Hello, everyone! It’s Clare, back for the last Tuesday of May as we head into summer. I’ll be sitting in front of my TV (or computer or phone) over the next couple weeks watching the French Open, which should be great even if the-always-dominant-on-clay Rafa isn’t playing. I’ve also been going on more bike rides (now that I’ve gotten my bike fixed up and won’t get flats every other day) and enjoying the weather and the nice park and bike trails near where I live. It’s also been perfect weather for drinking wine on the patio and reading a book, so I’m hoping we can stave off the extreme heat and humidity for a little longer.
Anywho, on to the puzzle…
Relative difficulty:Pretty easy
THEME: EIGHT BIRDS (4D: With 50-Down, things centered in Across answers in this puzzle) — eight across answers in the puzzle have a type of bird centered in the answer
Theme answers:
I thought the puzzle was pretty cute and clean overall. The theme didn’t help with the solve at all and wasn’t something I saw until I stared at the puzzle for a little while after I finished. But, the construction of the puzzle and working those eight birds in there was impressive, and overall I enjoyed it. I especially like the theme if you think about the looking for the birds in the puzzle after you’ve finished the puzzle as a sort of bird watching, which is ultimately the theme.
- PROBING (15A: Like some nosy questions)
- BEAGLES (16A: Dogs like Snoopy)
- FRATERNITY (23A: Brotherhood)
- MALARKEY (30A: Baloney)
- LAWRENCE (41A: Title role in the Best Picture of 1962)
- BALLOONIST (46A: Aeronaut propelled by hot air)
- REGRETS (57A: Feels remorse over)
- SCOWLED (61A: Made an angry face)
Imani Perry (born September 5, 1972) is an American interdisciplinary scholar of race, law, literature, and African-American culture. She is currently the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and a columnist for The Atlantic] Perry won the 2022 National Book Award for Nonfiction for South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation. Perry is the author of six books and has published numerous articles on law, cultural studies, and African-American studies, including a book about Lorraine Hansberry. She also wrote the notes and introduction to the Barnes and Nobles Classics edition of the Narrative of Sojourner Truth. (Wiki)
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I had a fairly easy time with this puzzle (even without the help of the theme), partially because the fill was mostly quite smooth. The acrosses were fun words that you don’t often see in puzzles. I particularly liked MALARKEY, LIMEADE, BALLOONIST, and FRATERNITY, which are words that a constructor typically wouldn’t use or really be able to fit in the puzzle. There also weren’t too many typical crossword-y words, and I just generally didn’t have those moments where I groan at a puzzle because I was annoyed.
I think the puzzle was let down slightly by the construction, which needed to be that way for the birds but which resulted in a lot of similar three-letter answers. Having ABA(10D), AMA (27A), ALA (56D), and also ALE (51A) in the puzzle is rather repetitive and clunky. Same with EWE (55D) and ENE (58D). Also, having RUED(24D: Felt remorse over) and REGRETS (57A: Feels remorse over feels off) didn’t do it for me; I’m generally not a fan of repeat clues unless they’re right next to each other, and these aren’t even close. I’m not sure about the spelling of CAGY (19D: Hard to pin down), even if Google tells me it can be spelled that way; I much prefer “cagey.” I also for whatever reason hated the clue/answer for 19A: Nickname that might drop -vin or -eb) with CAL. That’s a long way to go for a three-letter answer. My sister went to Cal (aka UC Berkeley), and I would’ve loved to see it clued relating to Berkeley!
In general, I’ve got a positive impression of this puzzle and enjoyed the solve, though I don’t think I’ll be engaging in any more bird watching any time soon.
Misc.:
- With the clue for 62A: Stupefied, my mind immediately went to Harry Potter and what happens after someone waves their wand and yells “stupefy,” and then the person on the receiving end becomes temporarily paralyzed. Anyway… IN A DAZE is much more apt for the real world.
- Yay for MENS REA (64A: Legal term meaning "guilty mind") in the puzzle! I sometimes actually fear seeing legal terms in a puzzle because it’ll feel embarrassing if I don’t get them easily. But thankfully this one popped to mind immediately. And there was another lawyer-y term in there: ABA (10A: Lawyers' grp.). I couldn’t miss that one, as they’re always sending me emails. Hmm… that reminds me that I need to go renew my bar membership.
- So I was one of the people who liked Comic SANS (38D: Comic ___ (oft-mocked typeface) before I realized it was the font that everyone loved to trash. Now there’s also the font Papyrus that people make fun of. (I’m mostly thinking of this SNL skit with Ryan Gosling about the choice to use Papyrus as the font for “Avatar,” which never fails to make me laugh.)
- Maybe it’s the fact that I’m writing this as it’s getting kind of late, but I’ve had some fun looking at the puzzle and reading the answers across, from left to right, as if they’re phrases, Like: a BEAGLES … EMBARGO or how you may have SCOWLED … IN A DAZE or you might ACHIEVE … PROBING as you analyze the puzzle. I can imagine President Biden serving MALARKEY… DILLS at a White House function.
Yes, I’ll wrap this up now.
Have a great June and stay cool!
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