Constructor: Jennifer Nutt
Relative difficulty: Medium (3:04)
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THEME: BABY STEPS (59A: Small advances ... or the progression suggested by the ends of 17-, 23-, 33-, 41- and 48-Across) — last words in the theme answers are "STEPS" in the normal motor-skill development of a "BABY":
Theme answers:
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Was briefly irked that only one of the theme answers actually contained a word related to "steps" (CAKE WALK), but then quickly came to accept that "steps" could refer to stages in a process, and that the process in question was adequately represented by the last words of the themers in today's puzzle, so I finally arrived at grudging acceptance, which is honestly the best I can do today. This theme works fine. The fill is fine. It's fine. It's visually unusual, in that most of its themers (2 through 5) are neither flush to the side of the grid nor centered. Four 8s in a row just sort of float off-center toward the middle of the grid. It's ... a look. It makes the whole center part of the grid look and feel very choppy, somehow; it's a very black square-heavy grid (40 of them, which is def on the high side). But if you're gonna cram in this many themers, it's not surprising that you'd have to make rather liberal use of the black squares, to keep the grid manageable (i.e. fillable in a way that is not awkward / ugly). For all the short fill this one contains, it never felt tiresome, and HORACE DOGSTAR DAMASK and SACHETS are all at least mildly interesting answers. In most themed puzzles, it's just a couple of longer Downs that hold any real interest, but this one didn't rely solely on SPRING TIDE and CAMERAWORK to liven things up, which is nice.
Relative difficulty: Medium (3:04)
Theme answers:
- JELLY ROLL (17A: Sweet item at a bakery)
- HOUSE SIT (23A: Keep watch while a homeowner's away)
- PUB CRAWL (33A: Bar-to-bar activity)
- MIC STAND (41A: What a speaker or musician may adjust before starting)
- CAKEWALK (48A: Easy win)
: a tide of greater-than-average range around the times of new moon and full moon (merriam-webster.com)
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I've had a couple glasses of wine tonight, which may have affected my speed skills, but I had a number of sticking points today, starting right off the bat at 1A: Tricked by doing something unexpectedly, with "out" (FAKED). It's a long, unwieldy clue, and it's got the whole "with 'out'" part to factor in, and my brain couldn't do anything with it for what felt like a long time (as long as it took me to get most of the crosses). KILO also took a bit, because the clue was so vague (3D: Metric weight, informally), and since FAKED and KILO cross, I stumbled rather than shot out of the NW. I also had a (metric) ton of trouble with CAMERAWORK; I watch a *ton* of movies, and think a lot about cinematography, so ... I don't know what I was expecting this answer to be, but nothing as informal as CAMERAWORK. I had the "C" and thought "... C ... INEMATOGRAPHY?" And even after I got CAMERA I wasn't sure what came next. [Job for a cinematographer] sounds like it wants, well, a specific job, a subset of what a cinematographer does, but CAMERAWORK is the totality of what a cinematographer does. I like the answer OK, but the clue was weirdly baffling to me. Worst part of the puzzle by far was trying to figure out what spelling of KEBAB they were gonna go with today. I managed to get *both* vowels wrong this time, yay me. Nothing else caused too much trouble. So I guess that's that. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]