Constructor: Ross Trudeau
Relative difficulty: Mediumish (untimed, clipboard solve)
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THEME: USED FURNITURE (52A: Some garage sale goods ... or what the answers at 15-, 19-, 33-, 41- and 62-Across have done) — circled squares inside each theme answers contain (or "use," I guess) pieces of furniture:
Theme answers:
I do not understand the decision even to have AL COWLINGS in your wordlist, let alone put him in a puzzle. Here's something I never want to see in my crosswords: a white Bronco clue. I don't want to be reminded of the brutal murders, or, rather, I don't want to have the clue just drive by those murders as if they didn't happen, as if "white Bronco" were just some random part of our historical memories and didn't evoke a whole scene of extreme violence and domestic abuse. I mean, dear lord, even if you (somehow) actually believe "OJ is innocent!" ... the physical and mental abuse of his wife was real enough. And you want to put his pal's full name in my grid? Pass. Hard pass. Like, f*** allllll of this. Once you've dropped the white Bronco in my puzzle, I'm not gonna enjoy another second. All I am thinking now is "What the hell were *you* thinking?" Too sensitive? Too bad. You're not gonna casually evoke extreme violence (esp. toward women) and not hear about it. I don't care if I am the only one standing here shouting that friends of extreme domestic abusers can all stay the **** out of my puzzles, thank you very much. Just me? Fine. Just me. Now you know. "Famously" drove a white Bronco?! That is some kind of whitewashing. That corner was already kinda ugly, with the stupid weekday letter-string MTWTF (9D: Daily run, for short?), but that white Bronco clue is its own special brand of ugly.
Didn't care for the theme. NIGHTSTAND is hilariously not hiding in its answer. I mean, technically none of the furniture is hiding, because the circled squares flag their positions, but at least all the other furniture is pretty discreetly buried inside their respective theme answers. But with poor NIGHTSTAND ... All those circled squares ... it's like watching a bear trying to hide behind a tricycle. "DO-BE-DO-BE-DO" was spelled weird, to my ear (eye?). But mainly I just didn't care. Here's some furniture. Shrug. Fill-wise, things were a little rough. ALL RED feels ... odd. Off. Antiquated? Not sure. I get it, you're blushing, you're ALL RED. But I've never heard someone actually say it (66A: Totally embarrassed). P-WAVE is the kind of thing you put in your grid because you really want to debut an answer, but you've mistaken firstness for goodness. P-WAVE isn't good for a host of reasons, not least of which is that, once you get it, if you've never heard of it (and that's gonna be a lot of you–it was definitely me), you have no idea what the "P" even means. Like, it's a useless fact that's not graspable in any way without looking it up. Not everything new is good. P-WAVE seems fine if you're desperate on a Saturday, say, but just dropping it in a Wednesday is some ostentatious "look-at-my-wordlist!" nonsense. Fair hiring is good, but [Fair-hiring initials] will always be bad fill, not just because EEO is ugly desperate all-vowel fill, but because EOE also fits the clue. Same clue can be used for two equally uninspiring initialisms. Blargh. I will never not mention that TMC is not a channel anyone cares about and is nowhere near HBO *or* SHO in its importance or fame. Also, The Movie Channel *is owned by* Showtime Networks, sooooo ..... "alternative" is true only insofar as yes, TMC and Showtime are different channels, technically. The point is, TCM yes, TMC no. This is my one true prejudice. Sorry not sorry.
SLAM POET is a nice answer. HOTFOOT as well (20D: Hurry, with "it"). And my alma mater is in the grid, which is fun. So it wasn't all low points. But that first low point was So Low.
That's all.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Mediumish (untimed, clipboard solve)
Theme answers:
- CATCH AIR (15A: Get some major hang time, in snowboarding lingo)
- ONE NIGHT STAND (19A: Brief hookup)
- WORKS OF ART (33A: "The Scream" and "The Kiss," for two)
- DO-BE-DO-BE-DO (41A: Nonsense line sung by Frank Sinatra in "Strangers in the Night")
- SLAM POET (62A: Verses-vs.-verses competitor)
A P-wave is one of the two main types of elastic body waves, called seismic waves in seismology. P-waves travel faster than other seismic waves and hence are the first signal from an earthquake to arrive at any affected location or at a seismograph. P-waves may be transmitted through gases, liquids, or solids. // The name P-wave can stand for either pressure wave (as it is formed from alternating compressions and rarefactions) or primary wave (as it has high velocity and is therefore the first wave to be recorded by a seismograph). (wikipedia)
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| one angry sagehen |
Didn't care for the theme. NIGHTSTAND is hilariously not hiding in its answer. I mean, technically none of the furniture is hiding, because the circled squares flag their positions, but at least all the other furniture is pretty discreetly buried inside their respective theme answers. But with poor NIGHTSTAND ... All those circled squares ... it's like watching a bear trying to hide behind a tricycle. "DO-BE-DO-BE-DO" was spelled weird, to my ear (eye?). But mainly I just didn't care. Here's some furniture. Shrug. Fill-wise, things were a little rough. ALL RED feels ... odd. Off. Antiquated? Not sure. I get it, you're blushing, you're ALL RED. But I've never heard someone actually say it (66A: Totally embarrassed). P-WAVE is the kind of thing you put in your grid because you really want to debut an answer, but you've mistaken firstness for goodness. P-WAVE isn't good for a host of reasons, not least of which is that, once you get it, if you've never heard of it (and that's gonna be a lot of you–it was definitely me), you have no idea what the "P" even means. Like, it's a useless fact that's not graspable in any way without looking it up. Not everything new is good. P-WAVE seems fine if you're desperate on a Saturday, say, but just dropping it in a Wednesday is some ostentatious "look-at-my-wordlist!" nonsense. Fair hiring is good, but [Fair-hiring initials] will always be bad fill, not just because EEO is ugly desperate all-vowel fill, but because EOE also fits the clue. Same clue can be used for two equally uninspiring initialisms. Blargh. I will never not mention that TMC is not a channel anyone cares about and is nowhere near HBO *or* SHO in its importance or fame. Also, The Movie Channel *is owned by* Showtime Networks, sooooo ..... "alternative" is true only insofar as yes, TMC and Showtime are different channels, technically. The point is, TCM yes, TMC no. This is my one true prejudice. Sorry not sorry.
SLAM POET is a nice answer. HOTFOOT as well (20D: Hurry, with "it"). And my alma mater is in the grid, which is fun. So it wasn't all low points. But that first low point was So Low.
That's all.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]