Constructor: Jeff Stillman
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: INITIAL HERE (38A: Contract directive ... or a hint to what's missing from 17-, 20-, 58- and 62-Across) — The "initials" H, E, R, and E are (respectively) omitted in four names
Theme answers:
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Many moods for this puzzle. First, annoyance that WILLIAM MACY was in the grid without the damned "H," what the hell? Then, relief upon finding, with ALFRED NEUMAN, that the missing initial was actually a bit the puzzle was doing. Then, excitement upon wondering what these missing initials might spell, and what the revealer might be. Then (and mostly finally), disappointment at finding the revealer phrase so dull and bureaucratic, as well as ever-so-slightly ... off. I think part of the reason my brain is resisting this revealer is the fact that "initial" also means "coming first," which of course none of the "initials" do. I admit that this is not entirely fair—it's my brain refusing to let things just mean what they mean. But when I look at that revealer, all I can do is imagine an entirely different theme where the *first letters* H, E, R, E are missing, for some reason. Mostly the revealer just doesn't snap, both because it's inherently boring (as initially paperwork is boring), and because it doesn't quite describe what's going on, at least not in a perfect, dead-on way. I understand what the revealer wants me to think, but because it's INITIAL HERE and not (the nonsensical) INITIALS HERE, you keep having to back up and repeat the phrase in order to make it make sense: the initial "H" is missing, the initial "E" is missing, etc. So there's a very clever idea here somewhere (spelling something with the middle initials of famous people / spokesrodents), but that idea only gets so-so realization here.
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- WILLIAM [H.] MACY (17A: "Fargo" actor)
- ALFRED [E.] NEUMAN (20A: Mad magazine symbol)
- EDWARD [R.] MURROW (58A: Pioneering journalist who helped expose McCarthyism)
- CHUCK [E.] CHEESE (62A: Rodent with a restaurant chain)
Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe for the news division of CBS. During the war he recruited and worked closely with a team of war correspondents who came to be known as the Murrow Boys.
A pioneer of radio and television news broadcasting, Murrow produced a series of reports on his television program See It Now which helped lead to the censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, Bill Downs, Dan Rather, and Alexander Kendrick consider Murrow one of journalism's greatest figures. (wikipedia)
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The bigger, much bigger, problem is the fill, which is consistently weak despite two pairs of cheater squares (these are the black squares that do not change the answer count, the ones added to a grid solely to make filling easier—today, see the black squares after STAR and CARB, before CLAY and ROMP). It's a fairly dense theme, so I give the puzzle a little leeway where shorter junk is concerned, but there's an awful lot. Cheater squares should be used if they get you from iffy to smooth, but these appear only to have gotten the grid to iffy. Not sure why I'm seeing AHME and ALII and UPC CNET SSE, then AHS (when we Already Have an AH in AHME!? Such an easy fix, too ... baffling); then ISAY DAW SYS in one unfortunate clump, then that INLA LAALAA stack, my god, and then NRC YOHO (you use a cheater square and all it gets you is ... YOHO!?). Working my way through this grid was kind of a chore, with very few interesting or even smooth patches to brighten the journey.
I'm not sure about this COMMON SENSE clue (9D: Not standing in an open field during a lightning storm, say). I mean, yeah, that sounds like a bad idea, but I think COMMON SENSE would tell you to seek shelter under a tree and that is *definitely* the wrong thing to do. People died in DC this summer for that very reason. I distrust people's ideas of what COMMON SENSE is. But I suppose on a literal level, yes, COMMON SENSE does say come in (into a building) out of the storm, you weirdo / golfer. Not finding it easy to make LET and [Gave the OK] mean the same thing. That is, I'm trying to find the sentence where I can swap them out. I LET her = I gave the OK *to* her ... hmmm ... "Gave the OK" can just stand on its own, where LET is a transitive verb ... I'm sure there's a way to get them to line up perfectly, but the clue just feels off to me right now. Possibly coffee will help. To that end ... see you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. Bonus Content: here's the first page of the MAD paperback pictured above:
