Constructor: John Guzzetta
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (this is going to vary widely ... also the grid is oversized (15x16))
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THEME: JOINED AT THE HIP (57A: Inseparable ... or like three pairs of answers in this puzzle?) — HIP runs alongside HIP three times (how you're supposed to make sense of the crosses, I don't know):
Theme answers:
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There must have been some kind of printing error. The Downs don't make any sense if HIP and HIP occupy entirely separate squares, so I figured the newspaper version of the puzzle must have used enlarged cells, like a double-decker cell for the "H" and the "I" and the "P" so that they could be part of both Acrosses but still represent just one letter in the Downs. But that is not what the newspaper version looks like. It has HIP alongside HIP as well. So I'm back to the first and most obvious problem, which is ... the crosses. The Downs. They make no sense. Full stop. The End. I genuinely don't understand how you can just neglect the Downs like that. The grid is now full of nonsense like AIIR and TEPPID. Baffling. The NYTXW has really lost its bearings this past week. The puzzles have either been exceedingly weak or lazily executed. Not sure I've ever seen a summer puzzle dump quite like this. We're in a brutal run right now. I hope it's over. Tomorrow is Friday. Hope springs eternal on Fridays.
I got the theme concept early ... or so I thought. See, I'm one of those people who figures the Acrosses *and* the Downs will make sense, so my first instinct was that the Downs had to work and that the gimmick must have something to do with leaving certain squares empty. Here's what my puzzle looked like after just a half minute or so:
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Five things:
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (this is going to vary widely ... also the grid is oversized (15x16))
Theme answers:
- HIPSTERS (17A: Ones sporting man buns and ironic T-shirts, say)
- HIPPOPOTAMUSES (20A: Closest living relatives of whales)
- PARTY WHIPS (35A: They enforce discipline among legislators)
- SHIPWRECKS (42A: Locations of some dives)
- JOINED AT THE HIP
- PITA CHIP (63A: Little dipper?)
Gabriel Stanley "Gabe" Pressman (February 14, 1924 – June 23, 2017) was an American journalist who was a reporter for WNBC-TV in New York City for more than 60 years. His career spanned more than seven decades; the events he covered included the sinking of the Andrea Doria in 1956, the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr., the Beatles' first trip to the United States, and the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11. He was one of the pioneers of United States television news and has been credited as the first reporter to have left the studio for on-the-scene "street reporting" at major events. Dubbed the "Dean of New York Journalism", Pressman's numerous awards include a Peabody and 11 Emmys, and he was considered a New York icon. (wikipedia)
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I got the theme concept early ... or so I thought. See, I'm one of those people who figures the Acrosses *and* the Downs will make sense, so my first instinct was that the Downs had to work and that the gimmick must have something to do with leaving certain squares empty. Here's what my puzzle looked like after just a half minute or so:
REHAB ARISE TEPID. I got RAT (1A: Bad singer?) and then got *all* of those Downs right away. When one didn't fit, I figured I was wrong, but when they all didn't fit, and they all didn't fit in exactly the same one-too-many-letters way, I "knew" there was a disappearing-letter theme afoot. When I saw that the long Across up top was HIPPOPOTAMUSES, I figured the "HIP" and just hopped (hip-hop!) up to the line above (i.e. to HIPSTERS), so the theme must have something to do with "moving your hips" (up, down ... side to side?). But apparently hips *do* lie because these hips are not moving; instead, they just sit there, alongside other hips, trying to convince me that monstrosities like ARIISE and DOPPED are actual words. I just can't forgive the puzzle for making me fill in those squares, thus murdering the HIP-crossing Downs. Beyond the theme, I found the NE corner very hard, but the rest of it was pretty normal, maybe even easy for a Thursday. In the NE, I got EGOS and ENRAGE and DRESS SIZE, but really struggled to get TEX (wanted maybe NEB?), WEIMAR, INCUBUS, ICEBOX, and especially GABE, who ... how would anyone outside of last-century NYC know who that is? He seems to be a local media legend, but yeesh. Come on. You're an international puzzle. There are lots of GABEs in the world. OK, there are someGABEs in the world. You can find one known outside the tri-state area, I promise you. Anyway, GABE, sure.
Five things:
- 32A: Pelvic joints (COXAE) — there's a coxa? I know of the coccyx, sure, but wow, you are asking for some deep pelvic knowledge here ... and the plural. Not the prettiest X-word I've ever seen
- 35D: Rodentlike relative of a rabbit (PIKA) — huh, it's really test-my-taxonomic-trivia day, isn't it? Like COXAE, never heard of it. I had PACA here. PACA, like PIKA (now), is a four-letter creature I've only ever seen in crosswords. The way to tell them apart is a PACA is an actual rodent (not "rodentlike"), and the PIKA is slightly adorable (very much unlike the PACA):
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| ohhh look how cute... |
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| Gah! Run! |
- 17A: Ones sporting man buns and ironic T-shirts, say (HIPSTERS) — are we still doing this sneery stereotyping? It's lazy and dumb. People have hair. They wear shirts. None of this has anything to do with being hip, or hipsters. Next you're going to tell me beards are for hipsters, or IPAs, or some other thing you don't have or you don't like. HIPSTERS seems to be a largely imaginary class of person onto whom people anxiously project a self-loathing that comes from the horrifying realization of their own hyper-consumerism and hyper-conformity. "Look at those people ... doing things I don't do ... with their hair ... and shirts ... enjoying themselves! ... so pretentious!" Sure, the HIPSTERS are the pretentious ones. Whatever you say, pal.
- 60D: Texter's farewell (TTYL) — still never seen anyone actually text this, perhaps because BYE is actually shorter. TTYL still feels fanciful and imaginary (stands for Talk To You Later, in case you somehow didn't know)
- 42A: Locations of some dives (SHIPWRECKS) — I like this clue, probably because I like imagining run-down bars, diners, etc. Reminds me of my favorite crime fiction. It's rare that misdirection truly pleases me, but this misdirection did.
P.S. oh hey I forgot to mention that the Boswords Crossword Tournament is *this weekend* (July 25). Here's the announcement from tournament organizer John Lieb:
Registration is now open for the Boswords 2021 Summer Tournament, which will be held on Sunday, July 25. This event will be ONLINE only. Solvers can compete individually or in pairs. To register, to see the constructor roster, and for more details, go to www.boswords.org, where past tournament puzzles are also available for purchase.A percentage of the proceeds goes to local Boston charities. There are cool constructors involved, like Malaika Handa and Wyna Liu. You should definitely check it out.