Constructor: Simeon Seigel
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (a bit poky ... might be the oversizedness ...)
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THEME: ALL FOURS (38A: What you're on when you're crawling ... or a hint to parsing 18-, 27, 46- and 61-Across)— 16-letter answers are made up of four component words, each four letters long (4x4 = 16):
Theme answers:
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I really wish I had anything positive to say about this puzzle. About solving this puzzle, I mean. I think the theme is ... interesting. Like, those words do in fact do that (break into four fours). But outside of BRANFORD MARSALIS, those words are not at all interesting in their own right, and less interesting, by far, are the component parts. I mean, what was the idea: "We know you love short fill (!?), so we're going to break Even Our Longer Answers into ... short fill. Like ERST! You guys like ERST, right!" I felt all my hopes for an entertaining solve completely bleed out of me the second I took a look at that first theme clue. I don't think I even tried to make sense of it. My attitude was more like "oh well, just run some crosses through it, I guess." And that's what I did. I quickly noticed [French "to be"] (ETRE) inside the first themer and just like that knew what the basic premise was. As I was filling in the absolute mountain of ordinary short fill in this puzzle, I was thinking, "man, this revealer better offer a hell of a payoff." Then, unexpectedly early, I hit the revealer: "ALL FOURS." OK, so this made the theme a little tighter than I'd imagined (up to then, I thought it was just a string of random words—wasn't really paying attention to their length). But again, this is the thing that you look at from the outside, or when you're done, and say "huh, curious." But when you're on the inside ... woof. (side note: kinda seems like cheating to count ABLE as one of the "fours" ([Fit]) when that's basically what the suffix -ABLE in READILY AVAILABLE means ... at least the other component parts are well hidden and completely etymologically separate from the longer theme answers they're found inside; whereas ABLE is just ... -ABLE).
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (a bit poky ... might be the oversizedness ...)
Theme answers:
- MARK / ET RE / SEAR / CHER (18A: Patsy + French "to be" + Singe + Pop queen = Sales wonk)
- MAST / ER ST / RATE / GIST (27A: Boat pole + Old "once" + Pace + Essence = Chief planner)
- BRAN / FORD / MARS / ALIS (46A: Fiber source + Auto make + Red planet + Boxing family = Noted jazz saxophonist)
- READ / ILY A / VAIL / ABLE (61A: Interpret + Hockey's Kovalchuk + Colorado ski town + Fit = On hand)
Mos Eisley is a spaceport town in the fictional Star Wars universe. Located on the planet Tatooine, it first appeared in the 1977 film Star Wars, described by the character Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness) as a "wretched hive of scum and villainy".
A notable scene set in a seedy Mos Eisley cantina crowded with numerous alien races made a particular impact on audiences. Location filming for the spaceport took place from 1975–76 in Tunisia, with interiors filmed at Elstree Studios near London. (wikipedia)
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There's only one interesting themer, and the only long answers in the puzzle at all are themers, and even those you've demanded we see as fragments, i.e. more ordinary short fill. Wait, I take it back, there are longish answers in the NE and SW corners. "THAT SUCKS" is probably supposed to be a highlight, and if that's how you felt, great. I have nothing against it, and in this grid it looks positively radiant, but it didn't AMUSE me the way I think it was probably supposed to. The least amusing longer answer, though, was MOS EISLEY, which I parsed as MOSE EISLEY, mostly because I thought it was a person. I saw "Star Wars" in the theater seven times as a kid. I remember the cantina scene very, very well. MOS EISLEY? That name left no trace. I guess it's part of the (gag) extended "Star Wars" universe, "Mandalorian" and what not. Sigh. This feels like way, way too deep a cut for a Wednesday. But again, as with THAT SUCKS, at least it's trying. The rest of the puzzle ... if it was trying, it wasn't trying to be fun to solve.
MCJOB AROAR SOAMI TODOS ... do you not look at those banks on either end and think "I gotta do better"? I know from experience that trying to put 5s in those positions (connecting one grid-spanning themer to another grid-spanning themer) is very, very difficult. Your initial and terminal letters for those 5s are all fixed in place. So maybe just getting out alive is the best you can do. But it's rough through there. And as I say, it's not like there's a ton of great stuff waiting for your elsewhere. I thought this played a little tough in places. Three kealoas* slowed me right down (SOAMI (not SODOI) and NOODLE (not NOGGIN) and RHONE (not RHINE)—I realize that I should probably know my RHONE from my RHINE but ... oh well). I have no idea who this "so-called"LORI is. Feels like a "Shark Tank" thing which means I will remain forever ignorant. Memo to all cluers of LEO(S): the Obama angle has been done To Death. He's the only president whose sign I can tell you off the top of my head. I'm actually stunned to see all these other presidents in the clue, because Obama is the only pres. I've seen clued this way (OK, not the only—looks like you've got about three Clintons in the database ... against eight or so Obamas). Took me every cross to get / understand MAR (45D: Tag, key or chip, say). Great clue ... for a Friday or Saturday. :) I leave you today with this (great) song about James MCAVOY, whom I know only from this song. Enjoy!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*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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