Constructor: Todd Gross
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
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THEME: -ENDING — five answers are literal representations of phrases in which the first word follows the pattern _ENDING; first letter of each phrase is turned into the "ending" of the answers, so that, for example, VENDING MACHINE becomes MACHINEV, i.e. V ENDING MACHINE. The first letter literally "ends" the answer.
Theme answers:
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This is a theme that is clever conceptually, but only conceptually. That is, in practice, on the paper, from a solving standpoint, it's a bit of a drag. Comes across as precious. The "_ ENDING X" just isn't tight enough for this to pop. Is the "V" really "ending" MACHINES? It's sitting there after it, but it's not really "ending" it. I don't think I'm splitting hairs. If you have nonsense in the grid, which you do, then the concept that's undergirding that nonsense has to be rock solid, and this just feels … something short of that. A bit strained. F actually *does* end FOR ONESELF, so the extra "F" feels redundant. I mean, I see what's going on. It just doesn't quite come together for me. Also, this is in that genre (which some people admire) of stunt puzzle, where an ambitious theme is built up without much regard for the non-thematic fill, which is allowed to buckle and groan under the theme's weight. I'm happy to give allowance when the theme is truly worthy, but this one didn't quite hit for me, so stuff like ETAPE (56A: Tour de France stage) and ARACE and MOIRES and AMATIVE (!?) and ODA AND I and the hot DERR-on-DOERR action etc. rankled more than it might have.
Took me a longish time to figure out what was up. Me, upon seeing MACHINESV: "MACHINES … FIVE?""Vending" never occurred to me. FORONESELFF also left me shrugging. Wasn't til THERULESB that I got it. Or, I guess, "got" it, since my first thought was that the "B" was for "breaking," and that that word had been "broken"… somehow. After a bit, I recalibrated, hit on "bending," and then it all made sense. A kind of sense. Toughest part for me was the center, as I could not recall the Frost poem and knew -LLM had to be wrong. Took me a while to accept that that little answer could be a themer. Also, I needed many crosses to get MOIRES (30A: Shimmery silks). Also, I don't think of "marinating" as a "softening" technique. I'm sure it's correct, on a literal level; it's just not a word I'd ever associated with the process. So this one was tough, but well within normal Thursday toughness parameters.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: -ENDING — five answers are literal representations of phrases in which the first word follows the pattern _ENDING; first letter of each phrase is turned into the "ending" of the answers, so that, for example, VENDING MACHINE becomes MACHINEV, i.e. V ENDING MACHINE. The first letter literally "ends" the answer.
Theme answers:
- MACHINES V (17A: Food or drink dispensers)
- FOR ONESELF F (10D: Going without help)
- LITIGATION P (24D: Future court case)
- THE RULES B (51A: Taking liberties)
- WALL M (32A: Robert Frost poem that includes "Good fences make good neighbors")
The Don (Russian: Дон, IPA: [don]) is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town ofNovomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres (1,220 mi) to the Sea of Azov.From its source, the river first flows southeast to Voronezh, then southwest to its mouth. The main city on the river is Rostov on Don. Its main tributary is the Seversky Donets. (wikipedia)
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Took me a longish time to figure out what was up. Me, upon seeing MACHINESV: "MACHINES … FIVE?""Vending" never occurred to me. FORONESELFF also left me shrugging. Wasn't til THERULESB that I got it. Or, I guess, "got" it, since my first thought was that the "B" was for "breaking," and that that word had been "broken"… somehow. After a bit, I recalibrated, hit on "bending," and then it all made sense. A kind of sense. Toughest part for me was the center, as I could not recall the Frost poem and knew -LLM had to be wrong. Took me a while to accept that that little answer could be a themer. Also, I needed many crosses to get MOIRES (30A: Shimmery silks). Also, I don't think of "marinating" as a "softening" technique. I'm sure it's correct, on a literal level; it's just not a word I'd ever associated with the process. So this one was tough, but well within normal Thursday toughness parameters.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld