Constructor: Samuel A. Donaldson
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME: FRANKENFOOD (62A: Lab-engineered fare, facetiously ... or a hint to the six crossings of shaded squares) / BUMPER CROPS (73A: Bountiful harvests for farmers ... or another hint to the crossings of shaded squares) — there are six different "crop" collisions, or "crossings" in the grid; the crops appear as letter strings inside circled squares inside ordinary puzzle answers.
The FRANKENFOOD / BUMPERCROPS:
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Never good to finish the puzzle with "holy s***, that is Awful!" but that is exactly how this one concluded. That SW corner is ... I dunno. ACTIVES???? Is that short for ... "active ingredients"???? I was wholly willing to believe that [Some skin care ingredients, informally] were ACTIVOS, as I had regular crosswordese ODESSA at 120A: Mesopotamian metropolis instead of godawful crosswordese EDESSA. Throw in the never-seen-it-in-the-singular VAGARY, and you have one untasty soup down there. Makes TOMATO/CORN sound downright tasty. Which brings me to one of my main problems with this theme: FRANKENFOOD suggests something, well, horrifying, or at least unappetizing, and, well, MANGO and BANANA go great together, actually, as do OLIVE and RICE and TOMATO and CORN. And FRANKENFOOD is, as the clue says, "lab-engineered"... which has nothing to do with crossing two pre-existing foods. BUMPER CROPS makes *much* more sense as the revealer here, since, in every theme answer instance, two "crops" sort of "bump" into each other and ricochet off at a ninety-degree angle. The FRANKENFOOD thing probably seemed like a cool idea, and certainly gives the puzzle a highly unusual double central reveal, but it doesn't really make sense. It's decorative, and so inapt that it's a distraction. Basically, this is an OK theme if you ditch FRANKENFOOD—it's a cool answer, sure, but it's just not an accurate reflection of what's going on in the theme. I actually couldn't even see the theme until I got BUMPER CROPS. That is, despite having three of the six "crossings" in place, FRANKENFOOD didn't help me see the "foods" that were involved at all. But BUMPER CROPS. Mwah. There it is. The only true revealer.
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Relative difficulty: Medium
The FRANKENFOOD / BUMPERCROPS:
- OLIVE / RICE
- SQUASH / OAT
- MANGO / BANANA
- TOMATO / CORN
- LIME / CHIVE
- BEET / MELON
"Hey Mr. D.J." is a song by American R&B group Zhané, recorded for their debut album, Pronounced Jah-Nay (1994). It was released as the group's debut single in August 1993 and also features a rap from Rottin Razkals member Fam. The song samples "Looking Up to You" by singer Michael Wycoff. The single peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold by the RIAA for selling 500,000 copies domestically. In Australia, it peaked at number nine, while reaching number 20 in New Zealand. Originally, the song was recorded and released on the 1993 compilation album Roll Wit tha Flava. // Zhané (/ʒɑːˈneɪ/ zhah-NAY) was an American R&B duo, best known for their 1993 hit "Hey Mr. D.J.", which reached No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Other popular hits include "Groove Thang" (U.S. No. 17) and minor hit "Sending My Love", both released in 1994. The group was part of Queen LATIFAH's Flavor Unit collective [!!?]. (emph. mine) (wikipedia)
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The fill on this one seemed fine. Except for that egregious SW corner, I don't really have any complaints. And it wasn't a breeze, either. Not hard, but I definitely had to work in places (unlike yesterday's Tuesday-posing-as-Saturday). I had PECAN before PAPAW (1D: Tree of the custard apple family). I needed a bunch of crosses to get LASER TAG (33A: Game typically played in the dark). I have never, ever heard of AERObiology (and don't understand calling attention to your crosswordese by turning it into something semi-obscure like this, but whatever) (69A: Prefix with biology). Again, it seems like the editor was inexplicably smitten with the idea of duplicate cluing (see 81A: Prefix with biology = ASTRO). Almost always makes one of the clues feel really clunky ... and yet he persists with this conceit that most people don't notice and no one really enjoys. The whole eastern section was by far the hardest part for me. AXE HEAD??? (48A: It might be stuck on the chopping block). I had HEAD but zero idea what could come before it. I only ever think of the "chopping block" as something metaphorical. Also, ITTY!?!? Ugh. I had EENY (ugh) and ITSY (also ugh). Just an awful little (!) "word" to get held up on. Was unsure of both TONES and FILM, and LATIFAH was reasonably well hidden, and HARD G was doing what it always does (ugh) (78A: What gorillas have that giraffes lack?), so yeah, that whole section was a wrestling match, and not a terribly fun one. Everything else felt pretty normal, difficulty-wise.
This puzzle had one great answer, and here it is:
I got JIF and thought "... terminal 'J'!?!!? Seven letters ending in 'J'!? What the hell can that possibly be!?" And then I took one look at the clue and thought "Oh, wow, yes, Yes. Now we're talking!" A great answer that I came at from just the right angle. The rest of the grid is solid enough, but nothing comes near the dizzying high of "HEY, MR. DJ!"
Had TORRENT before TORNADO (89D: Relative of a waterspout). Hilariously, wrote in LON before LIZ (52A: Politico Cheney). That NFL TEAM clue is really not good, considering only one person on the "TEAM" actually does any "hiking" (86A: Hiking group?). In case you were worried that there was some progressive politician you'd never heard of called FLO, don't worry (83D: Longtime Progressive spokeswoman). It's capital-P Progressive, and she's just the longtime spokesperson for that particular insurance agency. Binghamton grad! We're very proud. Have a nice day. And happy birthday to my mother, without whom I would literally physically actually be nothing. See you in a week, mom!