Constructor: Jacob Stulberg
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
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THEME: AL JAFFEE OF MAD MAGAZINE (101A: Satirical cartoonist, born 3/13/1921, known for dreaming up ridiculous inventions ... or are they?) — stuff that ... exists ... and that Al Jaffee "foretold" in the pages of MAD:
Theme answers:
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The tribute subject is more than worthy, but this was something of a letdown. Didn't in any way get at what has made Jaffee special and funny and enduring. It's just five things ... that exist now. That's it. That's ... it. And there's just five. Six themers total. On a Sunday? I regularly do Wednesdays with as many (or more!) themers than this. I don't mind a six-themer Sunday, in theory. but the theme really has to be stunning, conceptually, and this was just ... a list of things pulled off the wikipedia page for Al Jaffee? (seriously, I looked, and most of these "predictions" are mentioned on that page). I know Jaffee primarily from the Fold-In feature at the end of every MAD for my entire childhood, where you'd get some elaborate drawing and then some question and then you'd fold the page over (eliminating the middle part of the original drawing) and get some new funny visual answer to the question. I also know him for "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions." I don't remember his whimsical blueprints for inventions that didn't exist yet. But it doesn't matter whether I remember them, what matters is: how well do they work as a puzzle theme? I'm sad to say: not that great. I think I've actually *seen* a Fold-In-themed puzzle before (in the NYT or elsewhere, I don't remember). Maybe there is a way to make "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions" work as a theme, I don't know. But this ... this is just a list or now-ordinary things. And the revealer is so forced. I mean the OF MAD MAGAZINE part is so tacked-on. I really wanted to like this, as MAD meant a lot to me as a kid, but between the dullish theme execution and the toughish / unrewarding fill, this felt like a slog.
There is a horrible name-patch today that gave me fits, and (once again, again and again), the unpleasantness of it all was exacerbated by the fact that the puzzle tried to get cute and in-jokey and winky. That is, it was made worse by the MAD Magazine-related clue on BERG (50D: Cartoonist Dave famous for o"The Lighter Side of ..."). If you had done that with a BERG placed somewhere near a bunch of ordinary words, off in some corner maybe, I wouldn't mind. He's a tough name to get (I knew him but still couldn't remember him, and because MAD is in the revealer, they couldn't even be specific about where "The Lighter Side Of ..." was published), but in the right context, he's fair. And yet: when you put a hard name clue (as opposed to an ordinary noun clue) on BERG, and you do so while BERG is sitting right in the middle of a thick patch of names (through LORDE, next to HOREB (!?!?), which is next to LOEWS which is crossing KLEE), you're not increasing anyone's solving enjoyment. You're just increasing the likelihood that someone's gonna get locked out by a bad cross. The very poor / vague clue on IN DETAIL also made that section a nightmare (51D: How anatomy charts are drawn) (IN DETAIL is not a phrase I'd ever associate with an anatomy chart, ever, any more than I'd associate it with many other kinds of charts or maps or whatever). On my puzzle print-out, I've basically just drawn an angry green cloud over most everything from the SNOW in SNOWBOARDING up to just underneath the RAZOR in THREE-BLADE RAZOR.
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
Theme answers:
- GRAFFITI-PROOF BUILDING (22A: Architectural innovation jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1982)
- THREE-BLADE RAZOR (38A: Grooming tool jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1979)
- SPELL-CHECKER (52A: Writing aid jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1967)
- SNOWBOARDING (73A: Winter sport jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1965)
- AUTOMATIC REDIAL (84A: Telephone feature jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1961)
Dave Berg (Brooklyn, June 12, 1920 – May 17, 2002) was an American cartoonist, most noted for his five decades of work in Mad of which The Lighter Side of... was the most famous. (wikipedia)
• • •
There is a horrible name-patch today that gave me fits, and (once again, again and again), the unpleasantness of it all was exacerbated by the fact that the puzzle tried to get cute and in-jokey and winky. That is, it was made worse by the MAD Magazine-related clue on BERG (50D: Cartoonist Dave famous for o"The Lighter Side of ..."). If you had done that with a BERG placed somewhere near a bunch of ordinary words, off in some corner maybe, I wouldn't mind. He's a tough name to get (I knew him but still couldn't remember him, and because MAD is in the revealer, they couldn't even be specific about where "The Lighter Side Of ..." was published), but in the right context, he's fair. And yet: when you put a hard name clue (as opposed to an ordinary noun clue) on BERG, and you do so while BERG is sitting right in the middle of a thick patch of names (through LORDE, next to HOREB (!?!?), which is next to LOEWS which is crossing KLEE), you're not increasing anyone's solving enjoyment. You're just increasing the likelihood that someone's gonna get locked out by a bad cross. The very poor / vague clue on IN DETAIL also made that section a nightmare (51D: How anatomy charts are drawn) (IN DETAIL is not a phrase I'd ever associate with an anatomy chart, ever, any more than I'd associate it with many other kinds of charts or maps or whatever). On my puzzle print-out, I've basically just drawn an angry green cloud over most everything from the SNOW in SNOWBOARDING up to just underneath the RAZOR in THREE-BLADE RAZOR.
No idea what a PUT-UP JOB is. Sounds old-timey. Also no idea what PERONI is. Sadly, PUT-UP JOB and PERONI cross. So that was fun. I think I'm not mad (!) at the puzzle so much as disappointed. That magazine, and Jaffee in particular, gave me a lot of joy as a kid. I wish this tribute puzzle could've captured a little of that.