Constructor: Wyna Liu
Relative difficulty: Medium (Medium-Challenging if, like me, you've a had a drink) (10:50)
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THEME: "DOUBLES PLAY"— familiar phrases where double letters have replaced parts of words—the letters are meant to be uttered as letters. Thus:
Theme answers:
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Got TRAPPARTISTS and didn't stop to think about it much. My main thought was "OK, the "eze" part went somewhere ... didn't turn the corner or go anywhere visible, so ... I dunno ... 'P' seems to be standing in for 'eze' ... just keep going, I'm sure it'll become clear. Then I got DIZZ- and had no idea what I could be looking at there. Then finally got into a mess in the NE corner and just *knew* it was "seize the day," and I had the one "C" so ... boom, two "C"s, "Cs The Day," nailed it. Then DI(Zs) CONTROL became obvious and none of the themers were very hard from then on out (though I wanted to write in SURPRISE PARTT at first; gotta read the clues carefully!). And I don't know, I kinda liked this theme. Actually, I think it was just fine. It's a simple and cute gimmick, nothing flashy, but there are different double letters every time, and discovering those letters was kinda fun. I think my bar for Sundays is just Don't Face Plant / Don't Exhaust Me, and this puzzle managed to clear that bar / those bars. The fill struck me as at or above average, so for the first time in a while, I mostly enjoyed a Sunday puzzle.
Today may be the only time I've ever thought "hey, why aren't these two answers cross-referenced?" I'm talking about OSSIE Davis (8D: National Medal of Arts winner Davis) and Ruby DEE (46A: Actress and civil rights activist Ruby ___) both being in the puzzle, so close they're almost touching, but with no indication in either clue that they were married. For *57* years! Iconic couple! I'm not mad that their clues weren't linked, but if ever there was a time to link clues in a way that didn't seem annoying or forced, this was it! The NE was important because that's where I first grokked the theme, but it was also a tumultuous and tough corner. I've heard of pressing the panic *button*, but PANICBAR, less so (11A: Something pressed in an emergency). ARCSEC ... yeesh, trig abbrs. are always guesswork for me, and that one I haven't seen in forever. In fact, this is the first time it's ever appeared in a NYTXW. Ever. Ever ever. Speaking of repeated-word phrases: LIKE LIKE! It's very apt, and I one-like like it, but man it was hard for me to get. The whole interconnected set from LIKELIKE through ELAINE (never heard of her) down CITRON (barely heard of it) into INO (thought it was -ITO), really took some effort. Ooh, and ROS is down there too, ick. ROS and NERTS are probably the only moments where I winced—very crosswordesey. But I didn't recoil in horror anywhere else, so that's pretty good, esp. for a Sunday-sized puzzle.
My Kiwi wife and I both botched the Maori mythology clue. We both (it turns out, I just learned) wrote in MAUI, who is really important in Maori mythology ... just not the "first man," I guess. Neither of us had any idea that a TIKI was anything other than a totem or figure. I made things especially difficult on myself by abandoning that part of the puzzle to solve other parts, and then, on coming back, not relooking at the clues and completely misremembering which was the Maori answer. So ... when I came back, my brain had the Maori mythology clue in mind, but kept trying to make it work for 53-Down! I had HO-RU and that terminal "U" seemed plausibly Maori, and then when I got HOWRU I thought "that can't be right, there'd never be a 'W' there in Maori, and who the hell is supposed to know that anyway. HOWRU!? Who the hell was HOWRU!?" And then a few seconds later I learned about TIKI and realized that HOWRU was HOW space R space U (the answer to the textspeak clue). HOWRU is now one of my personal gods. Not a big fan of that answer as "textspeak" but I now believe in the divine, destructive power of the god HOWRU, hallowed be Its name.
Hey, you should know that JASA (Jewish Association for Services for the Aged) is having an online crossword fundraising event, Wednesday, July 29, from 7-8:30pm EDT. You may know JASA from their crossword classes, which regularly construct puzzles that appear in the NYTXW. You've solved them, I'm sure of it! They've had puzzles published nineteen times! Anyway, this virtual event will be an "up-close look at crosswords with the puzzlemasters themselves, featuring the Times's Will Shortz." For more information and to purchase tickets, please go here. And have a happy Sunday, everyone.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium (Medium-Challenging if, like me, you've a had a drink) (10:50)
Theme answers:
- TRAPPARTISTS ("-peze") (22A: *Performers who set the bar high?)
- CC THE DAY ("seize") (24A: *Go-getter's maxim)
- DIZZCONTROL ("-sease") (39A: *Public health agency's mission)
- AMUUMENTPARKS ("-use") (67A: *Places for coasters)
- CLOCKYY ("-wise") (84A: *How to screw in a light bulb)
- OLDDSTATION ("-dies") (91A: *What keeps up standards in the radio business?)
- GGLOUISE ("jeez") (110A: *"Holy moly!")
- SURPRIIPARTY ("-ise") (114A: *Occasion for hiding in the dark)
Elaine Marie Welteroth (born December 10, 1986) is an American journalist, editor[2]and New York Times best-selling author. In April 2016, Welteroth was named editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, making her the second person of African-American heritage in Condé Nast's 107-year history to hold such a title. Her promotion to editor at age 29 makes her the second youngest editor in Condé Nast history, behind current Teen Vogue EIC Lindsay Peoples Wagner who was 28 when she started in the role in Condé Nast. When she became beauty director of Teen Vogue in 2012, Welteroth was the first person of African-American heritage to serve in the role. She is credited for the notable increase of Teen Vogue coverage of politics and social justice, encouraging readers to become civically engaged, specifically during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Under Welteroth's leadership of Teen Vogue's shifting format, the magazine developed its first YouTube channel, featuring content on diverse subjects from campus style to cultural appropriation. The final print edition of Teen Vogue was December 2017.On January 11, 2018, Welteroth resigned from Teen Vogue and moved to California and signed with CAA. In June 2019 her memoir, More Than Enough: Claiming space for who you are (no matter what they say), was published by Viking. (wikipedia)
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Today may be the only time I've ever thought "hey, why aren't these two answers cross-referenced?" I'm talking about OSSIE Davis (8D: National Medal of Arts winner Davis) and Ruby DEE (46A: Actress and civil rights activist Ruby ___) both being in the puzzle, so close they're almost touching, but with no indication in either clue that they were married. For *57* years! Iconic couple! I'm not mad that their clues weren't linked, but if ever there was a time to link clues in a way that didn't seem annoying or forced, this was it! The NE was important because that's where I first grokked the theme, but it was also a tumultuous and tough corner. I've heard of pressing the panic *button*, but PANICBAR, less so (11A: Something pressed in an emergency). ARCSEC ... yeesh, trig abbrs. are always guesswork for me, and that one I haven't seen in forever. In fact, this is the first time it's ever appeared in a NYTXW. Ever. Ever ever. Speaking of repeated-word phrases: LIKE LIKE! It's very apt, and I one-like like it, but man it was hard for me to get. The whole interconnected set from LIKELIKE through ELAINE (never heard of her) down CITRON (barely heard of it) into INO (thought it was -ITO), really took some effort. Ooh, and ROS is down there too, ick. ROS and NERTS are probably the only moments where I winced—very crosswordesey. But I didn't recoil in horror anywhere else, so that's pretty good, esp. for a Sunday-sized puzzle.
My Kiwi wife and I both botched the Maori mythology clue. We both (it turns out, I just learned) wrote in MAUI, who is really important in Maori mythology ... just not the "first man," I guess. Neither of us had any idea that a TIKI was anything other than a totem or figure. I made things especially difficult on myself by abandoning that part of the puzzle to solve other parts, and then, on coming back, not relooking at the clues and completely misremembering which was the Maori answer. So ... when I came back, my brain had the Maori mythology clue in mind, but kept trying to make it work for 53-Down! I had HO-RU and that terminal "U" seemed plausibly Maori, and then when I got HOWRU I thought "that can't be right, there'd never be a 'W' there in Maori, and who the hell is supposed to know that anyway. HOWRU!? Who the hell was HOWRU!?" And then a few seconds later I learned about TIKI and realized that HOWRU was HOW space R space U (the answer to the textspeak clue). HOWRU is now one of my personal gods. Not a big fan of that answer as "textspeak" but I now believe in the divine, destructive power of the god HOWRU, hallowed be Its name.
Hey, you should know that JASA (Jewish Association for Services for the Aged) is having an online crossword fundraising event, Wednesday, July 29, from 7-8:30pm EDT. You may know JASA from their crossword classes, which regularly construct puzzles that appear in the NYTXW. You've solved them, I'm sure of it! They've had puzzles published nineteen times! Anyway, this virtual event will be an "up-close look at crosswords with the puzzlemasters themselves, featuring the Times's Will Shortz." For more information and to purchase tickets, please go here. And have a happy Sunday, everyone.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]