Constructor: Adam Wagner and Brooke Husic
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
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THEME: Double duty— familiar compound words & two-word phrases are clued "___ / ___," with the blank being a potential synonym for both parts of the word / phrase:
Theme answers:
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Well the theme is really clever and I admire it a whole bunch. I discovered the gimmick early (not hard) and ... well, there it was. Weirdly, ended up being mostly overshadowed by other, tougher parts of the puzzle—by toughness in general, and a toughness that was achieved ... not always in ways I love. Let me talk about toughness I loved, first: that clue on ARM HAIR (22D: Tricep curls?). Completely baffling to me at first. And at second. Maddening. I had the ARM part and still no bleeping idea. But then I worked some crosses and finally got it, and after being so mad at that clue ... I had to admit it was brilliant. Scratch that; "had to admit" sounds like I was grudging, and I wasn't. I sincerely thought "damn, that's good," in the moment, as I was solving. Just a great repurposing of a familiar phrase. When difficulty ends with a revelation like *that*, I'm thrilled. Difficulty that comes from a two-string instrument I don't know and have no hope in hell of spelling ... that kind of difficulty is less thrilling. This is not a knock on the validity of ERHU. It's a real thing alright, and not a bygone one either. But it's never been in the NYTXW before, and my knowledge of Chinese stringed instruments begins and ends with the zither and the KOTO (the first and only thing I wanted, despite its having many more than two strings) [and despite—as one of today's commenters has noted—the KOTO's being *Japanese*]. And ERHU had a cascading ... or at least an amplifying effect, helping to make the SW corner the hardest section By A Longshot, such that it is almost all I remember. Unfortunately, it's also the corner with the most unpleasantness / unlikeable things. So even though I think this theme rules, my experience was more slog than joyride.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
Theme answers:
- RIB ROAST (16A: Tease / Tease)
- CRAPSHOOT (10A: "Drat!" / "Drat!")
- POTHEAD (34A: Toilet / Toilet)
- GOT CAUGHT (30D: Heard / Heard)
- DROPKICK (54A: Quit / Quit)
The erhu (Chinese: 二胡; pinyin: èrhú; [aɻ˥˩xu˧˥]) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a Southern Fiddle, and is sometimes known in the Western world as the Chinese violin or a Chinese two-stringed fiddle.
It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular of the huqin family of traditional bowed string instruments used by various ethnic groups of China. As a very versatile instrument, the erhu is used in both traditional and contemporary music arrangements, such as pop, rock and jazz. (wikipedia)
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So, the SW corner. There's ERHU, sure, but it crosses HITS AT (37A: Tries to swat). This is one of those ___SAT phrases where I have no idea what's supposed to happen in the blank. I thought maybe PAWSAT? BATSAT? Shrug. See also GAH, which I had as UGH and BAH before getting anywhere near GAH (44A: "Blast!"). It's really hard to get excited when the you are struggling *and* so much of your struggle is coming around answers that are ambiguous in this way—a CRAPSHOOT kind of way. SAW TO before SET TO down there as well (58A: Got busy on). You see how this gets dreary. Also, PC HELP is ... what is that? I mean, I can infer. But as a standalone answer it seems odd. "Tech support" is the service. Maybe IT HELP. PC HELP felt roll-your-own. But this is its third appearance in the NYTXW, so I guess it's a thing. Oh well. It's too bad that the long Downs are tangled in a bunch of ambiguous sludge, because they're fine, particularly GOING ONCE (29D: Presale alert?), which is maybe not the greatest standalone answer, but the "?" clue (again, hard as hell) works really well, and gave me that same "oh nice" feeling I had after getting ARM HAIR. I was subjected to SUH-WEET again (twice this month?!), but fool me once etc. No issues there.
I resent being stumped by a "?" clue and then having the answer be a damned corporation, so the clue on MICRO, though clever, can go jump in a lake (8A: Soft opening?). Struggled with LUM, even though every part of her damn name(s) has been in the puzzle before (most often cluing NORA, I think) (31A: Nora ___ a.k.a. Awkwafina). Weird to me that SOAP PAD is a thing since I don't think I've ever called it that (20A: Brillo offering). It's definitely the name for those things you wash dishes with, but I think I just call them "dishwashing pads" or I don't call them anything. I wanted SOSPADS there, for sure. I have trouble believing RAGE ROOMS are real because they seem so stupid—seems like a fictional idea from a bad TV show that people started pretending was real—but reality is so often stupid these days, so, sure, RAGE ROOMS, whatever (32D: Spaces where people pay to destroy household objects with sledgehammers). If you say so. Had EDIE before EVIE (57A: Nickname that sounds like its first two letters), though I did not have EDS before EVS (35D: Chevy Bolts and Nissan Leafs, for short). I wish I hadn't found the final part of this (the SW) so unpleasantly frustrating, because I really do believe the bones of this puzzle are solid, and there are definitely some brilliant cluing moments in here. I wonder how the rest of you FARED ... see you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. The TSA would probably quibble with the idea that TSAPRE is "lax" (24A: Lax LAX option?)—I definitely see what you're doing there with the lax/LAX thing, very clever, but TSAPRE is faster because you have been pre-screened, right? "Lax" strongly implies "not up to snuff" or otherwise "insufficient" and seems inaccurate here. The "?" gives you some creative license, sure, but only some. Expedited screening is not "lax" screening.
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