Constructor: Sally Hoelscher
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (2:52)
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THEME: recent First Ladies, clued via their memoirs for some reason
Theme answers:
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The word is NUBBY. I spent more time, far and away more time, trying to grasp this answer than I did on anything else (it's an easy puzzle). That damn extra "L," yikes. If you think this is just a straightforward matter, LOL, here is the literal first page of hits when I google [define nubbly]:
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Notice that NUBBY (no "L") is the third dang hit, and KNUBBLY (what the!?) is fourth. If this tells you nothing else, it's that none of these are words and they should never be used ever, amen. The fact that NUBBLY is standing alongside GLUEY (?) doesn't help matters. If you want to keep a low profile, don't associate with known felons (I see you, GLUEY). But let's talk about the theme: it is pretty weak. A bunch of First Ladies' names can be arranged symmetrically and so ... here we are. The memoir title thing gives it ... an angle, I guess ... but this was just fill-in-the-First-Lady. Pretty boring. And the fill was definitely subpar throughout, especially in the south. Those corners are pretty inexcusable. A little editing elbow grease woulda gotten the muck right out, but that's not really how this editing team rolls. AGA / AMESS is in fact a mess, and the SE, woof, with MDSE x/w ISS over DEE, it's already weak even before the absolutely baffling and unforgivable OVUM / OVOID crossing. Those words are related. They have the same root. What are you even doing here?! Absolutely not. I wouldn't even put them in the same grid together, let alone *cross* them. Then there's the glut of other GLUEY stuff throughout the grid like EKE ERMAS USAIR RAH ESSEN SITU ATA AME etc. There is indeed A LOT OF it. This one needed the theme to be snappier and the grid to be a lot more polished overall. And that is that.
Had I'M SORRY before OH, SORRY (30A: "I apologize!") but beyond that (and the whole NUBBLY fiasco), no significant errors or hold-ups.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (2:52)
Theme answers:
- LAURA BUSH (17A: Author of the memoir "Spoken from the Heart" (2010))
- ROSALYNN CARTER (23A: Author of the memoir "First Lady from Plains" (1984))
- MICHELLE OBAMA (36A: Author of the memoir "Becoming" (2018))
- HILLARY CLINTON (47A: Author of the memoir "Living History" (2003))
- BETTY FORD (59A: Author of the memoir "The Times of My Life" (1978))
adj. nub·bli·er, nub·bli·est
(thefreedictionary.com)
• • •
Notice that NUBBY (no "L") is the third dang hit, and KNUBBLY (what the!?) is fourth. If this tells you nothing else, it's that none of these are words and they should never be used ever, amen. The fact that NUBBLY is standing alongside GLUEY (?) doesn't help matters. If you want to keep a low profile, don't associate with known felons (I see you, GLUEY). But let's talk about the theme: it is pretty weak. A bunch of First Ladies' names can be arranged symmetrically and so ... here we are. The memoir title thing gives it ... an angle, I guess ... but this was just fill-in-the-First-Lady. Pretty boring. And the fill was definitely subpar throughout, especially in the south. Those corners are pretty inexcusable. A little editing elbow grease woulda gotten the muck right out, but that's not really how this editing team rolls. AGA / AMESS is in fact a mess, and the SE, woof, with MDSE x/w ISS over DEE, it's already weak even before the absolutely baffling and unforgivable OVUM / OVOID crossing. Those words are related. They have the same root. What are you even doing here?! Absolutely not. I wouldn't even put them in the same grid together, let alone *cross* them. Then there's the glut of other GLUEY stuff throughout the grid like EKE ERMAS USAIR RAH ESSEN SITU ATA AME etc. There is indeed A LOT OF it. This one needed the theme to be snappier and the grid to be a lot more polished overall. And that is that.
Had I'M SORRY before OH, SORRY (30A: "I apologize!") but beyond that (and the whole NUBBLY fiasco), no significant errors or hold-ups.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]