Constructor: Alan DerKazarian
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME:"Two Halves In One" — I have no idea what that title is supposed to mean, but the revealer, BACK IN BLACK (98A: 1980 hard rock album that went 22x platinum … or a hint to how to cross this puzzle's 27-Across), says it all: "BACK" is represented by a black square four times, dividing two phrases into two parts each time (although only twice are those parts equal, i.e. "halves"). [I have been told that the "two halves" are the two halves of the grid that are not (except by BLACK squares) connected at all. So it's two themes in one, or some kind of hybrid theme … not sure the puzzle knows. All I know is the title sucks]
The BACKs:
Word of the Day: T-PAIN (7A: One-named rapper with a hyphen in his name) —
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I'm making myself laugh by imagining the hilariously terrible (and, as yet, fictitious) crossword clue, ["___ Drank" (T-Pain song)] => "BUYUA."
The revealer on this thing is spectacular. Just a great repurposing of that song/album title. Execution of the theme is also nice—all four BLACK squares along the SW/NE axis, all theme answers symmetrical. One thing about the theme—it made the puzzle Super Easy. I was surprised I didn't break my Sunday record. I guess there were enough road bumps to keep me from tearing it up too fast. Perhaps the poor / slight interconnectedness of the "two halves" of the grid had something to do with it.
All things considered, the puzzle is solidly filled. I don't honestly believe that anything can be NUTTED, but that's the only answer that made me make my "Really?" face. Puzzle was so straightforward and so clean and so easy that I'm not sure what to say about it. I'm kind of wondering how much T-PAIN tripped you all up (by "you all" I mean the hundreds of people who have written me telling me that they don't know "rappers" but they do know [something allegedly important] and "how can you not know [something allegedly important]!?"). I know the solving audience enough to know that the bulk of solvers are going to be like "….?" I think all those crosses are fair, though the PEE DEE… I don't know (8D: The Carolinas' ___ River). I certainly never knew that river til I started doing crosswords. Hope fortune was with you on that one. Also with DERON, who pronounces his name just like "Darren" (56D: Three-time N.B.A. All-Star Williams). I've heard of him—he's a true NBA star—but had never seen his name written out. Kind of like seeing Dwyane Wade's name written out (confession: I misspelled it just now and had to look it up—that's how weirdly it's spelled). All other names in the grid seem pretty familiar. Have you seen Otto DIX's work? (83A: German Expressionist Otto) Disturbing. Great, but disturbing.
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Good night.
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
The BACKs:
- "THERE AND [BACK] AGAIN" / TURNS [BACK] THE CLOCK
- HUMP[BACK] WHALE / WON'T [BACK] DOWN
- PAPER[BACK] BOOK / FEED[BACK] LOOP
- "BROKE[BACK] MOUNTAIN" / BEND OVER [BACK]WARDS
Word of the Day: T-PAIN (7A: One-named rapper with a hyphen in his name) —
Faheem Rasheed Najm (born September 30, 1985), who goes by his stage name T-Pain, is an Americansinger-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor. His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second studio album Epiphany, which reached number one on the Billboard 200. His third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released in 2008. T-Pain has earned two Grammy Awards alongside artists Kanye West and Jamie Foxx.T-Pain is the founder of the record label Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005. Throughout his career as a singer, T-Pain is known for using & popularizing the Auto-Tune pitch correction effect. Throughout the years of 2006-10 T-Pain was featured on more than 50 chart topping singles, his most successful feature to date was in Flo Rida's debut single "Low" which has since been certified 6x Platinum. (wikipedia)
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The revealer on this thing is spectacular. Just a great repurposing of that song/album title. Execution of the theme is also nice—all four BLACK squares along the SW/NE axis, all theme answers symmetrical. One thing about the theme—it made the puzzle Super Easy. I was surprised I didn't break my Sunday record. I guess there were enough road bumps to keep me from tearing it up too fast. Perhaps the poor / slight interconnectedness of the "two halves" of the grid had something to do with it.
