Constructor: Lynn Lempel
Relative difficulty: Easy (2:35)
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THEME: TO BE OR NOT TO BE (36A: Hamlet's dilemma ... with a phonetic hint for the last words of 17- and 29-Across and the first words of 45- and 63-Across) — so ... the first two themers end with single-B and double-B words that rhyme, and then the third and fourth themers do the same thing, only with first words ... I think that's it:
Theme answers:
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Really didn't get what the theme was going for, either during the solve or immediately after. It's a bit fussy and loose. A single-B word and a double-B word and then ... again, a single-B word and a double-B word. But ... why? The words have nothing else to do with each other. They're very different words. It's not like one is just like the other except for an extra "B." Totally different words, they just happen to ... rhyme? But the Hamlet phrase doesn't really have anything in it about rhyme, so ... I don't exactly get it. Thankfully I tore through this so quickly that I didn't have time to feel much of anything about this puzzle, one way or the other. It was weird, thematically, which I guess is better than dull or corny. But it doesn't really snap, and so doesn't feel as clever as it seems to think it is. Also, the fill is quite dull. Very competent, in a late-20th-century sort of way, but lots and lots and lots of repeaters and nothing much of interest. It filled a Monday slot and didn't contain any real gunk. That is what I have to say about this puzzle.
Relative difficulty: Easy (2:35)
Theme answers:
- RIDING HABIT (17A: Equestrian outfit)
- BRER RABBIT (29A: Children's character who lives in a briar patch)
- TREBLE CLEF (45A: "E-G-B-D-F" musical symbol)
- PEBBLE BEACH (63A: California golf resort that has hosted six U.S. Opens)
Thin, mint-flavored chocolate wafers dipped in a chocolatey coating. One of five vegan offered Girl Scout cookies. [...] Thin Mints are the most popular Girl Scout Cookies, with Samoas/Caramel deLites the second most popular. About 50 million boxes of Thin Mints were sold in 2013 compared with 38 million boxes of Samoas. Thin Mints averages about 32 cookies per box and Samoas 15 cookies per box. (wikipedia)
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By far the "hardest" part of the grid (relatively speaking) was the NW, where lots of Girl Scout cookies seemed like they could qualify as "popular," and WADE INTO had a clue that didn't strongly suggest its answer (3D: Undertake with gusto). WADE INTO always seems non-gusto-y to me, no matter what crossword clues tell me. DIVE INTO seems gusto-y. Wading is literally slow walking. Plodding. So WADE INTO did not seem intuitive from its clue. Also, REHEAR is easily the ugliest thing in the grid, so why (why, again?) would you decide to put a tricksy little clue on it, thereby calling attention to the ugliest thing in the grid? (6D: Try, try again?). I guess the "try" there refers to legal cases, but the clue isn't even good because try, try again implies multiple tries, whereas REHEAR only indicates the one ... the one retry. APLOMB is an unusualish word, so that might've caused a wee slow-down (11D: Self-assurance). ENTR'ACTE was mildly unexpected as well (41D: Theatergoer's break), so maybe there was a little puzzle pushback there, but 2:35 is the fastest I've done a Monday in a long, long time, so if there's anything close to genuine Trouble in this grid, I'm not seeing it. That's all, folks. Until 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]