Constructor: Rachel Fabi
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: MADAM C.J. Walker (7A: ___ C.J. Walker, first American woman to become a self-made millionaire, per Guinness) —
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LOL I was solving cryptic crosswords with Rachel on her Twitch stream less than twelve hours ago and she didn't mention a damn thing about having today's puzzle. Total (delightful) surprise. You have to take everything I say now with the following full disclosure, which is that Rachel is one of my most trusted and beloved crossword friends (also a real-life friend!) and she lives right over there [points toward Syracuse] and she used to fill in for me here from time to time, before the NYTXW saw her talent and (wisely) hired her to write the Monday-thru-Wednesday "Wordplay" column (she is forbidden from writing for me any more ... exclusive contract and all ... I'm not bitter!). Anyway, I support her in all her endeavors, including this one. Luckily, I genuinely enjoyed this puzzle, though I guess I'll start with the less enjoyable parts, which for me is often (as it is today) names. I'm looking over the (now marked-up) grid, and the only things I have circled as difficulty points are names. Which is to say, trivia. I'm never really thrilled when the only real difficulty in a tough puzzle comes from names. Quality of name matters, too, as is what I learn about the name from the clue. So, let's take the name stumbles one at a time (they are not all Bad Entries, it's just that en masse they all spell Name Trouble, which is, as I say, not my favorite Trouble). "JOANNE" I feel like I knew at one point, and it's definitely the name about which I'm least (fake-) mad (15A: Lady Gaga album named for her aunt). My first pass at the "JOANNE" corner yielded only INOT. FUJI was a no-hoper without that "J" (I can never remember which Olympics are where, so the "2020" in the FUJI clue didn't help like it was supposed to). The next name I'm actually not mad about at all, but it stopped me cold for a bit because it looked deceptive, i.e. I thought the omitted part of C.J. Walker's name was ... well, a name, not a title (7A: ___ C.J. Walker, first American woman to become a self-made millionaire, per Guinness). I guess "MADAM" was part of an assumed moniker, so it *is* a "name," but you see what I mean; I was looking for SARAH or TANYA or something. If I'd just thought about the name for two seconds, I would've remembered that I know very well who MADAM C.J. Walker is—I just wish the clue hadn't omitted the reason she was rich, i.e. the fact that she got rich making beauty products for Black women. If you're gonna throw a name at solvers, give them a reason to care. A Guinness entry is not a reason to care.
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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: MADAM C.J. Walker (7A: ___ C.J. Walker, first American woman to become a self-made millionaire, per Guinness) —
Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the Guinness Book of World Records. Multiple sources mention that although other women (like Mary Ellen Pleasant) might have been the first, their wealth is not as well-documented.
Walker made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women through the business she founded, Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company. She became known also for her philanthropy and activism. She made financial donations to numerous organizations and became a patron of the arts. Villa Lewaro, Walker's lavish estate in Irvington, New York, served as a social gathering place for the African-American community. At the time of her death, she was considered the wealthiest African-American businesswoman and wealthiest self-made black woman in America. Her name was a version of "Mrs. Charles Joseph Walker," after her third husband.
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More names: the clue on FEY absolutely flummoxed me because Tina FEY's name is Tine FEY. I've never heard her referred to otherwise, so calling "Tina" a "nickname" seems bonkers, and then having the actual answer be not the actual "nickname" but the last name ... it was all so awkward and confusing, somehow. Which brings me to the last and hardest (for me) name, DEJAGER. The clue itself is defensive ("13 million followers on YouTube, you can't argue with that!") because it knows that most NYTXW solvers are going to have no idea. I am on record as being against all so-called YouTubers ("vloggers"), regardless of what they are "famous" for. The "fame" is just too niche and too airy, no matter how many "followers" there are. Fame on YouTube means being huge to one audience and absolutely unheard of to most everyone else. It's the medium that's the issue. It has no bleed. It's a mostly hermetically sealed kind of fame. Again, our entire culture is heavily siloed now, so seeing what people outside your Group are doing is hard, and the YouTube silo somehow has very thick walls and lets out very little light. Anyway, DEJAGER's fame is very recent and she seems really interesting: she's a trans woman! she's Dutch! ... I feel like the clues are not telling me the most interesting facts about the people in the grid today. Citing the Guinness Book of World Records or someone's millions of YouTube followers, those are ways of trying to tell solvers "see, see, these people are important!" but sadly solvers don't end up learning anything really important about the people (unless they do after-solve research). Anyway, I accept that YouTubers will keep coming, and I'll just deal (by occasionally yelling in grief). My only Real issue with DEJAGER was that I had almost zero confidence in the "J" (from JOT, 45D: Quickly put down). If the clue had been [Quickly write down], I wouldn't have spent the rest of the solve worried that I had an error. But, again, alas. Wow, this was way too long on names. There are other names I actually knew, like RITAORA and DELLA and NADAL and LASSIE. The puzzle felt name-y is what I'm saying. Moving on.
The 15s here are so delightful that I almost wish I had more trouble getting them. I might've gone for IT TAKES ALL KINDS, but luckily I had the crosses in SORTS partially filled in before I ever even looked at the long cross. I loved HUGUENOT because I talk about them in my Medieval/Renaissance courses and because HUGUENOT is just a cool-looking word (even if I still struggle to spell it). I loved the mixed METAPHORS, even though I tried to make them mixed MESSAGES at first. I love the phrase TOPUP. Is that a debut? No, looks like Paolo Pasco and Robyn Weintraub have both used it recently. But I feel like I hardly ever see it. Maybe the two "P"s make it hard to place in a grid. SLEEP ON IT is nice, HANKERED is a great verb, and the clue on SIDE DOORS is wonderful as well (23D: Lesser-used passages). "Passages" is doing some low-key misdirection there (I was thinking parts of texts, i.e. literary passages). The puzzle just had good overall energy. Like it was trying to STRIVE FOR something. It's got pep in its STEP. Not MEH at all. HELL yeah! BOOYAH! The icing on the cake was the clue SUISSE (56A: Pays in the Alps?). "Pays" = "country" in French, and (La) SUISSE = "Switzerland" in French. Mwah! Magnifique! (Fun fact: the first thing I wrote in as the [Challenging setting for the 2020 Olympics men's road cycling course] was ALPS.) Overall, this was a good time. Oh, one last thing. Rachel is the organizing force behind "These Puzzles Fund Abortion," which I have plugged here, repeatedly. And so I'm plugging again. Support abortion access, get good puzzles. It's an easy choice to make.
Have a lovely day.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. last night while we were solving cryptics with Rachel, my friend Neville Fogarty told me about "Dracula Daily," which is a service that sends you bits of Bram Stoker's Dracula as they occur in real time (that is, the time as recorded in the novel itself). The novel is journal entries, and those entries start in May, so the "Dracula Daily" extravaganza has just begun—sign up (free) and get a little bit of Dracula in your Inbox from now until, well, whenever the journal entries end (I don't remember the novel as well as I should).
P.P.S. BRAM STOKER was in one of the cryptics Rachel & Neville & I solved last night ... I openly speculated about BRAM's being in tomorrow's (i.e. today's) NYTXW, and Rachel somehow managed to keep a straight face ... well, there's no BRAM, but there is RISEN, Rachel, so I was close.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]