Constructor: Robyn Weintraub
Relative difficulty: Medium (3/4 very easy, 1/4 something about a frog????)
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: ROSA Bonheur (53A: "The Horse Fair" artist Bonheur) —![]()
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Well this all came down to the frog clue. I don't know if you know how brutal that clue is if you don't just *know* that the Latin American version of Kermit is "La Rana RENÉ." It's not just that I didn't know his name. I don't know lots of names, most names, and I manage to push through them every day. ROSA Bonheur! Didn't know her, but I knew I was looking for a human name (key!) and the crosses were very obliging. But with La Rana RENÉ, I have absolutely no idea I am looking for a human name. I know it says "Kermit's name" right in the clue, but I figured it was "name" in the sense of "thing we call him," something adjectival!!!! Like "The Sad Frog" or "The Slow Frog" or "The Depressing Frog." And as I don't know much Spanish, I was absolutely dead in the water, because as far as I was concerned, that adjective could've been anything ("What's Spanish for 'green'!? Isn't it VERDE?! Why won't it fit?!"). And then it wasn't even an adjective—just a random name! "RENÉ the Frog!" Sigh. So I had -ENE and zero ****ing idea. Worse, I had no idea what 23A: It's equivalent to a cup (TROPHY) was getting at. Just none. ("Equivalent to a cup? ... TWO PTS"!?!? Wait ... [counts on fingers] ... that's not right" etc.). And then that RENÉ / TROPHY section connected to the NE, which I botched for reasons that were 95% my own DOM fault. Here's what I was staring at at the end of my solve:
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From here I had trouble seeing any of the "COPY THAT!" crosses (and of course the stupid frog next door), so I just kept going, down down down, all the way to the bottom of the grid, and then I cleaned up down there:
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After that, it was "HERE WE GO AGAIN" across the grid to the SW, and then, of course, the aforementioned brutal last stand in the NE. It really was an ideal Friday solving experience until about the 80% mark.
Relative difficulty: Medium (3/4 very easy, 1/4 something about a frog????)
Word of the Day: ROSA Bonheur (53A: "The Horse Fair" artist Bonheur) —
Rosa Bonheur (born Marie-Rosalie Bonheur; 16 March 1822 – 25 May 1899) was a French artist known best as a painter of animals (animalière). She also made sculpture in a realist style. Her paintings include Ploughing in the Nivernais, first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1848, and now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, and The Horse Fair (in French: Le marché aux chevaux), which was exhibited at the Salon of 1853 (finished in 1855) and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. [...]
Bonheur was openly lesbian. She lived with her partner Nathalie Micas for over 40 years until Micas's death, after which she began a relationship with American painter Anna Elizabeth Klumpke. (wikipedia)
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I know the term TRASH PANDA very well! So I have no idea why the clue [11D: Raccoon, humorously] made me think of literal actual pandas, but it did. And GIANT PANDA fit perfectly, "lucky" for me! So dumb. All the Acrosses up there would've been hard *without* my mistake, but with it, yeesh. I don't know why it took me so long to really look at 10D: Shipment that might include a note saying "Miss you!" I think that in my first pass at it, I only picked up the "Shipment" part and since I already had PACKAGE, I didn't have the necessary information. Sometimes I fail to read to the end of the clue. Mostly this works just fine. With CARE PACKAGE, it was disastrous. Anyway, I got it all worked out via CARE PACKAGE—changed CTRS to CTRL (10A: Part of many commands: Abbr.), figured out what dumb Vegas hotel we were dealing with, figured out what the LAPS clue was trying to get at, what tool looked like a zester, etc. the end. Anyway, this was a great, zoomy, whoosh whoosh puzzle semi-ruined by a very hard and clunky corner there at the end. The frog clue was malevolent. But the trouble with TRASH PANDA was entirely my fault. So I'm half mad at the trash frog and half mad at myself for a good, breezy puzzle semi-spoiled by late unpleasant fumbling and awkwardness.
But before that, it was pure Robyn goodness, ALL OVER THE MAP! (25A: Here, there and everywhere). The moment it really kicked in came early, after the NW went in smoothly and then the first exhilarating drop came with the great clue/answer pair at 8D: Roger's relative? ("COPY THAT!").
Notes:
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- 39A: A glengarry is one in the shape of a boat (HAT) — well now I wanna know what the shape of a Glen Ross is! Hmmm ... well, here's the shape of a Glenn Ross:
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| Glenn Ross (born 27 May 1971) known by his nickname "The Daddy", is a Northern Ireland former International Strongman and Powerlifter who has represented Northern Ireland and the UK in several World's Strongest Man competitions and various World Grand Prix and European Team competitions. (wikipedia) |
- 56A: St. ___ (destination in a rhyming riddle) (IVES) — wanted to spell it YVES. I think we have some facial scrub in the shower that's St. YVES brand ... nope, that's IVES as well. No idea why I'm spelling it like YVES Montand.
- 21D: Title for a Benedictine monk (DOM) — wanted FRA at first, which can also be a title for a monk, but is more closely associated (I think) with friars.
- 45A: Spent some time in the Outback, perhaps (DROVE) — loved this. Double misdirect! Me: "LOL what is the five-letter word for 'Ate a Bloomin' Onion'!? But it wasn't Outback Steakhouse, it was the Subaru Outback. Nice.
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