Constructor: Andrea Carla Michaels
Relative difficulty: Hard
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THEME: NOTHING — Theme answers start with a synonym for "nothing."
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: IBSEN ("A Doll's House" playwright Henrik) —
This is the first puzzle in the New York Times' week of women constructors. Every puzzle this week will be constructed by a woman, to mark Women's History Month. I think that's pretty cool! I hope next year they take it up a notch, like Universal Crossword, which is using only woman-constructed puzzles this much in what they're calling "Women's March." I like that, and honestly I think the NYT has a lot further to go in terms of female inclusion than a single week--but I am definitely grateful for that week!
Back to the puzzle. Whoof, a tough Monday. ERMA Bombeck and ZERO MOSTEL had me stuck for a while because they didn't have super helpful crosses, and for some reason the bottom corner also had me clueless (or should I say HINTless); I had GRAN for NANA and SYMPATHETIC instead of SYMPATHIZER. But the difficulty is good for people who like a little bit of a challenge to start the week off. I just happen to like easing into the week. Fill was pretty interesting, not too many typical Monday words (lookin' at you, though, EON). I liked the Krazy Kat reference. Oh, and I've never heard anyone say they "don't give A RAP."
I thought for sure the "Forget about it!" in the theme clue was going to be some kind of New York "fuhgeddaboutit" thing. The combination of "nothing" synonyms was a little weird--it's typically ZERO, ZIP, NADA, right, not ZERO, ZIP, SQUAT? A perfectly serviceable Monday theme nevertheless. It would have been nice if such a tough puzzle had a theme that was a little more interesting, but that's okay.
Bullets:
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Relative difficulty: Hard
THEME: NOTHING — Theme answers start with a synonym for "nothing."
Theme answers:
- ZIPPO LIGHTER (20A: Butane-filled item for smokers)
- SQUAT JUMPS (27A: Exercises that work the glutes, quads and abs)
- ZERO MOSTEL (47A: Star of Broadway's "Fiddler on the Roof")
- NOTHING DOING (53A: "Forget about it!" ...or a clue to the starts of 20-, 27- and 43-Across)
Word of the Day: IBSEN ("A Doll's House" playwright Henrik) —
Henrik Johan Ibsen (/ˈɪbsən/;[1] Norwegian: [ˈhɛ̀nrɪk ˈɪ̀psn̩]; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playwrights of his time.[2] His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, When We Dead Awaken, Rosmersholm, and The Master Builder. He is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare,[3][4] and A Doll's House was the world's most performed play in 2006.[5](Wikipedia)
• • •
Hi, it's Annabel! If I seem extra tired that's because I moved into my first apartment today! It's so exciting. I'm living with a few housemates, but other than that, hey, it's all mine! This GRAD is GROWing.This is the first puzzle in the New York Times' week of women constructors. Every puzzle this week will be constructed by a woman, to mark Women's History Month. I think that's pretty cool! I hope next year they take it up a notch, like Universal Crossword, which is using only woman-constructed puzzles this much in what they're calling "Women's March." I like that, and honestly I think the NYT has a lot further to go in terms of female inclusion than a single week--but I am definitely grateful for that week!
The Universal Crossword's #WomensMarch starts today! Each of the 36 puzzles this month has been constructed by a different woman or pair of women. Below is a visual of the constructors' names that our creative services team at @AndrewsMcMeel put together. Happy solving! pic.twitter.com/IcZaspzM0a— David Steinberg (@dsteinberg49) March 1, 2020
Back to the puzzle. Whoof, a tough Monday. ERMA Bombeck and ZERO MOSTEL had me stuck for a while because they didn't have super helpful crosses, and for some reason the bottom corner also had me clueless (or should I say HINTless); I had GRAN for NANA and SYMPATHETIC instead of SYMPATHIZER. But the difficulty is good for people who like a little bit of a challenge to start the week off. I just happen to like easing into the week. Fill was pretty interesting, not too many typical Monday words (lookin' at you, though, EON). I liked the Krazy Kat reference. Oh, and I've never heard anyone say they "don't give A RAP."
I thought for sure the "Forget about it!" in the theme clue was going to be some kind of New York "fuhgeddaboutit" thing. The combination of "nothing" synonyms was a little weird--it's typically ZERO, ZIP, NADA, right, not ZERO, ZIP, SQUAT? A perfectly serviceable Monday theme nevertheless. It would have been nice if such a tough puzzle had a theme that was a little more interesting, but that's okay.
Bullets:
- TAS (22D: Profs' aides) — There's actually another way to clue this. TAS is short for Tool-Assisted Speedrun, which means programming a computer to beat a video game by hitting inputs way faster than a human ever could. It's a really cool rabbit hole to go down. Check it out:
- ERMA (35A: "At wit's end" humorist Bombeck — "Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart." - Erma Bombeck
- ELSA (65A: Singer of "Let It Go" in Disney's "Frozen") — Andrea Carla Michaels, why would you bring this back?!?! Now I'm gonna have "Into The Unknown" stuck in my head for a week.
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[Follow Annabel Thompson on Twitter]