Constructor: Jem Burch
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: John JAKES (16A: "North and South" writer John) —
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Lots of ups and downs in this one. Speaking of UPs, right away we get UP crossing UP (HIT UP, UPEND), which is less than great form, and later on, when JAZZ UP shows ... up, well, it's too much. A couple of UPs in different parts of the grid, fine, but two UPs crossing, no, and a third UP, no no. no. The NW really put this puzzle in a hole, between the UPs and ATEN, which ... yeesh, what? I want to say that it's crosswordese, and it might be, but if it is, it's crosswordese from another era that you just don't see much any more. I had AM-N (AMON, AMUN?) here because I was thinking of AMON (AMUN)-RA. Looks like ATEN actually shows up with reasonable frequency, but typically as an innocuous partial ("Do you have two fives for ___?"), or as a UMass athletic conf. (the Atlantic 10), not as this Egyptian answer. It's less-than-great fill however it's clued, but somehow the Egyptian deity clue highlights that fact rather than mutes it. TAKE A CAB as always gave off some real EAT A SANDWICH vibes, and today IN A TRAP was his unwelcome wing man. So I emerged from the NW corner with not a lot of good will for this puzzle, but then zing, it took off in a much happier direction:![]()
BASEJUMPERS (32A: Extreme athletes with parachutes) takes on some of the daredevil quality of base-jumping itself, as it flings itself recklessly into the void, i.e. the at-this-point empty center of the grid. The thrill of adventure continues with ZERO GRAVITY below and PAJAMA PARTY above, resulting in an indisputably worthy central stagger-stack (this is what I call stacks where the answers are are arranged like steps instead of one being directly on top of the other). Definitely JAZZes UP the grid. SO SPICY! (I had real trouble with "SO SPICY!" and am not sure I actually like it, but it definitely describes the middle of this puzzle). Some of the longer Downs that shoot through the stack are also nice, particularly SOLD FOR PARTS (8D: Like many a lemon, eventually). The smaller corners of this puzzle are often clunky, which is bizarre, as you'd think making that center part come out right would be far harder than filling a bunch of small sections cleanly. Maybe there's something going on with the constructor being overly enamored with "J"s and "Z"s and "Q"s—that NW section, which had so many problems, has a "J" in it, and the "Q" in the NE section isn't doing the grid quality any favors either. A Chinese dynasty name (there are so many!) isn't worth the "Q," especially when that section also gives us INASEC, the distant but no-more-likeable cousin of INATRAP and TAKEACAB. Oh, ANO is over there too—hmm, did you know that, unlike with Spanish, the Portuguese ANO ("year") doesn't have a tilde? It's true. I can't believe they have the same word for "year" and "anus," that can't be right, hang on ... oh look, it's just "ânus," with a circumflex over the "a." Using Portuguese really sidesteps the problem created by the proximity of "year" and "anus" in Spanish—just one tilde apart. And yet I'm still thinking about the year-anus connection—which, let me tell you, is much less pleasant than, say, the Rainbow or even the French connection. But hurray for learning things!
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: John JAKES (16A: "North and South" writer John) —
John William Jakes (born March 31, 1932) is an American writer, best known for American historical & speculative fiction. His Civil War trilogy, North and South, has sold millions of copies worldwide. He is also the author of The Kent Family Chronicles. He has used the pen name Jay Scotland. (wikipedia)
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| [I didn't recognize John JAKES from today's clue, but it turns out my vintage paperback collection is absolutely loaded with his early fantasy / sword & sorcery / crime fiction / scifi stuff, some of it written under the pseudonym "Jay Scotland!" Dude was *prolific*] |
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I had INAMESS before INATRAP (2D: Caught), UPSET before UPEND (4D: Flip), ART MAJOR (?) before LIT MAJOR (17D: Student of the classics), and DEEMS (???) before DOOMS (46A: Sentences). I also wasn't entirely sure if the RITZ were BITS or BITZ, or whether the [Endemic flora and fauna] were BIOME or BIOTA, so I just waited for the crosses to tell me. I could really Really have done without the reminder that the Bush II administration ever existed, but in the end I think this puzzle came out ahead. More good than bad. The center is very strong, and the rest of it ... well, it's there, and it mostly holds up.