Hello, everyone! It’s Clare for the last Tuesday of April. Hope everyone had a good month; I’ve been enjoying the nice weather and have been biking some more. But, now that I work a 9-5 job, I go for a ride when everyone else is out and about, and I don’t like having to dodge people or other bikers!! I recently tried rock climbing for the first time, which was quite fun (though my forearms got so sore). As always, I’ve been rooting on my teams — Liverpool is on quite a run (if only Man City would go away), and the Warriors are up in the playoffs. So, I’ve got hope!
Anywho, on to the puzzle…
Relative difficulty:Pretty easy
Theme answers:
- DRAG QUEEN (5D: *Trixie Mattel, e.g.)
- AIR KISS (25D: *Contact-free smooch)
- CANDY HEART (28D: *Seasonal confection that may say "I Luv U")
- SUGAR RUSH (36D: *Sensation after consuming too many Pixy Stix, perhaps)
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margaret Bent, "a piece of music in several parts with words" is as precise a definition of the motet as will serve from the 13th to the late 16th century and beyond. (Wiki)
• • •
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Tuesday puzzle where the themers are the downs instead of the acrosses — I liked the change-up. The way I did the puzzle, I figured out the revealer (ROCK BOTTOM) before getting any of the theme answers; then, I found each of the theme answers to be fairly obvious just from the clues. This is a puzzle where I didn’t look back at the theme until after I’d finished solving. The theme was fine, maybe even a bit on the good side. In a puzzle like this, you might’ve expected the revealer to be at 38A, which is smack dab in the center of the puzzle. But the revealer obviously wouldn’t work there, and it fit the theme to have it running down. I’d never heard of RUSH, but I see they’re a successful rock band and will have to look up some of their music.
In general, my solve felt a bit passive. Like, there wasn’t much that really jumped out to me about the puzzle — either good or bad. I will say I think I enjoyed this puzzle more than I have a Tuesday in a while just because I personally found it easier. So, even if the puzzle was meh, I’m looking back at it with a bit of a rosy tint.
I liked LIBRA (26D: Fair and balanced type, astrologically) and ARIES (27D: Strong and resilient type, astrologically) grouped together in the puzzle. There was also some symmetry with MOTET (23D: Sacred choral work) and HYMNS (33D: Songs that might be accompanied by an organ), which I thought worked. And, possibly some intentional symmetry with ACH (7D: German interjection) being in the same column as CRY (60D: "___ me a river!"), as ACH is a form of German cry (i.e. an exclamation). APLOMB (25A) is a great word. I like seeing Calvin PEETE (51D) in the puzzle — he was quite the golfer and a real pioneer. I liked the kitschy clue for ROBE (16A: Judicial cover-up?). NEST EGG, REMAKES, SEESAWS, and AREA RUG all seem like inoffensive longer acrosses.
I always thought “bro hug” was a more common term than MAN HUG (18A: Bro’s embrace)? I might be mistaken. I really didn’t like the clue for TOOTH (31A: Filling station?) — since when is a tooth a station?? My hardest section of the puzzle was the eastern middle, mostly because it took a while to get TOOTH, and then I didn’t know MOTET. SLURPS (8D: Impolite sounds from the dinner table) may be impolite in the U.S., but they can actually be a sign of respect/enjoying the meal in other cultures.
Misc.:
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Misc.:
- I know it’s a different context, but I find it amusing that the NETS (65A) just got swept in the playoffs. This might be coming from a slightly bitter Warriors fan who doesn’t mind if Kevin Durant doesn’t look good — or Kyrie Irving, for that matter.
- PENS (31D) being White House souvenirs reminded me of something I just read today about how the White House is in need of new glassware because people keep taking their glasses home.
- Whenever I see “DREAM ON” (10D), I immediately get the iconic Aerosmith song in my head and start trying to sing the bridge. Problem is, I’m not Steven Tyler and couldn’t even hit those notes in my own dreams.
- One of the unintended consequences of studying for the bar exam is that I engrained a lot of miscellaneous elements in my head and, particularly, elements of criminal law. So as soon as I see ARSONS (46D: Fire felonies), the common law definition of arson immediately jumps into my brain, and I start reciting it. (For those who want to know, it’s: The malicious burning of the dwelling of another. So, under common law, if someone burned down a warehouse that wasn’t someone’s dwelling, it wasn’t considered arson.)
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]