Constructor: Peter Gordon
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
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THEME: I honestly don't know ... — I think it's apostrophes
Theme answers:
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I know this is becoming a refrain, and I'm (slightly) sorry, but: I don't get it. I mean, I see that the clues are asking me to look at these answers in different ways, to imagine that they say what we would not expect them to mean, but ... well I definitely understand that STUDENT I'D CARD means changing punctuation, and "WE'RE WOLVES" involves *adding* punctuation, but the latter also involves breaking the word into two parts, so I've added spacing too. Then there's "LET'S HAVE IT," and I ... what? Is this supposed to be a verb phrase in the "original"? That is, is "LET'S HAVE IT" supposed to be a play on apostrophe-free "LETS HAVE IT"??? Maybe that's it, but that is not at all clear. I read the "original" phrase as if it were punctuated identically to the one that's been clued; that is, if you say "LET'S HAVE IT," I assume you are either asking me to give you something that I (a child?) am trying to hide from you; or else I assume you are asking me to tell you something that I (an adult) don't want to tell you. The idea that the "original" phrase is a third-person singular present indicative verb phrase ... no, that did not occur to me. I guess that means that punctuation is *somehow* involved in three of these, but how the hell is EGGSHELL PAINT supposed to be punctuated? Also, what is EGGSHELL PAINT? I assume it is a color ... of paint ... and that that color is ... eggshell ... color. But that phrase is, well, green paint, to be honest ("green paint" in xwordspeak is a phrase one might say but that doesn't really work as a standalone answer, often an adj.-noun pairing like .... "green paint"). And I don't know how punctuation factors in. Ohhhhh ... hang on ... OK, I'm reading the weird clue now and it's supposed to be interpreted as EGG SHE'LL PAINT. Sigh. Again, as with "WE'RE WOLVES," but *not* with the other two answers, you've broken a word and thus added spacing. Double sigh. So, to sum up: The base phrase was not at all clear to me with the first themer, the second themer has punctuation changed, not simply added, and the third and fourth themers involve not just added apostrophes, but actual breaking up of words (reparsing). I can lawyer it back together by saying "it's about adding apostrophes! The end!" but solving this one never generated an aha or a "got it" or anything pleasurable. Just a feeling of "what...?" And now, I guess, a feeling of "oh ... huh." It's not uncommon for themes that ask me to mentally supply things to fall a little, or a lot, flat. This theme had its moments. I mean, 'WE'RE WOLVES!", that's kinda funny! And it's clear. Snappy. But EGG SHE'LL PAINT? That one's harder to love.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: I honestly don't know ... — I think it's apostrophes
Theme answers:
- "LET'S HAVE IT" (16A: "You and I should eat that")
- STUDENT I'D CARD (26A: Kid at a college bar who seems, to me as a bouncer, too young to allow in)
- EGG SHE'LL PAINT (43A: Easter item that the woman is going to decorate)
- "WE'RE WOLVES!" (59A: What the couple dressed in lupine costumes said)
Teri Ann Garr (born December 11, 1944)[ is a retired American actress, comedian, dancer, and singer. She frequently appeared in comedic roles throughout her career, which spans four decades and includes over 140 credits in film and television. Her accolades include an Academy Awardnomination, a BAFTA Award nomination, and a National Board of Review Award. [...] Garr had a supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola's thriller The Conversation(1974) before having her film breakthrough as Inga in Young Frankenstein(1974). In 1977, she was cast in a high-profile role in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Garr continued to appear in various high-profile roles throughout the 1980s, including supporting parts in the comedies Tootsie(1982), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Sandy Lester, and then appearing opposite Michael Keaton the next year in Mr. Mom (1983). She reunited with Coppola the same year, appearing in his musical One from the Heart (1982), followed by a supporting part in Martin Scorsese's black comedy After Hours (1985).
Her quick banter led to Garr being a regular guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. In the 1990s, she appeared in two films by Robert Altman: The Player (1992) and Prêt-à-Porter (1994), followed by supporting roles in Michael (1996) and Ghost World(2001). She also appeared on television as Phoebe Abbott in three episodes of the sitcom Friends (1997–98). In 2002, Garr announced that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the symptoms of which had affected her ability to perform beginning in the 1990s.(wikipedia)
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Rest of the grid is very straightforward, except for maybe YAKUTSK. I had IRKUTSK. Is that a place? It is. But I'm not really up for thinking about Russia at the moment, so I'll move on. The hardest part of the grid for me was between PAGERS and MISDO, two hard answers bound together by two *kealoas, both of which I botched (I had LOOS for LAVS, AVERS for AVOWS). The PAGERS clue is clever—I had to get it down to PA-ERS and still it took another few seconds for me to get it. MISDO was not so pleasant to finally get, as no one says MISDO anywhere ever outside of crosswords. Harrumph. I thought 1A: Italian sauce with meat and tomatoes wanted an actual sauce, not a sauce brand, so RAGÙ surprised me ... until I realized that RAGÙ is, in fact, a sauce. It was a sauce before it was a brand. Somehow the brand completely obscured the reality of the actual sauce from me. Brands are pushy that way, I guess. I enjoyed remembering the PULI, which is a silly-looking dog (but still a very good boy, yes he is ...) and I really enjoyed seeing TERI Garr, which is perhaps a strange thing to say as a crossword solver, since she has shown up in the grid a lot over the years, but I just watched "Tootsie" (1982) earlier this week, and not long before that I watched Scorsese's "After Hours" (1985) and a lesser-known Coppola movie called "One From the Heart" (1982), and each time I was reminded what an astonishing talent she is. The subtle gestures and pauses and facial expressions, and the timing. All while remaining believably human. Never over-the-top. Just magnificent.
A genuinely great comedic actress who is completely charming and absorbing every time she's on screen. One of my true movie loves. She rarely got starring roles, but the roles she got ... wow. Sincerely, she is at least as good as Jessica Lange in "Tootsie." She and Lange were both nominated for the Supporting Actress Oscar. But Lange won. And then Hoffman lost to Ben Kingsley (as Gandhi). Comedic actors get no respect. Speaking of Hoffman, he's going to be filming a movie down the street from me this year (yes, in Binghamton, NY), so ... expect to hear about that. Also, if you know Mr. Hoffman, tell him I'd be happy to show him around. Annnnnyway, TERI Garr rules. And if you know her, you can tell her I'll show her around Binghamton too. Any time. The end.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*kealoa = short, common answer that you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] ATON/ALOT, ["Git!"] "SHOO"/"SCAT," etc.
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