Constructor: Francis Heaney
Relative difficulty: Easy (7:55)
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THEME:"Alternative Cinema"— Movies are clued as "Alternative titles" for other movies; they're "alternatives" because their titles make them sound like their titles are about the same thing as the originals (even if, in every case, they are very much not):
Theme answers:
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The funniest thing about [Hello Kitty company] is remembering how Will once told a veteran constructor that HELLO KITTY was not well enough known to be in the NYTXW ... (!) ... and now it's so obviously well known that we're apparently supposed to know the parent company!? Wow. Tables, turned. I will say that the SANRIO / LAILA crossing was one of the only weak spots in this puzzle, in that lots and lots of people won't know SANRIO, and it's totally plausible that even if you know LAILA Ali you will misspell her name LAYLA. So ... SANRYO? Did anyone make that error? You can say "well SANRYO just looks wrong" but I would then direct your attention to the company name SANYO, which is just one letter shy of SANRYO. I just think that is a potential Natick for people (non-universally-known proper nouns crossing at a hard-to-guess vowel). Might mess some people up, which would be a shame, because I found this puzzle clever and delightful. How often do I say that about Sunday puzzles? (It's a rhetorical question! We all know the answer is "almost never"). The theme ... works. And it's clever. And genuinely funny. (Outright LOL at "BYE BYE / BIRDIE"). I will say that (to me) "DOCTOR STRANGE" is a comics character and "WATERSHIP DOWN" is a novel, but there's no disputing the fact that both were movies, so fair enough. There were very few ugly moments. Just a clean, entertaining breeze.
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Fast forward nine years, my daughter is now in college, and all my wife and I have to fill the void is an ornery but adorable kitten named Alfie.
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Relative difficulty: Easy (7:55)
Theme answers:
- "TWELVE ANGRY MEN" (23A: Alternative title for "The Dirty Dozen")
- "THE AFRICAN QUEEN" (33A: Alternative title for "Cleopatra")
- "DOCTOR STRANGE" (51A: Alternative title for "Frankenstein")
- "BYE BYE / BIRDIE" (68A: With 70-Across, alternative title for "To Kill a Mockingbird")
- "WATERSHIP DOWN" (92A: Alternative title for "Titanic")
- "THE LADY VANISHES" (106A: Alternative title for "Gone Girl")
- "AMERICAN BEAUTY" (121A: Alternative title for "The Name of the Rose")
Sanrio Co., Ltd. (株式会社サンリオ, Kabushikigaisha Sanrio) is a Japanese company that designs, licenses and produces products focusing on the kawaii (cute) segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts and accessories that are sold worldwide and at specialty brand retail stores in Japan. Sanrio's best-known character is Hello Kitty, a little anthropomorphic cat girl, one of the most successful marketing brands in the world. (wikipedia)
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If you didn't know SANRIO, well, I had a little taste of that bafflement at UNEEDA (!?!?!??!!), which had me feeling worried that I had an error. I mean, how would I know. UNEEDA cracker from this century (or at least last century) if you want me to have a shot at getting it. Just finished watching "The Office" in its entirety, so I've been staring at EDHELMS a lot of late. TWYLA SHARON MATSUI SMEE LOUIS was quite the proper name mash-up there in the lower center, but MATSUI's the only one I can see giving people real grief. ISSICK made me wince, the way ISDUMB or ISANYADJECTIVE might, and every letter of FINNEY was a mystery to me (34D: Charles ___, religious leader known as "The Father of Modern Revivalism"), but whatever issues I had were quickly overcome, and the bulk of the puzzle was very easy to move through. I could do without MOR and DIC (...!), but otherwise I can't fault the fill very much at all. Lots of great longer fill in the (non-theme) Downs too, which is always nice.
Congrats to Brian Cimmet and Patrick Blindauer, the organizers of the Lollapuzzoola crossword tournament, which took place online yesterday with something north of 1800 (!!) contestants. I didn't participate but I did get to catch the finals of both the Local (novice) and Express (advanced) divisions, which were both oddly *thrilling*. Congratulations especially to David Plotkin, who won the whole shebang.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. I used to watch a show called "Alphas." It was partially set in Binghamton. I watched it with my daughter, roughly a decade ago. I liked the show enough to buy a t-shirt. It looks like this:
On Friday, I got a package in the mail from my daughter. It contained this:
The one discolored toe bean in the exponent really put it over the top for me. That is a true-to-life detail. I'm either never going to wear this shirt (too precious) or I'm going to put it on and never take it off. Can't decide.