Constructor: Joe DiPietro
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME:"My Two Cents"— familiar two-word phrases where second word word represents an offering of one's thoughts (hence the puzzle title); in the familiar phrase, the first word is adjectival, but the clue imagines it as a noun, so that, for instance, DOUBLE TAKE is clued as as a "take" about a (stunt) "double"; GAME THEORY is clued a "theory" about (wild) "game"; etc.
Theme answers:
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This just isn't my thing. It got a bit better toward the middle and end, when I realized that the theme was a lot tighter than I'd imagined at first. It wasn't til I was in the bottom half of the grid that it wasn't just that the sense (cents?) of the phrases were being reimagined, but that all the clues were themselves examples of someone's offering their "two cents," and all the second words in the themers were rough synonyms for one's "two cents." Sincerely, I thought the only thing going on was some vague "cents" / "sense" pun. But the clues, while wacky, weren't really haha wacky. Kind of groaner-wacky, at best. And without real humor, the pattern became a bit repetitive (as patterns will, I suppose). Not a SERVING SUGGESTION but a suggestion *about* a serving, not a BLANKET RECOMMENDATION but a recommendation *regarding* blankets. And on and on. Advice about sage. A belief about (apple) cores. It's a tight concept, but the highs for me just weren't that high, and the humor involved was corny to me, mostly because it could never get to a truly and genuinely Wacky place. It just sort of stayed in dad joke territory. Chuckleworthy, maybe, but it's hard to keep the chuckles coming after the fifth or so iteration of this same idea.
I also had trouble parsing RAN ITS COURSE, but I really liked that one, ultimately (63D: Developed and finished naturally). Probably my favorite answer in the grid. Much less fond of IN STONE standing awkwardly on its own (as the latter part of SET / IN STONE), and even less fond of TOTO TOO doing the same (43D: Glinda's reassurance to Dorothy on whether her dog can also return to Kansas). That answer is counting on your "Wizard of Oz" fandom to override the sensible part of your brain, which is sensibly telling you "that's not a standalone thing, not even close." I almost (Almost) like it because it has the absolute gall to not only stand there like it's something, but to do so while crossing its near-sound-alike cousin, TOE-TO-TOE. "Yes, hello, I am TOTO TOO, have you met my cousin, TOE-TO-TOE? What do you mean our names are silly and implausible!? How dare you."
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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- DOUBLE TAKE (23A: "It's obvious the actors aren't doing these stunts")
- GAME THEORY (25A: "Hares and rabbits are really the same animal, some say") (the "some say" feels redundant / unnecessary)
- SERVING SUGGESTION (46A: "Waiter, you can hold off bringing the coffee till the end of the meal") (this isn't really "two cents" at all, or even a "suggestion"; it's essentially an order)
- BLANKET RECOMMENDATION (69A: "Wool will keep you the warmest")
- DISSENTING OPINION (94A: "Being contrarian is fun!")
- CORE BELIEF (116A: "Whaddya mean it's the pits? It's the best part of an apple!")
- SAGE ADVICE (118A: "Use it for Thanksgiving stuffing and saltimbocca")
Saint Martin (French: Saint-Martin; Dutch: Sint Maarten) is an island in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 300 km (190 mi) east of Puerto Rico. The 87 square kilometres (34 sq mi) island is divided roughly 60:40 between the French Republic (53 square kilometres (20 sq mi)) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands (34 square kilometres (13 sq mi)), but the Dutch part is more populated than the French part. The division dates to 1648. The northern French part comprises the Collectivity of Saint Martin and is an overseas collectivity of the French Republic. As part of France, the French part of the island is also part of the European Union. The southern Dutch part comprises Sint Maarten and is one of four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands. (wikipedia)
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The most memorable part of the puzzle was the utter bafflement and frustration I felt trying to parseA BIT ODD (61D: Somewhat off). Absolute rookie mistake, clinging to the idea that the answer would be a single word, ugh. I had this same "you ****ing idiot!" self-recrimination the other day on Wordle, when, four guesses in, I just had -A--E and couldn't do Anything with the remaining consonants; I was thinking 'what obscure word could this possibly be?' ... until I (finally) realized "Oh, look, it's that very obscure word 'MAYBE'! Aaaargh..." So ABITOFF was, yes, an adventure, made more adventurous by my completely non-knowing of TAI (77A: Red snapper, on a sushi menu). I've probably seen that answer a dozen times over the years, but it just never sticks. If you'd told me that first letter was virtually any consonant in the alphabet, I'd've believed you. I also have no memory of ever having heard of the island of ST. MARTIN. Weird that the opening section of ST. MARTIN's wikipedia page (where it is never once spelled with the "Saint" abbreviated) contains no mention of its being part of the Leeward Islands (which are never referred to on *their* wikipedia page as the "Leewards"). Does get mentioned, eventually, and it's in the sidebar, but somehow I expected that fact to be more ... forward. Lots and lots of Leewards, it looks like: Virgin Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, etc. After I got the ST. I thought of KITTS and BARTS and then I was out of ideas. I know lots of ST. MARTINs (the publisher ... the, uh, saint, I guess), but this island slipped my mind. I've never vacationed in the Caribbean, not once, so I've never really had occasion to make sense of where all the damn islands are. Very much my bad.
I also had trouble parsing RAN ITS COURSE, but I really liked that one, ultimately (63D: Developed and finished naturally). Probably my favorite answer in the grid. Much less fond of IN STONE standing awkwardly on its own (as the latter part of SET / IN STONE), and even less fond of TOTO TOO doing the same (43D: Glinda's reassurance to Dorothy on whether her dog can also return to Kansas). That answer is counting on your "Wizard of Oz" fandom to override the sensible part of your brain, which is sensibly telling you "that's not a standalone thing, not even close." I almost (Almost) like it because it has the absolute gall to not only stand there like it's something, but to do so while crossing its near-sound-alike cousin, TOE-TO-TOE. "Yes, hello, I am TOTO TOO, have you met my cousin, TOE-TO-TOE? What do you mean our names are silly and implausible!? How dare you."
I wondered why bookstores would have SAFES until I realized they probably had CAFES (107D: Features of some bookstores). I left the first two letters of UNARM blank because I convinced myself that DEARM might be a thing (yes, it's dumb, but no dumber than UNARM—the word is DISARM!). Completely forgot that Rick was a BLAINE (27A: Rick's last name in "Casablanca"). I'll take the puzzle's word for it that an ICE BOAT is a thing (15D: Skimmer over a frozen lake). And that TD BANK is a thing (4D: Financial institution that lends its name to a Boston arena)—I mean, now that I see it, I've heard of it, but woof, parsing that, also rough (ruff!). I can accept NRA today because the clue consigns that org. to where it belongs, i.e. Loserdom (37D: Controversial org. that filed for bankruptcy in 2021). I cannot, however, accept GREEN CAR (92D: Vehicle with lower emissions)(lower ... than what?); you mean ECOCAR, or something similarly adspeaky. A GREEN CAR is just a car with green paint. In fact, GREEN CAR is the green paint of cars ("green paint" being the general term for a crossword answer that's a real enough term, but that doesn't really have standalone power; for example, I've seen sad women before, but SAD WOMEN would not make a good crossword answer). EVS, PLUGINS, ECOCARS, even E-CARS, I'd buy all these before GREEN CAR. I do not buy GREEN CAR, nor would I but *a* GREEN CAR. Probably. Our car is a kind of maroon. Do you own a green car? Is it an AMC Gremlin? If not, why not? Look at this baby!
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Since I'm down to amusing myself with Google Image Searches, I should probably wrap things up. See you next time.