Constructor: Randolph Ross
Relative difficulty: Medium (10:07)
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THEME:"Report Card"— I don't even know what is happening ... looks like familiar phrases are clued via imagined report card grades:
Theme answers:
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It's not so much that the concept is bad, it's that the cluing is so incredibly convoluted. There's no consistency. I have no idea what the pre-parenthetical part ... is. Is it the imagined "course" that you are getting a grade in? In that case is the idea that you get a SUPERIOR rating in MOTHER...ing?? Or you MOTHER (verb?) SUPERIOR (ly)? Or a MOTHER has been rated SUPERIOR. But a PARKING has not been rated FINE. Someone's skill *at* parking, presumably, is rated FINE. And don't even get me started on the confusing idiocy that is the clue on BUCK PASSING. How does "BUCK," all on its own, convey "Stuffing tip jars???" If the BUCK gets a PASSING grade ... what part of any of that is directly related to "Stuffing tip jars?" Ugh, yes, you might but a (single) BUCK in a tip jar, but nothing about BUCK directly relates to tip jars, and *anyway* you can hardly be said to be "stuffing" a tip jar with a single solitary buck, dear lord, make this awfulness stop. It's such a mess, cluing-wise. And the fill is last-century bad. And this is a veteran who will get paid the top amount (you know they. have a two-tiered pay system where veterans, who are mostly white dudes, get paid more than others, ostensibly because those veterans "require less editing," LOL, no, a lie, URBS, ONEAS, GES, [......... we're sorry, we're experiencing technical difficulties, as our blogger's head has partially exploded at the unfathomable incompetence taking place in plain sight of everyone I mean is it like the White House in there where everyone is afraid to tell the boss he's slipping or whaaaaaat!? Anyway ............ please stand by]
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OK cool, I'm back. ARIE is awful RELEE is awwwwwwwwwwful on every single level, GTELIEINIT ETSEQ crossing ESQ ONUP ONEAS omg don't get me started on NOTUS, which had me flummoxed—getting that was the exact opposite of an aha moment. An f.u. moment. Take the UBERS through the URBS, TRUDI! You know what? FIRETRAP! (58D: Dangerous structure) Ironically, the only thing about the puzzle that I liked is a literally badly built thing. What a world.
Five things:
P.S. 27A: Number of people in an office? (DENTIST) ... "Number" = "One who numbs"; such fun
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Relative difficulty: Medium (10:07)
THEME:"Report Card"— I don't even know what is happening ... looks like familiar phrases are clued via imagined report card grades:
Theme answers:
- MOTHER SUPERIOR (23A: Parenting: A+)
- BREAKING BAD (35A: Taming wild horses: D-)
- PARKING FINE (49A: Valet skills: B+)
- SCARBOROUGH FAIR (62A: Hosting a morning news show: C+)
- BUCK PASSING (81A: Stuffing tip jars: D)
- WORKING POOR (91A: Employee efficiency: D+)
- BATTING AVERAGE (109A: Baseball skill: C)
- TASTE GREAT (69D: Fashion sense: A)
- SOUNDS GOOD (16D: Stereo quality: B)
Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson, CBE (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996), was a British-American actress popular during the Second World War, being listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America's top-ten box office draws from 1942 to 1946.A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the 1940s, Garson received seven Oscarnominations, including a record-tying five consecutive nominations for acting and all in the Best Actress category (1941–1945), winning the award for Mrs. Miniver (1942). (wikipedia)
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Five things:
- 48D: Luxury car pioneer Henry (ROYCE)— had the "RO-," wrote in ROLLS :/
- 76D: Solomonlike (JUST) — ugh. He's wise. That's his thing. "Wise as Solomon." It's a saying. Here it is, under "Idioms" at thefreedictionary.com. Four letters. Wise. This answer JUST blows.
- 100A: Growing room (ACRE) — still not getting this. Is an ACRE a "room" (as in "space") for growing ... crops? At all. This puzzle's idea of cleverness or wordplay or whatever, oof, you can have it
- 31D: Actress Samantha (EGGAR) — she has no iconic roles. Very much a real actress, but also very much crosswordese. Also, I get her confused with ... what was the name of the "Charles in Charge" / "Baywatch" actress? ... ahhhh, Nicole EGGERT. You all are *welcome* for this public service.
- 103A: 16501-16511 (ERIE, PA) — my nominee for absolute worst clue/answer combo of the year. Like, the Jordan/Pippin, Shaq/Kobe of awful clue/answers. Completely inscrutable numbers that literally no one outside of NW Pennsylvania will recognize (the clue = zip codes, in case that wasn't clear), and then the answer: classic stale city/state abbr. pairing. You never ever see, say, ENIDOK or RENONV or WACOTX, but omg ERIEPA ... The worst. Worst. Worst of the worst. Museum-quality junk.
P.S. 27A: Number of people in an office? (DENTIST) ... "Number" = "One who numbs"; such fun
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]