Constructor: Dan Schoenholz
Relative difficulty: No idea (co-solved it on Zoom in a pretty leisurely fashion)
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THEME: EXTRA CHARGE (60A: Unwelcome sight on a bill ... or a clue to 16-, 34- and 41-Across)— themers are ordinary phrases that have had ION added to the end, creating wacky phrases, clued wackily (i.e. "?"-style):
Theme answers:
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Quick write-up today because I'm unusually pressed for time and also there's a Zoom recording and if you really want to know my thoughts In Depth you can always watch that. Long story short: it's fine. Certainly the idea is ambitious, or well-meaning, or ... you know, it's trying, and there's definitely a cleverness there. The execution felt mildly clunky to me as I was solving, as it seemed like an add-a-sound puzzle (which is often depressing, and on the heels of Sunday, potentially Very depressing—too soon!). I thought "hmmm ... something about ... shunning." After getting the second themer, Rachel and I tried to guess what the revealer phrase would be, and I jokingly suggested IONIZING, which obviously doesn't fit, but which in the end was basically right, or in the ballpark of right. But EXTRA CHARGE is better. There's no charge to start with, so it doesn't Quite quite work, but there is an "extra" bunch of letters that spell out a thing that carries a "charge," so, fine. Didn't like that two of the sounds were "shun" and the third wasn't. Didn't like that two themers steered you way away from the meaning of the base phrase, but the IRS one didn't / couldn't (hard to have IRS in your answer and not have it be tax-related). But there is a solid concept here, consistently executed at the most elemental level (it doesn't promise to do anything more than add the letters "ION" and it delivers on that promise). So there you go. A Tuesday that isn't a terrible disappointment. You should always be happy to take that.
Relative difficulty: No idea (co-solved it on Zoom in a pretty leisurely fashion)
Theme answers:
- IRS AUDITION (16A: Job interview for a wannabe tax collector?)
- BOARDING PASSION (34A: What the surfing enthusiast has?)
- RUN OF THE MILLION (41A: Name for a huge marathon?)
1: an atom or group of atoms that carries a positive or negative electric charge as a result of having lost or gained one or more electrons2: a charged subatomic particle (such as a free electron) (merriam-webster.com)
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Fill-wise, it's just OK. The worst part by far was the Scrabble-f***ing in the SW. If you can put a "Z" (or "J" or "X" or whatever rarer letter you want) in a corner and have it come out clean, great, but AZO is not not Not clean (64A: ___ dye (chemical coloring)). It's absolute crosswordese, and makes your "Z" utterly unworth it. And in such a small corner, you could've done ... literally anything. You could probably get a "Q" and a "J" in there and still have it come out better than this current corner if you tried hard enough. Here:
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Also, the clue on OCD is gross. "Neurotic" has strongly negative connotations. You'd never tell someone with OCD that they're "neurotic." Connotation matters and "neurotic" just doesn't work for what can be a genuinely debilitating condition. Also, re: TYE—are people really named that? With an "E"? OK. But re: the TYE clue (43D: Actor Sheridan who co-starred in "Ready Player One"): having been conned into reading "Ready Player One" the book, I have no interest in "Ready Player One" the movie or any future Ready Player incarnations. Apologies to all who are named TYE, but consider TY. It's nicer. Good day. Oh, right, here's the ZOOM solve. Peace!