Constructor: Will Nediger
Relative difficulty: Easy (8:58)
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THEME:"Stressed Out"— themers are familiar two-word phrases, clued as if first word had the "stress" on the second syllable rather than the first—thus, wacky "?" clues:
Theme answers:
HELLO, READERS AND FELLOW SOLVERS. It's early January and that means it's time for my annual pitch for financial contributions to the blog, during which I ask regular readers to consider what the blog is worth to them on an annual basis and give accordingly. It's kind of a melancholy January this year, what with the world in, let's say, turmoil. Also, on a personal note, 2019 was the year I lost Dutchess, who was officially The Best Dog, and who was with me well before I was "Rex Parker." Somehow the turning of the calendar to 2020 felt like ... I was leaving her behind. It's not a rational sentiment, but love's not rational, especially pet love. Speaking of love—I try hard to bring a passion and enthusiasm to our shared pastime every time I sit down to this here keyboard. I love what I do here, but it is a lot of work, put in at terrible hours—I'm either writing late at night, or very early in the morning, so that I can have the blog up and ready to go by the time your day starts (9am at the very latest, usually much earlier). I have no major expenses, just my time. Well, I do pay Annabel and Claire, respectively, to write for me once a month, but beyond that, it's just my time. This blog is a source of joy and genuine community to me (and I hope to you) but it is also work, and this is the time of year when I acknowledge that! All I want to do is write and make that writing available to everyone, for free, no restrictions. I have heard any number of suggestions over the years about how I might "monetize" (oof, that word) the blog, but honestly, the only one I want anything to do with is the one I already use—once a year, for one week, I just ask readers to contribute directly. And then I let 51 weeks go by before I bring up the subject again. No ads, no gimmicks. It's just me creating this thing and then people who enjoy the thing supporting the work that goes into creating the thing. It's simple. I like simple. Your support means a lot to me. Knowing that I have a loyal readership really is the gas in the tank, the thing that keeps me solving and writing and never missing a day for 13+ years. I will continue to post the solved grid every day, tell you my feelings about the puzzle every day, make you laugh or wince or furrow your brow or shout at your screen every day, bring you news from the Wider World of Crosswords (beyond the NYT) every day. The Word of the Day is: Quotidian. Occurring every day. Daily. Whether you choose to contribute or not, I'm all yours. Daily.
How much should you give? Whatever you think the blog is worth to you on a yearly basis. Whatever that amount is is fantastic. Some people refuse to pay for what they can get for free. Others just don't have money to spare. All are welcome to read the blog—the site will always be open and free. But if you are able to express your appreciation monetarily, here are two options. First, a Paypal button (which you can also find in the blog sidebar):
Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton, NY 13905
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All Paypal contributions will be gratefully acknowledged by email. All snail mail contributions will be gratefully acknowledged with hand-written postcards. I. Love. Snail Mail. I love seeing your gorgeous handwriting and then sending you my awful handwriting. It's all so wonderful. This year's cards are illustrations from the covers of classic Puffin Books—Penguin's children's book imprint. Watership Down, Charlotte's Web, The Phantom Tollbooth, A Wrinkle in Time, How to Play Cricket ... you know, the classics. There are a hundred different covers and they are truly gorgeous. Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just say NO CARD. As ever, I'm so grateful for your readership and support.
Now on to the puzzle!
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This is very much a Sunday puzzle. Feels like every (competent) Sunday puzzle I've ever done, ever. Take some familiar phrases and then wackify them in some way via the clues!? Presto change-o Theme-O! It all works fine, it's totally inoffensive, but there's remarkably little joy in the solving endeavor. What I liked most was seeing PROJECT GUTENBERG get some grid-time! It's such a great resource. Free ebooks galore! Especially if your tastes turn toward Things In The Public Domain! The new year brings new items (specifically, stuff from 1924! Here's Hemingway's In Our Time, for instance). PROJECT GUTENBERG is fantastic for finding the oddest long-out-of-print stuff, as well as classic stuff you've always been meaning to read but haven't. Not sure why I'm doing PR for them right now, but free books is free books. The other themers were (YO HO) ho hum to me. The fill was for the most part very smooth and solid, if nothing at all to write home about (I love the idea that you all are up all hours of the night handwriting letters to ma by candlelight: "Dearest Mother, the crossword etc."). I will say, though, that this puzzle *has* drawn my attention to the funny (STRANGE funny, not "haha" funny) phenomenon of nouns/adjectives being accented on first syllable and verbs being accented on the second. Every one of these themers doesn't just have shift in stress; it also goes from noun or adj. phrase to verb phrase, every time. Or an imperative (i.e. command) phrase. Are those also considered "verb phrases"? Well, the restress turns the first word into a verb in every case, is my point.
I had little moments of struggle, but just little. No big. Not even a medium. LARDS was a weird way to begin (1A: Stuffs with bacon, say)—not a word I use very often. But once I got that sorted, whoosh I was gone. Some issues turning the corner at URGES, which I just couldn't see (41A: Subjects of "birds and bees" talks). I had SEXES, though that seemed wrong. URGES also seems kind of wrong, since "birds and bees" talks tend to be about facts of reproduction rather than general horniness, right? I don't remember my "birds and bees" talk. I was taught about basic clinical facts of sex very early. The more embarrassing URGES part ... I don't remember that. Actually ... scratch that. I do remember one particularly embarrassing impromptu lecture about [CENSORED] that I inadvertently taped because I was taping music off the radio using an old-fashioned cassette recorder (this is ~1979?). My god I wish I'd kept that tape. Where was I? Oh, URGES, right. Sure, I guess it's fine. But I struggled to get it, as I say.
I also struggled to get POOLTOY (so many noodles in the world!), and, above all, ANATOLE (81A: French France); I kept looking for some French word for "state" or "country," but it's just ANATOLE France, a writer whom no one really knows any more. I know him only because I collect old paperbacks and so I've seen his name here and there.
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Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy (8:58)
Theme answers:
- "PROJECT, GUTENBERG!" (23A: "We can't hear you in the back, Johannes!"?)
- PRESENT COMPANY (38A: Put on a production of a classic Sondheim musical?)
- PERFECT SCORES (47A: What composers do when they add the finishing touches?)
- PRODUCE LABELS (66A: What workers at the sticker factory do?)
- CONTRACT TERMS (86A: Shorten words like "forecastle" and "boatswain"?)
- DISCOUNT STORES (94A: Ignore what you have in reserve while taking inventory?)
- "CONVERSE, ALL-STARS!" (111A: Encouragement at an N.B.A. mixer?)
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books. The Project tries to make these as free as possible, in long-lasting, open formats that can be used on almost any computer. As of 23 June 2018, Project Gutenberg reached 57,000 items in its collection of free eBooks.The releases are available in plain text but, wherever possible, other formats are included, such as HTML, PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and Plucker. Most releases are in the English language, but many non-English works are also available. There are multiple affiliated projects that are providing additional content, including regional and language-specific works. Project Gutenberg is also closely affiliated with Distributed Proofreaders, an Internet-based community for proofreading scanned texts. (wikipedia)
• • •
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| Dutchess, 2002-2019 |
How much should you give? Whatever you think the blog is worth to you on a yearly basis. Whatever that amount is is fantastic. Some people refuse to pay for what they can get for free. Others just don't have money to spare. All are welcome to read the blog—the site will always be open and free. But if you are able to express your appreciation monetarily, here are two options. First, a Paypal button (which you can also find in the blog sidebar):
Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton, NY 13905
Now on to the puzzle!
• • •
I had little moments of struggle, but just little. No big. Not even a medium. LARDS was a weird way to begin (1A: Stuffs with bacon, say)—not a word I use very often. But once I got that sorted, whoosh I was gone. Some issues turning the corner at URGES, which I just couldn't see (41A: Subjects of "birds and bees" talks). I had SEXES, though that seemed wrong. URGES also seems kind of wrong, since "birds and bees" talks tend to be about facts of reproduction rather than general horniness, right? I don't remember my "birds and bees" talk. I was taught about basic clinical facts of sex very early. The more embarrassing URGES part ... I don't remember that. Actually ... scratch that. I do remember one particularly embarrassing impromptu lecture about [CENSORED] that I inadvertently taped because I was taping music off the radio using an old-fashioned cassette recorder (this is ~1979?). My god I wish I'd kept that tape. Where was I? Oh, URGES, right. Sure, I guess it's fine. But I struggled to get it, as I say.
I also struggled to get POOLTOY (so many noodles in the world!), and, above all, ANATOLE (81A: French France); I kept looking for some French word for "state" or "country," but it's just ANATOLE France, a writer whom no one really knows any more. I know him only because I collect old paperbacks and so I've seen his name here and there.
I had FOAL for COLT (92A: Certain yearling) and (thus) ENROL for ENACT (68D: Put on the books). I confused the HESSIANS with the ESSENES (!) and wrote in HESSENES at first, so that was weird—but easily fixable (85D: Defenders in the Battle of Trenton). That's all I really have to say about this one. Cannot fault it, did not love it. Hope you had stronger feelings, one way or the other, than I did.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]