Constructor: Ali Gascoigne
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (the "Challenging" part is due solely to the time it took to discover the rebus + the time it took with the fiddly extra keystrokes required for entering the rebus squares) (4:50)
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THEME: YOU ARE HERE (52A: Words on a mall map ... or a punny hint for eight squares in this puzzle)— "UR" appears in eight squares:
Theme answers:
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Solved early in the morning so thought that my immediate difficulty in making the NW work had something to do with tiredness, but nope. It's just a rebus where a rebus (mostly) isn't supposed to be. Something seemed very wrong at SO_ (2D: Mixed drink with lemon or lime juice) and then I knew what that something was as soon as I saw how many spaces I'd been allotted for 6D: Mickey of "The Wrestler"(i.e. not enough). After that, it's just "UR" square after "UR" square. Not the most fun treasure hunt. The revealer at least gives it a little oomph, a little zing, but only a very little. And while there are a few longer Downs that boost the interest level a little in the non-theme fill, mostly we're dealing with a barrage of overfamiliar 3-4-5s (you know, the short stuff). PERSE and ARLES and OREOS and then an occasional clunker like YULES (plural?). I think this is very much an adequate puzzle, but only just. It might have been more interesting with tougher clues on a Thursday. Then again, it might have been more irksome that way. Anyway, what you got here is a JV Thursday puzzle. Thursday lite. Rebuses for Beginners. The sad thing is that actual *beginners* will absolutely Not see a rebus coming on a Wednesday, and are likely to be more annoyed at rebuses than ever! Don't Fear the Rebus (baby take my hand)!
I would not (not ever, never ever) use creepy murderer dude DURST when I had '90s Nu Metal icon Fred DURST at the ready. I mean, close call, but I don't think Limp Bizkit murdered anybody, so tie goes to the non-murderer. I briefly thought ROURKE was ROARKE, which, you know, is a reasonable error, and since there's no such thing (I don't think) as a TURKEY BARGER, I figured the real spelling out easily enough. I also had the physicist dude as Max FRANCK. That really feels like *somebody*'s name. Huh. Weird. Nothing else here was that noteworthy or engaging. Oh, except seeing LAURIE Metcalf's name! Love her! Easily my happiest moment of the solve (that, and knowing exactly how to spell RESTAURATEUR—huge rush!).
Take care, folks.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (the "Challenging" part is due solely to the time it took to discover the rebus + the time it took with the fiddly extra keystrokes required for entering the rebus squares) (4:50)
Theme answers:
- TURKEY BURGER (17A: Cookout option for someone avoiding red meat) (crosses = SOUR, ROURKE)
- NEUROSURGERY (11D: Mental operation?) (crosses = DURST, URLS)
- RESTAURATEUR (27D: Wolfgang Puck, e.g.) (crosses = URSINE, SLURP)
- TAURUS (36A: Practical, stubborn, ambitious sort, so it's said) / LAURIE (28D: Actress Metcalf of "Lady Bird")
- EUROS (58A: Capital of France) / HEURE (50D: Part of un jour)
Robert Alan Durst (born April 12, 1943) is an American real estate heir; the son of New York City mogul Seymour Durst; and the elder brother of Douglas Durst, head of the Durst Organization. He is suspected of having murdered three individuals in different states: Kathleen McCormack Durst, his first wife, who disappeared in New York in 1982; Susan Berman, his longtime friend, who was killed in California in 2000; and his neighbor, Morris Black, who was killed in Texas in 2001. Durst was the subject of a multi-state manhunt after Black's body parts were found floating in Galveston Bay, but although he admitted to the dismembering of Black (which he was not charged with), he was ultimately acquitted of his murder on the grounds of self defense.On March 14, 2015, Durst was arrested in New Orleans on a first-degree murder warrant in relation to the Berman killing. On November 4, 2016, he was transferred to California and soon after was arraigned in Los Angeles on first-degree murder charges. In October 2018, Los Angeles County Superior Judge Mark Windham ruled there was sufficient evidence for Durst to be tried for the death of Berman. His trial began on 2 March 2020 but was postponed when Superior court judge Mark E Windham announced that the trial, which had been under way for six days, will stand adjourned until a later date due to the COVID-19 outbreak. (wikipedia)
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I would not (not ever, never ever) use creepy murderer dude DURST when I had '90s Nu Metal icon Fred DURST at the ready. I mean, close call, but I don't think Limp Bizkit murdered anybody, so tie goes to the non-murderer. I briefly thought ROURKE was ROARKE, which, you know, is a reasonable error, and since there's no such thing (I don't think) as a TURKEY BARGER, I figured the real spelling out easily enough. I also had the physicist dude as Max FRANCK. That really feels like *somebody*'s name. Huh. Weird. Nothing else here was that noteworthy or engaging. Oh, except seeing LAURIE Metcalf's name! Love her! Easily my happiest moment of the solve (that, and knowing exactly how to spell RESTAURATEUR—huge rush!).
Take care, folks.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]