Constructor: Robyn WeintraubRelative difficulty: Easy
THEME:"Olio"— it's just a themeless
Word of the Day: Jeremy RENNER (
52A: Portrayer of Marvel's Hawkeye) —
Jeremy Lee Renner (born January 7, 1971) is an American actor and singer. He began his career by appearing in independent films such as Dahmer (2002) and Neo Ned (2005). Renner earned supporting roles in bigger films, such as S.W.A.T. (2003) and 28 Weeks Later (2007). Renner was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Hurt Locker (2008) and for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Town (2010).
Renner played Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Thor (2011), The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), with further appearances scheduled in the upcoming Disney+ show Hawkeye, to be released in 2021. He also appeared in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), The Bourne Legacy(2012), Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013), American Hustle (2013), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), and Arrival (2016). (wikipedia)
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This is very good for what it is, but unfortunately (for me), what it is is a Sunday themeless, and these are just never going to be interesting to me. As I've said before, it's a giant (literally, giant! 21x21!) shrug. A Sunday-sized "we give up, here's some stuff." It's too easy to be that interesting, and since the grid is so big, the construction doesn't feel particularly special. That is, yeah, you can get a lot of longish answers into a 21x21. There's lots of room. I just don't care as much as I ought to care. And today's grid shape was really vanilla. No, wait, I like vanilla. A vanilla malt is the best thing in the world. Let's call it "boilerplate" instead. It looks like a template of some kind. It's a very clean grid, and many of the entries here are interesting, but the overall effect of said entries in a Sunday themeless is ho-hum. There's a reason the NYTXW didn't do Sunday themelesses until, what, like two or three years ago? It's because they're a cop-out. I hear that some people enjoy them. I'm happy for them. For me, they're a non-event. There's no real low, no real high, just ... middle middle middle. Time passes, and then the puzzle is done. Solving one of these unthemed Sundays, even a very competent one like this, isn't necessarily better than solving a disastrous themed Sunday, to be honest. Certainly, from a blogging perspective, this is much much worse, as there's really hardly anything to say.
Had trouble with a few entries. Didn't understand that the "foundation" in 3D: Foundation options (TONES) was make-up until after I got every single letter from crosses. Wanted TILES at one point. Had "COMING!" before "COME IN" (13D: Reply to a ring), which probably resulted in the biggest snag of the solve (not that big). The toughest overall section, for me, was roughly SAILED OFF down to HERS, an answer I still don't think I get. Or else I do get it, and what I don't get is why anyone thought it was clever? Like, it's HERS because the lace belongs ... to Queen Anne? I am smiling with my mouth only. Anyway, between SAILED OFF and HERS, I tripped over ONAUTO, HALO, DOULA (nice clue) (67A: Birth day presence?), and DOTS (thought they were called "tittles," those DOTS). Oh, and I had WEASLEY before DURSLEY (33D: Surname of Harry Potter's adoptive family). I *did* think, "wait, the Weasley's never actually adopted him, did they?" And no. No they did not.
Not seeing much of anything else worth commenting on. I do like
RETAIL THERAPY and
NOT EVEN CLOSE, though, again, I would like them a hell of a lot more in the more constrained confines of a 15x15 grid, with tougher clues and symmetrical answers that
also danced and sparkled. There's just not a lot of zing to be had in the themeless Sunday experience.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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