Constructor: Tracy Gray
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: Chutes and Ladders, kinda (actual title: "Ups and Downs") — circled squares on a slant spell out various slanted means of getting from one place to some other higher or lower place. These circled squares are inside longer theme answers, which follow the slanted squares "up" or "down" to another row, where they all end with a letter string that is also a stand-alone answer (clued separately):
Theme answers:
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There's nothing wrong with this theme conceptually, but it feels like one I've done many times before. Plus it was very easy to figure out, and once you'd figured it out, all those up / down parts got much, much easier. The theme actually gives you special insight into every single theme answer thereafter, which isn't necessarily how themes always work. There wasn't a single themer that gave me trouble; on the contrary, the up / down parts sped things along nicely. I wish the various up / down slopes had been better hidden within their respective answers. Half of those up / down words are component parts of the words they appear in (STEPS, SLIDE, CHUTE), so they aren't buried *at all*, and only the STAIRS feel properly buried (hidden inside the answer, split across both parts of the answer). Further, there's an odd messiness about the way the non-slanted parts of the theme answers are handled. The front parts (e.g. RANR-, PARAC-) cannot stand alone (mostly) but the last parts ... can? I don't really understand this decision. I get that it appears to add a layer of complexity to the construction, but are we all better off for having had to fill in answers like EIN and ERS and LARY (Whoever That Is!?!?)? The end of STEPSISTER just ends up being ... SISTER again? And SIM is just ... SIM? I dunno. It's kind of fun to go chutes and laddering around the grid, for sure, but the concept felt a little tired and the execution felt a little wobbly. It should be more exciting to climb hills and go down slides, is what I'm saying.
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Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- 39A: *Went out of control (RAN RAMPANT) / 24A: Big huff? (PANT)
- 35A: *Mount Everest scaler (EDMUND HILLARY) / 22A: N.F.L. Hall-of-Famer Yale ___ (LARY)
- 60A: *"Cinderella" meanie (EVIL STEPSISTER) / 79A: One of seven represented in the Pleiades (SISTER)
- 73A: *Lateral-breaking pitches (BACKDOOR SLIDERS) / 95A: Sounds of hesitation (ERS)
- 80A: *Glide down from above (PARACHUTE IN) / 109A: Article in Aachen (EIN)
- 114A: *Portrayer of Scrooge in 1951's "A Christmas Carol" (ALISTAIR SIM) / 84A: ___ card (SIM)
Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE (9 October 1900 – 19 August 1976) was a Scottish character actor who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his death in 1976. Starting in 1935, he also appeared in more than fifty British films, including an iconic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol, released in 1951 as Scrooge in Great Britain and as A Christmas Carol in the United States. Though an accomplished dramatic actor, he is often remembered for his comically sinister performances. (wikipedia)
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Never heard of an ABTEST at all ever. This is a NYTXW. I pray it does not catch on. If you're going to debut fill, it should be cool, and I'm guessing that even if you knew what an ABTEST was before you solved this puzzle, you did not think it was cool, nor do you now think it's cool. APTEST, a thing. ABTEST, oof, shoot it into space.* Also fit for space-shooting: NO EAR (94D: Lack of musicality). TIN EAR, a thing. NO EAR, no no. This has appeared four times in the Shortz era, two of those times from this constructor. Weird. Is RYE BEER real? (17D: Cousin of kvass). I've only ever seen it in crosswords (17D: Cousin of kvass). All the beer I've ever seen / drunk has been beer beer. Apparently there is such a thing as Rye IPA, or ... [drumroll] ... RYE-P-A. So that's fun. Everything else in this puzzle was pretty familiar. As I indicated earlier, never heard of the N.F.L. Hall-of-Famer LARY. I know Wyatt CENAC well (53D: Comedian Wyatt of "Problem Areas") but that didn't stop me from spelling it CYNAC the first time. Oh, and I thought the Potala Palace was maybe in TULSA (78A: Potala Palace city => LHASA). Not really familiar with CLAM BEDs, though the concept is vaguely familiar (85D: Place to wear muck boots). Tried to do a google image search and you know what I got?:
I'm guessing these are not where muck boots are worn (though if that's your thing, more power to you). I think I've said all I have to say about this one. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*[addendum: mea culpa for suggesting ABTEST was not a thing; it is, in fact, a thing—a singularly dull thing I hope never to encounter in my grid again, but nevertheless, a thing]
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