Constructor: David Levinson Wilk
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (I think ... I solved it on clipboard while watching basketball, so I don't really know, but it felt like it would've taken me a little longer than a typical Tuesday at full speed)
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THEME: word-LESS clues: — themers are phrases following the model ___-LESS ___; clues represent the answers literally, by removing from the clue all letters in the word that precedes -LESS in the answer. Thus:
Theme answers:
Ok so the first thing we should clear up is that the theme clues are actually frequently wrong if taken at the level of word meaning. That is, Oxygen difluoride not only has an odor, that odor is described on its wikipedia page as "peculiar, foul." A harrier is not, in fact, a hairless dog. Rhode Island Reds do, mostly, have heads, I'm sure. You can make your own call on the accuracy of the taxi drive and FDR answers. This isn't a fault of the theme. The theme works *solely* at the letter-level. Although ... now that I think about it, you can make a very good case that taxi drivers are, in fact, pretty tireless workers, and FDR was not just arguably fearless, he was the guy who delivered the Most Famous Quote Ever ever about the importance of being fearless: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." I think this gets to why I found the theme concept, in theory, kind of cute, but in practice, kind of clunky. The theme set felt very loose and arbitrary. Two of the answers seem apt descriptions of their clues, while three are demonstrably false. I dunno. It's fine. I did not hate this, by any means. It just feels a bit (ironically?) shaggy. But as I say, the concept is cute enough to carry it, and the fill, while in no way exciting, is not egregious. So this gets a passing grade from me.
But about that fill. Here's the thing. Sigh. OK, so this would've worked far, far better, I think, and been cleaner and more enjoyable, with four themers instead of five. Why? Well, five puts a lot of structural demands on the grid, and the way *this* grid has handled that burden is by going to a high (max) word count, which is *fine*, except in this case what that means is that ~95% of the non-theme fill is 3, 4, or 5 letters long. There are just four answers that are 6 letters long, and There Are No Answer Longer Than That. It is very hard, if not impossible, to create a grid with any life or personality or zazz or spark or whatever, when you're stuck with all short stuff. At that point, you're mostly just trying to be Not Terrible (and I think this puzzle succeeds at that). But if your highlights (outside the theme) are RASSLE GRAPES HALVES and BADASS, then I submit to you that you have exactly one actual highlight (BADASS), and even that is rather tame. It's not like this grid needed five themers. Seems like the kind of theme that could've run to a dozen. How many -LESS things are there in the world? A bunch, I'm guessing. And by a bunch I mean a ton, a lot, a slew, etc. The point is, the theme set was never ever going to be tight, so opting for four (rather than 5) themers and making a somewhat cleaner, someone snappier grid seems like it might've been the better option. Just a thought.
No real trouble today. Just CHART for GRAPH (1A: Boardroom easel display), and then real problems (still) getting WASH from 26D: Load of laundry—"laundry" and "WASH" feel like the equivalents, so having "Load" as your clue feels awkward. I forgot MSN existed at all, let alone as a [Browser option]. People (still) use that? Anyway, these were just minor stumbling blocks. Mostly it felt like an ordinary Tuesday in terms of difficulty.
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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (I think ... I solved it on clipboard while watching basketball, so I don't really know, but it felt like it would've taken me a little longer than a typical Tuesday at full speed)
Theme answers:
- ODORLESS GASS (17A: _xygen _iflu__ide) (because "oxygen difluoride" is a gas, so without the letters o, d, o, r, it's an ODORLESS GAS)
- TIRELESS WORKER (22A: _ax_ d_iv_r)
- HEADLESS CHICKEN (36A: R_od_ Isl_n_ Red)
- FEARLESS LEADER (46A: _ranklin D_l_no _ossevelt)
- HAIRLESS DOG (54A: __rr_e_)
The Harrier is a medium-sized dog breed of the hound class, used for hunting hares by trailing them. It resembles an English Foxhound but is smaller, though not as small as a Beagle. (wikipedia)
• • •
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| "But ... but ... I haz hair. My coat is ruff!" |
But about that fill. Here's the thing. Sigh. OK, so this would've worked far, far better, I think, and been cleaner and more enjoyable, with four themers instead of five. Why? Well, five puts a lot of structural demands on the grid, and the way *this* grid has handled that burden is by going to a high (max) word count, which is *fine*, except in this case what that means is that ~95% of the non-theme fill is 3, 4, or 5 letters long. There are just four answers that are 6 letters long, and There Are No Answer Longer Than That. It is very hard, if not impossible, to create a grid with any life or personality or zazz or spark or whatever, when you're stuck with all short stuff. At that point, you're mostly just trying to be Not Terrible (and I think this puzzle succeeds at that). But if your highlights (outside the theme) are RASSLE GRAPES HALVES and BADASS, then I submit to you that you have exactly one actual highlight (BADASS), and even that is rather tame. It's not like this grid needed five themers. Seems like the kind of theme that could've run to a dozen. How many -LESS things are there in the world? A bunch, I'm guessing. And by a bunch I mean a ton, a lot, a slew, etc. The point is, the theme set was never ever going to be tight, so opting for four (rather than 5) themers and making a somewhat cleaner, someone snappier grid seems like it might've been the better option. Just a thought.
No real trouble today. Just CHART for GRAPH (1A: Boardroom easel display), and then real problems (still) getting WASH from 26D: Load of laundry—"laundry" and "WASH" feel like the equivalents, so having "Load" as your clue feels awkward. I forgot MSN existed at all, let alone as a [Browser option]. People (still) use that? Anyway, these were just minor stumbling blocks. Mostly it felt like an ordinary Tuesday in terms of difficulty.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]