Kingdom of horsemen in Lord of the Rings / WED 7-22-20 / Compound containing an NH2 group informally / Onetime Nissan SUV / Greek peak southeast of Olympus

Constructor: Peter A. Collins

Relative difficulty: Easy (3:42)

THEME: periodic table stuff — themers are phrases where the first word contains a chemical symbol for an element and the last word contains the element itself:

Theme answers:

• PAUL GOLDSCHMIDT (17A: Six-time All-Star for the Arizona Diamondbacks (2013-18))
• MILITARY JARGON (27A: "Moonbeam," for a flashlight, e.g.)
• "ISN'T IT EXCITING?" (43A: "Are you as jazzed as I am?")
• SAFE ENVIRONMENT (57A: People are protected when they're in it)

Word of the Day: Taraji P. HENSON (23A: Taraji P. ___, star of "Hidden Figures") —

Taraji Penda Henson (/təˈrɑːdʒi/ tə-RAH-jee; born September 11, 1970) is an American actress and author. She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in Baby Boy (2001). She received praise for her performances as a prostitute in Hustle & Flow (2005), for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture nomination; and as a single mother of a disabled child in David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button(2008), for which she received Academy Award, SAG Award and Critics Choice Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. In 2010 she appeared in the action comedy Date Night, and co-starred in the remake of The Karate Kid. (wikipedia)

This just feels so old and tired. I mean, it does what it does ... there it is. But periodic table "humor" is just about the oldest puzzle gimmick there is. This one has certain restrictions that make it, perhaps, harder to execute, but a slightly elegant feature in a dull theme doesn't really drag it out of dullsville. I enjoyed seeing PAUL GOLDSCHMIDT, who is criminally under-famous (outside of baseball fandom) given how good he has been (he's on the Cardinals now), but as for the puzzle overall ... "ISN'T IT EXCITING?" No, it is not. I think this is a familiar theme type with (over-) familiar fill, but as for why it's being run now, when there are (allegedly) thousands and thousands of submissions to choose from, I am AT A LOSS. Feels very Boys Clubbish. Competent (male) constructor, has a ton of bylines, very familiar, very snug, very over-the-plate. When I see stale-ish puzzles from familiar (male) names, I get a little (lot) annoyed. Like, this can't be *it*. Periodic Table shenanigans Part The Forty-Seventh can't be it. And when BUM LEG (which is ... kind of a downer) is your most original non-theme fill, something's wrong. You're not trying hard enough. Also when you have "NO" in two answers and (much worse) "INTO" (!?) in two answers, in the same grid, you are definitely not trying hard enough. Or not paying attention.


When I know that older white guys are the ones making the puzzle, seeing POPO in there makes me cringe. And ... that whole corner ... it's so tear-it-all-out-able. ENL? OMANI?? What are you trying to accomplish up there? And then coming out of there is DIG INTO, which is fine on its own, but which today blatantly and jarringly dupes the INTO in RIP INTO. Then OSSA. Then ISL, LCD, ELSA, EINS LPNS IMPEI AMINO ... it's just brutal, the subpar fill. OMANI AMINO! Hey, anagrams. (Finding anagrams of crosswordese is the only way I'm having fun right now). OOP STET ... I'll stop, but you see, right? This isn't just "ho hum" (solid "ho hum" is fine if the theme rules and there are a few good non-themers); it's below ho-hum. Belo-hum. Please, no-hum. RHOS ASST? It's like no one actually cared to polish this thing. Just autofill it and send it in! Not a lot more to say about this one. Except good night.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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