Constructor: Kyra Wilson
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: Weather front — Theme answers start with a weather-related word.
Word of the Day: STANS (Is a huge fan of, in modern slang) —
The theme was perfect for a Monday: simple, solid, cute. I do like themes that have a little more to them, but hey, when it works it works, you know? And I like storms a lot, too. When there's a thunderstorm my roommate likes to go outside with her dog, sit in the covered part of our yard and just watch the rain. I think that's really lovely.
Bullets:
Signed, August Thompson, tired graduate student.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: Weather front — Theme answers start with a weather-related word.
Theme answers:
- CLOUD STORAGE (20A: Service offered by Dropbox)
- LIGHTNING BUG (29A: Firefly)
- THUNDERBIRDS (43A: Classic Corvette alternatives)
- WEATHER FRONT (52A: What precedes a storm ... or a hint to 20-, 29- or 43-Across)
Word of the Day: STANS (Is a huge fan of, in modern slang) —
The origin of the term stan is often credited to the 2000 song "Stan", about an obsessed fan, by American rapper Eminem featuring British singer Dido.[1][2] The word has also been described as a portmanteau of "stalker" and "fan".[3] The word itself was added to the Oxford English Dictionary[4] in 2017.[5] The term was originally a noun, but over time evolved and began to be used as a verb as well.[6]
Stan (noun): an extremely or excessively enthusiastic and devoted fanStan (verb): to exhibit fandom to an extreme or excessive degree : to be an extremely devoted and enthusiastic fan of someone or something.
From Stan, name of such a fan in the song "Stan" (2000) by the American rap artist Eminem (Marshall Bruce Mathers III)
(Merriam-Webster)
• • •
It's an August August Monday! My first August August, actually. I hope people make jokes about my name all month. I liked this puzzle a lot! No crosswordese really and not many proper nouns. I'm partial to easy Mondays because they're meant for new solvers. I suppose the clues were a little bland--none really stuck out to me as especially interesting--but hey, gotta find something to nitpick, right? Loved OAHU OVUM and TATA ATTA. Had MEDIUM for PINKER, GET for EKE and CLOUD SHARING for CLOUD STORAGE. Speaking of which, didn't love the DropBox namedrop either, it just felt ad-y; I would have clued it differently. But the puzzle remains nice.
The theme was perfect for a Monday: simple, solid, cute. I do like themes that have a little more to them, but hey, when it works it works, you know? And I like storms a lot, too. When there's a thunderstorm my roommate likes to go outside with her dog, sit in the covered part of our yard and just watch the rain. I think that's really lovely.
Bullets:
- LUC (38A: Jean-____ Picard, Starfleet commander) — I'm doing this puzzle with some friends and being made fun of for being a "Trekman" because of how much I liked this clue. I'm trying to explain that it's "Trekkie" but my tormentor will not listen. Anyway, here's a compilation of Jean-Luc's "Make it so"s.
- HALE (53D: Patriot Nathan) — I got this one immediately, and not because I know absolutely anything about history, but because I'm a bookseller and we've sold about a gazillion copies of the "Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales" series, which is a children's book series about American history. I learned today that the author's name is actually Nathan Hale (I'd assumed it was a pen name), and he's "channeling his namesake" when he writes. Pretty cool piece of trivia!
- META (41D: Self-referential) — I love love love metafiction!!! My favorite is Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, and my most recent read is Little Blue Encyclopedia (For Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante. There's just something about it that I really like, I can't explain it. Do you like metafiction, CrossWorld?
- DRAGON (8D: Figure seen in Chinese New Year) — I've never seen a dragon dance in person, so I decided to look it up. This one is technically a lion dance I think, but still very cool! I might go into DC and try to see one next Chinese New Year.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
[Follow August Thompson on Twitter]