Constructor: Daniel Mauer
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME:"Way Out West"— a puzzle about ROUTE SIXTY-SIX (114A: Theme of this puzzle, which winds its way nearly 2,500 miles through all the shaded [circled] squares herein); the circled squares contain the abbrs. of the states that Route 66 runs through, arranged in a very rough visual approximation of the route's actual path:
Theme answers:
Surprised that a trip across America on ROUTE SIXTY-SIX could be this dull. It's basically a bad map with some arbitrary trivia thrown in. Here's what the actual trajectory of ROUTE SIXTY-SIX:
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Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- THE MOTHER ROAD (21A: Nickname for 114-Across coined by John Steinbeck)
- PAINTED DESERT (39A: Colorful natural attraction along 114-Across)
- GATEWAY ARCH (65A: Tall, curved attraction along 114-Across)
- CADILLAC RANCH (92A: Graffitied artistic attraction along 114-Across)
- Grant PARK (34D: Grant ___, northeast terminus of 114-Across)
- Santa Monica PIER (83D: Santa Monica ___, southwest terminus of 114-Across)
Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas, US. It was created in 1974 by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, who were a part of the art group Ant Farm.
The installation consists of ten Cadillacs (1949-1963) buried nose-first in the ground. Installed in 1974, the cars were either older running, used or junk cars — together spanning the successive generations of the car line — and the defining evolution of their tailfins. (wikipedia)
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I was in Flagstaff a few summers ago. Nice place. Route 66 goes right through. It goes right through a lot of places. Thousands of miles of places. Shrug. These four trivia answers don't mean much to me, and seem chosen solely for their ability to fit symmetrically in the grid. I'd never even heard of two of them (THE MOTHER ROAD, CADILLAC RANCH). I figured CADILLAC RANCH was a brothel, actually. Which famous "ranch" am I confusing it with? Ah, Mustang Ranch ("Nevada's first licensed brothel," per wikipedia). That is not really anywhere near Route 66. CADILLAC RANCH turns out to be a bunch of cars nose-deep in dirt. Interesting. Almost certainly more interesting than the puzzle. There's not a lot to say. Bad map. Random trivia. End of story. (note: I see that the puzzle wants me to believe there are six Route 66 trivia answers, but PARK and PIER are disqualified based on length—they're just four-letter words playing thematic dress-up).
The grid does not have a lot of interesting fill, in part because it's really not built for it. Not a lot of room for longer answers. Lots of black squares, lots of choppiness, hence lots of shorter fare. And what longer fare there is tends to get wasted on stuff like SEMITONE and ACETONE and ATONED and probably some other "tone" that I'm missing. I mean, ENDPOST? (11D: Component of a bridge truss). Whose idea of a good time is that? That answer, with its FOLKSY and PAOLO crosses, was one of a few unfortunate sticking points in the grid, though the puzzle was no more difficult than your average Sunday. Because I couldn't work my way up into the NE without ENDPOST, I ended up having to restart cold up there, and that was oddly hard: DOT com before ROM com, LODES before GOALS (12D: Positive results of some strikes), ISM before IST (16D: Natural conclusion?). But it was all workoutable. Also had trouble in and around INTRANET, which is about as lovely as ENDPOST. But INTRANET brought an equally dull date, namely DATATYPE, and when ACETONE and CXL got involved, well, that whole SE area just got ugly. I loved "DON'T DO IT!" Puzzle could've used a lot more of that energy today.
- 5A: Pertaining to any of five Italian popes (SISTINE) — the popes in question were all named Sixtus, for the record
- 20A: Hardly a team player? (SOLOIST)— many soloists play with teams, if the team is an orchestra. I wanted EGOIST here ... EGOOIST, I guess.
- 24A: Corpse ___ No. 2 (morning-after cocktail) (REVIVER) — love these, though never had one in the morning
- 58A: Peridot, for one (GEM)— can never remember what this is. I want it to be a color, or a wine. Like a periwinkle merlot or something.
- 98A: Jazz bassist Carter, who has appeared on more than 2,200 recordings (RON) — legend who appears on my my favorite album of the '90s (A Tribe Called Quest's "The Low End Theory"), and who just won a Grammy (Best Jazz Instrumental Album) for "Skyline." Here's his very recent Tiny Desk Concert:
- 13D: TV 6-year-old who attend Little Dipper School (ELROY) — This is a "Jetsons" reference, kids
- 37D: $100 bill, slangily (BEN) — the movie (2002) was called "All About the Benjamins," not "All About the BENs"; this "slang," like much purported "slang" in the NYTXW, feels at least mildly off
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