Constructor: Jeff Chen
Relative difficulty: Medium (skewing slightly harder than normal?) (3:45)
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THEME: BACKORDERED (38A: Like goods that are temporarily out of stock ... or a hint, alphabetically, to the answers to the starred clues) — answers to starred clues have letters that appear in reverse alphabetical order:
Theme answers:
Cool, a Tuesday themeless! Trust me, this is the best way to think about this puzzle. Because if you're like me and you waste a good minute (which felt like a good half hour) trying to figure out what the theme was supposed to mean, and then you finally get it, your only response is likely to be, as mine was, "OMG WHO CARES!?" (well, it was more of an in-my-head "WHO CARES!?," as it's 5am and my wife and the cat are still asleep). Who has ever been thrilled, charmed, titillated, or amused by the fact that a word's letters are in reverse alphabetical order? Am I charmed by STU because his letters are in *alphabetical* order!? The answer is no, I'm charmed by STU because of the whole disco thing, and that alone.
Started slow because ugh the clue on 1A was a ****ing paragraph and it was trying to make me think about letters and it's too early in the morning for that (1A: Multi-Emmy-winning actor whose first and last names start with the same two letters). And then 1D: Exam for some smart H.S. students (AP TEST) got on my nerves because they are literally officially called AP *EXAM*s, so I figured the answer couldn't be AP anything. Then I forgot there was a LOOMPA Land. And I can never do those "Word with / after / before"-type clues very well, so SHELF shmelf (5D: Word after ice or book). But, as usual, once I made some headway, got my feet under me, I took off, and the bottom half of the grid was much much faster than the top. Overall, enjoyable enough to solve. I just wish I could've walked away from the puzzle as soon as I was done and remained blissfully unaware of the theme pointlessness. Ah well. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium (skewing slightly harder than normal?) (3:45)
THEME: BACKORDERED (38A: Like goods that are temporarily out of stock ... or a hint, alphabetically, to the answers to the starred clues) — answers to starred clues have letters that appear in reverse alphabetical order:
Theme answers:
- TOOK HEED (17A: *Followed warnings)
- YUPPIE (18A: *Materialistic sort, stereotypically)
- SPLIFF (23A: *Marijuana cigarette, informally)
- TROLLED (25A: *Posted inflammatory blog comments, e.g.)
- WOOKIEE (50A: *Chewbacca, e.g.)
- ROOMBA (52A: *Autonomous cleaner)
- "TO LIFE!" (59A: *"L'chaim!")
- SPOON-FED (62A: *Like toddlers in high chairs, often)
Joseph Satriani (born July 15, 1956) is an American rock musician, composer, songwriter, and guitar teacher. Early in his career, Satriani worked as a guitar instructor, with many of his former students achieving fame, such as Steve Vai, Larry LaLonde, Rick Hunolt, Kirk Hammett, Andy Timmons, Charlie Hunter, Kevin Cadogan, and Alex Skolnick; he then went on to have a successful solo music career. He is a 15-time Grammy Award nominee and has sold over 10 million albums, making him the best-selling instrumental rock guitarist of all time.In 1988, Satriani was recruited by Mick Jagger as lead guitarist for his first solo tour. Satriani briefly toured with Deep Purple as the guitarist, joining shortly after the departure of Ritchie Blackmore in November 1993. He has worked with a range of guitarists during the G3 tour, which he founded in 1995. Satriani has been the guitarist for the supergroupChickenfoot since joining the band in 2008. (wikipedia)
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I don't understand why people build puzzle themes around concepts that are both (largely) invisible and of no real inherent interest. This is a stunt puzzle, the kind you have to *explain* and then when you do explain ... again, who cares? It's all about the "feat of construction," which only the constructor himself is gonna be truly impressed by. "Feats of construction" are fine, great, impressive even, when they deliver ... interest. But here, I gotta point out the things that are impressive—that there are nine theme answers (including the revealer) and the fill still manages to be remarkably smooth for all that, that literally no other answers *besides* the answers to the starred clues have letters that appear in reverse alphabetical order, even the three-letter ones—and ... well, if a puzzle feature falls in the woods ... you get the idea. So as I say, best to consider this a Tuesday themeless. It's got some nifty fill, there are plenty of 7+-letter answers, and best of all, the short, overfamiliar fill is completely inoffensive and mostly stays out of the way. You can do RELET OPART TRU NIA USDO (!?) and even MPAA x/w AAS when there is so much longer fill to maintain solver interest.
Started slow because ugh the clue on 1A was a ****ing paragraph and it was trying to make me think about letters and it's too early in the morning for that (1A: Multi-Emmy-winning actor whose first and last names start with the same two letters). And then 1D: Exam for some smart H.S. students (AP TEST) got on my nerves because they are literally officially called AP *EXAM*s, so I figured the answer couldn't be AP anything. Then I forgot there was a LOOMPA Land. And I can never do those "Word with / after / before"-type clues very well, so SHELF shmelf (5D: Word after ice or book). But, as usual, once I made some headway, got my feet under me, I took off, and the bottom half of the grid was much much faster than the top. Overall, enjoyable enough to solve. I just wish I could've walked away from the puzzle as soon as I was done and remained blissfully unaware of the theme pointlessness. Ah well. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]