Constructor: David Harris
Relative difficulty: Extremely easy
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THEME: BACK TO SQUARE ONE (37A: Where you may go after reaching an impasse ... or a hint for solving this puzzle's 12 starred clues) — the answers to starred clues make sense only if you tack on the endings found at SQUARE ONE (i.e. 1-Across (IOUS) for the starred Across clues, 1-Down (IONS) for the starred Downs):
Theme answers:
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This is undoubtedly a clever idea, but as an actual puzzle it goes nowhere. That is, the concept is fine, but no one has given any consideration to what it's actually like to solve the thing—TED(IOUS), for sure. I took one look at the grid, before I'd even started solving, and thought "well this won't be good." Looks like a very easy puzzle from a lesser outlet, all 4- and 5-letter answers and only that one long Across (so, nothing that looks like proper theme answers). And it starts out playing So easy that I thought something was very, very wrong. What, five to ten seconds to fill in that NW corner? I kept tentatively creeping forward, waiting for the hammer to drop, but finding nothing simple Monday-level stuff. And then, when I finally found the "tough" part, it was flagged for me?! Starred clues? It's Thursday, why are you signaling where the tough stuff is? Let me stumble my way into discovering the theme answers! It may not make the solving experience more *fun*, but at least it will give the whole puzzle a little more bite (which the puzzle definitely needed). Instead, the puzzle waves a big caution flag with that little star on 27D: *Male zebras, so I know "OK, something will be off here, just gonna have to figure out what..." and then five seconds later I hit the revealer clue, and I've already got "B-C-" in place, so the whole thing goes right in...
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Relative difficulty: Extremely easy
Theme answers:
- FACET(IOUS) (15A: *Inappropriately jocular)
- SPEC(IOUS) (19A: *Misleadingly plausible)
- TED(IOUS) (43A: *Dullsville)
- CONTENT(IOUS) (54A: *Likely to cause an argument)
- VICAR(IOUS) (59A: *Experienced through another)
- STUD(IOUS) (62A: *Earnestly hitting the books)
- PASS(IONS) (6D: *Fiery feelings)
- FACT(IONS) (13D: *Political groups)
- STALL(IONS) (27D: *Male zebras)
- MISS(IONS) (51D: *Video game quests)
- CAPT(IONS) (54D: *Descriptive lines under photos)
- TENS(IONS) (57D: *Causes of stress)
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...and then I look back at STALL, look up at "Square One," mentally add the -IONS, say "Oh, STALLIONS, OK" ... and then ... well, that was it as far as fun or excitement or interest or anything was concerned. Oh, I guess I eventually realized that Across themers were involved too, and they'd take -IOUS and not -IONS, but who cares? Once you make the very easy-to-discover discovery of what the theme entails, you are back to solving a dull Monday puzzle again, made duller (and Mondayer) by the fact that You Now Have Four Letters In Place For Every Starred Clue You Encounter. I encountered 11 of 12 starred clues this way today. You just get handed those answers. There's no trickery or cleverness or anything left once you get the "joke." The grid is void of remarkable or original entries. The clues don't even seem to be trying that hard to be playful. There's the revealer and then there's: listlessness, all around. It's nice that all the answers to starred clues are actual words even without their "square one" suffixes, but that's kind of a bare minimum feature of a theme like this. The puzzle would be ridiculous if those answers were gibberish as written. I definitely see how BACK TO SQUARE ONE would be seductive as hell as a revealer, what with its being a perfect grid-spanning 15 letters, and having the very concept of "squares" built right into it. But as executed, from the solver's end, there's very little there there. One moment of "aha" and then ... just the mopping up.
I didn't even get to have interesting screw-ups, struggles, or failures. The worst thing that happened was I read the CHESS clue as having a star on it (that is, misread the opening quotation mark in that clue as a star) (46A: "A foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever, when they are only wasting their time," per Shaw), and so I had real trouble making an -IOUS word out of it and ended up wondering what the hell CHESSIOUS could possibly mean. Then I squinted harder at the clue and realized my error. I like the Shaw quote, if only because it's low-key subtweeting you (i.e. me), the solver. That is, what he says about chess could just as easily be said about crossword puzzles.
What else? I had PULL OUT before PUSH OUT, but that's not very interesting, is it? (22A: Forcibly remove). I somehow remembered / came up with PSYOP (26A: Campaign to influence emotions and morale, informally); it's not a term I come across much outside of crosswords. Very pleased that it occurred to me so quickly, with just the -OP in place. The term itself sounds so much more nefarious than the clue makes it out to be. PSYOP sounds like part of an alien invasion, while the clue makes it seem like a pleasant, largely subliminal pep rally. I had no idea MAC PROS were a thing, so that was weird. I'm working on a MACBook PRO right now, and I know there are iPad Pros, but just a straight-up Mac Pro? News to me. This is because it's more computing power than most people need for their home office. Anyway, that's it for anything resembling resistance in this puzzle. My favorite part of the puzzle, besides that little "oh" moment when I got the revealer, was that clue on HAN (29A: Multiple-episode pilot?). He (HAN Solo) is indeed a pilot in many of the "Star Wars" episodes (most notably, for me, Episodes IV, V, and VI, even though we never called them that because they came first why would we call them that!? ... but that's a can of worms. The clue is brilliant. Not sure why they used "Multiple-episode" instead of "Multi-episode," which sounds much more natural as an adjective, but whatever. Still works. Applause for that clue. And on that (high) note, I'll wrap things up. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]