Constructor: Enrique Henestroza AnguianoRelative difficulty: Easy
THEME: EYE-OPENERS (67A: Enlightening experiences ... or what 18-, 26-, 41- and 54-Across have, phonetically speaking) — four theme answers all "open" with a homophone of "eye":
Theme answers:- "AYE, CAPTAIN!" (18A: Affirmative at sea)
- "I, CLAUDIUS" (26A: Hit BBC series of 1976)
- AI WEIWEI (41A: Award-winning Chinese artist/activist)
- "AY, CARAMBA!" (54A: Bart catchphrase on "The Simpsons")
Word of the Day: AI WEIWEI (
41A) —
Ai Weiwei (Chinese: 艾未未; pinyin: Ài Wèiwèi, English pronunciation: (help·info); born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly critical of the Chinese Government's stance on democracy and human rights. He investigated government corruption and cover-ups, in particular the Sichuan schools corruption scandal following the collapse of "tofu-dreg schools" in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In 2011, Ai Weiwei was arrested at Beijing Capital International Airport on 3 April, for "economic crimes". He was detained for 81 days without charge. Ai Weiwei emerged as a vital instigator in Chinese cultural development, an architect of Chinese modernism, and one of the nation's most vocal political commentators.
Ai Weiwei encapsulates political conviction and his personal poetry in his many sculptures, photographs, and public works. In doing this, he makes use of Chinese art forms to display Chinese political and social issues.
After being allowed to leave China in 2015, he has lived in Berlin, Germany, in Cambridge, UK, with his family, and, since 2021 in Portugal. (wikipedia)
• • •
Well, that's a better revealer than what I was expecting, which was "FOUR EYES!" With "
EYE OPENERS" you get both a revealer *and* a fifth themer (i.e. it describes the conditions of the theme *and* satisfies those conditions, "opening," as it does, with "EYE"). Whereas with "FOUR EYES!" you'd get a rude expression as well as a fifth ... eye, rendering the revealer itself nonsensical. Annnnyway, hi. How are you? This puzzle started rough for me, as the fill seemed (as it has often seemed lately) somewhat clunky.
ILIAC, which for me completed the
INTL ISIT NOLA SOAMI ILIAC cranny up top, was the answer that actually made me stop and take a picture.
There just wasn't a thing in the NW to be interested in (AREPAs and DOLMA are tasty, but not interesting enough on their own to hold up a whole corner). Doesn't help that the first themer is also the most boring / crosswordesey of the bunch (ay ay ay, it's AYE again!). Even when I dropped down and got all of the NW corner (including ACADEMIA and the decent ENERGY USE), there just didn't seem much to be interested in. And the first themer wasn't too promising. And I don't know that the fill really ever got off the ground. EREADER ESME ADIEU GOTTI DEE IOTAS ALTOS CARTA OSTER YEESH OARED ... I'm looking for any part that seemed particularly clean or any (non-theme) answer that seemed particularly entertaining, and ORNERY is the only thing that actually made me smile—I love the countrified quaintness of that term. AREPA ARENA AMANA, NONA NOLA—the fill isn't horrific, by any means, but it just ... gets by.
The theme, however, ended up being solid, and the themers that followed "AYE, CAPTAIN!" were all far more lively and welcome. I was so happy to see AI WEIWEI, a crossworthy figure whose crossworthiness I was pushing for ten years ago. I actually misremembered debuting his name in the NYTXW—he must have just been in an early draft of one of my puzzles. I searched and found the record of me asking my more experienced crossword friends (in 2012) if AI WEIWEI was OK as a puzzle answer:
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Despite AI WEIWEI's international fame at that point, it was not a given that the NYTXW would deem him well known enough to appear in a puzzle. In the same Facebook conversation pictured above, a veteran constructor revealed that Shortz "once singled out HU JINTAO as an obscure entry in one of my puzzles. You know, the president of China." Anyway, AI WEIWEI ended up debuting in the NYTXW in 2014. I can't remember if I used him in a puzzle for another outlet or not. The point is, he feels like a friend to me, and I was happy to see him (he's also the reason this puzzle is 16 (instead of the usual 15) wide—in order for an answer with an even-numbered letter count to sit dead center, the grid has to be an even number of columns wide). He was the best answer in a good set of themers, and, as I said up front, the revealer really was a winner. Nice to end on a high note (even though I apparently technically *literally* ended on TERROR!)
Notes:- 10D: Fine writing paper (VELLUM) — this is news to me. I wrote in VELOUR (!), which was semi-obviously wrong, but it fit. I teach pre-modern literature and in that context VELLUM is indeed something you write on, but it's the specially treated animal skin that forms the pages of manuscripts (pre-printing press). "Fine writing paper," it isn't.
- 24A: 12 parts of a dodecagon (ANGLES) / 33A: 12 parts of a dodecagon (EDGES) — my brain didn't fully process these clues: I got the answers easily enough, but as I was writing them in, I was imagining *dodecahedrons*, specifically a 12-sided die such as one might use in "D&D." This reminded me of some graffiti I saw recently which maybe was supposed to be commemorating some couple's love for one another, but it really looks like a gaming slogan:
- 14D: Dispatches (SENDS) — had the "S"s, wanted SLAYS!
Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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