Constructor: Max Chen Lauring and Benjamin Chen Lauring
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: ONE PERCENT (56A: Small amount) — themers are things that ONE PERCENT might refer to:
Theme answers:![]()
The theme works a little, but not a lot. Some. It's more than ONE PERCENT effective, but there are some real issues with a couple answers. The definite article in THE ULTRA-RICH feels really odd without the corresponding "the" in "the ONE PERCENT," which is the phrase that really needs the "the," frankly. It's *The* ONE PERCENT. If you just say ONE PERCENT without the "the," you aren't referring to THE ULTRA-RICH at all. "The," or the lack thereof in the revealer, creates a jarring non-correspondence problem with that answer. But far worse is UNFAVORABLE ODDS, for one simple reason: ONE PERCENT is not "odds." Seven-to-one, three-to-one, those are odds. Percent is percent. Yes, both things measure likelihood, but the *odds* are 99-to-1, not ONE PERCENT. LOWFAT MILK and DYING BATTERY seem just right.
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- LOW-FAT MILK (17A: 56-Across, to a dairy farmer)
- DYING BATTERY (22A: 56-Across, to a smartphone user)
- UNFAVORABLE ODDS (34A: 56-Across, to a gambler)
- THE ULTRARICH (46A: 56-Across, to Occupy)
Melanie Robbins (née Schneeberger on October 6, 1968) is an American lawyer, television host, author, and motivational speaker. Robbins is known for covering the George Zimmerman trial for CNN; her TEDx talk, How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over; and her books, The 5 Second Rule and The High 5 Habit. She also has multiple podcast series hosted on Audible. [...] Her syndicated daytime talk show with Sony Pictures Television, The Mel Robbins Show, premiered on September 16, 2019. On January 29, 2020, Sony announced that the show would be canceled following its first season due to low ratings. (wikipedia)
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I had no idea what the theme was as I was moving through the top half, and when not knowing became tedious, I decided to do something I normally don't do, which is just cut to the chase and jump down to the revealer and work back from there. Thus I ended up with this weird-looking split solve at first:
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Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
The revealer was easy to turn up, and once you've got it, the themers become simple. As for the fill, it's noticeably rough, with entire sections I had to wince my way through (most notably the THUROONANUFF section and the IDYLENRYTTYL section). I don't understand how a grid can flash a new word like ZADDY but not have the presence of mind to clean up the olden gunk that dominates so much of the rest of the grid. RAF AMAS ALOE ORA WONAT EBSEN AMESS and on and on; a few of these things are always acceptable, a raft of them tends to rankle. One ZADDY doesn't fix things.
No idea there was any motivationally-speaking Robbins besides TONY, so weirdly MEL was probably the hardest thing in the grid for me. KANYE's name is just YE now, legally, and the clue probably should've reflected that, despite the fact that he was indeed KANYE when he made "Yeezus," but even then, you probably should've put "familiarly" in this clue, as technically he was not a one-named rapper. He recorded as KANYEWest. I would never have put AGAVE and didgeridoos together, so that clue was interesting. I put those things on entirely different continents, but either there are Australian instrument enthusiasts in Central America or there's AGAVE in Australia ... or maybe both? No, looks like AGAVE belongs solely to the Americas, so I don't know who figured the didgeridoo thing out. I know AGAVE solely as the plant distilled to make tequila (and mezcal). I hope you knew the NYC deli (10A: Eponym of a famed N.Y.C. deli => KATZ) because I can easily imagine you not knowing ZADDY, and I can also easily imagine you (like me) forgetting which "carat" has the "c" and which the "k" (10D: Gold standards = KARATS). Here's everything you ever wanted to know about ZADDY (13D: Attractive, fashionable man, in modern parlance). See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]