Constructor: Emily Carroll
Relative difficulty: Easy (time irrelevant as I still don't have the rebus-function on my solving software down pat yet, so I had to figure out the keystroke pattern and kept getting it wrong ... so I restarted time but at that point I was about a quarter done with the grid ... I dunno, rebuses are weird, time-wise depending on how you're doing the multiple-letter thing; point is, it was not hard)
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THEME: PLAY HIDE AND SEEK (40A: Participate in a common children's game, as illustrated in this puzzle) — IT is in the NW corner, ME is in the SE corner, and various squares in between contain temperatures representing the relative distance of that square from ME (farthest away = COLD; next closest = COOL, next closest = WARM; closest = HOT)
Theme answers:
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Got the rebus thing instantly with IT COUPLE. Well, "got" may be an overstatement, as I wasn't entirely sure, but IT COUPLE was my first guess, and though I didn't get the "IT'S A JOB" cross right away, IT felt like a probably opener. After that, the rebus squares seemed like random words to me. I got COOL next and had no idea what COOL had to do with IT ... although, I guess IT is cool, in the sense of IT COUPLE. Like ... people think they're cool!? OK. Puzzle's not giving me any trouble yet, so I just roll with it. Then I get the COLD square and I really give up on understanding this thing. Even After Getting The Revealer, I had no idea what the rebus squares are about, which leads me to the one big thing that keeps this puzzle from working: the whole COLD, WARM, HOT thing has (and I can't say this strongly enough) *nothing* to do with playing hide-and-seek. This puzzle conflates two related but decidedly different games: hide-and-seek and some variation of hunt-the-thimble (where an *object* is hidden and someone tries to find it while being given the familiar temperature clues). Yes, you could say that figuratively the seeker (IT) is cool, warm, etc., but that is definitely not not not part of the game. It's too bad that it's off, because I like the idea. It's a cute and ambitious concept, and it's pretty neatly executed. It's a nice variation on the rebus puzzle. But the fact that hide-and-seek just doesn't work this way is really hard to see past.
Too bad the theme clunks, because the grid looks pretty good. Pretty good except for:
Issues:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy (time irrelevant as I still don't have the rebus-function on my solving software down pat yet, so I had to figure out the keystroke pattern and kept getting it wrong ... so I restarted time but at that point I was about a quarter done with the grid ... I dunno, rebuses are weird, time-wise depending on how you're doing the multiple-letter thing; point is, it was not hard)
Theme answers:
- IT COUPLE / "IT'S A JOB"
- GO COLD / COLD SHOWER
- "BE COOL" / COOLIO
- WARM UP / WARMS TO
- RED HOT / HOT TEA
- "LEAN ON ME" / COVER ME
1: a complex poison of South American Indians used on arrow tips that causes muscle relaxation and paralysis, includes various substances of plant and animal origin, and typically contains an alkaloid extracted from one of two South American vines (Strychnos toxifera of the family Loganiaceae or Chondodendron tomentosum of the family Menispermaceae) as the primary active ingredient (wikipedia)
• • •
Too bad the theme clunks, because the grid looks pretty good. Pretty good except for:
Issues:
- EDILE (59D: Official of ancient Rome)— fine, it's a term, but it's a bit of an obscurity and reeks of the Maleskan era. Really stands out (badly) in a grid that's otherwise pretty free of old crosswordese.
- TEHEES (10D: Snickers) — I will never come around on even the singular TEHEE, to say nothing of the plural. I've only ever heard the vowel sounds in the first and second syllable as the same, a long "E," so that one-"E"'d first syllable is always going to feel wrong to me.
- NON-PC (52A: Like much stand-up comedy)— as *I* have said, for years now, the concept of PC, and the answers UNPC and NONPC, are guh-arbage. The term "PC" was made up by racist sexist homophobic ****s who wanted to continue to be able to say racist sexist homphobic things while never hearing criticism. Someone is only being "PC" when they're put off by something *you're* not put off by. But your sensitivities are probably just fine. Manly and patriotic, even. Whatever. You can shove allllll the "PC"-related answers very very far ... away.
Nothing else bugged me that much.
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