Constructor: CHRISTINA IVERSON AND JEFF CHEN
Relative difficulty: EASY (EXCEPT FOR THE THEME AND GIMMICK)
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THEME: JIGSAW PUZZLE — As the note mentions: when the puzzle is complete, you insert the five shaded (or circled in the Across Lite version) jigsaw pieces into the box at the bottom (which doesn't show the pieces in Across Lite) to get a three-word phrase, reading across, for what jigsaw puzzles provide. Then there are also clues and answers relating to jigsaw puzzling "advice" in the form of phrases that have never been said before but that incorporate other more common phrases in the blanks.
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[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: EASY (EXCEPT FOR THE THEME AND GIMMICK)
THEME: JIGSAW PUZZLE — As the note mentions: when the puzzle is complete, you insert the five shaded (or circled in the Across Lite version) jigsaw pieces into the box at the bottom (which doesn't show the pieces in Across Lite) to get a three-word phrase, reading across, for what jigsaw puzzles provide. Then there are also clues and answers relating to jigsaw puzzling "advice" in the form of phrases that have never been said before but that incorporate other more common phrases in the blanks.
Theme answers:![]()
Folks! I'm back, I being Jeff Lin, and I'm happy to announce that I made it through 2020 in one piece... well physically speaking... my mental health is just wrecked. But I'm back and writing this from my Amtrak train back to DC so let's get down to this before my battery dies.
- PICK UP THE PIECES (27A: "First, you're going to want to dump out the box and ____")
- GO OVER THE EDGE (40A: "What's most useful next is to ____")
- PLAY WITH MATCHES (57A: "To connect things up you'll have to ____")
- FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY (83A: "As you go, make sure you exercise your ____")
- GET IT TOGETHER (93A: "With patience and perseverance you're sure to ____")
- PICTURE PERFECT MOMENTS (assembled jigsaw puzzle)
EGOT, an acronym for the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards, is the designation given to people who have won all four awards. Respectively, these awards honor outstanding achievements in television, recording, film, and theatre. Achieving the EGOT has been referred to as the "grand slam" of show business. As of 2020, 16 people have accomplished this feat. (wikipedia)
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So I was all ready to go on a whole new tirade about Chrissy Teigen based on yesterday's puzzle b/c Chrissy Teigen is literally a bully and online troll. HOWEVER, today's puzzle has reignited the flames of my originally planned tirade which Dan Feyer@danfeyer said best regarding the upcoming end of Across Lite compatibility.
With all apologies to Malaika, but you are wrong and this puzzle is all the more proof of it. Like Rex, I DESPISE the NOTEPAD which was required reading for this puzzle. Without the notepad, there was no other way to know that the entire bottom "jigsaw puzzle" isn't actually part of the puzzle and that the circled clues (as seen in my grid screenshot) are puzzle pieces that fit in it. To compound on this, the Across Lite version doesn't provide the outlined pieces in the bottom puzzle. Finally, it treats the bottom puzzle as separate clues and answers that cannot be solved and are not actually words when solved down. Which is all to say that it is not shocking that Will Shortz apologist and bootlicker, Jeff Chen, would be involved in creating a puzzle that kowtows to his new cash grab. I mean come on, I do the Spelling Bee daily, and it's pretty clear that Sam Ezersky doesn't do anything. What are you paying him for? To repeat pangrams over and over while haphazardly deciding what are actual words? Ok. Tirade over.
So obviously, I did not like this puzzle, which is also not shocking as I have liked ZERO of the puzzles I've guest posted about. The "instructions" themselves really didn't lend much to picking up the common phrases that the answers were but the fill was pretty easy to slowly pick those off with downs. But there were def some speed traps in that method as well. I initially wasn't sure about OLD BETSY (54A: Rifle, in frontier lingo) being universal to all old timey rifles, but I'm willing to buy it. I was also sure the classic palindrome ARAT (36D: "Was it ___ I saw?" (classic palindrome)) was going to be that ACTUAL classic palindrome about "Ere I saw Elba" so when it wasn't I wound up having to spell it out by just counting the letters. Nevertheless, it's always helpful to have staples like TAEBO (59D: Exercise program since the 1990s), AERIES (113A: Homes for high fliers), ARIAS (100A: Songs that can be trilling?), and SNO (18D: ___-Cat) to keep things flowing, AMIRITE (98D: "You agree?" (*nudge, nudge*)).
With all apologies to Malaika, but you are wrong and this puzzle is all the more proof of it. Like Rex, I DESPISE the NOTEPAD which was required reading for this puzzle. Without the notepad, there was no other way to know that the entire bottom "jigsaw puzzle" isn't actually part of the puzzle and that the circled clues (as seen in my grid screenshot) are puzzle pieces that fit in it. To compound on this, the Across Lite version doesn't provide the outlined pieces in the bottom puzzle. Finally, it treats the bottom puzzle as separate clues and answers that cannot be solved and are not actually words when solved down. Which is all to say that it is not shocking that Will Shortz apologist and bootlicker, Jeff Chen, would be involved in creating a puzzle that kowtows to his new cash grab. I mean come on, I do the Spelling Bee daily, and it's pretty clear that Sam Ezersky doesn't do anything. What are you paying him for? To repeat pangrams over and over while haphazardly deciding what are actual words? Ok. Tirade over.
So obviously, I did not like this puzzle, which is also not shocking as I have liked ZERO of the puzzles I've guest posted about. The "instructions" themselves really didn't lend much to picking up the common phrases that the answers were but the fill was pretty easy to slowly pick those off with downs. But there were def some speed traps in that method as well. I initially wasn't sure about OLD BETSY (54A: Rifle, in frontier lingo) being universal to all old timey rifles, but I'm willing to buy it. I was also sure the classic palindrome ARAT (36D: "Was it ___ I saw?" (classic palindrome)) was going to be that ACTUAL classic palindrome about "Ere I saw Elba" so when it wasn't I wound up having to spell it out by just counting the letters. Nevertheless, it's always helpful to have staples like TAEBO (59D: Exercise program since the 1990s), AERIES (113A: Homes for high fliers), ARIAS (100A: Songs that can be trilling?), and SNO (18D: ___-Cat) to keep things flowing, AMIRITE (98D: "You agree?" (*nudge, nudge*)).
Bullets:
- ARLENE (31A Francis of old game shows)— I've literally never heard of this person but she seems to have a very lengthy and successful career, so good on her, I'm sure I would have been a fan had I known.
- PARTIES DOWN (106A: Gets wild and crazy) — If you've never seen the show Party Down, I highly recommend it, it's got everyone you love from those shows that aren't Party Down. ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?
- PESTY (106D: ANNOYING) — Not sure if this is an actual word, but I'm going to use it. For example: "Will Shortz is PESTY at best" or "I'm sure the longtime readers of this blog will find me and my writing style PESTY".
- One last thing. Go get vaccinated.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]