Constructor: Alan Arbesfeld
Relative difficulty: Challenging (6:59)
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THEME: DROP ME A LINE (69A: "Don't be a stranger!" ... or what you have to do three times in this puzzle) — Three phrases containing "ME" don't actually contain the "ME" because the "ME" has been "dropped" to the next row (creating nonsense answers where the "ME" gets dropped, so that's fun...)
Theme answers:
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It's late and I don't have the energy to go into all the problems with this one. The worst part for me was that it combined two things that I find really unenjoyable: the [With such and such-Across...]-type clue and the answer-that-is-wrong-for-its-clue (today, all the "ME"-containing answers). Couldn't make any sense of clue phrase "You can wait to show your gratitude" (who in the world would ever say those words?), and since I had GETS BY instead of DOESOK (yuck) for 6D: Manages, I didn't have the "K" I needed to see "KISS," which might've helped me figure out "KISS (ME) KATE." Speaking of KISS crosses, CAPEESH is just bull****. That is a variant spelling and should be clued as such. The actual spelling (CAPISCE) fits perfectly, so, yeah, I resent the hell out of that. Here, check out the dictionary, it's fun:
Bye.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Challenging (6:59)
Theme answers:
- "KISS / KATE" (33A: With 35-Across Cole Porter musical) ("ME" dropped down a row to SHA(ME))
- "THANK / LATER" (42A: With 44-Across, "You can wait to show your gratitude") ("ME" dropped down a row to THY(ME))
- HAND- / -DOWN (54A: With 56-Across, clothing item for the youngest in the family) ("ME" dropped down a row to NO TI(ME))
: a long narrow ridge or mound of sand, gravel, and boulders deposited by a stream flowing on, within, or beneath a stagnant glacier (merriam-webster.com)
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| note "variants" and "less commonly" |
Mostly I found the revealer deeply unsatisfying and, from my standpoint, contradictory. I have to raise ME, not drop it, to make sense of the puzzle. Raising ME makes sense of the answers that are missing it *and* makes sense of the answers into which ME had been dropped (dropped, you'll note, by the puzzle, not by me ... I cannot "drop" the ME ... where would I "drop" it from, there are only black squares above the ME). The ME has been dropped in the grid. I do not do the dropping. Because *raising* the ME makes sense of *everything*, this is why DROP ME A LINE absolutely does not work as an explanation of what I "have to do." I see that the revealer is defensible, but a. it's at best ambiguous, and b. just does not account for the gibberish answers that result from the dropped "ME"— SHAME Na Na?! Not even a wacky "?" clue for that? And, more ugh, the dropped ME doesn't create a new phrase, just a phrase with a gap, *whereas* the answer that *receives* the ME (SHAME, THYME, NO TIME) is new ... and completely inappropriate for its clue. So everything is just a mess. Also, the fill is terrible in this. SOARERS (52D: Eagles and hawks, typically) (?), III ESKER NAG NAG (without third NAG??), HIES THEA AHN ANTIS (!?) ILE. It's just rough rough rough and stale all over. EWW, indeed.
Bye.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]