Constructor: Rebecca Goldstein
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME: SALT SHAKER (58A: One of a pair at the dinner table ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme) — chemical symbol for SALT (NACL) gets "shaken" inside three squares in the grid:
Theme answers:
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I thought I had seen the chemical symbol for salt exploited every last way in crosswords, but this variation is clever and neatly executed. The rebus was easy to get, or the *fact* that it was a rebus was easy to get, but I didn't see the SALT SHAKER revealer coming until I was right on top of it. I could tell I was dealing with the letters NACL, which definitely made me think "salt," but my brain just instant anagrams scrambled letters into *words* and so I thought the "shaking" inside the rebus squares involved the word CLAN. Something about ... blended families? ... I dunno. I wasn't thinking that hard about it, frankly. Let the revealer be the revealer. Let it reveal. Solve your way down the grid and all will be ... revealed. And that's what happened. By not trying to cram in too many rebus squares, the puzzle is able to make most of the rebus-square answers really good ones, and also allows the rest of the grid to breathe—less thematic pressure makes for a cleaner and more entertaining grid overall. The only themer that I didn't particularly care for was MONTREAL, CANADA, and only because there's only one MONTREAL and so CANADA feels gratuitous. I'm opposed to most city comma country (or state) answers unless there's strong colloquial evidence for saying it that way (e.g. GARY, INDIANA GARY, INDIANA GARY, INDIANA), or unless you really need to differentiate one city from another (PARIS, FRANCE works because PARIS, TEXAS exists). I've never heard anyone say "MONTREAL, CANADA." I have heard the gangster Kristo, who controls wrestling in all of London, warn Harry Fabian, a small-time con-man who is trying to set himself up as a London wrestling promoter, that if he wants to promote wrestling, he should "Go to Montreal, which is in Canada," because London is off limits ... but I only heard that while watching "Night and the City" (1950). Otherwise, I really like the rebus answers; VATICAN LIBRARY (11D: Papal collection overseen by a bibliothecarius) and INTERNAL CLOCK (17A: Circadian rhythm regulator) are particularly original.
See you tomorrow.
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- 17A: Circadian rhythm regulator (INTERNALCLOCK) / 5D: Australia, once (PENALCOLONY)
- 26A: H.S. course that might have a unit on the Harlem Renaissance (AMERICANLIT) / 11D: Papal collection overseen by a bibliothecarius (VATICANLIBRARY)
- 55A: Hawaii is famous for them (VOLCANOES) / 25D: Largest French-speaking city in North America (MONTREALCANADA)
A mezuzah (Hebrew: מְזוּזָה "doorpost"; plural: מְזוּזוֹת mezuzot) is a piece of parchment called a klaf contained in a decorative case and inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and 11:13–21). These verses consist of the Jewish prayer Shema Yisrael, beginning with the phrase: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord (is) our God, the Lord is One". In mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, a mezuzah is affixed to the doorpost of Jewish homes to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to "write the words of God on the gates and doorposts of your house" (Deuteronomy 6:9). Some interpret Jewish law to require a mezuzah in every doorway in the home except bathrooms (which are not a living space), laundry rooms and closets, if they are too small to qualify as rooms. The klaf parchment is prepared by a qualified scribe ("sofer stam") who has undergone training, both in studying the relevant religious laws, and in the more practical parts i.e. carving the quill and practising writing. The verses are written in black indelible ink with a special quill pen made either from a feather or, in what are now rare cases, a reed. The parchment is then rolled up and placed inside the case. (wikipedia)
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The real star of the grid, however, is the fill, particularly THE CASTRO and DRAG KING—a powerful 1-2 queer qombination. I just watched Barbara Hammer's documentary "Audience" last night, in which she interviews actual audiences at screenings of her movies around the globe to get a sense of their expectations and reactions. The first part of the film takes place in San Francisco, so THE CASTRO was (at least tangentially) on my mind. By the way, the film later moves on to Montreal, which is in Canada.
No real difficulty today. I had no idea "The Squad" had expanded, or was an official thing, so JAMAAL was new to me. I wanted Mendelssohn to write maybe OPERETTAS (?)—I briefly thought that answer (which turned out to be OCTETS) might be part of the rebus. I've never seen MESMER clued in a way that didn't refer concretely to hypnotism (or "mesmerizing"), but I guess the "animal magnetism" concept is part of that—not knowing that, MESMER was weirdly hard for me. I wrote "I READ" (!?) before "NOTED" (69A: "Copy that"), and then, hilariously, I wrote TSAR (?) and BOAR (!?) before BEAR at 68A: Symbol of Russia. I know the term BROGUE but was clearly not clear on what they actually ... are, exactly. Luckily Jennifer EGAN's name is very familiar to me, so I didn't struggle with BROGUE for too long. I did, however, trip over the "how do I spell that sound?" conundrum at AAH (54D: Contented sigh). Also, earlier, I got hung up on and then stopped to document what I consider a paradigmatic kealoa*, which ironically involves not KEA v. LOA but:
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| ALOT v. ATON |
What else?
- Dollar is an alternative to AVIS in the rental car market (10A)
- The House is the counterpart (or "mate") of the SENATE in Congress
- L'ora della siesta = siesta time! (TRE = three)
- "Bestie" (24D: Bestie in Bordeaux) is slang for "best friend" and not, as my brain originally processed it, some kind of dog breed (like a Yorkie ... or a "Westie"!!! That's where my brain was glitching! Glad I figured it out).
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| West Highland Terrier, aka "Westie" |
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld