Constructor: Brandon Koppy
Relative difficulty: Medium (name-heavy, so results will vary widely)
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THEME: Sci-fi sidekicks — the "Star Wars"'droids R2-D2 and C-3PO are used to refer to the initial (mostly) letter patterns in the names of famous people:
Theme answers:
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This is so well-intentioned, and there are a couple of names I was really happy to see, but I have to start with the obvious, which is that the theme is logically broken. It wants you to think it's not, but it is. The logic is that the letters in the 'droid names are the initials of famous people. In every case, it's the initials that matter, not the mere presence of the letters in the name. R2 = RYAN REYNOLDS, not, I don't know, MARY PICKFORD. The latter does indeed have two R's, but, as you know, that's not the point. The initials are the point. In every case. Except COCO CHANEL, where we are asked to accept that non-initial second "C" as one of the 3 C's in C-3PO. But it's not CO space CO space CHANEL. It's COCO, one word. So making her the "C3" example is a cheat. Now I guess you have to cheat if you want to have this theme come off, and it's not a bad cheat, as cheats go, but it's a cheat. Other than that, I thought the theme was pretty cute, though once I got to R2-D2, I could fill in all the themers immediately, no trouble, which is mildly depressing—I mean, great if you are speed-solving, but the themers just filled themselves in. Actually, they might have been gettable at one glance even without the R2-D2 hint. The point is, I knew what was going to happen and where to look, and bam bam bam. Whole gimmick is kind of given away in that one little answer in the NE:
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Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Medium (name-heavy, so results will vary widely)
Theme answers:
- RYAN REYNOLDS (he's the "R2") (20A: Star of the "Deadpool" films)
- DON DELILLO (he's the "D2") (34A: Postmodern novelist who wrote "White Noise")
- COCO CHANEL (she is the "C3") (42A: Fashion icon with a numbered fragrance)
- PATTON OSWALT (he's the "PO") (53A: Stand-up comedian who voiced Remy in "Ratatouille")
Run the Jewels, also known by the initialism RTJ, is an American hip hop supergroup duo consisting of Brooklyn-based rapper and producer El-P and Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike. They released their critically acclaimed self-titled debut studio album as a free download in 2013 and have since released the follow-up albums Run the Jewels 2 (2014), Run the Jewels 3 (2016), and RTJ4 (2020), all of which have been released for free and received similar acclaim. (wikipedia)
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I have to say something about EL-P today, and that is: LOL, wow. I mean ... I own two RTJ albums and *I* couldn't quite remember EL-P's name. I've been doing NYT crosswords for a while, and let me tell you, RUN THE JEWELS is better known than EL-P and the initialism RTJ is better known than EL-P and KILLER MIKE, the other half of RTJ, is way way better known than EL-P, so it is ultra-bizarre that the first thing to enter the NYTXW from the RTJ Universe is somehow EL-P. He's the far lesser known, and white, half of RTJ, yet he's the first to get into the grid. I feel like that's a metaphor for ... something. More power to him, though. I have nothing against him at all. But when I say "LOL" I mean I don't think I've seen a name that is going to be less familiar to the overall NYTXW solving base than EL-P. It's going to look like a mistake to most people. They're just gonna stare and shrug and cross their fingers. It's obvious that he's here solely because of the thematic crunch, i.e. a tiny space that's dense with theme material (WW3 is fixed, so I'm calling it a themer). There aren't a lot of good options at E-P, as ESP won't work. So ... it was either ['oller from 'enry 'iggins' protégé?] or ... this. I guess you could've gone with EAP (Poe's monogram, ugh) crossing I WAS crossing SIC. But I cannot say that that option is better. Anyway, constructors, please add RTJ and KILLER MIKE to your databases, as they are clearly legal now.
The fill starts out grim on this one, and the short stuff remains so. Horrible ABASE / ABASH problem, and since ABASH absolutely literally means [Put to shame], I wrote in ABASH, which was "wrong," which is terrible, terrible cluing. To ABASE is to belittle or degrade. The concept of "shame" is built into ABASH, not ABASE. It's already not great fill; this cluing makes it worse. With ABBR and STENO up there too, the NW corner made for a terrible start to this puzzle. Later had to endure a lot of overfamiliar (or just awkward) short stuff (ANI YER ADUE OTOS MSN UVEA COTAN ... a random pope (LEOI) crossing a NATO alphabet answer (KILO)!? Gruesome. NATO alphabet clues are the lowest of the low. Abolish.
The longer fill has its moments. The south and southeast are pretty nicely built overall (though I have no idea what CHOPSAWS are) (40D: Heavy-duty cutters). Happy to see PATTON OSWALT and DON DELILLO today. Great names. I keep waiting for someone to put DeLillo's recent "ZERO K" in a grid. It would look so nice. ZEROK! Add that to your databases too, constructors. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld