Constructor: Adam Aaronson
Relative difficulty: Easy (5:06)
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THEME: WORLD WAR III (YES SIREE BOB!) — jk there's no theme
Word of the Day:"OCTOBER SKY" (17A: Movie based on the memoir "Rocket Boys" (and an anagram of "Rocket Boys") —
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First things first: Yes, the WORLD WAR III answer is freakishly coincidental considering people have been hypothesizing about it since the US killed the second-most powerful Iranian two days ago (seriously WORLD WAR III was a #1 trending topic on Twitter). But it's just a coincidence and there is no actual WORLD WAR III or anything like it yet and even though we have literally the dumbest person as president and terrible things will continue to happen daily under his watch, the WORLD WAR III hysteria strikes me as a little premature, if not, uh, hysterical. Coincidences happen, this is one of them. The end. ON THAT NOTE, let's look at the puzzle: it's good! This is a debut from a college student, so good for him! It played much faster than Friday for me (I had a fastish Friday time today, and a regular Saturday time on Friday, so basically the days were flipped for me, difficulty-wise). I got off to a ridiculously good start, so even though I floundered a bit later on, I still ended up with a well below-average time (well, above-average in terms of how good it was, below-average in terms of the actual time ... you get what I mean, I hope). SHOT TOSS WACO, 1 2 3, and then even though I don't really *remember* "OCTOBER SKY," having the "OC-" and then knowing it was an anagram of "Rocket Boys" made it very easy to get. All the Downs coming out of the NW were easy, and for a while there I really thought I was on my way to a possible record Saturday. Then I hit the eastern section and things stalled out completely. SUZETTE (38A: Served in a sauce made with orange juice, sugar and Grand Marnier) PIGEON (43A: Mark) and TURNT (47A: Excited, in modern slang) were all invisible to me until very late, largely because of my struggle to get LIKE BUTTON (12D: Support mechanism?), which I couldn't make into anything except LIKE BUTTER ... :(
After stalling in the east, I ... well, I must've somehow gotten BEGUILING, because I know I got LICK off the "L," then KNEE and COOP (which was wrong—it's COTE) (55D: Animal shelter). Oh, right—I sort of went down the west and middle of the grid, and eventually got WORLD WAR III because I had the WAR part from crosses. Anyway, I went from WORLD WAR III to ZITI and finished off that pesky east, then finally took care of the SE by coming at it from both sides. Finally got past my TRICIA-for-TRISHA error, and I was done. Weakest part of this, in my opinion, was the SW, where both long Downs felt weakish, in different ways—PILLOW LACE for being somewhat esoteric (27D: Textile made using bobbins), ALL ABOUT ME for feeling rightish but not exactly right (28D: Bio header). Like, yes, you could make that your bio header, but you could just as easily make it About Me. In fact, your bio is unlikely to tell anyone *ALL* about you. But still, both those answers were gettable, and overall I thought the puzzle was very entertaining. Is INT short for "integer"? I hope so. Otherwise I have no idea what's going on there. If there's one thing I'm never going to be super-thrilled to see in a grid, it's "coding lingo," but whatever, the world belongs to the coders, I guess. I'll deal.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy (5:06)
Word of the Day:"OCTOBER SKY" (17A: Movie based on the memoir "Rocket Boys" (and an anagram of "Rocket Boys") —
October Sky is a 1999 American biographical drama film directed by Joe Johnston, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen, and Laura Dern. It is based on the true story of Homer H. Hickam, Jr., a coal miner's son who was inspired by the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 to take up rocketry against his father's wishes and eventually became a NASA engineer.October Sky is based on the lives of four young men who grew up in Coalwood, West Virginia. Most of the film was shot in rural East Tennessee, including Oliver Springs, Harriman and Kingston in Morgan and Roane counties. The movie received a positive critical reception and is still celebrated in the regions of its setting and filming. (wikipedia)
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After stalling in the east, I ... well, I must've somehow gotten BEGUILING, because I know I got LICK off the "L," then KNEE and COOP (which was wrong—it's COTE) (55D: Animal shelter). Oh, right—I sort of went down the west and middle of the grid, and eventually got WORLD WAR III because I had the WAR part from crosses. Anyway, I went from WORLD WAR III to ZITI and finished off that pesky east, then finally took care of the SE by coming at it from both sides. Finally got past my TRICIA-for-TRISHA error, and I was done. Weakest part of this, in my opinion, was the SW, where both long Downs felt weakish, in different ways—PILLOW LACE for being somewhat esoteric (27D: Textile made using bobbins), ALL ABOUT ME for feeling rightish but not exactly right (28D: Bio header). Like, yes, you could make that your bio header, but you could just as easily make it About Me. In fact, your bio is unlikely to tell anyone *ALL* about you. But still, both those answers were gettable, and overall I thought the puzzle was very entertaining. Is INT short for "integer"? I hope so. Otherwise I have no idea what's going on there. If there's one thing I'm never going to be super-thrilled to see in a grid, it's "coding lingo," but whatever, the world belongs to the coders, I guess. I'll deal.
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| dictionary.com |
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]