Constructor: Amanda Rifkin and Ross Trudeau
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (3:40) (I have had a drink, and the grid is 16-wide, but still, it felt a bit on the hard side for a Monday)
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THEME: JUST FOR THE RECORD (58A: "To be totally clear" ... or why to bring in a 17-, 27- or 45-Across?) — themers do things related to records:
Theme answers:
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The revealer shoulda been, simply, FOR THE RECORD... and then, you know, get a regular-sized grid and lose the stupid GUINNESS OFFICIAL (?) answer, what the hell? That is not a thing. Not enough of a thing to be first themer in a Monday puzzle. Yipes. STUDIO SINGER is a thing, but ... it doesn't google that well (I feel like the more common term is "session singer"), and how do you know they don't tour? You don't know. I'm sure some STUDIO SINGERs do tour sometimes. Just 'cause you sing in the studio doesn't mean you don't also tour sometimes. I get that you are trying to find a way to suggest "studio" in your clue, but that ain't it. Why are there cheater squares* in here? (above 16D, below 48D). Doesn't seem like a particularly demanding part of the grid. Weird. The fill in this one is OK, but there are some hard clunkers. ANIL and INURN should go out on their boat for a three-hour tour and never come back. INONE can go with them. How the hell am I supposed to know the [Nickname of King Edward VII]? What day is this? It's Monday, right? C'mon, spare me this olde-timey cutesy nicknames for monarchs, BAH. I liked PRIDE MONTH (11D: June observance commemorating the Stonewall Riots) and CARPACCIO (37D: Dish of thinly sliced raw meat). The clue on GAYER should've been (34D: More gleeful).
Slowed down by a. one fairly strong drink and b. (related to a.) hella typos. Not even sure where I put the "N"s and "S"s on my first pass at GUINNESS, but I know it wasn't in the right place. Had C'MON before "I'M IN" (23A: "Let's do it!"). No idea what L.A.'s NOHO Arts District is (again, doesn't seem like a Monday clue), so I probably had SOHO in there at first. Definitely had HOIST before HEAVE (51A: Throw, as an anchor). I guess HOIST is ... the opposite? Whatever, how are there *two* five-letter anchor-related verbs starting with "H"?! That's just cruel. Thank god there was some terrible fill ("ET TU"!?) to help me out of that mess. Looking for a tighter theme and cleaner fill tomorrow (and every day). Peace.
*cheater squares = black squares that do not affect the word count; they are occasionally added to make grids easier to fill.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (3:40) (I have had a drink, and the grid is 16-wide, but still, it felt a bit on the hard side for a Monday)
Theme answers:
- GUINNESS OFFICIAL (17A: Adjudicator of an attempt at a physical feat, say)
- STUDIO SINGER (27A: Vocalist who doesn't tour)
- STENOGRAPHER (45A: One versed in shorthand)
noun
a West Indian shrub, Indigofera suffruticosa, of the legume family, having elongated clusters of small, reddish-yellow flowers and yielding indigo.indigo; deep blue.(dictionary.com)
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Slowed down by a. one fairly strong drink and b. (related to a.) hella typos. Not even sure where I put the "N"s and "S"s on my first pass at GUINNESS, but I know it wasn't in the right place. Had C'MON before "I'M IN" (23A: "Let's do it!"). No idea what L.A.'s NOHO Arts District is (again, doesn't seem like a Monday clue), so I probably had SOHO in there at first. Definitely had HOIST before HEAVE (51A: Throw, as an anchor). I guess HOIST is ... the opposite? Whatever, how are there *two* five-letter anchor-related verbs starting with "H"?! That's just cruel. Thank god there was some terrible fill ("ET TU"!?) to help me out of that mess. Looking for a tighter theme and cleaner fill tomorrow (and every day). Peace.
*cheater squares = black squares that do not affect the word count; they are occasionally added to make grids easier to fill.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]