Constructor: Bill Pipal and Jeff Chen
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: CUT (CORNERS) (69A: With the circled letters, a hint to solving seven Across clues) — seven Across clues turn (Down) and at the "corner" where they turn is a square that gets "cut" out (or skip); those "cut" letters spell out CORNERS (you pick up the letters in CORNERS from the downward-headed part of the Across answer, which is clued as a regular Down). So for all seven theme answers, there's the cut-corner version (the answer that's clued), then the Down segment of each answer (clued as a regular Down), and then the *uncut* Across segment (which is its own unclued answer, e.g. ANTIC, ADO, HOMER, etc.):
Theme answers:
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This puzzle lost my love quickly because of the hyphen in ANTI-AGING. I got the whole missing-letter thing fast, but that first missing letter ("C") is sitting Where A Hyphen Should Be, and I assumed this was going to be some clever part of the theme—making use of hyphens, which (like all punctuation) normally don't get represented in crossword grids. Cool, let's do a hyphen-based theme, let's go! Thought for a bit about what having a "C" in the hyphen square might mean. Was excited to find out where this hyphen-replacement concept was gonna go. But then AD RATE ... doesn't have a hyphen. And neither does HOME EC. So the concept I was looking forward to never materialized *and* I was left to contemplate the jarring inconsistency of ANTI-AGING ... if you give me empty space between words, fine, it's empty, but if that space is normally filled with a hyphen I Am Going To Fill Your Empty Space With A Hyphen Or Expect The Hyphen Be Relevant Somehow. But no. This didn't slow me down at all. Just massively disappointed me. And then, with the "C" and "O" in place and without ever looking at the revealer, the "CORNERS" gimmick became immediately obvious, so much so that I could go through and write in every single theme answer, no problem ... well, one problem: I wrote in FARM AID instead of LIVE AID (didn't yet grasp that the uncut Across segment had to make a word ... LIVER is a word, whereas FARMR is not).
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So the theme wasn't as cool as I thought it was going to be *and* the puzzle ended up being depressingly easy (esp. for a Thursday). All the architectural gimmickry here did nothing to create an entertaining solving challenge. Ended up being about as much fun as connect-the-dots (which I loved as a four-year-old, but ... less so as a six-year-old). If you take the whole hyphen shenanigans out of the equation, the idea that I, the solver, "cut corners" to make the themers work is indeed a cute thematic concept, and the fact that those corners *spell* corners is a nice revelation. But it all reveals itself so early and so easily that there's no struggle, no real aha at the end when you hit CUT, no ... just no Thursday fun. Or, there is Thursday fun, but it exhausts itself one meager burst right away, and all that's left to do thereafter is programatically fill in the grid, which has no more surprises or treats.
I had no problem with any part of this puzzle, but there are two name crosses that gave me slight pause. I think they're OK, but ... it's gotten so that proper noun crosses really set off warning signals in my head now, since they are the basis of so many Naticks. ADUBA / DIANA is unlikely to flummox too many people, since even if you routinely misspell ADUBA's name (for me, today, ADUBO, sigh, sorry), DIANA is really the only cross that makes much sense there, though LIANA and TIANA are, in fact, names one might have. ANGUS / UNGER also seems slightly dangerous, especially if you have no idea who the Odd Couple are (as many younger (than me) solvers won't). But again, ANGUS is a familiar Scottish name, and nothing else but the "G" makes sense there. Ooh, but if you don't know SITKA (wasn't I just talking about Alaskan crosswordese recently...) then you won't have the "A" in ANGUS either, and then things might get dicey. It's weird trying to imagine how others might go wrong. Anyway, I think this grid AVOIDs true Naticks today. This has been a test of the Emergency Natick System. This was only a test.
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- ANTI-(C)AGING (1A: Like some face creams and serums, supposedly)
- AD(O) RATE (6A: Cost for a commercial)
- HOME(R) EC (9A: Class now known as Family and Consumer Sciences, informally)
- "HAVE(N) ONE" (28A: "Go ahead, try this!")
- DON(E) KING (35A: Rumble in the Jungle promoter)
- LIVE(R) AID (47A: 1985 benefit concert watched by nearly two billion people)
- AS(S) WELL (53A: To boot)
Live Aid was a benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a movement that started with the release of the successful charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in December 1984. Billed as the "global jukebox", Live Aid was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London, UK, attended by about 72,000 people and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, US, attended by 89,484 people.
On the same day, concerts inspired by the initiative were held in other countries, such as the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan, Yugoslavia, Austria, Australia and West Germany. It was one of the largest satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time; an estimated audience of 1.9 billion, in 150 nations, watched the live broadcast, nearly 40 percent of the world population. (wikipedia)
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Could not get the HOGS part of BEDHOGS for some reason, because hogging the covers and being a BEDHOG seem like slightly different things. BEDHOGS take up excess space, while cover hogs (like my wife, or, in her opinion, me) do not, necessarily. But I like the word, certainly the most colorful thing in the grid (besides maybe DON KING). What else? SALLOW is a funny word. I'm aware of it, but never use it, which is odd, as [Opposite of ruddy] sure sounds a lot like me. Hmmm, looks like SALLOW means "having an unhealthy yellow or pale brown color"—well that's not me either. I'm just straight up pale. With freckles. If you are SALLOW and experiencing ASS SWELL, consult your doctor. That's all for today. Back here tomorrow, and then, after a travel day (Christopher Adams fills in for me on Saturday), I'll be blogging the puzzle from the blissful shores of Lake Michigan. Sad to leave the kitties, but our house sitter is lovely so they'll be fine. Bye for now.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]