Constructor: Robyn Weintraub
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (5:21)
![]()
THEME: none
Word of the Day: Geoduck (52D: Geoduck, e.g. = CLAM) —
![]()
Had to work slightly harder than I usually do for a Robyn Weintraub Friday, but only slightly. I always get so happy when I see her byline on Friday and I was not disappointed. Smooth, doable themeless with lots of fresh colloquial phrases and just a great sense of fun—that's what I've grown to expect from Robyn. Love the crossing questions "ANYONE HOME?" and "WHAT'S SO FUNNY?" (imagining coming home, shouting "ANYONE HOME?" and hearing only laughter ... "WHAT'S SO FUNNY!?"). "I AM SO THERE," also a winner. She does not waste her long answers. The "worst" ones are still solid, vivid things (MICROSCOPE, CROISSANTS). And the shorter stuff is all highly tolerable. The cluing felt toughish in places, which I'll discuss below, but my real hangup today came when I very confidently wrote in LOVELORN at 28A: Pining and then some (LOVE SICK). Because the clue on RIDESHARE had a toughish "?" clue (34A: Not go it alone?) and because I had a very wrong five-letter T-word for my [Island north of Australia], that eastern section got completely bogged down. I ultimately had to come at it from beneath—"I AM SO THERE" and CROISSANTS really saved my bacon (by the way, if you ever serve bacon and CROISSANTS, I AM SO THERE!). Oh, to be clear, the [Island north of Australia] was TIMOR, and I had TONGA, which, it turns out, is actually 169 islands, so ... missed it by That much!
Didn't enjoy HAHA as a [Reaction button option for a Facebook post]. It is true, if you hover your cursor over the Like button and *then* over the animated laughing-face emoji, it tells you that you are about to select the HAHA option. But it's an emoji, and letters are not involved, and so HAHA is making me sad (which is also, technically, a [Reaction button option for a Facebook post]. I also didn't like the clue on AGONY at all (59A: Sitting next to a constantly crying baby on a cross-country flight, maybe). Crying babies are crying babies, they happen, they're normal, and they aren't a tenth as annoying as the behavior of many grown-ass adults on planes. There's no worse look than ostentatiously grieving the fact that there's a baby on your flight. Grow up, you stupid baby (not the baby, you; you're the baby ... you see what I mean). The AGONY clue is a cruddy clue that makes me think about how selfish and impatient people are. So boo.
I wanted LISP at 33D: Shpeak thish way (SLUR), but I clearly didn't think that one through / sound that one out. Struggled with the misdirection on 1A: Fed (G-MAN). Struggled with the misdirection on 11D: In a row (AT IT) ("row" here is an argument). I wrote in FREE MEAL at first at 20A: Uncommon amenity on an airplane (FREE WIFI). I think that's it for trouble spots. See you tomorrow, when I expect the trouble spots to be somewhat more plentiful.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. there is a new daily blog dedicated to the USA Today Crossword Puzzle (which, in case you haven't heard, is under the editorial leadership of Erik Agard, and is, consequently, very good). Sally's Take on the USA Today Crossword is written by Sally Hoelscher and you can find it here.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (5:21)
Word of the Day: Geoduck (52D: Geoduck, e.g. = CLAM) —
The Pacific geoduck (/ˈɡuːiˌdʌk/; Panopea generosa) is a species of very large, edible saltwater clam in the family Hiatellidae. The common name is derived from a Lushootseed(Nisqually) word gʷídəq.The geoduck is native to the coastal waters of western Canada and the northwest United States. The shell of the clam ranges from 15 cm (6 inches) to over 20 cm (8 inches) in length, but the extremely long siphons make the clam itself much longer than this: the "neck" or siphons alone can be 1 m (3.3 feet) in length. The geoduck is the largest burrowing clam in the world. It is also one of the longest-living animals of any type, with a typical lifespan of 140 years; the oldest has been recorded at 168 years old. (wikipedia)
• • •
Didn't enjoy HAHA as a [Reaction button option for a Facebook post]. It is true, if you hover your cursor over the Like button and *then* over the animated laughing-face emoji, it tells you that you are about to select the HAHA option. But it's an emoji, and letters are not involved, and so HAHA is making me sad (which is also, technically, a [Reaction button option for a Facebook post]. I also didn't like the clue on AGONY at all (59A: Sitting next to a constantly crying baby on a cross-country flight, maybe). Crying babies are crying babies, they happen, they're normal, and they aren't a tenth as annoying as the behavior of many grown-ass adults on planes. There's no worse look than ostentatiously grieving the fact that there's a baby on your flight. Grow up, you stupid baby (not the baby, you; you're the baby ... you see what I mean). The AGONY clue is a cruddy clue that makes me think about how selfish and impatient people are. So boo.
I wanted LISP at 33D: Shpeak thish way (SLUR), but I clearly didn't think that one through / sound that one out. Struggled with the misdirection on 1A: Fed (G-MAN). Struggled with the misdirection on 11D: In a row (AT IT) ("row" here is an argument). I wrote in FREE MEAL at first at 20A: Uncommon amenity on an airplane (FREE WIFI). I think that's it for trouble spots. See you tomorrow, when I expect the trouble spots to be somewhat more plentiful.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. there is a new daily blog dedicated to the USA Today Crossword Puzzle (which, in case you haven't heard, is under the editorial leadership of Erik Agard, and is, consequently, very good). Sally's Take on the USA Today Crossword is written by Sally Hoelscher and you can find it here.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]