Constructor: Ashish Vengsarkar
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME: "No Ruse" — familiar phrases with a "roo" sound in them have the "R" dropped, leaving just ... an "oo" sound ... so the resulting wacky answers (clued in the wacky "?" style) feature "No 'R' use" (I think????):
Five things:
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Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
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When I started this one, I thought (feared?) I was embarking on another one of those Sunday themelesses that seem to be popping up more and more in recent years. The grid looked really wide open (just giant NW / SE corners, for instance), and I figured that was because themeless grids (Fri, Sat) are often more wide open than themed (without themers to hold you back, you can go to a lower word count much more easily). I rationalized this early mistaken belief by interpreting the title ("NO RUSE") as a kind of literal description of themelessness. "Hey, y'all, no tricks today, just fill!" But then after a minute or two I hit GOOP DYNAMICS and realized I had completely misread the situation. Instead, I was dealing with a pretty standard sound-change theme, the likes of which I've seen on Sunday puzzles since time immemorial, or at least since the early '90s when I started solving (holy cow it's been 30 years now!). In this one, there is "no 'R' use," right? I say "right?" uncertainly because I don't really get the part of the theme where the affected words in the wacky answers *all* have to be "OO" words. What's that about? I ask because my god TAMING OF THE SHOO is so awful. There's no conceivable clue that can make that good. A "SHOO" is not a noun and you cannot do anything to it, even wackily. That answer should've been TAMING OF THE SHOE ... and the only reason I can fathom that it *isn't* TAMING OF THE SHOE is that there is some idea that the "OO" thing is part of the theme. But ... but ... if the whole deal is just dropping the "R," then again, I ask, Why??? Why SHOO?!? (I see that "shoe" is in the BOOT STRENGTH clue, but that can be rewritten).
- BURDEN OF POOF (24A: Onus for a magician's disappearing act?)
- GOOP DYNAMICS (26A: Study of how gels gel?)
- MILWAUKEE BOOERS (56A: Angry Wisconsin sports fans?)
- TAMING OF THE SHOO (80A: Getting "Amscray!" under control?)
- BOOT STRENGTH (110A: Power of a cowboy's shoe?)
- PENELOPE COOS (116A: Odysseus' wife whispers sweet nothings?)
- YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TOOTH (10D: Dramatic accusation at a dentist's office?)
Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi HI PP (Urdu: عمران احمد خان نیازی, born 5 October 1952) is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Pakistan and the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Before entering politics, Khan was an international cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team, which he led to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. He was chancellor of the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom from 2005 to 2014.
Khan was born to a Pashtun family in Lahore in 1952, and graduated from Keble College, Oxford in 1975. He began his international cricket career at age 18, in a 1971 Test series against England. Khan played until 1992, served as the team's captain intermittently between 1982 and 1992, and won the Cricket World Cup, in what is Pakistan's first and only victory in the competition. Considered one of cricket's greatest ever all-rounders, Khan registered 3,807 runs and took 362 wickets in Test cricket and was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. (wikipedia)
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Also, why is this dumb JIM MORRISON stuff in here, in huge answers, in parallel positions? How is that related to the theme? Is it? Maybe it's just 'cause I don't really care for The Doors, but what a huge distraction. Go find some Doors puzzle to be in, MR. MOJO RISIN'! Speaking of, thank god that clue said the answer was "anagrammatic," because yikes that part where it crosses IMRAN (?) and DRACO (!?) (49A: Constellation almost above the North Pole) was *perilous*. Proper noun proper noun proper noun, none of them exactly household. Yikes. But the "anagrammatic" part made it all eventually gettable. Still, not sure why the Doors guy is here at all. Does he have a song about "ruses" or something? Baffling. But back to the theme. It's basic. Some of the answers are cute (MILWAUKEE BOOERS, YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TOOTH!), some less so (the SHOO thing, mainly). As for the fill, it seems mainly OK. There are a few high points (really like NPRTOTES as a full answer; same with NERFBALLS; and PALAK paneer and K-TOWN give the grid some short-fill flair). What in the seventh ring of hell (violence!) are MCBITES!?!?! (9D: Chicken ___ (discontinued fast-food snack)). When were those "discontinued"? Were they a proto-McNugget? A McNugget spin-off? [checks internet] Ew, they're like mini-McNuggets ... and they came in chicken and (oof) fish!? Anyway, I SMIZEd at MCBITES (and at SMIZE, tbh) (72D: Smile with one's eyes, per a modern coinage). R.I.P. MCBITES (2012-2013) (though according to at least one internet comment, MCBITES are still alive in Australia!) (or were as of 2020).
[warning: animated food in semi-sexual situations]
Five things:
- 15D: Bands you might listen to in the car? (AM/FM RADIO) — nice (if coincidental) throwback to a theme from earlier in the week
- 51D: Grammy-nominated D.J. Steve (AOKI) — nice alternative to [Golfer Isao]
- 18D: God who "loosens the limbs and weakens the mind," per Hesiod (EROS) — I just read the "God" part and the "Hesiod" part, looked at the letters I had in place, and went with ARES; it's hard to argue that ARES is *not* a plausible answer; all's loose limbs and weak minds in love and war!
- 66A: Total-itarian? (ADDER) — I see what you're doing there, but don't waste your cleverness on a truly terrible word like ADDER (unless you're cluing the snake, then absolutely be clever as heck if you want; but "one who adds," oof, no)
- 27D: Île be there (MER) — now that's what I'm talking about. If you're gonna be clever, stick the landing! I relaughed typing this clue in just now. It's perfect. No, really, I just laughed again, imagining some French guy pointing. It works on so many levels!
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