Constructor: Kameron Austin Collins
Relative difficulty: Easy (5 to almost finish, 6 to finish finish)
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: EPUB (38A: Digital book file extension)—
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Big Friday Energy, which is Fine By Me. I like Fridays best. What I'm saying is that this was delightful and easy, full of good ENERGY and light on the blecch. Seems like forever since I've seen Kam's name in the NYTXW (he's a regular contributor at the New Yorker, which runs three excellent themelesses a week now!). Glad he's still throwing the NYTXW a bone now and then. This puzzle had me at MEATSPACE (18A: Physical realm, in cyberpunk). Honestly, one great answer like that can sustain me for half a puzzle. Ooh, also DRAGOON, which I briefly thought had some bad racial angle to it, but I think I'm thinking of "Shanghai"? Or ... I dunno, something else. Anyway, DRAGOON! (14D: Strong-arm). The structure of the grid is such that there's nice long stuff criss-crossed by a lot of short, sometimes overfamiliar stuff. But that stuff—like ADO and DELE and EDYS and CEL and EATME—never overwhelms the grid. Clues stay interesting, pace stays brisk. I did have one major trouble spot: the SW. I could not remember that EPUB was a thing (38A: Digital book file extension), and I forgot who Tamerlane was, and wow I have barely heard of a SPOT AD, and I kept thinking that "lapped" applied to running, and then I thought maybe milk (?). Because of all these issues, couldn't see the RAW in RAW SCORES. Took me about 5 minutes to finish all but nine squares, all in that SW section; those squares took me another full minute. Ah well...
Do people really say PARADISE FOUND? (12A: Heaven, sweet heaven). It's a ... figurative ... concept? I teach Milton so often that the only answer that sounds right to my ear is "Paradise Regained" (the actual title of Milton's "Paradise Lost" sequel). Why are CROCODILE TEARS a [Hollow-eyed expression?] Is a "hollow" a locale where one finds crocodiles? No, that can't be right. Why is there a "?" on that clue? Is it that your eyes lack (or are "hollow" of) genuine emotion? Maybe I'm not that sure of what regular old "hollow-eyed" actually means. Hmm, it just means having deep-sunken eyes, like a gaunt person. I'm just not ... quite getting, and thus not quite liking, whatever punning is going on here. Weird to clue YOUTH as 22D: Teens, e.g. (i.e. as a plural). I guess YOUTH is a collective noun, so why ... not? I had YOUNG in there for a bit, which I also could justify and also don't like. I do like the clue on HOME GYM (39A: Locale for house reps?). I also like that the METOOMOVEMENT got a clue that gave credit where credit is due (instead of giving it all to Ronan Farrow) (60A: Global justice phenomenon sprung from a 2006 Myspace post by Tarana Burke). I also like TECATE (surprised this answer doesn't appear more often, given its favorable letters) (41D: Mexican beer brand) and who doesn't like a SOUL TRAIN LINE? (35: Longtime dance feature on TV beginning in 1971). Come on.
Last thing: it looks like Wall-E's love is actually EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator)—he just pronounces it "EVA" (58D: Wall-E's love in "Wall-E"). So that ... feels like an error? But I haven't seen the movie, so have no strong feelings one way or the other. Have a nice day.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy (5 to almost finish, 6 to finish finish)
Word of the Day: EPUB (38A: Digital book file extension)—
EPUB is an e-book file format that uses the ".epub" file extension. The term is short for electronic publication and is sometimes styled ePub. EPUB is supported by many e-readers, and compatible software is available for most smartphones, tablets, and computers. EPUB is a technical standard published by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). It became an official standard of the IDPF in September 2007, superseding the older Open eBook standard.The Book Industry Study Group endorses EPUB 3 as the format of choice for packaging content and has stated that the global book publishing industry should rally around a single standard. The EPUB format is implemented as an archive file consisting of XHTML files carrying the content, along with images and other supporting files. EPUB is the most widely supported vendor-independent XML-based (as opposed to PDF) e-book format; that is, it is supported by almost all hardware readers, except for Kindle. (wikipedia)
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Do people really say PARADISE FOUND? (12A: Heaven, sweet heaven). It's a ... figurative ... concept? I teach Milton so often that the only answer that sounds right to my ear is "Paradise Regained" (the actual title of Milton's "Paradise Lost" sequel). Why are CROCODILE TEARS a [Hollow-eyed expression?] Is a "hollow" a locale where one finds crocodiles? No, that can't be right. Why is there a "?" on that clue? Is it that your eyes lack (or are "hollow" of) genuine emotion? Maybe I'm not that sure of what regular old "hollow-eyed" actually means. Hmm, it just means having deep-sunken eyes, like a gaunt person. I'm just not ... quite getting, and thus not quite liking, whatever punning is going on here. Weird to clue YOUTH as 22D: Teens, e.g. (i.e. as a plural). I guess YOUTH is a collective noun, so why ... not? I had YOUNG in there for a bit, which I also could justify and also don't like. I do like the clue on HOME GYM (39A: Locale for house reps?). I also like that the METOOMOVEMENT got a clue that gave credit where credit is due (instead of giving it all to Ronan Farrow) (60A: Global justice phenomenon sprung from a 2006 Myspace post by Tarana Burke). I also like TECATE (surprised this answer doesn't appear more often, given its favorable letters) (41D: Mexican beer brand) and who doesn't like a SOUL TRAIN LINE? (35: Longtime dance feature on TV beginning in 1971). Come on.
Last thing: it looks like Wall-E's love is actually EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator)—he just pronounces it "EVA" (58D: Wall-E's love in "Wall-E"). So that ... feels like an error? But I haven't seen the movie, so have no strong feelings one way or the other. Have a nice day.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]