Constructor: Neville Fogarty
Relative difficulty: Medium (6:03)
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THEME: OVER!— circled squares each contain a letter which, when followed by "OVER," form the front ends of the theme answers (that they are, literally, over, i.e. on top of):
Theme answers:
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If there had been any way for to grasp what was going on before I was finished, maybe I would've enjoyed this. The gimmick is certainly clever. But from a solving standpoint, I was just filling in long Across answers with nonsense I didn't get, so that even though I completed it in a regular old Thursday time, the feeling was ... a bad one. I really wish the clues had been even a little more helpful. Usually in a puzzle like this, or in a rebus, I eventually hit an answer that makes me realize "Aha, *this* is what is going on!" That moment just never came today. Clues were all so vague as to be useless, or so bizarrely worded (see that ED BRIDGES clue) that, well, also useless. I started out wondering what SAND SHAKERS were and then things really went to hell. Ending up with EIGN STATE was just demoralizing. I saw the circled squares, but they just seemed randomly strewn about to me. I have no idea how I ended up solving it successfully in a respectable time. I guess that's the sign of a puzzle that, in all other respects, is well made. Fill is not showy, but it'll do. The theme just missed me. I can respect the construction, but I can't rewrite history and say that solving this was fun. ALAS.
Aside from, you know, never grasping the theme concept, there were two major slow-downs for me. First (and this is theme-related), I had E-GN-T--- for [Any member of the United Nations and I genuinely thought it was something (EGG?) NATION, which, now that I look at the clue again, I see was never going to fly. I guess when you get desperate, you forget that clue words can't actually be answer words. ALAS. Honestly, EIGN STATE was sooo rough for me. The other slow-down was HORN for HONK (54A: Traffic signal?). Weird how a little (plausible) thing like that can throw a wrench in things. I honestly broke down halfway through this thing and had to resort to roaming the vast empty areas of the south looking for any kind of toehold (which I finally got thanks to my good old friend John OATES (55D: Hall's singing partner)). Oh, and I just blanked on "ANNABEL LEE," even with ANNA in the grid; in fact, *because* ANNA was in the grid—since it's a complete name in and of itself, my brain didn't consider it might be part of a larger name. If I'd taken a few moments to hum the basic rhythm of the poem to myself, I probably would've hit on the title sooner, but when I'm solving I don't like to stop to do ... anything if I don't have to. No idea who ABNER was on "Bewitched." Can't even picture him. . . oh, looks like ABNER Kravitz was married to Gladys, who would always see the magic happening next door and then tell her husband ABNER to come look, but by then there would be no magic. Wah Waaaah. Even looking at ABNER I don't remember him. Gladys, though, is hard to forget:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium (6:03)
Theme answers:
- (M) over S AND SHAKERS (20A: Power players)
- (S) over EIGN STATE (30A: Any member of the United Nations)
- (C) over ED BRIDGES (49A: Wooden crossings that provide protection from the weather)
- (G) over NMENT AGENCY (58A: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, for one)
Balto (1919 – March 14, 1933) was a Siberian Husky and sled dog who led his team on the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome, in which diphtheria antitoxin was transported from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nenana, Alaska, by train and then to Nome by dog sled to combat an outbreak of the disease. Balto was named after the Sami explorer Samuel Balto. Balto rested at the Cleveland Zoo until his death on March 14, 1933, at the age of 14. After he died, his body was stuffed and kept in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where it remains today. (wikipedia)
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Aside from, you know, never grasping the theme concept, there were two major slow-downs for me. First (and this is theme-related), I had E-GN-T--- for [Any member of the United Nations and I genuinely thought it was something (EGG?) NATION, which, now that I look at the clue again, I see was never going to fly. I guess when you get desperate, you forget that clue words can't actually be answer words. ALAS. Honestly, EIGN STATE was sooo rough for me. The other slow-down was HORN for HONK (54A: Traffic signal?). Weird how a little (plausible) thing like that can throw a wrench in things. I honestly broke down halfway through this thing and had to resort to roaming the vast empty areas of the south looking for any kind of toehold (which I finally got thanks to my good old friend John OATES (55D: Hall's singing partner)). Oh, and I just blanked on "ANNABEL LEE," even with ANNA in the grid; in fact, *because* ANNA was in the grid—since it's a complete name in and of itself, my brain didn't consider it might be part of a larger name. If I'd taken a few moments to hum the basic rhythm of the poem to myself, I probably would've hit on the title sooner, but when I'm solving I don't like to stop to do ... anything if I don't have to. No idea who ABNER was on "Bewitched." Can't even picture him. . . oh, looks like ABNER Kravitz was married to Gladys, who would always see the magic happening next door and then tell her husband ABNER to come look, but by then there would be no magic. Wah Waaaah. Even looking at ABNER I don't remember him. Gladys, though, is hard to forget:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]