Constructor: Natan Last and the J.A.S.A. Crossword Class
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: ADRIENNE Rich (11D: Award-winning poet ___ Rich) —
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Well, despite the fact that CANCEL CULTURE is imaginary—nobody ever seems to truly get "canceled," they just go on to win awards, sell lots of records, etc., all while they or their fans complain about how they've been "canceled" (bigots and abusers love to play the victim)—and despite the fact that the DAILY MAIL is a right-wing rag, and despite the fact that all bridge terminology is complete gibberish to me (END PLAY shmend play), despite despite despite, I loved this puzzle. Very rollercoastery, very whoosh-whoosh. It even had that roller coaster thing where the car starts out moving pretty slow and then, suddenly, drops and you go flying every which damn way. I had significant trouble right up front with AT SEA (1D: Making a crossing, say) and SCOLD (3D: Tear into), the latter of which I wanted to be SHRED and then SCALD (!?). I put in EELY, I pulled EELY, I put EELY back (19A: Hard to handle, in a way). It was less than graceful, my progress up there. Cannot believe how long it took me to see STONEWALL (16A: ___ National Monument, landmark in New York City's West Village)—without a specific reference to gayness, I was looking for more typical "monument" fare here, like a ... well, I was gonna say "like a general," but ... wait, there's no connection between STONEWALL Jackson and the STONEWALL Inn, is there? Anyway, what I was trying to say was I was looking for a monument to a historical figure like FDR or Ida B. Wells or someone, I dunno. Without the "O" from SCOLD, I was drawing blanks. With the "A" from SCALD in there, I even said "STANEW-" out loud and shook my head: "that's not anything." But then I worked it out and dropped out of that corner and suddenly ... nothing. I was still kinda stuck. TIOS hurt me at 20A: Some foreign relations (TIAS). Again, one letter off and everything goes to hell. I got PLOTZES and SEMOLINA, but still things weren't exactly Moving ... but then I got DOOMSCROLLING at a glance, and then LAZARUS (ironically) dropped, and ... blast-off:
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Going so fast that when I finally stopped I left a SKIDMARK! So fun to come barreling into that corner, hit the brakes, make a screeching 180, and look back at my progress like "woo hoo, yes, that was fun. Alright, let's go back and see what we can do now!" Ah, I just remembered the other teeny tiny answer that was holding me back before DOOMSCROLLING opened the floodgates. I had HERA before LUNA (34D: Horace's "two-horned queen of the stars"). Now, Horace would've called HERA "Juno," and I should've known that, but in my nerdy defense, HERA is frequently referred to as "ox-eyed" or "cow-eyed" and I'm pretty sure she's sometimes depicted with horns or associated with cows in some way. So there was that. But then there was DOOMSCROLLING—most fun I've ever had DOOMSCROLLING. Hurray, DOOMSCROLLING.
Clean-up:
Relative difficulty: Medium
Word of the Day: ADRIENNE Rich (11D: Award-winning poet ___ Rich) —
Adrienne Cecile Rich (/ˈædriən/ AD-ree-ən; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse". Rich criticized rigid forms of feminist identities, and valorized what she coined the "lesbian continuum", which is a female continuum of solidarity and creativity that impacts and fills women's lives.Her first collection of poetry, A Change of World, was selected by icon W. H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. Auden went on to write the introduction to the book. Rich famously declined the National Medal of Arts to protest House Speaker Newt Gingrich's vote to end funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. (wikipedia)
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Well, despite the fact that CANCEL CULTURE is imaginary—nobody ever seems to truly get "canceled," they just go on to win awards, sell lots of records, etc., all while they or their fans complain about how they've been "canceled" (bigots and abusers love to play the victim)—and despite the fact that the DAILY MAIL is a right-wing rag, and despite the fact that all bridge terminology is complete gibberish to me (END PLAY shmend play), despite despite despite, I loved this puzzle. Very rollercoastery, very whoosh-whoosh. It even had that roller coaster thing where the car starts out moving pretty slow and then, suddenly, drops and you go flying every which damn way. I had significant trouble right up front with AT SEA (1D: Making a crossing, say) and SCOLD (3D: Tear into), the latter of which I wanted to be SHRED and then SCALD (!?). I put in EELY, I pulled EELY, I put EELY back (19A: Hard to handle, in a way). It was less than graceful, my progress up there. Cannot believe how long it took me to see STONEWALL (16A: ___ National Monument, landmark in New York City's West Village)—without a specific reference to gayness, I was looking for more typical "monument" fare here, like a ... well, I was gonna say "like a general," but ... wait, there's no connection between STONEWALL Jackson and the STONEWALL Inn, is there? Anyway, what I was trying to say was I was looking for a monument to a historical figure like FDR or Ida B. Wells or someone, I dunno. Without the "O" from SCOLD, I was drawing blanks. With the "A" from SCALD in there, I even said "STANEW-" out loud and shook my head: "that's not anything." But then I worked it out and dropped out of that corner and suddenly ... nothing. I was still kinda stuck. TIOS hurt me at 20A: Some foreign relations (TIAS). Again, one letter off and everything goes to hell. I got PLOTZES and SEMOLINA, but still things weren't exactly Moving ... but then I got DOOMSCROLLING at a glance, and then LAZARUS (ironically) dropped, and ... blast-off:
Good answers abound in this one—proper marquee stuff in every part of the grid, as it should be on Friday. I especially liked seeing STONEWALL and ADRIENNE Rich during Pride Month, and I especially especially liked seeing ADRIENNE Rich at the BOOKFAIRS! Nice bit of juxtaposition there. In fact, this puzzle had a lot of little answer echoes like that. You've got the SALT AIR from being AT SEA, you've got the symmetrical Yiddish thing going with PLOTZES and SCHMEAR (which also, along with STONEWALL, gives the puzzle a very NYC feel). And you've got me (REX) crossing my late, beloved cat (OLIVE), which I'm sure was not intentional, but I'm accepting this puzzle as a love letter / condolence card all the same. Thanks, everyone.
- 48D: One of the Hindu trinity (SIVA) — why do I want this to be SHIVA? Am I confusing it with the Jewish mourning period? No, I am not! SHIVA ("The Destroyer") is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. This is just an alternate spelling.
- 56A: Tapenade ingredient (OLIVE)— had this as ONION at first. So happy when it turned out to be OLIVE. Tapenades do not typically contain onions, though anything can be a tapenade if you want it to be. Just mush it and put it on a cracker—tapenade!
- 24D: Way (PROCESS)— I had trouble linking these words in my mind, but I think you can get there by way of "method"...
- 17D: Name symbolizing restoration (LAZARUS) — just as the STONEWALL clue hid the key gayness, this clue hid the key Resurrected Human Being! I was looking for ... I don't know what, furniture polish? "OK, what are we restoring here today!? ... oh, human life? oh, well, yes, bit above my pay grade, good luck with that."
