Constructor: Alan Massengill and Andrea Carla Michaels
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (2:42)
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THEME: BEACHFRONT (54A: Property along the ocean ... or a hint to the starts of 18-, 23-, 36- and 47-Across) — first words ("fronts") of themers are beach-related things:
Theme answers:
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BEACHFRONT is a nice idea for a revealer, but WAVES and SURF are the same thing—why would you waste a themer on a redundancy like that? Why not something with "sand" or, uh, PIERS PLOWMAN or something? SURF THE NET has a definite old-timer vibe to it (see also BEETLEs, Beatles, and The LOVIN' Spoonful), but it's fine, and the other themers were also fine, as stand-alone answers. I have a quibble with the revealer clue, though: I have only ever (or, rather, I have overwhelmingly) heard BEACHFRONT used adjectivally. I mean, I looked it up, and I see that there is a noun version, but for some reason my ears really really want the word BEACHFRONT to modify "property." So I think the revealer clue would've been clearer / more on-the-nose if it had read [*Like* property along the ocean...]. Just [Property ...] feels off. I don't know how to prove that most people use BEACHFRONT (when they use it) adjectivally, but I feel certain this is true. Anyway, I'm not mad at the revealer clue, just registering how awkward it sounds to me when clued as a noun.
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (2:42)
Theme answers:
- WAVES HELLO (18A: Greets from across the way, say)
- SURF THE NET (23A: Casually browse online)
- SHELLS OUT CASH (36A: Spends moolah)
- PALMS CARDS (47A: Demonstrates some sleight of hand)
Calochortus nuttallii — known as sego lily — is a bulbous perennial which is endemic to the Western United States.
It is the state flower of Utah. (wikipedia)
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[Robyn, "Beach2k20"]
The bulk of the trouble I had with this puzzle came from trying to get the last two themers, actually. SHELLS OUT CASH is a little green-painty* as answers go, so the SHELLS OUT part took a bunch of crosses to become clear. And PALMS CARDS is a fine phrase, I guess, but the PALMS part still took many crosses to sort out. I also struggled with WALL ST. (1D: Financial ctr. in Manhattan). The abbr. ("ctr.") part threw me off. Got the WA- but thought there was some specific building in question. Didn't much care for that bank of 6-letter Downs at all. The fill in general is a little dull / creaky. ISDUE is not quite as off-putting as yesterday's ISSICK, but it's close. ONE-ARM (3D: Feature of a Las Vegas "bandit") and PET TRICKS (33D: "Stupid" segments on old David Letterman shows). I would love if they were inside their complete phrases. Standing alone, I think they're pretty bad, especially PET TRICKS, which is a partial *and* quite dated by now. Lotsa stale stuff like SEGO OSSA IDEST etc., but by 20th-century standards, it's pretty clean. Overall: nice theme idea, slightly clunkily executed, with tolerable overall fill. Shrug. Next.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*green paint = phrase one might say, but that doesn't feel strong enough to be a stand-alone answer