Constructor: Simon Marotte
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: REVERSE (38A: Certain auto gear ... as suggested by the circled letters) — circled letters contain the names of makes of cars in REVERSE order:
Three names might've given trouble today, and they are the only potential obstacles to an otherwise Monday sprint: BIFF (1D: "Back to the Future" bully), Robert SIEGEL (6D: Longtime "All Things Considered" host Robert) and EVELYN Ashford. They're both very familiar to me, though I will confess to not knowing *how* I knew EVELYN Ashford's name. There were a number of superior US women runners in my childhood, and she was one of them. I keep thinking "didn't she have a hyphenated last name?" but that was Jackie Joyner-Kersee. I think the musical duo Ashford & Simpson are running interference in my brain. Like, if you'd told me EVELYN Ashford's married name was EVELYN Ashford-Simpson, I'd've thought, "Yes, that sounds right." I'm just grateful that her name was there in my brain when I needed it. Elaine CHAO's name was also in my brain, but that was a much less pleasant experience, for a bunch of reasons (mostly recently, the repeated family-enriching ethics violations). Overall, this theme felt basic and not terribly remarkable. But not terribly terrible, either. Sturdy. Adequate. Solid.
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
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Hello there, Monday puzzle. Where were you yesterday? I imagine this puzzle got stuck in traffic and was so late that they had to sub in yesterday's puzzle, which was supposed to be Wednesday, so presumably we'll see Tuesday tomorrow. They probably called Tuesday to fill in for Monday but have you ever tried to get Tuesday to do anything on short notice? Probably wasn't even answering the phone. So anyway, the Mon. / Tue. difficulties are way off this week. I filled this one in as fast as I could read the clues for a good long while, stopping for the first time only when I got to the toughest (and worst) theme answer: HAD NO HOPE. Compared to the others (all solid), that one feels very handmade, very roll-your-own, very rough-hews. Just not as sturdy a standalone phrase as the others. Something about the past tense and contextlessness of it all. Plus, it could very plausibly have been HAD NO SHOT (assuming you didn't know the theme yet). Later, I wrote TOLL before PEAL (55D: Sound of church bells) and AGRA before ROMA (11D: The Eternal City) (a very crossword-brain error). But that was it for errors or struggles *except* for what is truly the worst thing about the puzzle: the clue on NAME (56D: What every make of auto has). Classic Trying-Too-Hard. This puzzle Does Not Need more theme material than it already has, and that clue ... just for NAME? It's so weird / non-intuitive. The make *is* the NAME. What are you even talking about? This is like if the clue for NAME were [What every company has], or [What every NFL team has]. [What every U.S. president has had]. Come on. You see how that's awful, right? It's a totally inapt clue, all because you wanted, what, a bonus theme answer? That instinct is so bad. Ruinous. Just give NAME a good clue. There are probably infinite good NAME clues. This is not one of them.
- FALSE TEETH (17A: They often come out at night) (Tesla)
- LAURA BUSH (28A: First lady of 2001 to '09) (Subaru)
- HAD NO HOPE (47A: Was destined to fail) (Honda)
- KUBLAI KHAN (62A: Host of Marco Polo) (Kia)
Evelyn Ashford (born April 15, 1957) is an American retired track and field athlete, the 1984 Olympic champion in the 100-meter dash. She ran under the 11-second barrier over 30 times and was the first to run under 11 seconds in an Olympic Games.
As a 19-year-old, Ashford finished 5th in the 100 m event at the 1976 Summer Olympics. After beating the world record holders in the 100 m and 200 m in 1979 at the World Cup of Track and Field in Montreal, Ashford was one of the potential medalists for the 1980 Summer Olympics, but these Games were boycotted by the United States. Ashford also tore a quad muscle in May of 1980, when participating as herself in the filming of Personal Best, and was out for the rest of the season. (wikipedia)
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Three names might've given trouble today, and they are the only potential obstacles to an otherwise Monday sprint: BIFF (1D: "Back to the Future" bully), Robert SIEGEL (6D: Longtime "All Things Considered" host Robert) and EVELYN Ashford. They're both very familiar to me, though I will confess to not knowing *how* I knew EVELYN Ashford's name. There were a number of superior US women runners in my childhood, and she was one of them. I keep thinking "didn't she have a hyphenated last name?" but that was Jackie Joyner-Kersee. I think the musical duo Ashford & Simpson are running interference in my brain. Like, if you'd told me EVELYN Ashford's married name was EVELYN Ashford-Simpson, I'd've thought, "Yes, that sounds right." I'm just grateful that her name was there in my brain when I needed it. Elaine CHAO's name was also in my brain, but that was a much less pleasant experience, for a bunch of reasons (mostly recently, the repeated family-enriching ethics violations). Overall, this theme felt basic and not terribly remarkable. But not terribly terrible, either. Sturdy. Adequate. Solid.