Constructor: Will NedigerRelative difficulty: Easy to Easy-Medium (just two toughish areas for me)THEME: none Word of the Day: SUN RA (
46A: Jazzman who was a pioneer of Afrofuturism) —
Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances. For much of his career, Ra led "The Arkestra," an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up.
Born and raised in Alabama, Blount became involved in the Chicago jazz scene during the late 1940s. He soon abandoned his birth name, taking the name Le Sony'r Ra, shortened to Sun Ra (after Ra, the Egyptian God of the Sun). Claiming to be an alien from Saturn on a mission to preach peace, he developed a mythical persona and an idiosyncratic credo that made him a pioneer of Afrofuturism. Throughout his life he denied ties to his prior identity, saying "Any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym."
His widely eclectic and avant-garde music echoed the entire history of jazz, from ragtime and early New Orleans hot jazz, to swing music, bebop, free jazz and fusion. His compositions ranged from keyboard solos to works for big bands of over 30 musicians, along with electronic excursions, songs, chants, percussion pieces, and anthems. From the mid-1950s until his death, Ra led the musical collective The Arkestra (which featured artists such as Marshall Allen, John Gilmore and June Tyson throughout its various iterations). Its performances often included dancers and musicians dressed in elaborate, futuristic costumes inspired by ancient Egyptian attire and the Space Age. (wikipedia)
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This movie is amazing. God bless the Criterion Channel
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Since I've (largely) stopped timing myself on puzzles I do first thing in the morning, I feel like I'm seeing the whole question of "Difficulty" a little more clearly. Which is to say, I think the clock can be deceptive. Don't ask me to elaborate on this theory, because I haven't thought about it too much. I just know that if I'm not in speed mode, I can feel the tough spots better, and see their ... I don't know, let's say "absolute toughness" a little better, as opposed to the kind of "toughness" that comes from the idiosyncratic mistakes one makes when speeding (fat fingers, poor reading comprehension, etc.). In that same time period (so ... the past three to six months), the late-week, "difficult" puzzles have seemed to get appreciably easier. I doubt they have actually moved much in terms of difficulty in that short a time period, so I think I'm just picking up on a broad recent phenomenon, which is that the "difficult" puzzles (Th-Sun, but esp F & Sat) have been made easier in recent years. Probably in the name of accessibility. I certainly haven't gotten *better* at puzzles. Not faster, anyway. I'm just noticing how easy it is for me to stroll through a Saturday these days, with none of the sweat and tooth-grinding that often characterized a Saturday solve for me even at my speed-solving peak (roughly ten years ago). I think that now that the NYTXW is doing such enormous business (like the cooking app, it's carrying the paper in terms of human attention, if not outright $$$), a conscious choice has been made to make the "difficult" puzzles more accessible, and I don't think this is necessarily bad. Casual solvers should have a shot at all the puzzles on offer, or should at least feel like they can get there one day. I do miss the genuine struggle, though, sometimes.
Today's puzzle only put up a fight in two places for me. It definitely has teeth enough to make the solve interesting, and it's a good-looking grid. But I didn't look at a clue I didn't know for the first 1/3 of the puzzle. I opened like this, bam bam:
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And then proceeded, with no hesitation at all, all the way down the west side of the grid until I hit the (by far) obscurest clue in the puzzle. Weirdly, it was a clue for a mere three-letter word: TOP (45A: Sorting label for a Twitter search). Totally inscrutable to me for the longest time—and I do Twitter searches *often*. It wasn't until I got TOP (entirely from crosses) that I remembered, "oh, right, when your search results come in, there *are* a bunch of headers at the top, different ways you can sort results"; the only two I remember (now) are "Latest" (which shows the results in reverse chronological order) and "TOP" (which some algorithm has determined are the most "engaging" or whatever dumb names they use to monetize your attention and anesthetize that way that you feel). So ... TOP! You *really* gotta use Twitter to have a shot there, and even many Twitter users (hi there) are gonna squint at that one. That little clue packed a lot of wallop, esp. relative to most of the rest of the grid.
The more serious challenge came in the SE, where REPRIMANDS fit perfectly at 51A: Upbraids (REPROACHES), and where, facing S-UR--E at 36D: Popular ice drink (SLURPEE), I decided I would write in SOUR ALE (!?!?!). My 10-year-old self is looking at me right now like "dude, you went to 7-11 and drank cola SLURPEEs every damn chance you got. I'm drinking one right now!" Embarrassing. No one else is making that error, I'm fairly confident, so I can't ascribe it to the puzzle's "difficulty." But I definitely had to work around the REPRIMANDS trap. But even there, RED SKY was a gimme (41D: Morning omen for sailors) and CATE Blanchett was a gimme, so even though "GEE, YA THINK?" was slightly hard to parse (54A: "Thanks, Captain Obvious!"), I fought my way up and out of there with only a normal Saturday amount of struggle. The rest of the grid felt handed to me. If you don't know STEVE / KERR (4D: With 16-Across, championship-winning head coach of the Golden State Warriors), maybe it's harder, but with him (and he's a gimme for me), you've got toeholds in two parts of the grid. Really opens things up.
There were a few answers I couldn't get right away.
- Thought the Hajj was maybe a HIKE (!?) (it's a RITE) (23A: Hajj, e.g.)
- Had the "H" but no idea what to do with it at 25A: Overplay (HAM UP)
- I had the -OR and wanted ARDOR at 42A: Vehemence but then thought "no, ARDOR's more love than [Vehemence]" ... and then TOP got involved and really messed things up, so even though I guessed ARDOR early, I took a while to commit to it.
- I didn't hesitate too much at 'ZINE, or, rather, if I did, it was out of disbelief that anyone would think The Atlantic was a 'ZINE (28A: The Atlantic, but not the Pacific, for short). I'd give you MAG before I gave you 'ZINE, which has a very specific non-commercial / DIY meaning. The Atlantic is a mass-market slick. It's the antithesis of a 'ZINE.
I do feel bad for people who have never heard of
Lincoln in the BARDO, because how in the world are you gonna know if you have that one right. Unless your
knowledge of Buddhism runs pretty deep, you aren't likely to recognize
BARDO as a word at all. And when you don't recognize a word at all, when it seems like you're staring at nonsense, then all of a sudden *all* the crosses start to look suspect.
BARDO was a gimme for me (
Lincoln in the BARDO won the Man Booker Prize in 2017), but if you struggled with that one, I see you, and I sympathize.
That's all. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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