Constructor: Paul Coulter
Relative difficulty: Medium (felt easier, but at 4 in the morning, my fingers don't obey brain commands so good) (3:41)
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THEME: Like a happy ___ — idioms meaning "happy," clued as if they related to particular kinds of people:
Theme answers:
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Wait a minute, does SITTING PRETTY mean "happy?" I thought it meant "in an advantageous spot," which is a way of saying "satisfied," I guess, but it doesn't seem like a good equivalent for "happy" to me, and definitely seems like a hard outlier compared to the rest of the set. Yup, here we go, SITTING PRETTY: "To be or remain in an ideal situation or advantageous position" (thefreedictionary). I feel like the puzzle is just done, right there. DOA. "Happy" is in all the theme clues, the other themers all mean "happy," to some degree, but SITTING PRETTY ... doesn't. SITTING PRETTY might make you "happy," but so might WINNING LOTTO or EATING A SANDWICH. It's a collateral effect. This is a fatal flaw. Which is too bad, because conceptually, even though this theme is corny and super old-fashioned, it works. Would've been nice if the grid had been filled even halfway decently. It's mostly just boring, because of the preponderance of short answers (grid design does not allow for much over 5 letters), but if you design a grid that's easy to fill, then it should at least be *passably* filled. ESIGN in a grid like this, not passable (22A: Complete, as a PDF contract). DEOXY, extremely not passable (53A: Prefix with ribonucleic). That was awful. This whole "my building superintendent lives in apt. ONE A" conceit that the puzzle has been perpetrating since time immemorial has got to go. What kind of fictional yesteryear sitcom world is this from? "Many a building superintendent?""Many?" How many? Mainly I'm just mad at ONEA as fill (again). The whole random apt. number thing just caused added annoyance because I thought for sure they were gonna pull some ONEB crap on me.
MENA ... I mean, uh ... she seems kind of obscure now (30D: Actress Suvari). Has she been in stuff? Apologies if yes, but I feel like I haven't seen her name since the '90s, and even then, she wasn't even MIRA Sorvino famous (that's the name my brain wanted here even though my brain *knew* that wasn't right). Old-fashioned theme brought with it a very old-fashioned vibe. I have said this before, and I'm saying it again, no one calls it IDIOT BOX or has for years and years. Even in that expression's heyday ... whenever that was ... no one really said that. Maybe it was a phrase in the media? Anyway, BOOBTUBE, tons of currency (back in the day), IDIOT BOX, blargh. Some '60s dad said that, just as some '60s kid said NEATO. This whole puzzle is "Leave It To Beaver"-land, basically. Did I like MOUE? NAE, I did not. GUINEAS (47A: Old British coins worth 21 shillings), SET POINT (23D: Score of 5-4, 40-15, say), even PUCE (28D: Color akin to eggplant), yeah, I liked those, but there's not nearly enough in the "Liked" column today.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium (felt easier, but at 4 in the morning, my fingers don't obey brain commands so good) (3:41)
Theme answers:
- OVER THE MOON (17A: Like a happy astronaut?)
- SITTING PRETTY (24A: Like a happy portrait model?)
- ON TOP OF THE WORLD (38A: Like a happy mountaineer?)
- IN GOOD SPIRITS (49A: Like a happy medium?) (this should've been *bartender*!)
- ON CLOUD NINE (59A: Like a happy meteorologist?)
DEFINITION
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MENA ... I mean, uh ... she seems kind of obscure now (30D: Actress Suvari). Has she been in stuff? Apologies if yes, but I feel like I haven't seen her name since the '90s, and even then, she wasn't even MIRA Sorvino famous (that's the name my brain wanted here even though my brain *knew* that wasn't right). Old-fashioned theme brought with it a very old-fashioned vibe. I have said this before, and I'm saying it again, no one calls it IDIOT BOX or has for years and years. Even in that expression's heyday ... whenever that was ... no one really said that. Maybe it was a phrase in the media? Anyway, BOOBTUBE, tons of currency (back in the day), IDIOT BOX, blargh. Some '60s dad said that, just as some '60s kid said NEATO. This whole puzzle is "Leave It To Beaver"-land, basically. Did I like MOUE? NAE, I did not. GUINEAS (47A: Old British coins worth 21 shillings), SET POINT (23D: Score of 5-4, 40-15, say), even PUCE (28D: Color akin to eggplant), yeah, I liked those, but there's not nearly enough in the "Liked" column today.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]