Constructor: David Steinberg
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: PICKLEBALL (28D: Game with paddles) —
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I love a puzzle that has the confidence to rate itself not once not twice but thrice. "WHAT A TREAT!""HOW NICE!""WOWIE ZOWIE!" I don't know if I'm succumbing to the puzzle's subliminal suggestions here or not, but I loved this puzzle from start to finish and everywhere in between. This is the *Friday* puzzle I have so desperately wanted for so long. I don't think the traditional Fri/Sat difficulty levels have ever been swapped so glaringly as they were this weekend. Yesterday's puzzle took me probably twice as long, and absolutely mowed down a good chunk of solvers. This puzzle, on the other hand, is unlikely to hurt anyone (anyone who solves Saturday puzzles regularly, that is). This puzzle was like "Hey, buddy, did you have a rough day yesterday? Well, let's take it easy today. Maybe a few laps around the track and then, I dunno, how about a walk in the park, and maybe ice cream after? Does that sound good?" Yes it does. To be clear, I quite enjoyed yesterday's puzzle. But it worked me like a Saturday, whereas this one was breezy fun for most of the ride. It's amazing to me that with all the personnel and infrastructure they have invested in the NYT Games department, they (routinely) can't gauge something as simple as Friday / Saturday difficulty progression. But even if they came out in the wrong order, I'm very grateful I got the puzzles I got this weekend—the best themeless weekend I've seen in a while. This puzzle ... it's such an endearing way to cap off the week. It even has its own little CHAMPAGNE SHOWER celebration. Adorable.
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The "MONEY" part wasn't really helping me, and then the first two letters I plunked down mid-answer were, coincidentally, the last letter of one word and the first letter of another—impossible to see at that point. Weirdly, the phrase "[Your] MONEY IS NO good here" flashed into my head, but I doubt that that is a "line" you would hear at a "luxury boutique." But I got CHAMPAGNE in the long Down (the SHOWER part would come a bit later) and then IFSO (34D: "Assuming you're right ..."), and that "I" suggested the second word was "IS" and so "MONEY IS NOO.... [beat, beat] MONEY IS NOODLES? [beat, beat, beat] ... oh! MONEY IS NO OBJECT! woo-hoo. Nice!" A few seconds later, I had both 15s locked down, which meant I had access to every corner of the grid. I was, as they say, in business.
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Toughest part of the grid for me was CRAB CLAW (5A: Target for a certain mallet). Had the "CR-" and then when the answer wasn't CROQUET-something, I was lost. I was especially lost because AVA who? (7D: ___ Raine, W.W. E. wrestler who's the daughter of Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson). No idea if that was EVA or AVA, so ... blank. Then I had -ETON at 8D: Back, in a way and thought maybe GET ON (????) but wasn't sure. I had written in ADRATE at 9D: Bank figure—a crosswordese reflex of some kind, I guess, as ADRATE makes no real sense for that clue. And then there's -ETS at 12D: Sprinkles on, e.g., which had me thinking only of ice cream sundaes (which you might like ... sprinkles on). The breakthrough for me up there came when I ran the alphabet at -ETON. Luckily for me, "B" comes early in the alphabet. BET ON, of course. That "B" gave me CRAB but I was still looking at something like CRABALAG until I saw that the "A" in ADRATE was supposed to be a "C"— CRABCLA ... W! There it is! Sitting on SHAVED ICE. WHAT A TREAT! No, really, CRAB CLAW is sitting on SHAVED ICE and SHAVED ICE is sitting on "WHAT A TREAT!" Seems like an unusual flavor combination, but I'll try most things once. Sweet & Savory Crab Ice for everyone!
Other things:
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Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: PICKLEBALL (28D: Game with paddles) —
Pickleball is an indoor or outdoor racket/paddle sport where two players (singles), or four players (doubles), hit a perforated hollow plastic ball over a 36-inch-high (0.91 m) net using solid-faced paddles. Opponents on either side of the net hit the ball back and forth until one side commits a rule infraction. Pickleball was invented in 1965 as a children's backyard game on Bainbridge Island, Washington, United States. In 2022, pickleball was adopted as the official state sport of Washington. [...] In 2021, 2022 and 2023, the sport was named the fastest-growing sport in the United States by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, with over 4.8 million players. A growing interest in the sport is attributed to several factors, including a short learning curve, appeal to a wide range of ages and fitness levels, and low startup costs. There are now thousands of pickleball tournaments throughout the United States, including the US National Championships and the U.S. Open Tournament, along with two professional tours and one professional league. (wikipedia)
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The marquee answers really Marquee It Up. That is, they are marquee-worthy, and the central Across provides a nice little surprise after giving you a nice little challenge (33A: Line at a luxury boutique?). The "?" clue keeps you at arm's length for a bit, as does (potentially) letter sequence, which is somewhat challenging to parse, especially if you come at any part of it from the middle, like this:
PICKLEBALL made me laugh out loud, what a dumb fad, by which I mean, if that's your thing, more power to you, but man it seemed to come out of nowhere and suddenly every middle-aged to older person in the world seemed to have taken it up. My doctor (whom I adore)—big enthusiast. Two things she loves to talk about: her kids, and PICKLEBALL. It's like ... half tennis, I guess, with solid paddles and a plastic ball? It was designed as a "children's backyard game" (see Word of the Day, above). Whatever keeps you active! Enjoy! I'm looking this grid over now and it's so pretty. SPEED CHESS! BLURTED OUT alongside "BAD ROMANCE" (I know the song and like the song, so my enthusiasm there may be greater than yours). By the end I was indeed ALL SMILES. That answer was actually the very end of my solve, as I could not parse 47D: F words? to save my life, not until I was all the way down to that last square: SEE_E. Me: "No word fits there." Me one second later: "Oh, but two words fit there." SEE ME—the "words" you (might) see on your test if you get an "F." I have never loved "SEE ME" as fill, but that clue is stupid brilliant.
Other things:
- 4D: Social climber? (APE) — I had the "A" and proudly wrote in ANT (famously social, right?). But the "CLAP back" made the answer AP- so I (less proudly) wrote in APP (APPs are ... social ... sometimes ... right?). Third time's the charm! Trolls are RUDE and so APEs are social (and climb!).
- 41A: ___ -spot (TEN)— another RTA (run the alphabet). Had TE- and no clue. Then I hit "N" and said "D'oh!" A TEN-spot is just a ten dollar bill. Not sure when / if that slang ever died, but it's familiar to me.
- 62A: 2017 Tony-winning play whose main characters are diplomats ("OSLO") — it's been a very OSLO weekend, though yesterday we got the much showier (and probably unnecessarily specific) OSLO, NORWAY. (What other OSLO would it be. OSLO, KANSAS?)
- 22A: With 18-Across, colonial-style houses? (ANT / FARMS) — A malapop is when an answer that's wrong for one clue turns up later as the *correct* answer for a different clue (happens, weirdly, a lot). Today, I wanted ANT at 4D: Social climber? (wrong) and then ended up getting not just an ANT but thousands of ants. Farms of them. Went looking for a single ant, found a horror movie's worth. No idea what you call that. Speaking of "horror" movies ...
- 21D: Hit 2022 sci-fi horror film ("NOPE") — a truly great and deeply underrated movie. I think one of the reasons audiences were puzzled by it is that the genre classifications applied to it don't really work. It took me a few beats to get this answer today because I don't think of "NOPE" as "horror" at all. It's definitely sci-fi, but I think of it as far more "western" than "horror." That movie is very aware of "genre" and ends up blending genres into all kinds of strange and beautiful and funny shapes. It's an art film masquerading as a blockbuster.
- 18D: ___ Beauty, brand founded by Rihanna (FENTY) — I knew this. Well, with a couple crosses, I knew this. How do I know this? How has this managed to seep in? So grateful that my brain is still admitting new knowledge at this point.
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