Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (just slightly on the hard side *for a Tuesday*)
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THEME: CURRENCIES (60A: What the ends of 17-, 21-, 37-, 39- and 55-Across are)— pretty self-descriptive:
Theme answers:
This one didn't work for me, though the theme set is at least interesting. I had trouble with every single one of the theme answers, but that's not really a knock against them. As stand-alone answers, just on their own, they are mostly vivid and original, although ERIC YUAN is not Tuesday-famous, not by a long shot. I guess the idea was that you could work his name out via the theme if you really had to. Anyway, he's a stretch. Also, anything that reminds me of Zoom, or of billionaires profiting from the pandemic, is not apt to be welcome fare in my Tuesday, or any-day, puzzle. AYN RAND, also, not terribly welcome. But that's not why the theme thudded. Mostly it was the revealer that was disappointing. Bland and descriptive. CURRENCIES. Yawn. The whole thing felt very last-century, conceptually, with a very basic "last words have this in common" core idea and then a straightforward, no-nonsense revealer, like TREES or DOGS or, in this case, CURRENCIES. I have "dud" written in the margin next to CURRENCIES. But the puzzle lost me much earlier than the revealer—that happened right away, with PRESS POUND, which ... yes, you are asked to PRESS POUND on automated telephone instructions, but if you pay attention, you'll note "they" (the auto-voice) tend to "say""Press the pound sign" or "Press the pound key" in order to avoid confusion with the numbers ("Did they say 'one'? 'down'!? [smashes keyboard frantically]). I'm sure some automated instructions say "PRESS POUND," so I'm not mad, exactly. I've just (very recently) heard it differently. Also, "IS IT REAL?" doesn't sound like something someone says very often. I had "IS IT TRUE?"HARD WON is a nice phrase, but still, I had HARD + no idea for a little bit. Wanted HARD-EARNED but, yeah, no room.
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (just slightly on the hard side *for a Tuesday*)
Theme answers:
- PRESS POUND (UK) (17A: Last step in telephone instructions, often)
- "IS IT REAL?" (Brazil) (21A: "Can this be happening?")
- HARD WON (Korea) (37A: Not easily achieved)
- AYN RAND (South Africa) (39A: "The Fountainhead" author)
- ERIC YUAN (China) (55A: Founder of Zoom)
Eric S. Yuan (Chinese: 袁征; pinyin: Yuán Zhēng; born 20 February 1970) is a Chinese-American billionaire businessman, engineer, and the CEO and founder of Zoom Video Communications, of which he owns 22%. [...] In 2019, Zoom became a public company via an initial public offering, at which time Yuan became a billionaire. His wealth has increased during COVID-19 pandemic, as Zoom has benefited from the shift to online work and teaching. On September 1, 2020, Yuan's net worth was estimated to be US$16.4 billion, a figure 360% higher than his net worth at the beginning of the year.
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| LABRADOR |
[The only good Zoom]
My very first step was a misstep today, as I wanted AGOG for AWED (1A: Truly amazed). I think I could do without SNOT in my grid, ever (36D: Obnoxious sort). I had SNIT there. Then SNOB. Clearly, my brain was like "no, we do not acknowledge the crossword existence of SNOT in this household." Where are these pet shops that sell TOUCANs!? (47D: You might see a big bill from this at a pet shop). Don't answer. Also, don't buy exotic birds and then keep them in cages in your house. Cats and dogs are pets. LABRADOR, that's a pet. That was my pet until 2020 (RIP Gabby). Maybe a pig is a pet. A rabbit? OK. Everything else, iffy. TOUCANs!?!?! No. I can only picture TOUCANs in trees. Or on cereal boxes, I guess. I did not know there was anything particularly "vivid" about the mere act of "depicting," so that clue on DEPICTED threw me for a bit (38D: Described vividly). NAKED LIES is a very zippy answer (35D: Out-and-out falsehoods), so my feelings about this one were not all negative, not by a long shot. But still, I thought the theme, especially the revealer, kind of fizzled.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld