Constructor: Ori Brian
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (6:05)
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: LAD MAG (9A: Maxim, e.g.) —
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The fill here is OK. Nothing I particularly love. Solid C. Fine. Acceptable. Workmanlike—emphasis on the "man" because hoo boy, this thing is comically heavy on testosterone. It's basically muscle cars and AMMO and ... yeah, with the ACNE and the BEER KEGS it's got a very fratty vibe. Also a very ogley vibe, what with the LAD MAGs and Phoebe CATES clued via her role as an iconic image of teenage-boy masturbatory fantasy. There are five ... five! ... different male-gendered words in this grid: MALE (from MALE EGO), LAD, DUDES, MEN (from MAILMEN), and MAN (from MANBUN). It feels like a parody of the fairly typical guy-skewing, exclusionary content that is not untypical of NYT crosswords (considering that they remain overwhelming constructed by male lad dudes). But I don't think the puzzle is having a laugh. I think it's just ... not thinking much about offering a a broader (!) view of the world. I liked seeing ABUELA, and, you know, Jackie JOYNER-Kersee is a cool entry, but even LARA CROFT fits right into the highly sexualized male-gaze vibe of this puzzle. Her sex appeal (particularly to young men) is a huge part of her fame. This is just a fraction of the "Sex Symbol" section of her wikipedia page:
Thought I was going to storm this one, but got significant held up trying and failing to parse DOORDIE (47A: Critical). Also got held up trying to get ADMIT, which just wouldn't come until I had A-MIT, ugh. So that SW corner roughed me up, as did my total inability to understand the basic grammar, let alone the significance, of the clue at 32D: Helps for short people, for short (ATMS). Is "helps" a verb or noun, is "short" a matter of stature or money? I really was thinking "short" as in "small," so even with AT--, I was puzzled. Thought UM, NO was UH, NO, and was ready to accept that ATHS was just some weird short-person-helping thing I didn't know. Luckily, I came to my senses. EROS, also not really a thing I knew. I kept thinking the FILTER of INSTAGRAM FILTER must be wrong because surely this is something to do with EGOS ... but no (34D: Freudian focus). Never think of a reed having "keys," so clue on OBOE threw me. Blanked on the "C" in COB. Still felt on the easy side. Oh, yeah, and lastly, I had no idea (or forgot) that ROGET was a PETER. Had PETER (actually had TETER 'cause I thought 24D: Impertinent sort (SNIP) was a SNIT), and then had no idea. What is this "awful lot of commas"?? That is some weird colloquial phrasing. "Awful." What kind of one-off homespun nonsense is that? Odd.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (6:05)
Word of the Day: LAD MAG (9A: Maxim, e.g.) —
n
• • •
"Publications such as Play, GameTrailers, and PlayStation Magazine listed big breasts as one of the character's most famous attributes. After interviewing players in 1998, Griffiths commented that players regularly mention Croft's breasts when discussing her. In 2008, the character was first and second on two UGO Networks lists of hottest video game characters. GameDaily placed Lara Croft number one on a similar list that same year, and PlayStation: The Official Magazine awarded her honourable mention for Game Babe of the Year." (for more, go here)The whole "game babe" angle would not have occurred to me were she not (today) swimming in a swamp of dicks up there in the NE. It's good to be aware of the overall balance of answers in your grid, and to correct for ridiculous overrepresentation.
Thought I was going to storm this one, but got significant held up trying and failing to parse DOORDIE (47A: Critical). Also got held up trying to get ADMIT, which just wouldn't come until I had A-MIT, ugh. So that SW corner roughed me up, as did my total inability to understand the basic grammar, let alone the significance, of the clue at 32D: Helps for short people, for short (ATMS). Is "helps" a verb or noun, is "short" a matter of stature or money? I really was thinking "short" as in "small," so even with AT--, I was puzzled. Thought UM, NO was UH, NO, and was ready to accept that ATHS was just some weird short-person-helping thing I didn't know. Luckily, I came to my senses. EROS, also not really a thing I knew. I kept thinking the FILTER of INSTAGRAM FILTER must be wrong because surely this is something to do with EGOS ... but no (34D: Freudian focus). Never think of a reed having "keys," so clue on OBOE threw me. Blanked on the "C" in COB. Still felt on the easy side. Oh, yeah, and lastly, I had no idea (or forgot) that ROGET was a PETER. Had PETER (actually had TETER 'cause I thought 24D: Impertinent sort (SNIP) was a SNIT), and then had no idea. What is this "awful lot of commas"?? That is some weird colloquial phrasing. "Awful." What kind of one-off homespun nonsense is that? Odd.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]