Constructor: Sarah Sinclair
Relative difficulty: Definitely skewed "Challenging" (***FOR A MONDAY!***)
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THEME: DATING APP (59A: Modern medium for meeting someone ... or what each of the starts of 17-, 25-, 37- and 50-Across is) — first words of themers are names of DATING APPs:
Theme answers:
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Wow, way too old / married for this one. Actually, I know all these apps except HINGE, which I'm just hearing of for the first time right here and now. I'm less mad about not knowing HINGE (doesn't affect the solve at all) than I am about the super-awkward / what-the-hell answer TINDER DRY (!?). I had to get virtually every cross to come up with that one. At one point I wanted KINDLE DRY (I think my brain was thinking KINDLING DRY, but who knows). Why that answer isn't TINDER BOX (a real, familiar thing), I cannot fathom. Crossing PEDROS (!?!?) (27D: Five Portuguese kings), that answer slowed me way, way down. When you factor in the enormous (for a Monday) corners on this one, it just didn't play like a Monday at all. If the theme had been really juicy, and it had played like a good Tuesday or even Wednesday, I wouldn't really have minded. But I've seen this exact theme before (not sure where) and this incarnation doesn't do anything interesting with it. There's just the straightforward reveal, DATING APP. Slightly dull. If the large corners had yielded a bunch of interesting longer answers, that would've helped right the ship somewhat, but there's not much there. The answers are solid, but there's not really any life to any of them except maybe CAT'S PAW (44D: Person being used by another) and TOYBOATS (37D: Playthings in bathtubs). The BEHEADS clue seemed oddly callous (1D: Gives the Anne Boleyn treatment). I just wasn't feeling this one today.
Relative difficulty: Definitely skewed "Challenging" (***FOR A MONDAY!***)
Theme answers:
- HINGE UPON (17A: Be determined by)
- MATCH POINT (25A: Critical moment in tennis)
- TINDER DRY (37A: Extremely flammable, as vegetation)
- BUMBLEBEES (50A: Fuzzy buzzers)
Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them one of the "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Slayer's final lineup comprised Araya, King, drummer Paul Bostaph (who replaced Lombardo in 1992 and again in 2013) and guitarist Gary Holt (who replaced Hanneman in 2011). Drummer Jon Dette was also a member of the band. [...] Slayer released twelve studio albums, three live albums, a box set, six music videos, two extended plays and a cover album. Four of the band's studio albums have received gold certification in the United States. Slayer sold 5 million copies in the United States from 1991 to 2013, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and over 20 million worldwide. The band has received five Grammy Award nominations, winning one in 2007 for the song "Eyes of the Insane" and one in 2008 for the song "Final Six", both of which were from the album Christ Illusion (2006). After more than three decades of recording and performing, Slayer announced in January 2018 that it would embark on a farewell tour, which took place from May 2018 to November 2019, after which the band disbanded. (wikipedia)
• • •
Aha, here it is: C.C. Burnikel did this theme, with very similar theme answers, three years ago in the LATXW:
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| [screengrab from crosswordfiend.com] |
There's nothing wrong with duplicating a theme—people come up with the same ideas, independently of one another, all the time. My point is that it's a bit ho-hum at this point, and today's NYTXW version doesn't do anything particularly original with it. It's a fine idea, but pretty run-of-the-mill in terms of both concept and execution. The real revelation here is that, if I did this C.C. Burnikel puzzle three years ago, as I suspect did, then I have, in fact, heard of HINGE ... I just immediately forgot it and have literally never heard anyone refer to it ever irl, and so three years later, I'm back to never having heard of it again. Oh, wait, this is that "designed to be deleted" dating app I've seen horrible ads for on Hulu???? I still do not get the concept. At all. Like, delete your dating app, don't delete your dating app, what the hell is this self-destruct feature? Is dating really this hard now? [Rhetorical question]
Notes:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld - EXALT (52D: Laud) — realizing that this is a bad kealoa* for me, in that EXALT, EXULT, and EXTOL are all wadded up in a gooey ball somewhere in my brain and I have awful trouble prying them apart.
- IRENE (35D: Adler in the Sherlock Holmes canon) — the adversary so nice her name is crosswordese twice (IRENE& ADLER). I remembered her first name was crosswordese but I forgot which one (I tried ILENE) ("Come on! ILENE!?").
- BIEN (4D: Good, in Guatemala) — to me, BIEN is "good" (actually "well") in Grenoble, not Guatemala, so I had BUEN here ... I know BUENO is a thing. I'm guessing BUEN ... isn't.
Have a nice Monday. See you tomorrow.
*kealoa = short, common answer that you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] ATON/ALOT, ["Git!"] "SHOO"/"SCAT," etc.
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