Constructor: Evan Mahnken
Relative difficulty: Medium (normal Monday)
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THEME: A DROP IN THE OCEAN (40A: Insignificant amount ... or hint to this puzzle's shaded squares) — the names of three different oceans appear inside circled squares; each ocean name undergoes "a drop" in level, i.e. it starts on one row and then drops to the row below it. So:
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I had WACKY before WACKO because it's the word people are more likely to use (9A: Off-the-wall). I wanted a word for "nose" to go at 34A: Clown accessory that's often bright red (WIG) because the red nose of a clown is more iconic than the red WIG of a clown. I wanted HALI instead of HOLI because I just botched the answer (25D: Hindu festival of colors). Bad with Vowels—that's me! I absolutely loved seeing WYVERN, as it gave me big D&D Monster Manual flashbacks (at least I assume that's how I learned what a WYVERN is), but wow that is not exactly what I'd call a Monday word. It hasn't appeared in the NYTXW for over 23 years, and then it was on a Saturday. This theme is unconventional enough you couldn't toughened up the cluing and run it as a Wednesday. WYVERN would seem very much at home on a Wednesday. On a Monday, it really does seem monstrous. But again, I think it's adorable, and the crosses are OK, so it's not a problem. The missing ATLANTIC is a problem. The unpolished crannies of the grid are a problem. See you tomorrow for fewer problems, I hope.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium (normal Monday)
Theme answers:
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This is a very clever theme with one obvious and (to my mind) fatal flaw in the execution: there's no ATLANTIC. I am actually stunned that neither the constructor nor the editors thought the fourth ocean was necessary. Actually, it seems that five is the new four, with the Antarctic or Southern Ocean being added in recent thinking to the original tetrad, but that's neither here nor there. No one's going to miss the Southern Ocean, but you *definitely* miss the ATLANTIC. You can't leave off just one member of a very clearly defined set of four and think it won't matter. If there were eight oceans and you only did three, OK, no one's going to care, but when there are just four and three of them make an appearance, that fourth one becomes Very conspicuous by its absence. Why don't these things matter to people? Don't you want to stick the landing? Don't you want it to be better than "meh, it'll do"? Surely you can conceive of a grid where ATLAS and ANTICS (or some similar pairing) are given some accommodation. Yes, the grid would get crowded, but look, it's your theme, it's your challenge. Rise to it or ditch the theme. It's a good theme idea, why only go 3/4 of the way!?!? Now it's just this sad, incomplete-looking theme, when it could've been mwah, greatness. Phenomenally disappointing. Will most solvers care? I don't know and I don't care. Elegance is elegance and elegance calls for a completion of the cycle.
- ARCTIC starts in JOAN OF ARC then drops to finish in RETICENT
- INDIAN starts in ADROPINTHEOCEAN then drops to finish in DIANA
- PACIFIC starts in SUPERPAC then drops to finish in ASIFICARE
A wyvern (/ˈwaɪvərn/ WY-vərn, sometimes spelled wivern) is a legendary winged dragon that is bipedal and usually depicted with a tail ending in a diamond- or arrow-shaped tip.
The wyvern in its various forms is important to heraldry, frequently appearing as a mascot of schools and athletic teams (chiefly in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada). It is a popular creature in European literature, Mythology and folklore. Today they are used regularly in modern fantasy literature and video games. The wyvern in heraldry and folklore is rarely fire-breathing, unlike four-legged dragons. (wikipedia)
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Speaking of elegance, and the lack thereof. Why would you put SARIN in your grid if you didn't absolutely have to (63A: Deadly nerve gas). A deadly nerve gas? So ... a weapon of terrorists? In a Monday grid, where it absolutely positively does not need to be? Why are you doing this? Look, here's a SE corner I constructed in no time that is objectively cleaner and has the considerable benefit of not containing deadly nerve gas:
SARIN was a huge downer. And since my first instinct was (for some reason) RICIN, I experienced a double bummer—not this terrorist weapon, but that terrorist weapon. Nice. Once again, in a small corner of the grid, we find a lot of staleness where we could have solidity, if not exactly scintillation. As I've said before, I wish more constructors (and editors) cared about polishing the grid within an inch of its life. I'm guessing that AÇAI / ECARD corner could be fresher too, but I'm not going to spend time finding out. The point is: try harder. I mean, ENOW!?!? (42D: Sufficient, to Shakespeare). There is no reason anyone should have to endure that alleged Shakespeareanism on a Monday (or on most days, for that matter). Haven't we suffered ENOW? Clean up on aisle Everywhere!
I had WACKY before WACKO because it's the word people are more likely to use (9A: Off-the-wall). I wanted a word for "nose" to go at 34A: Clown accessory that's often bright red (WIG) because the red nose of a clown is more iconic than the red WIG of a clown. I wanted HALI instead of HOLI because I just botched the answer (25D: Hindu festival of colors). Bad with Vowels—that's me! I absolutely loved seeing WYVERN, as it gave me big D&D Monster Manual flashbacks (at least I assume that's how I learned what a WYVERN is), but wow that is not exactly what I'd call a Monday word. It hasn't appeared in the NYTXW for over 23 years, and then it was on a Saturday. This theme is unconventional enough you couldn't toughened up the cluing and run it as a Wednesday. WYVERN would seem very much at home on a Wednesday. On a Monday, it really does seem monstrous. But again, I think it's adorable, and the crosses are OK, so it's not a problem. The missing ATLANTIC is a problem. The unpolished crannies of the grid are a problem. See you tomorrow for fewer problems, I hope.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]