Constructor: Damon Gulczynski
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: OPTIMIST v. PESSIMIST (54A: One who identifies with the answers to the starred Across clues / One who identifies with the answers to the starred Down clues)— famous pairs of opposites cross one another, with the more optimistic answer running Across and the more pessimistic answer running (fittingly) Down:
Theme answers:
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As I was solving I thought "hey, I really like this," even though I wasn't quite sure what "this" was. They were crossing opposites, but beyond that, the pattern was not entirely clear. Sometimes it was an "and" expression ("WAR and PEACE"), sometimes an "or" (FEAST or FAMINE); sometimes the "bad" part came first (RAIN or SHINE), sometimes the good did (HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY). The fact that the expressions were linked meant that once you got one part of the answer, you could get the whole answer, and thus whole sections of the puzzle, pretty quickly. And the fill, despite enormous theme pressure, was colorful and strong enough that I was happy to toodle along with only a loose conception of what it was all about. I figured all would be explained in the end, and boy was it. I don't think I got the full import of the OPTIMIST / PESSIMIST thing until after I was done; I just thought "wow, how clever to have the PESSIMIST clue play on the word 'Down' like that." You know, 'cause PESSIMISTs focus on the "Down" side of things. And honestly, that little pun was enough for me to feel like the puzzle had given me enough. A little pun flourish at the end, sweet, thank you. It was only a bit later that I actually fully read the OPTIMIST / PESSIMIST clues and saw their specific references to the "starred Across/Down clues." Which meant that the thematic opposites weren't just crossing, they were crossing in this very specific, intentional way: Across good, Down bad. That is the kind of OOMPH I crave from my themed puzzles. Just a lovely touch. Impressive.
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I remembered UZO Aduba's name today, so I was pleased with that. And I was pleased to see HOOPLA, mainly because it is one of my favorite TV apps—it runs in conjunction with my local library and so everything is free! The selection is erratic, but the quality of the video is fantastic. Buster Keaton aplenty! The only part of the grid that made me wince a bit was ... well, seeing MOIRE again so soon wasn't exactly fun (29D: Wavy fabric pattern), but the bigger issue was seeing both ITTY and ESTOS in the same corner (crossing!). Two notorious over-common kealoas*. Is it ITSY or ITTY? Is it ESTAS or ESTOS!? You don't know, you don't care, but you want to finish your puzzle and you can't until you sort this nonsense out. Truthfully, it's ITTY I hate. ESTOS is like "hey, man, I'm just a word, don't pick on me." But ITTY has no excuses. It's part of that whole awful gang, ITTY ITSY BITTY BITSY EENY EENSY EENSIE TEENY TEENSY TEENSIE OK I probably invented those "-IE" spellings but dear lord, too much cutesy baby talk. They jump in the sea, the whole lot of them. You want small "small" words, I will accept WEE and TINY and SMA, yes, SMA. I will take a heap of folksy Burnsian poeticisms over any of your baby-talky garbage. Here, here's Burns's "To a Mouse" (1786), which has both WEE and SMA. And not an ITTY in sight. Good day.
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- HALF FULL / HALF EMPTY (20A: *Description of a glass, maybe / 4D: *Description of a glass, maybe)
- FEAST / FAMINE (9A: *One of two extremes in a saying / 9D: *One of two extremes in a saying)
- WAR / PEACE (35D: *Word in a classic Tolstoy title / *38A: Word in a classic Tolstoy title)
- RAIN / SHINE (53D: *Certain forecast / 62A: *Certain forecast)
1a: CLOVER sense 1broadly : any of several leguminous herbs (such as bird's-foot trefoil) with leaves that have or appear to have three leafletsb: a trifoliolate leaf2: an ornament or symbol in the form of a stylized trifoliolate leaf (merriam-webster.com)
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Not many sticky parts today, although right off the bat you get a proper noun that is not going to be universally known, by any means. Ben HECHT has his name All Over the movies I tend to watch (right in the TCM sweet spot: 1930-1960), but even I took one look at today's 1-Across clue and thought (at first) "How the hell am I supposed to know?!" I don't recall ever having seen "Angels Over Broadway" (I saw "Bullets Over Broadway" in the '90s, but that's a Woody Allen film, which I now see was a play on words, cool, only a few decades late on the uptake ...). But after a few seconds I realized the clue was referring to probably the most important screenwriter of his day. "Ben! Didn't recognize you, how are you!?" was what I thought as I wrote him in. After that, I had to deal with the fact that I wanted the answer at 5D: Girl Scout emblem to be TREFOIL, but I had to admit to myself that I had no idea what a TREFOIL actually was. In my head it looked a bit like a fleur-de-lis, but then it also evoked the "foil" that sometimes envelopes little fancy chocolates, so there I was, wanting an answer I couldn't justify wanting because I didn't actually know what it was. When TREFOIL turned out to be right, I thought, "Yes! I am an idiot-genius!" Anyway, TREFOIL is some kind of clover (see Word of the Day, above).
Biggest mistake of the day was writing in WINE MENU instead of WINE LIST (26D: Sommelier's handout). The MENU was the fishing line part of the answer, i.e. the part that dipped into the unexplored new section, the part that I was relying on to give me a "bite" down there. But you wanna know what I "caught" with MENU? Nothing good, I assure you. I caught MADRID! When what I was after was LISBON—a very Iberian mistake (43A: Home of the Vasco da Gama Bridge, over 7.5 miles long). And now I was locked in on what seemed like two pretty strong but unfortunately wrong answers. Luckily for me, I stalled out quickly, and ZORBA made MADRID an obvious pretender, so I tore out the wrong and worked back from ZORBA until I made the wrong right.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorldWee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie,O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!Thou need na start awa sae hasty,Wi’ bickerin brattle!I wad be laith to rin an’ chase theeWi’ murd’ring pattle!I’m truly sorry Man’s dominionHas broken Nature’s social union,An’ justifies that ill opinion,Which makes thee startle,At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,An’ fellow-mortal!I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!A daimen-icker in a thrave’S a sma’ request:I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,An’ never miss ’t!Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,O’ foggage green!An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin,Baith snell an’ keen!Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,An’ weary Winter comin fast,An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,Thou thought to dwell,Till crash! the cruel coulter pastOut thro’ thy cell.That wee-bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibbleHas cost thee monie a weary nibble!Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,But house or hald,To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble,An’ cranreuch cauld!But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,In proving foresight may be vain:The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ MenGang aft agley,An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,For promis’d joy!Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!The present only toucheth thee:But Och! I backward cast my e’e,On prospects drear!An’ forward tho’ I canna see,I guess an’ fear!