Constructor: John-Clark Levin and Jeff Chen
Relative difficulty: Challenging (5:46, which is around my average Friday time) (def played like a Thursday for me) (though it is oversized, at 15x16, so that will account at least a teeny bit of slowness) (maybe it's Medium-Challenging, I don't know)
![]()
THEME: HEAD TO TOE (34A: Complete ... as literally suggested by the four symmetrical pairs of answers to the starred clues) — for each symmetrical pair, you take the first letter of the word on the western side of the grid and move it to the bottom of the word to get the word that appears on the eastern side of the grid; thus, you move the top letter (HEAD) to the bottom position (TOE) to get the second answer in the pair:
Theme answers:
![]()
Felt misplaced on a Wednesday. The oversizedness probably contributed to the overall feeling of slowness, but I was stuck far more than usual on a Wednesday, which would've been fine, except too often my experience on getting released from stuckness was not "oh" or "aha" but "really?" and "sure, I guess, whatever." Most of this shruggish feeling came from a very small plot of land at the top of the grid. No idea on GO SEEK for the longest time (a horrid stand-alone answer); thought maybe ACRID for ACERB (7D: Bitter); forgot if it was EFREM or EFRON (the latter is Zac, sigh) (21A: Violinist Zimbalist); baffled by question-like phrasing on "AM I BEAT" (25A: "Whew! What a tiring day!"); never heard of a RED FIN (6D: Distinctively colored freshwater fish); impossible to see that the clue on AMIE wanted a French answer (25D: One who might become a fiancée); couldn't see EMANATE (wanted EMIT ... something something); and had TAPE instead of TIVO for a bit (26D: Record for later, in a way). Just a slog and a grind, that whole part. Grindslog! The rest of the puzzle seemed somewhat more in keeping with standard Wednesday difficulty levels, though ... I misspelled GRIFFON thusly (ugh), and thus could Not see LINEMAN (28A: Tackle, for one). I wasn't sure about the last two letters of ROSTAND's name (considered ROSTARD). I've probably seen END PIN before but it's not a term that comes readily to mind, and I needed many letters to get it. By the time it was all done, I was well over a minute over my usual Wednesday time and I still had no idea what the theme was all about. Took me forever (so, maybe a minute?) after I finished to "get" the theme, and there just wasn't enough wow there. It's a variation on anagrams. OK. The OLD SOUTH is such a vibe-wrecker of an answer ("antebellum" is just a pretty way of saying "slave-holding" as far as I'm concerned) that there was really no coming back from it. The one-letter wordplay just wasn't enough to make the experience feel good or pleasant.
OTTER is an anagram of TORTE. This has nothing to do with the puzzle theme, but I just noticed it, so I thought I'd point it out. I'm pretty sure (i.e. certain) that the [Top of an espresso] is the CREMA, not FROTH, which ... I guess you could use that word to describe the top of a cappuccino, though I'd go with "foam."FROTH is something you do at the mouth if you're angry and maybe want to AVENGE something. So the coffee clue missed. The grape leaves clue, though, that's nice. Tasty. I like DOLMA. I had some today (35D: Stuffed grape leaves). There's a great Greek restaurant that sells food at the local farmer's market here in Binghamton. You don't need to know this, but I'm just trying to think of nice things right now, to pass the time.
For all y'all who hate how much I talk about the lack of gender equality among NYTXW constructors, good news, I'm gonna talk about it again right now. Since Women's Week (the little 7-day early-March concession to the fact that women make puzzles too), the NYTXW has regressed to the mean, hard. Solo constructions by men: 27. Solo constructions by woman: 3. That's T-H-R-E-E. Since March 8. Three. We've had three solo male constructors Since [checks calendar] Sunday! But no solo women since March 25—we're halfway through April. Inequality this severe, at this late date, after years of open criticism from many quarters, is due solely to the culture created by the guy at the top. Liz Gorski was right. Please read her again (or for the first time, if you somehow missed her blog post on this topic last week). It's time for new leadership. The current leader seems to be tacking from negligence to outright hostility. The numbers don't lie. They are Abysmal. Even the most stalwart of status quo defenders have gotta admit, it's just embarrassing.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Challenging (5:46, which is around my average Friday time) (def played like a Thursday for me) (though it is oversized, at 15x16, so that will account at least a teeny bit of slowness) (maybe it's Medium-Challenging, I don't know)
Theme answers:
- GRIFFIN (2D: *Mythical beast that's half lion and half eagle) —> RIFFING (12D: *Making up variations on a theme)
- EMANATE (21D: *Send off, as rays) —> MANATEE (22D: *Sea cow)
- HOLDS OUT (39D: *Waits for a better offer, say) —> OLD SOUTH (44D: *Antebellum Dixie) (... mmm, who doesn't love the OLD SOUTH!?) :(
- ATHENS (50D: *1896 Olympics locale) —> THE NSA (52D: *Hush-hush org.)
Efrem Zimbalist Sr. (April 21, 1889 – February 22, 1985) was a concert violinist, composer, teacher, conductor and director of the Curtis Institute of Music. [...] Zimbalist married the famous American soprano Alma Gluck and they toured together for a time. Alma Gluck died in 1938. In 1943, having been a widower for five years, he married the Curtis Institute of Music's founder, Mary Louise Curtis Bok, daughter of publisher Cyrus Curtis, and 14 years his senior.He died in 1985, at the age of 95. His and Alma's son, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., and their granddaughter, Stephanie Zimbalist, both became popular actors. (wikipedia)
• • •
OTTER is an anagram of TORTE. This has nothing to do with the puzzle theme, but I just noticed it, so I thought I'd point it out. I'm pretty sure (i.e. certain) that the [Top of an espresso] is the CREMA, not FROTH, which ... I guess you could use that word to describe the top of a cappuccino, though I'd go with "foam."FROTH is something you do at the mouth if you're angry and maybe want to AVENGE something. So the coffee clue missed. The grape leaves clue, though, that's nice. Tasty. I like DOLMA. I had some today (35D: Stuffed grape leaves). There's a great Greek restaurant that sells food at the local farmer's market here in Binghamton. You don't need to know this, but I'm just trying to think of nice things right now, to pass the time.
For all y'all who hate how much I talk about the lack of gender equality among NYTXW constructors, good news, I'm gonna talk about it again right now. Since Women's Week (the little 7-day early-March concession to the fact that women make puzzles too), the NYTXW has regressed to the mean, hard. Solo constructions by men: 27. Solo constructions by woman: 3. That's T-H-R-E-E. Since March 8. Three. We've had three solo male constructors Since [checks calendar] Sunday! But no solo women since March 25—we're halfway through April. Inequality this severe, at this late date, after years of open criticism from many quarters, is due solely to the culture created by the guy at the top. Liz Gorski was right. Please read her again (or for the first time, if you somehow missed her blog post on this topic last week). It's time for new leadership. The current leader seems to be tacking from negligence to outright hostility. The numbers don't lie. They are Abysmal. Even the most stalwart of status quo defenders have gotta admit, it's just embarrassing.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]