Constructor: John Hawksley
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (3/4 Medium, 1/4 Challenging)
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: SCAN (6D: What classic sonnets do) —
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Short write-up today as I have things to do before I head up to Ithaca and hang out with a certain all-star crossword constructor (and lovely human being). I took one look at this grid and knew it wasn't going to be my cup of tea. These low word-count, super-segmented, boxy, essentially four-part (four-quadrant) puzzles are always more Hard than they are Fun, and today's was no exception. When your grid requires you to use APISHLY (!?!), a word no human being has ever actually used and which even the clue doesn't seem to know the meaning of (12D: How an imitator or silly person acts), the rest of that grid better be sterling, and of course is demanding grids like this it never is. At its best, it's pretty good—that SE corner on its own is really impressive, and impressively smooth. Here, there is just the one less-than-stellar answer (LIM.) and that answer makes possible a whole array of great longer answers. The whole stack of Acrosses at the bottom is solid, especially "IT WASN'T ME" and CAN'T UNSEE, which are wonderful. From YESMAN around to CODPIECE, that corner works really really well. But it was hard to get excited about much else in the grid. SEVENTH SON? (27D: Potentially prophetic child). I don't really know what that is. Sounds biblical. I've heard it used metaphorically, I guess, but, well, it's no ATHLEISURE (one of the few longer answers outside the SE that I was excited to see) (26A: Fashion trend embraced by Fendi and Versace).
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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (3/4 Medium, 1/4 Challenging)
Word of the Day: SCAN (6D: What classic sonnets do) —
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The truth is, though, that I don't remember much about this puzzle except for the NW because ugh, again, as I said, these things always break down into essentially four separate puzzles, and without real flow between the sections, once you get stuck, you get Stuck. And in the NW, hoo boy, I got stuck hard. How stuck? This stuck:
Very appropriate that one of the very few answers I had up there was IRKS (and *that* was a total guess). I teach "classic sonnets" (not a term I'd use) every single semester. All the time. From Petrarch to Donne, I really do have the sonnet form covered. And yet faced with the clue 6D: What classic sonnets do, I had no idea. I was like "Well, RHYME doesn't fit ... and I'm out." I deal with poetic meter in detail, all semester long, and yet I've never once asked myself if a poem SCANs or not. I guess SCANs just means "has a regular meter." This is obviously a case of my being (way) too close to the material. *All* poetry in the period that I teach (~1300-1700) SCANs (of course early on in the period you still have the odd alliterative poem, but ... this is probably more than you want to go into right now...). "Scanning" is common to lots and lots of lyric poetry; it's not particular to the "sonnet." So deflating to get such a general term after getting such a specific clue. Then there's the other end of the spectrum—the topic I know nothing and care nothing about: PORSCHES! (9D: Taycan and Macan) And corporate logos ("implied" umbrella?!?). Figured "Fortune favors the brave" was the motto of some org. My guess is that most actual RISKTAKERs have zero awareness of that concept. Never give it a thought. Thank god I knew HAKEEM, or I'd really have had no traction in that corner. Finally (finally!) I got *some* god to fit in the ---AS section (ATLAS!). And those three new letters, oddly, broke the whole quadrant open. First AMIRITE!? Then MARACAS. And things fell from there, but not with any great revelations. What's the last place I would ever find myself, question mark? That's right, a MAGIC SHOP (1A: Tricky spot to be in?). This is very much a case of my aversion to the physical form of the grid coupled with my highly personal, probably idiosyncratic distaste for much of the content of the grid, as well as the cluing. It was a proper Saturday workout for sure. Just didn't have enough high points for me. But again, props to that SE corner. It's a beauty.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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