Constructor: Jeff Chen
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME:"Common Core"— themers have long "core" sections that they share with other (unclued) phrases (in circled squares) that kinda snake through those themers from above and then descend below:
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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
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So I guess I should start with my wrong letter. I wonder how many solvers there are out there who made the same error I did, then scanned the whole puzzle and still couldn't find the error. I have never felt less bad about a mistake, because though the word I wrote in was kinda dumb and off, the real answer ... also dumb and off. And the cross, well, let's just say, if you tell me there's an animal associated with a coat-of-arms from Canada, and the letters I have in place are _OOSE, there's no way I'm not going with the Canada GOOSE, unless, of course, the cross contraindicates that choice, and today, realistically, it did not. GOONY seems just as likely an answer as MOONY (!?!?!) for 69A: Like a space cadet. I know MOONY as a member of a modern-day religious cult, or as a word to describe someone who's maybe kinda dreamy ... maybe because they're mooning (???) over someone they're in love with. I honestly don't know for sure, as no one uses this word, least of all me. GOONY felt wrong, but MOONY sure doesn't feel right, and nothing will stop GOOSE from feeling right. GOONY can mean "foolish, crazy, silly, stupid or awkward" (wiktionary), and MOONY can also mean "silly," but also "absent-minded," which I guess is what connects it to "space cadet," but talk about horrible editing there. Just awful. If you'd only made the GOOSE / MOOSE clue something that would make one of those answers indisputable, then the whole bad-either-way GOONY/MOONY mess disappears. But no: the Ontarian (?) coat-of-arms (!?!?). Editing ... yeah ... editing, man. It's apparently hard. I dunno. So I had a mistake and pffffft, shrug, don't care. My answer seems fine. If the puzzle doesn't like it, the puzzle can lump it. Speaking of the puzzle: wall to wall tedium. So tedious, I have TEDIUM written not once but twice on my printed-out puzzle (I apparently forgot that I wrote it the first time ... or else was feeling very emphatic). Nothing interesting happening at all. A huge "Why?" Astonishing, really.
- ROGET'S THESAURUS (23A: Meaningful work?) (circled squares = HITS THE SAUCE)
- PATRON OF THE ARTS (36A: Ballet supporter, e.g.) (circled squares = SOFT-HEARTED)
- THERE IN SPIRIT (63A: Present without being present) (circled squares = AWE-INSPIRING)
- CHARTERED PLANES (87A: Ritzy transports) (circled squares = THE RED PLANET)
- BOA CONSTRICTORS (106A: You wouldn't want them to have a crush on you) (circled squares = BACON STRIPS)
Toccata (from Italian toccare, literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers. Less frequently, the name is applied to works for multiple instruments (the opening of Claudio Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo being a notable example). [...] Bach's toccatas are among the most famous examples of the form, and his Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 is one of the most popular organ works today, although its authorship is disputed by some authorities. His toccatas for organ are improvisatory compositions, and are often followed by an independent fugue movement. In such cases, the toccata is used in place of the usually more stable prelude. Bach's toccatas for harpsichord are multi-sectional works which include fugal writing as part of their structure. (wikipedia)
I don't get it at all. So the clued theme answers have longish letter strings in common with other phrases ... but who cares and so what? I really thought the "core" part was going to matter somehow, especially after I got PATRON OF THE ARTS ... because OF THE ART is the "core," and a complete phrase, and I thought maybe some revealer was coming that would make sense of it ... something about "state OF THE ART" something or other, I dunno. But then my next "core" was fwionmw2p0qv8on4wpcqoa (actually, it was the equally meaningless character string "TSTHESAU") and my dreams of thematic coherence were over. This puzzle has the colorful answer "WHAT A NIGHT!" (30D: Reminiscence about an epic party) and it has no other color at all. I don't know ... yeah, I don't know. I'm trying to understand what seemed potentially pleasing about any of this. Not all weird word tricks are interesting from a solver standpoint. This one sure wasn't. A hard, hard come-down after Saturday's virtuosic performance.
I don't think anything needs much explaining. Here's the Escher Möbius strip in question at 10D: Sight on an M. C. Escher Möbius strip (ANT), which I have no frame of reference for at all:
I thought the word was POLLSTER, but POLLER, OK (65D: One who asks a lot of questions). Everything else seems pretty straightforward. Just not worth talking about. See you tomorrow (or next Sunday, or whenever you check back in—you all have such different solving habits).
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld