Constructor: Simon Marotte
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME: CAST (71A: Action that can be done to the starts of 20-, 35-, 44- and 56-Across)— you can CAST a net, a play, a spell, or a shadow:
Theme answers:
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This is a perfectly adequate puzzle—it's a variation on an ultra-common theme type (word-that-can-precede / word-that-can-follow). The revealer has no sass and no verve. It just sits there: CAST. And even when I put it in front of the words it's supposed to go in front of, it still doesn't really work, i.e. I have to put an "A" in between CAST and the words (you don't "CAST net" you "CAST *a* net," obviously). I don't quite understand how this was considered exceptional enough to be accepted. In all sincerity, the average USA Today puzzle and the average LA Times puzzle at this point are better than this. If you solve those puzzles regularly these days, you might disagree with me, and that's fine, but my contention is definitely a reasonable one—the new editors at those outlets have really been very thoughtful about what they accept and how they edit. Whereas this puzzle ... this feels like an outlet that's running on fumes. Or inertia. Or complacency. The puzzle doesn't seem to be really trying. This apparently lack of effort goes beyond the theme. The best example of the "not-trying" vibe today is ETAPE—what is this desperation crosswordese doing in a Monday puzzle? There is absolutely positively no reason for it. It's not a first-tier-familiar French word, which are the only French words that have any business being in early-week grids, especially ones that are Not At All Demanding—that is, ones that are relatively easy to fill a million different ways. The theme is light, so the fill should be ripe-Fall-apple crisp. Honeycrisp crisp. ETAPE is a mealy apple. Took me a couple seconds to get rid of it.
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Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- NET NEUTRALITY (20A: Topic of debate regarding online service providers)
- PLAY POSSUM (35A: Feign sleep)
- SPELLCHECK (44A: Helpful feature for tyops ... um, typos)
- SHADOW CABINET (56A: Opposition party group in British politics)
Eric Samuel André (born April 4, 1983) is an American actor, producer, stand-up comedian, television host and writer. He is best known as the creator, host, and co-writer of the Adult Swim comedy series The Eric Andre Show (2012–present). He also played Mike on the FXX series Man Seeking Woman (2015–2017) and voiced Banzai in the remake of The Lion King (2019). He performs music under the name Blarf. [...] In a 2016 interview, André said: "I think everyone is bi, right? There's no such thing as sexual orientation, or race, or gender. Those are all obsolete man-made concepts. I'll say it again, a hole is a hole." When asked if he was coming out as bisexual, he continued: "I'll f*** anything that moves." (wikipedia)
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Do I think my version is a whole lot better? No, I think the best idea would be to do more of a tear-down in the middle and NW and rebuild from there, but my version doesn't have ETAPE, so it's inherently better, especially since I didn't make most of the surrounding fill much worse. Well, MSRP is arguably worse, I don't like it, but again, my version is just a quick what-if; if I can do this in a few seconds, that suggests that the grid could be much Much cleaner. But no one seemed to care. Good enough is good enough, I guess.
A couple of the theme answers are nice answers all on their own: NET NEUTRALITY and SHADOW CABINET would look really great in any themeless puzzle, say, or in a puzzle where the theme was really on point. Here, they're just ... answers. The only things that make the grid any fun (though "SEE YA LATER" isn't bad, either). I felt like I was moving a little slower than normal, for a few reasons. No idea who Eric ANDRÉ is, though as soon as I looked him up and saw his face, I was like "oh right, that guy." So he's good, just in my blind spot. Not in my blind spot is Jacques TATI, man I love that guy's movies (39A: Jacques ___, "Mon Oncle" filmmaker). I think I'm gonna pop "PlayTime" in the old Blu-ray player right after I'm finished here. Talk about someone who seems to be having fun, who seems to Love cinema and all its visually comedic possibilities. Just a master.
My Monday Night Movie Club is watching a Bette Davis film tonight, one in which she is CAST TWICE—the movie is called "A Stolen Life" and Davis plays identical twins. It involves a lighthouse and also stars Glenn Ford, who was in every other movie from 1940 to 1970 and has the greatest movie face and is my hero, basically. Where was I? Oh, TWICE, that was a mean clue, mostly because THREE is also five letters long and starts with "T" (53D: How many times Bette Davis won Best Actress). Davis won her Academy Awards very early in her career (for "Dangerous" in '35 and "Jezebel" in '38, neither of which I've seen). She was nominated for her most iconic role (Margo Channing in "All About Eve"), but so was Ann Baxter, so the "All About Eve" vote got split, and the lovely and inimitable Judy Holliday ended up winning instead for her role in "Born Yesterday," which is probably just as it should be, since "Born Yesterday" is a perfect movie. (My favorite movie. True story. This print ad is framed and sitting in my upstairs bathroom):
That's all for today. In case you missed it, I printed my first "Letter to the Editor" yesterday, from former Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten. I'm thinking about publishing Letters to the Editor on a regular basis, probably on Sunday, for now. So if you have something crossword-related you want to get off your chest, drop me a line and write OK TO PRINT on it. I'll contact you if I'm going to run it. OK, that's all for now. Take care.