Constructor: Ryan McCarty
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME:"Some Theme's Missing"— so, no theme, then :(
Theme answers:
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Look, Ryan McCarty is one of my favorite constructors and this is probably about as good a themeless Sunday as you can make, and yet my reaction is still [shrug]. I walked away several times mid-solve to get snacks. Themelesses work when they are a. tough and b. limited in size, and this one missed on both counts. So many entries that might be interesting, even eye-popping, in a 15x15 grid become just so much background noise in a grid this big. When you have such a huge space to work with, when there's no theme restricting you, all the 12s and 13s and 14s get lost amidst an ocean of other answers. There's a reason you frame art and display it in a way that gives it room to breathe rather than cramming all your art on one wall. How am I supposed to see or appreciate what you're doing when there's just so much other visual noise? Again, I didn't hate this, not even close, but where solving pleasure is concerned, it settles for a mostly flat and forgettable middle ground, avoiding the potential pitfalls of a tiresome theme but also giving up on the possibility of doing anything particularly flashy or memorable. It's a fine way to spend 10 minutes (or 20 or whatever it takes you). But it's essentially filler. High-grade filler, but filler nonetheless. It's not even trying to show me something new (even if some of the fill is, in fact, new). It's just here. Hanging out. Being a perfectly serviceable puzzle. I prefer crash-and-burns to this. There's just not much to say about this.
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Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- no
Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. [Aargh, don't just lift your clues from the first paragraph of a wikipedia entry, come on!] He has won three Grammy awards, and is also a cellist who has recorded numerous times on that instrument.
Some of his studio albums as a leader include: Blues Farm (1973), All Blues (1973), Spanish Blue (1974), Anything Goes (1975), Yellow & Green (1976), Pastels(1976), Piccolo (1977), Third Plane (1977), Peg Leg(1978), A Song for You (1978), Etudes (1982), The Golden Striker (2003), Dear Miles (2006), and Ron Carter's Great Big Band (2011). (wikipedia) [emph. mine]
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Nonetheless, I will try to say something. Oddly, I was most excited by a very short answer, which is also today's Word of the Day: RON Carter. I first learned about him, like many many people of my generation, from A Tribe Called Quest's landmark 1991 album The Low End Theory, specifically the song "Verses from the Abstract," which namechecks Carter:
RON Carter's All Blues sits out near my stereo at all times. I never reshelve it because I know I'm just gonna wanna play it again soon, so why bother. It's a staple. Love that guy. There were other highlights for me, more obvious, longer-than-three-letters highlights. Like this term, what the hell!
I didn't know there was such a term. How often do women play men in opera (when cross-dressing is not an integral part of the plot)? Ah, I see, it's a vocal range issue, with women playing adolescents / young men. So cross-dressing is not part of the plot—everyone just accepts that the character is male even though it's being played by a woman. Gotcha. The more common term for this role appears to be "breeches role" (that's the main wikipedia entry, anyway). Anyway, PANTS ROLE! That's my new affirmation exclamation for any time I have to do something conventionally masculine (and therefore out of character). Like change a tire or barbecue. "You can do this you can do this ... 'pants role' on three, one two three PANTS ROLE!"
Really not enjoying the SW corner. Are ONE-SHOT DEALS actual "deals" or is "deals" being used loosely / metaphorically, like "Are you gonna shave your head again this summer!?" / "Nah, that was just a one-shot deal" (97A: Some limited-time offers)? ONE-TIME OFFER googles way Way better than "one-shot deal" if we're talking about actual deals. POLICE REPORTS ... I could use less police presence in my puzzles. And while I can tolerate EL GRECO, multiple EL GRECOS ... that's asking a lot. Plurals galore in that corner. And a non-musical BANGLES, what a waste.
You can tell me HALLOWEEKEND (2D: Portmanteau for an extended autumn celebration) is a thing but I'm 53 and have never heard it, and since Oct. 31 is frequently nowhere near a weekend, I call BALONEY. That and MEMESTOCK (28D: Sort of investment purchase with a spike in popularity through social media) were both ostentatiously trying to be fresh, but ... not my kind of freshness. Balked at the quaint "AH, BLISS" but kind of enjoyed the ecstatic echo of "THIS IS THE LIFE!" Had REST AREAS before REST STOPS, which is about as boring a mistake as you can make. Wanted KNEELINGS (!?!?!) before KNEE BENDS, which is a ridiculous mistake, if not a boring one. Might've changed CARPS to something like CARNE in order to eliminate the double CARP up there (with "CARPENTER ANT"). Real close together, running in the same direction ... I found it oddly distracting. RAN AT / LASH AT / COMES AT / SIT AT was a little much, AT-wise. I'll give GO AT a pass :) See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. That GLENN Close clue was very cute (82A: Close up on the screen?)
P.P.S. Peter Gordon is doing his annual Kickstarter for his Fireball Newsflash Crossword subscription and it ends *today* Sunday 12-18-22 at 10pm EST. These are very doable and fun puzzles with entries ripped right from recent headlines. They are a great way to keep up with names and events you may have missed, including things that might very well end up appearing soon in more mainstream (less timely) puzzles (like the one you solve every day!). They're a part of my regular solving rotation. I like them a lot. You might like them too.
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