Constructor: Simeon Seigel
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME: FLIPSIDES (64A: Opposites ... or instruction for answering this puzzle's starred clues) — answers literally "flip sides," in that you have to put the second part first in order to make sense of the clue. What appears in the grid doesn't fit the clue but is still a very real thing and so appears like a "wrong" answer:
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What kind of training wheels nonsense is that? This is one of those days where my solving experience definitely *benefited* from the fact that my software couldn't handle the whistles & bells the NYTXW wanted to add to the experience. I just got a regular old grid, no dark bars (see above), and had to figure out where the "sides" of each answer began and ended—that was part of the challenge! It's Thursday, it's supposed to be challenging. The puzzle is completely doable without those black bars. Those bars don't look good, they aren't fun. They're just a crutch, as far as I can tell. Why would you do that? Does the grid do some whooshy animated thing when you complete it correctly online or in the app? I just can't believe that the puzzle decided to do the heavy lifting for you. The lifting wasn't even that heavy! Absurd.
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
Very quick write-up today, as my internet went down just after I finished solving; it's back up now, somehow, magically, but half of my morning writing window is gone. Sorry to all concerned. Anyway, this is a fine enough theme. It's at least interesting that you can take one phrase and then make another phrase by just moving its latter part to its front. But I don't know if it goes much beyond merely "interesting," and I really really don't understand why the official layout of this puzzle gives away the entire conceit by putting hard black bars between the two "sides" of each theme answer:
- PRINTOUTS (17A: *Defeat in a 100-meter dash, say) ("outsprint")
- TOOLBARS (26A: *Pub seat) ("barstool")
- ALEHOUSES (33A: *Realtor's objective) ("house sale")
- WINGBACKS (45A: *Start of a golfer's action) ("backswing")
- HOTHEADS (51A: *Bio pic) ("head shot")
J-pop (Japanese: ジェイポップ, jeipoppu; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as pops (ポップス, poppusu), is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in traditional music of Japan, and significantly in 1960s pop and rock music. J-pop replaced kayōkyoku ("Lyric Singing Music", a term for Japanese popular music from the 1920s to the 1980s) in the Japanese music scene. (wikipedia)
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The fill was fine. Not terribly interesting. Pretty ECRU. Pretty EZINE. Pretty USOFA. So, pretty tired, overall. I had a few struggle points. One was SUNBATH (4D: One way to get baked), which I initially thought was part of the theme because I wanted it to be SUNBATHE (a word one might actually use), and I figured the final "E" just went ... somewhere. "I'm sunbathing," yes, "I'm taking a SUNBATH" ... I dunno, maybe that's what Phyllis Dietrichson says she's doing at the beginning of Double Indemnity, in which case, I'll give it a pass, but it still rings weird in my ears.
Had BAE / BEY (!?) before J-LO because I got my inaugurations confused. Had GAS before ION and LET GO before LET IN (21A: Clear for entry). Did not know speech was TONAL (only ever heard that word in relation to music) (16A: Pitched, as speech). Had ANGST before AGITA (19A: Uneasy feeling). Forgot T-GEL and had all manner of letters in there after the "T" (there was T-SEL and also T-FAL, which I think is a brand of kitchenware) (40D: Neutrogena dandruff shampoo). What are these "R-rated pics" in the NSFW clue (31D: Like R-rated pics, in brief)? Like, are you watching full-ass movies at work, what the hell? If not, the "R" rating makes no sense here. No one uses "R-rated" metaphorically. It's a weird, weird clue. Most stuff marked NSFW ("Not Suitable For Work") is either still pics or short videos, but only full motion pictures get actual "R" ratings. Bizarre clue. Lastly, had an odd lot of trouble with 65D: Walker's charge (PET). I was like "is that a fee for walking or ... is this about comedian Jimmy Walker or Walker, Texas Ranger, or ...?" But no, you walk your pet, your pet is in your "charge." No other issues, no particular joy. An interesting theme that wasn't particularly thrilling to solve. "Yes, those answers do ... that." That was peak excited reaction from me. Hope your experience was brighter. See you tomorrow.