Constructor: Malgorzata Nowakowska and Eileen Williams
Relative difficulty: Medium (normal Tuesday)
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THEME: Taylor SWIFT (49D: Taylor ___, some of whose hit songs are featured in the answers to the starred clues)— that's it ... it's just song names:
Theme answers:
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I am in no way averse to the idea of a Taylor SWIFT-themed puzzle, but this ain't it. There is nothing here, puzzle-wise. Just a list of songs. If you love Taylor SWIFT and are thrilled to see all her songs here, just imagine this theme being done with an artist you don't like. Or just ... any artist. I mean, if the themers were just Beatles songs and the revealer were merely THE BEATLES, people would be booing, not at the Beatles (well, mostly not at the Beatles), but at the weakness of the puzzle from a conceptual standpoint. There's no wordplay, no cleverness, no nothing but a list of songs. I mean, it's harmless—you can sort of enjoy it as a very easy themeless puzzle, which I imagine is how a lot of people enjoyed it—but I don't get how this passes muster as a NYTXW crossword puzzle. The *topic* is fine, but there is nothing *puzzle-worthy* in the theme execution. If there were—if the revealer (SWIFT) really snapped, or offered us anything besides merely literal explanation—it would be very easy to overlook, say, the odd placement of the revealer, or the non-symmetrical ("bonus"?) themers (since "PER" and "SOWN" are not Taylor SWIFT songs (that I know of...), "RED" and "BABE" are kind of left hanging out to dry. There's nothing puzzly about this theme. It's a list. The lack of real puzzleworthiness to this theme makes the whole thing seem like a publicity stunt—there's no doubt that social media is already *humming* with the buzz of adoring fans (as well as the grumping of non-fans and "kids these days" oldsters). Again, from my perspective, Taylor SWIFT's talent (considerable, IMHO) is beside the point. If you're going to pay homage to an artist you like, you gotta do better than just list some hits.
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... but when I looked downgrid I didn't see any space where TAYLORSWIFT would fit, so I was very much hoping that something much cooler than just her name would be serving as the revealer. Maybe there was going to be a final SWIFT song that would end up tying everything together. She does, famously*, have a lyric about crossword puzzles, after all. It's even in one of today's featured songs. Surprisingly, that song is *not* "BLANK SPACE"—it's "RED": "Fighting with him was like trying to solve a crossword / And realizing there's no right answer." If you track the word "crossword" across Twitter, as I do, then you have seen this lyric A Lot. Would've been cool to try to turn that lyric to a SWIFT-themed crossword. Would still be cool.
Relative difficulty: Medium (normal Tuesday)
Theme answers:
- FEARLESS (20A: *Like daredevils, seemingly)
- BABE (25A: *Little one in arms)
- RED (30A: *Visibly embarrassed)
- BLANK SPACE (34A: *Void)
- SHAKE IT OFF (41A: *Get over a minor injury, say)
- DEAR JOHN (54A: *Start of a classic breakup letter)
Sudan (English: /suːˈdɑːn/ or /suːˈdæn/; Arabic: السودان, romanized: as-Sūdān), officially the Republic of the Sudan (Arabic: جمهورية السودان, romanized: Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Egypt to the north, Eritrea to the northeast, Ethiopia to the southeast, Libya to the northwest, South Sudan to the south and the Red Sea. It has a population of 45.70 million people as of 2022 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres (728,215 square miles), making it Africa's third-largest country by area, and the third-largest by area in the Arab League. It was the largest country by area in Africa and the Arab League until the secession of South Sudan in 2011, since which both titles have been held by Algeria. Its capital is Khartoum and its most populated city is Omdurman (part of the metropolitan area of Khartoum). (wikipedia)
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I guessed the theme right here...
The basic quality of the grid seems fine, even slightly better than your average Tuesday fare. STORYBOOK and "I OWE YOU" are lovely (they sound like plausible Taylor SWIFT song titles, actually). I had trouble parsing PUT-UP JOBS, but I have no objection to it. "YOINK!" may be my favorite answer in the whole thing, though I think of it more as a sound effect *accompanying* the snatching of something than the snatch itself. Weirdly struggled right out of the gate with this one, as I tried to make FINS work for 1A: Swimmer's set (LAPS), and couldn't remember what the hell was on the Tropicana logo ("... banana...?") (1D: Symbol over the "i" in the Tropicana logo (LEAF)). But that was very minor as struggles go, and once I got traction, the puzzle became regular Tuesday-easy. Didn't know ROCHE, but that's about all I didn't know today (27D: La ___-Posay (skin-care brand)). I have just one major, and predictable, objection to the grid today, and that's the NW corner, specifically the clue on RONA (19A: Covid-19, slangily). I have never ever understood giving a cutesy nickname to something that killed millions and millions of people, that continues to kill them, in fact, though everyone's pretending it's not happening any more. In fact I don't know anyone who has ever used this term. I just know that it exists, and I knew very early on that constructors were going to be tempted to clue RONA this way. Thankfully, they haven't. Well, mostly they haven't.
Weirdly also just did a puzzle w/ 'RONA in it and *same* https://t.co/Xs2Gq1ZmLA
— Rex Parker 🐈🐾☕️🐾🐈 (@rexparker) July 24, 2021
Yes, the virus is newsworthy, it exists, but mass shooters also exist and I doubt anyone's clamoring to see their names in a puzzle. Cluing 'RONA this way is depressing and disrespectful and (most importantly) completely unnecessary. There is nothing forcing you to go the "sassy slang" route here. And it's not like that corner is even good. You shouldn't reclue RONA, you should junk it entirely. Here's a better corner, RONA- (and ERAT-) free. I made it in three minutes:
