Constructor: Evan Kalish
Relative difficulty: Easy (2:47—personal best Tuesday time)
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THEME: GOLF BALL (60A: Sports item that can be found at the starts of 17-, 21-, 32-, 42- and 54-Across) — places a GOLF BALL might be on the way from the TEE to the CUP:
Theme answers:
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Don't know if I'm still on some kind of speed-solving high from this past weekend of tournament competition, but man did I smoke this one. Set a personal Tuesday best despite multiple wrong answers and assorted sputterings. I think the themers themselves were all so transparent that it was easy get a toehold in every section, and so I covered ground really quickly, in general. I like the theme pretty well. I don't know about the cluing on the revealer—I guess the GOLF BALL"can be found" in those places, some (rare, short-lived times, in the course of play), but the ball cannot actually be "found" there now, so the cluing is weird. I think the revealer ought rather to have highlighted the fact that the first words of the themers trace a theoretical Par 4 hole performance as one might really play it, from the TEE to the ROUGH to a BUNKER to the GREEN and then in the CUP in 4. Missed the fairway *and* put it in the sand, but still got down in 4. CUP OF COCOA is a slightly contrived answer (I mean, BOWL OF JELL-O is a thing, but ... is it?), but I'll allow it. It's a functioning theme, just fine for a Tuesday.
As for the fill, it was OK, though it's kinda wobbly or at least questionable in a number of places. I really want to question AVICII, who was a huge force in the musical world, it's true, and whose name was all over even non-music media a few years ago, after his untimely death, but I would stake my vast blogging empire on a bet that a significant majority of NYT solvers will have little to no idea who he is. It's weird to introduce him to the NYT solving world on a Tuesday (as I suspected, AVICII is a debut appearance). His name is a hilarious outlier, compared to everything else in the grid. It's the only answer I can imagine even a casual solver's not knowing. Well ... there's also MT ADAMS (what the hell?), but at least there, the clue pretty much hands you the answer (50A: Washington peak named after the second U.S. president). I don't know that AVICII is good fill. I am always happy to see the puzzle branch out in terms of its regular fields of interest, and AVICII's popularity is certainly sufficiently substantial (if not with the typical NYTXW-solving crowd), but ... it feels like it was crammed down in that corner just 'cause. Just to get a debut answer in there. You mean I gotta endure UVEA and EFILE and SNOCAT because you desperately wanted to be the first to drop AVICII? On a Tuesday? Feels weird. Like it's not here for good reasons. And I'm saying this as someone who (sorta kinda) knew the name (stored it away after all the obits rolled out). I mean, if you need him, by all means use him, but if you don't ...
I got slowed down a few times, nowhere worse than at the very end, by a cruddy little federal agcy. (61D: U.S. consumer watchdog, for short) (FTC). That's the Federal Trade Commission, right? Ugh, I would avoid fed agcys. when possible—it's just an alphabet soup, and no one's ever happy to see those answers. But if you needed one, why not go with the FDA (an agcy. whose name is way way way more familiar to me) and then just change MOONS to MOODS? You'd get I DID at 63A, which I like better than INIT, even if I SEE is very nearby (so you'd get two "I ___" phrases in close proximity). Actually, all the fill down there could be totally reworked, and maybe should be. None of it is exactly shining. Anyway, sorting that little answer cost me many seconds. I also wrote in ON THE QT before ON THE DL (7D: Hush-hush), ST. PATTY before ST. PADDY (23A: March parade honoree, colloquially), and needed all the crosses for the ugly legalese HERETO (35D: Regarding this point). But again, theme works fine, and I can't really complain about "difficulty" if I set a personal record, so as Tuesdays go, I'm not mad.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. [24D: Song that can't be sung alone] (DUET) ... "Can't" *Can't*? Everyone who has ever sung "Islands in the Stream" in the shower begs to differ.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy (2:47—personal best Tuesday time)
Theme answers:
- TEE SHIRT (17A: Souvenir from a concert tour)
- ROUGH RIDER (21A: Cavalryman under Teddy Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War)
- BUNKER HILL (32A: Revolutionary War battle in Boston)
- GREEN SALAD (42A: Leafy course)
- CUP OF COCOA (54A: Hot order with marshmallows)
Tim Bergling (Swedish: [tɪm ²bærjlɪŋ]; 8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii(/əˈviːtʃi/, Swedish: [aˈvɪtːɕɪ]), was a Swedish electronic musician, DJ, and songwriter who specialized in audio programming, remixing and record producing.At the age of 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose to prominence in 2011 with his single "Levels". His debut studio album, True (2013), blended electronic music with elements of multiple genres and received generally positive reviews. It peaked in the top ten in more than fifteen countries and topped international dance charts; the lead single, "Wake Me Up", topped most music markets in Europe and reached number four in the United States.In 2015, Bergling released his second studio album, Stories, and in 2017 he released an EP, Avīci (01). His catalog also included the singles "I Could Be the One" with Nicky Romero, "You Make Me", "X You", "Hey Brother", "Addicted to You", "The Days", "The Nights", "Waiting for Love", "Without You" and "Lonely Together". Bergling was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on "Sunshine" with David Guetta in 2012 and "Levels" in 2013. Several music publications credit Bergling as among the DJs who ushered electronic music into Top 40 radio in the early 2010s.Bergling retired from touring in 2016 due to health problems, having suffered stress and poor mental health for several years. On 20 April 2018, Bergling died by suicide in Muscat, Oman. He was buried on 8 June in his hometown of Stockholm. His posthumous third album titled Tim was released in 2019. (wikipedia)
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As for the fill, it was OK, though it's kinda wobbly or at least questionable in a number of places. I really want to question AVICII, who was a huge force in the musical world, it's true, and whose name was all over even non-music media a few years ago, after his untimely death, but I would stake my vast blogging empire on a bet that a significant majority of NYT solvers will have little to no idea who he is. It's weird to introduce him to the NYT solving world on a Tuesday (as I suspected, AVICII is a debut appearance). His name is a hilarious outlier, compared to everything else in the grid. It's the only answer I can imagine even a casual solver's not knowing. Well ... there's also MT ADAMS (what the hell?), but at least there, the clue pretty much hands you the answer (50A: Washington peak named after the second U.S. president). I don't know that AVICII is good fill. I am always happy to see the puzzle branch out in terms of its regular fields of interest, and AVICII's popularity is certainly sufficiently substantial (if not with the typical NYTXW-solving crowd), but ... it feels like it was crammed down in that corner just 'cause. Just to get a debut answer in there. You mean I gotta endure UVEA and EFILE and SNOCAT because you desperately wanted to be the first to drop AVICII? On a Tuesday? Feels weird. Like it's not here for good reasons. And I'm saying this as someone who (sorta kinda) knew the name (stored it away after all the obits rolled out). I mean, if you need him, by all means use him, but if you don't ...
I got slowed down a few times, nowhere worse than at the very end, by a cruddy little federal agcy. (61D: U.S. consumer watchdog, for short) (FTC). That's the Federal Trade Commission, right? Ugh, I would avoid fed agcys. when possible—it's just an alphabet soup, and no one's ever happy to see those answers. But if you needed one, why not go with the FDA (an agcy. whose name is way way way more familiar to me) and then just change MOONS to MOODS? You'd get I DID at 63A, which I like better than INIT, even if I SEE is very nearby (so you'd get two "I ___" phrases in close proximity). Actually, all the fill down there could be totally reworked, and maybe should be. None of it is exactly shining. Anyway, sorting that little answer cost me many seconds. I also wrote in ON THE QT before ON THE DL (7D: Hush-hush), ST. PATTY before ST. PADDY (23A: March parade honoree, colloquially), and needed all the crosses for the ugly legalese HERETO (35D: Regarding this point). But again, theme works fine, and I can't really complain about "difficulty" if I set a personal record, so as Tuesdays go, I'm not mad.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. [24D: Song that can't be sung alone] (DUET) ... "Can't" *Can't*? Everyone who has ever sung "Islands in the Stream" in the shower begs to differ.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]