Constructor: Jeremy Newton
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (?) (not sure, had some technical issues with how to enter the theme squares, clock not reliable)
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THEME: HASHTAG (39A: Symbol formed by four crossings in this puzzle) — four rebus squares contain "I"s (for the Down answer) and an equal sign ("=") (for the Across answer), which together I guess are supposed to form "#"
Theme answers:
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This seems like a waste of a potentially good idea. There's just no HASHTAG content ... so there's nothing particularly HASHTAG-y about the solving experience. It's "I"s and equal signs. The whole thing really felt fussy and unpleasant to solve. To be honest, I never saw that HASHTAG was the theme. I thought it was just "Two "I"s in one direction, but they're lying down ... to form an equal sign." Obviously the *content* of the puzzle (the thing its themers actually have in common, the long ones anyway) is EQUAL. So when HASHTAG just kinda filled itself in from crosses, I had no reason to suspect it was involved in the theme in any way. Seeing it after I was finished solving, my reaction was "well, that makes a little more sense" but also "that's dumb, there's no HASHTAG content in this puzzle" and also "wow, I don't care." The fill and clues also seemed fussy / old-fashioned / bygone / WEIRD. Really hostile to put the first themer in Latin (?). Big professorial, elbow-patches energy. And AGASP ALAS and DO BE (!?!) all in the same grid. Did a pearl-clutching Victorian write this? DO BE is egregious. You can change that to a very common noodle type SOBA with very, very little difficulty. Then you can change WHEW (which is also *bad*, in the sense of ambiguous—I had PHEW!) to the common word WHET. Tada. SWELLS / SOBA / WHET > DWELLS / DO BE (!?) / WHEW. Real words, no partials. Lots of opportunities for interesting clues. It can be done. If you care.
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (?) (not sure, had some technical issues with how to enter the theme squares, clock not reliable)
Theme answers:
- ALL THINGS BEING = / SK(II)NG (17A: Translation of the Latin phrase "ceteris paribus"/ 13D: Traveling between the poles?)
- SEPARATE BUT = / WIIG (27A: Doctrine that was found unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education / 26D: Kristen formerly of "S.N.L.")
- = OPPORTUNITY / WIIS (46A: Fair for everybody / 43D: Some Nintendo consoles)
- = RIGHTS MOVEMENT / SHIISM (61A: Organized effort for justice under the law / 49D: Branch of Islam)
n. pl. sen
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Some other things:
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- WHEE (55D: "How fun!")— ... and WHEW? In symmetrical positions? More words, fewer sounds, please! Why isn't this answer GHEE!? Why!? GHEE is so much better. With SOBA up top and GHEE down below, your puzzle would be much tastier (and more interesting)
- MESH TOP (25D: See-through garment)— had real trouble with this because I couldn't figure out what kind of "garment" was going to be meshed. Was looking for a specific kind of garment, not just the very generic TOP, ugh. Had MESH BRA for a bit. Seemed ... plausible, if maybe not practical.
- MOB (63D: Pride : lions :: ___ : emus) — always hate these analogy-type clues, just as I always hate the "obscure word for a group of animals" type clues. MOB is such a good word, but this clue has the sensibility and savor of the musty Maleska era (see also the clue on SEN, why, why would you do bygone currency when you have other options? It's unfathomable). Also, I should note here that the MOVEMENT part of (EQUAL) RIGHTS MOVEMENT was not at all clear to me, even after I had the first part of the answer. Seems way, way too generic. Clue doesn't let you in on a particular cause, answer doesn't specify one ... anyway, long story somewhat shorter, I had (EQUAL) RIGHT COVENANT written in there for a bit. "Equal rights amendment,""Women's rights movement," that is how the phrases appear in my brain. :(
- INTWOS (42A: How promgoers typically arrive) — this answer is bad and also many many promgoers these days arrive uncoupled, as parts of groups, so maybe stick with Noah's Ark if you have to have this not-great bit of fill in your grid
- OMG (7D: "Wowie!," to Gen Z) —I guess they used to say "Wowie!" back when they TOGged up to go to prom exclusively INTWOS.
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