Constructor: Trenton Charlson
Relative difficulty: Medium (6:43, first thing in the a.m.) (grid is oversized, 16x)
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THEME: SPELLED OUT (63A: Explained in great detail ... or what four of this puzzle's clues are?) — if you *sound* out the the clue, it spells a word ... and *that* is your clue. Thus:
Theme answers:
We really got the Dred Scott guy (TANEY) in the puzzle the day after the Breonna Taylor decision? I mean, on any day he's unwelcome, but today, especially, yikes.
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This is a perfectly acceptable Thursday puzzle that left me perfectly cold. Well, not cold, exactly. Just unmoved. Unexcited. Felt like work. Not much to fault in the concept though. Gotta do some word / letter-play to reimagine the clue, and then it's just straightforward from there. The whole set-up has a very familiar, very traditional "punny" vibe to it. I definitely had an "aha" moment at some point, though I don't remember when it came. I could see that the clue words sounded like letters very early on, but I didn't put it all together until ... actually, probably CRIBBAGE MARKER. I reasoned backward to [Peg] and then saw what was going on with all the theme clues. By that point I had most of three themers filled in. And then I got PANHANDLE without really thinking about the clue (crosses took care of things). Something about the revealer seems off to me. The clues are only SPELLED OUT if you *sound* them out. You have to say them. There's just ... a step left off. I see that there's a "?" on all the themers, so maybe that's the "we left a step off" indicator today, and it's not too hard to figure out what you had to do to make the clues work, but something about sound / speaking being left out of the explanation made it seem inadequate. Definitely contributed to a feeling of anticlimax. But, again, this is very much in keeping, quality-wise and excitement-wise, with the long history of NYTXW Thursdays that have come before it. Right over the plate.
Had a bunch of missteps today. Blanked completely on GAUSS, even with -USS in place (53D: Magnetic induction unit). I knew I'd seen it, but it was getting mixed up in my head with, I don't know, GNEISS, maybe? SCHUSS? Just couldn't find the handle (ironic, as the answer literally crosses "-HANDLE"). Wrote O'BRIEN before O'BRIAN (35D: Novelist Patrick who wrote "Master and Commander"). Spelled LOUIE like that (15A: One whose charges are sarges). No idea who DEB Fischer is (25A: Nebraska senator Fischer). Probably some horrible (R) ... oh yeah, a Kavanaugh-supporting woman, super. Most of the other names were pretty crosswordesey, so I didn't have as much trouble. EDIE, EMME, EVA ... even PROKEDS and LESPAUL felt straight out of crossword central casting. That TANEY / LEN cross was potentially Natick territory for people. I couldn't be less interested in "Dancing with the Stars" if I tried (64D: "Dancing With the Stars" judge Goodman), and that's probably true of lots of NYTXW solvers, and then TANEY ... he's not exactly current. I think "E" is the only good guess there, but still, crossing non-household names at vowel, not normally advised. Embarrassed it took me as long as it did to get MARS (4D: Land of Opportunity?), CHASE (9D: Go after) (I had ENSUE!?), and ADIEU (62A: Closing bid?), which, weirdly, is probably my favorite clue in the puzzle. The misdirection phrase is perfect, and the wordplay all seems exactly right (you "bid" someone ADIEU when you "close" the conversation with them. Nice. The rest, as I say, was just OK for me.
Relative difficulty: Medium (6:43, first thing in the a.m.) (grid is oversized, 16x)
Theme answers:
- 18A: Kay, e.g. = K, E, G = [Keg] = BEER BARREL
- 22A: Elle, e.g. = L, E, G = [Leg] = DRUMSTICK
- 38A: Pea, e.g. = P, E, G = [Peg] = CRIBBAGE MARKER
- 57A: Bee, e.g. = B, E, G = [Beg] = PANHANDLE
Roger Brooke Taney (/ˈtɔːni/; March 17, 1777 – October 12, 1864) was the fifth Chief Justice of the United States, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. He delivered the majority opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), ruling that African-Americans could not be considered citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories of the United States. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, Taney served as the United States Attorney General and United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Andrew Jackson. (wikipedia) (emph. mine)
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Had a bunch of missteps today. Blanked completely on GAUSS, even with -USS in place (53D: Magnetic induction unit). I knew I'd seen it, but it was getting mixed up in my head with, I don't know, GNEISS, maybe? SCHUSS? Just couldn't find the handle (ironic, as the answer literally crosses "-HANDLE"). Wrote O'BRIEN before O'BRIAN (35D: Novelist Patrick who wrote "Master and Commander"). Spelled LOUIE like that (15A: One whose charges are sarges). No idea who DEB Fischer is (25A: Nebraska senator Fischer). Probably some horrible (R) ... oh yeah, a Kavanaugh-supporting woman, super. Most of the other names were pretty crosswordesey, so I didn't have as much trouble. EDIE, EMME, EVA ... even PROKEDS and LESPAUL felt straight out of crossword central casting. That TANEY / LEN cross was potentially Natick territory for people. I couldn't be less interested in "Dancing with the Stars" if I tried (64D: "Dancing With the Stars" judge Goodman), and that's probably true of lots of NYTXW solvers, and then TANEY ... he's not exactly current. I think "E" is the only good guess there, but still, crossing non-household names at vowel, not normally advised. Embarrassed it took me as long as it did to get MARS (4D: Land of Opportunity?), CHASE (9D: Go after) (I had ENSUE!?), and ADIEU (62A: Closing bid?), which, weirdly, is probably my favorite clue in the puzzle. The misdirection phrase is perfect, and the wordplay all seems exactly right (you "bid" someone ADIEU when you "close" the conversation with them. Nice. The rest, as I say, was just OK for me.