Constructor: Ryan McCarty
Relative difficulty: Easy
![]()
THEME: none
Word of the Day: THE OLD VIC (5D: Historic London venue) —
![]()
A very easy Saturday. Once again, a 1-Across gimme (1A: Like faces around a campfire at night = UPLIT) was the harbinger of a very fast late-week solve. UPLIT ICU UBOAT LACT- ... something ... had me up and moving very quickly. About that LACT- answer: when your puzzle is generally smooth (as this one is) and generally easy (as this one is) then the bad fill just hits harder. It's more jarring. And LACTEAL just looks like someone who crashed the party without even bothering to clean up first. Everyone else looks nice and is just mingling, having a good time, and LACTEAL comes stumbling in, burping and spilling drinks and generally causing a scene. He is the opposite of unassuming (I don't know why he's a he, since the answer is about milk production, but I don't cast the weird dramas in my brain; I'm not sure who you see about that). I am quite sure that LACTEAL is a word. That is the nicest thing I can say about LACTEAL. When I see LACT-, I've got basically three moves: LACTIC, LACTATE / LACTATING, and LACTOSE. When they invent a pharmaceutical called LACTIVIA, I'll have that too, but for now, three moves. LACTEAL. It sounds like the color of French lakes ("Quelle color is that?""C'est LAC TEAL, you CLOD!"). As an adjective, it's a clunker. I also don't really know the term TIE CLASP (is that like a TIE CLIP?), but that's probably my fault for being a boor and getting stains all over the ties I don't wear every time I eat soup. I guess the TIE CLASP keeps your tie from falling into your food? I wanted something like TIE BIB, which seems like it would be more effective against stain onslaughts. But I'm not made at TIE CLASP. I'm mad at LACTEAL. This is nearly the only true complaint I have about this puzzle, and yet I can't stop talking about it—such is the effect of even a small pile of garbage in a nicely tended garden.
The most noteworthy thing about this puzzle, though, is the center, which is a huge and daunting open space that ends up being not only relatively tame but remarkably smooth and clean. Polished. Just a beautiful criss-crossing of long, strong answers. No one answer in that middle section really bowled me over, but as a group, they're stunning. Deceptively simple and straightforward—it's really, really hard to get that many long answers to come together neatly like that. You're usually gonna have to make one or two notable sacrifices in fill quality to achieve such a feat. That's a tilted stack of five 9s, sandwiched between two 8s (TIE CLASP, NUTCASES), which is then shot through with seven adjacent Downs, of which PREYS ON is the shortest one, at 7 letters. So ... [counts on fingers] ... fourteen answers, all 7+ in length, all crossing each other. And not a clunker in the bunch. Please clap (no, really).
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: THE OLD VIC (5D: Historic London venue) —
The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre just south-east of Waterloo station on the corner of the Cut and Waterloo Road in Lambeth, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal Victoria Palace. It was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 and formally named the Royal Victoria Hall, although by that time it was already known as the "Old Vic". In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian Baylis, assumed management and began a series of Shakespeare productions in 1914. The building was damaged in 1940 during air raids and it became a Grade II* listed building in 1951 after it reopened.The Old Vic is the crucible of many of the performing arts companies and theatres in London today. It was the name of a repertory company that was based at the theatre and formed (along with the Chichester Festival Theatre) the core of the National Theatre of Great Britain on its formation in 1963, under Laurence Olivier. The National Theatre remained at the Old Vic until new premises were constructed on the South Bank, opening in 1976. The Old Vic then became the home of Prospect Theatre Company, at that time a highly successful touring company which staged such acclaimed productions as Derek Jacobi's Hamlet. However, with the withdrawal of funding for the company by the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1980 for breaching its touring obligations, Prospect disbanded in 1981. The theatre underwent complete refurbishment in 1985. In 2003, Kevin Spacey was appointed artistic director, which received considerable media attention. Spacey served as artistic director until 2015; two years after he stepped down, he was accused of sexually harassing and assaulting several students. In 2015, Matthew Warchussucceeded Spacey as artistic director. (wikipedia)
• • •
The most noteworthy thing about this puzzle, though, is the center, which is a huge and daunting open space that ends up being not only relatively tame but remarkably smooth and clean. Polished. Just a beautiful criss-crossing of long, strong answers. No one answer in that middle section really bowled me over, but as a group, they're stunning. Deceptively simple and straightforward—it's really, really hard to get that many long answers to come together neatly like that. You're usually gonna have to make one or two notable sacrifices in fill quality to achieve such a feat. That's a tilted stack of five 9s, sandwiched between two 8s (TIE CLASP, NUTCASES), which is then shot through with seven adjacent Downs, of which PREYS ON is the shortest one, at 7 letters. So ... [counts on fingers] ... fourteen answers, all 7+ in length, all crossing each other. And not a clunker in the bunch. Please clap (no, really).
[Lord. Have. Mercy.]
Only difficulty I had was the aforementioned LACTEAL, then ... I wouldn't call it difficulty, more frustration: I had -STICATE and still no idea what 16D: Break was (DOMESTICATE). Seemed impossible to have that much of an answer and not be able to see it, but [Break] can be noun or verb and can mean a million things. My brain kept pronouncing the -STICATE part like SOPHISTICATE (n.). Seems preposterous that SOPHISTICATE would leap in there and DOMESTICATE wouldn't, but again, I cannot account for the drama in my brain. Thought I might have trouble breaking into the NE because of this -STICATE failure, but I got in easily, assisted by UNASSISTED, with UMP MEN PEGS giving me more than enough traction up there. Had STAYS before STEMS (48D: Inhibits), and GOTYA! before GOT 'EM! (58A: "Ha, fell right into my trap!") (so ... multiple people fell into your trap? The clue was not clear to whom or about whom you were speaking). Because the clue was about "print" (53A: Print source), I assumed the TIP at the end of the answer had something to do with information one might give a newspaper (e.g. an anonymous TIP). So FINGER came as a mild surprise. Not a huge fan of THE OX, esp. after THE OLD VIC, but it's small and it was easy and the rest of the grid is very nice, so no harm. Appreciated the clue on ARM (36A: Vaccine target). Whole family now fully vaccinated. Daughter had a somewhat rougher time with Pfizer 2 than I did with Moderna 2, but like everyone else who had mild side effects, she was fine within 48 hours. Get shot! And reshot, if that's what's called for. It's an unequivocal personal and public good. Take care. And Happy May!