than normal.
Speaking of tougher than normal, we need to discuss the one truly inexcusable part of this puzzle: the cross at 33D: ___ Nurmi, 1920s Olympic runner nicknamed the "Flying Finn" (PAAVO) / 46A: Part of a three-in-a-row (TAC). Now I know PAAVO because ... well, I've been doing xwords a long time, so even though he's well before my time, I've seen that name enough that it stuck. He's certainly crossworthy. But with proper nouns, especially ones that are likely to be outside many people's ken, you really have to make sure all the crosses are fair, especially if the proper noun in question is not an inferrable name. Like, if the missing "A" had been in DAVID, I wouldn't have much sympathy for you if you couldn't just guess it. But today, the name was PAAVO, and the cross was complete ambiguous; that is, there are two totally accurate responses to 46A: Part of a three-in-a-row: TIC and TAC (unless three-in-a-row *isn't* tic-tac-toe, in which case I don't know what to say). TIC is right. TAC is right. Now obviously only TAC is *truly* right since only PAAVO is correct. But you should not leave solvers with two possible right answers at a cross that is a. a vowel b. in the middle of a foreign and very uncommon name. PAIVO? I mean, why not? PAAVO's a name. This is all to say that a decent editor would've indicated that the answer was the *Second* part of three-in-a-row. Non-fans of Finnish runners of antiquity would still have wondered (possibly aloud) what the hell PAAVO was, but they could've gone to all the crosses, found them indisputable, and moved on. As is, a good chunk of solverdom will just wipe out at that cross. Very, very bad editing.
Five things:
P.S. Hey, next weekend (Sat. Aug. 17) is Lollapuzzoola, one of the biggest annual crossword tournaments in the country, and the only one (that I know of) in NYC. There are still some spaces left for those who want to participate in some hardcore, in-person nerddom (actually a very fun tournament with a low-key vibe and hundreds of lovely people). But if you just want to see what tournament puzzles are like without the fear of public humiliation*, then there's also the Solve At-Home Division of the tournament, which you should get in on. Lolla and Indie 500 (in DC) are my favorite tournaments, and the only ones I participate in regularly. So come solve and say hi. Or solve at home and wish you had. Whatever. Just sign up! INFORMATION HERE.
*there's no public humiliation except that which you heap on yourself, trust me
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium (9:31)
Theme answers:
- SC(OFF) (41A: Jeer) over POPU(LAR K)IDS (49A: In-group at school)
- HILARY(SWAN)K (19A: Best Actress winner of 1999 and 2004)
- THE PLOT T(HICKEN)S (25A: "Curiouser and curiouser ...")
- (E)V(A)N(G)E(L)IZ(E) (52A: Preach the gospel)
which represent:
- OFF ON A LARK (81A: What's depicted by the circled letters in 41-/49-Across)
- SPREAD EAGLE (84A: ... in 52-Across)
- HEADLESS CHICKEN (106A: ... in 25-Across)
- SWAN DIVE (116A: ... and in 19-Across)
Elena of Avalor is an American computer-animated adventure television series that premiered on Disney Channel on July 22, 2016, and moved to Disney Junior on July 14, 2018. The series features Aimee Carreroas the voice of Elena, a young Latina princess. (wikipedia)
• • •
Speaking of tougher than normal, we need to discuss the one truly inexcusable part of this puzzle: the cross at 33D: ___ Nurmi, 1920s Olympic runner nicknamed the "Flying Finn" (PAAVO) / 46A: Part of a three-in-a-row (TAC). Now I know PAAVO because ... well, I've been doing xwords a long time, so even though he's well before my time, I've seen that name enough that it stuck. He's certainly crossworthy. But with proper nouns, especially ones that are likely to be outside many people's ken, you really have to make sure all the crosses are fair, especially if the proper noun in question is not an inferrable name. Like, if the missing "A" had been in DAVID, I wouldn't have much sympathy for you if you couldn't just guess it. But today, the name was PAAVO, and the cross was complete ambiguous; that is, there are two totally accurate responses to 46A: Part of a three-in-a-row: TIC and TAC (unless three-in-a-row *isn't* tic-tac-toe, in which case I don't know what to say). TIC is right. TAC is right. Now obviously only TAC is *truly* right since only PAAVO is correct. But you should not leave solvers with two possible right answers at a cross that is a. a vowel b. in the middle of a foreign and very uncommon name. PAIVO? I mean, why not? PAAVO's a name. This is all to say that a decent editor would've indicated that the answer was the *Second* part of three-in-a-row. Non-fans of Finnish runners of antiquity would still have wondered (possibly aloud) what the hell PAAVO was, but they could've gone to all the crosses, found them indisputable, and moved on. As is, a good chunk of solverdom will just wipe out at that cross. Very, very bad editing.
Five things:
- 53D: Diaper, in Britspeak (NAPPIE)— whoa. Not sure I've ever seen this word in the singular. Really wanted -Y ending.
- 27D: Ocelli (EYE SPOTS)— to me, this is the thing that happens when you see spots ... like maybe ... floaters, or other things in your field of vision. I thought they were eye-shaped ... something. Windows? Buuuuut no; it turns out they are the spots that resemble eyes, "as on the tail feathers of a male peacock" (?!).
- 59A: Chinese liquor made from sorghum (MAOTAI) — reforgot this. I look forward to reforgetting it again many times before I finally remember that it's just MAITAI misspelled.
- 70D: See the future with a crystal ball (SCRY) — you know that's not a real thing, right? [See the future with a crystal ball] = SCAM. But SCRY is a funny word so I'm not too mad.
- 118A: Princess of Avalor, in children's TV (ELENA) — hard "Whaaa?" Give her a movie so she can be a legit, crossworthy "Disney princess." Or don't, whatever. I guess any new ELENA clue is a good ELENA clue.
P.S. Hey, next weekend (Sat. Aug. 17) is Lollapuzzoola, one of the biggest annual crossword tournaments in the country, and the only one (that I know of) in NYC. There are still some spaces left for those who want to participate in some hardcore, in-person nerddom (actually a very fun tournament with a low-key vibe and hundreds of lovely people). But if you just want to see what tournament puzzles are like without the fear of public humiliation*, then there's also the Solve At-Home Division of the tournament, which you should get in on. Lolla and Indie 500 (in DC) are my favorite tournaments, and the only ones I participate in regularly. So come solve and say hi. Or solve at home and wish you had. Whatever. Just sign up! INFORMATION HERE.
*there's no public humiliation except that which you heap on yourself, trust me
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]