Constructor: David P. Williams
Relative difficulty: Challenging
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THEME: None
Word of the Day: MITOSIS (11D: Cell division) —
Hi all, it's Rafa back for another guest blog. I'll be at Lollapuzzoola (a crossword tournament -- check it out for next year if you're not aware of it!) in NYC today, so do say hello if you are also there.
Relative difficulty: Challenging
THEME: None
Word of the Day: MITOSIS (11D: Cell division) —
In cell biology, mitosis (/maɪˈtoʊsɪs/) is a part of the cell cycle in which replicated chromosomes are separated into two new nuclei. Cell division by mitosis gives rise to genetically identical cells in which the total number of chromosomes is maintained.[1] Therefore, mitosis is also known as equational division.[2][3] In general, mitosis is preceded by S phase of interphase (during which DNA replication occurs) and is often followed by telophase and cytokinesis; which divides the cytoplasm, organelles and cell membrane of one cell into two new cells containing roughly equal shares of these cellular components.[4] The different stages of mitosis altogether define the mitotic (M) phase of a cell cycle—the division of the mother cell into two daughter cells genetically identical to each other.[5]
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Onto the puzzle. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this kind of themeless grid design. I find the big middle very intimidating at first, so I always start around the corners and see if I can get traction anywhere. The corners can be a bit closed off from the middle (understandably ... it's already very hard to get two triple stacks to intersect ... are significantly harder if they are also very dependent on every corner), but eventually I get enough of a foothold and things move quickly. That's always my experience with this type of grid ... slow and fighting for every single entry at first (the hate part of the relationship) and then, suddenly ... whoosh whoosh I'm filling all the long answers in one after the other (the love part). Do other people have this type of experience with grids like this? Let me know!
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| A LOLCAT. It's funny to me that this used to be peak internet humor. It does not seem funny to me in 2023! |
Anyways ... lots of fun stuff in the corners: HELL YEAH, SPRAY TAN, SIDE EYE, MITOSIS (I like science, okay), GO TO TOWN, TOO BAD. The intersecting stacks didn't wow me as much, but I'm pretty sure that's on me. CABARET CARD, HOBBY HORSES and GILD THE LILY were all new to me, and while they are fun and evocative phrases, I find it a lot more rewarding to plonk down familiar long stuff. The first was really totally new to me, the latter two were in this hazy place in my brain where they felt like things I'd seen before, but I wasn't totally sure about them. I did love CABARET CARD as an entry though ... there is an interesting history behind it (involving racism, sadly, but perhaps unsurprisingly) that I encourage you to read up on. Oh, and MOLLYCODDLE is great. 10/10 word. Other words should take note and be as good as MOLLYCODDLE.
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| Why does a LOONIE have 11 sides? This is certainly something I could easily Google |
Because of the unfamiliarity of some of the stuff in the middle, this one played hard for me. I have a brutal error in the bottom right ... DRS instead of MDS ... and then RELAYS (a relay radio is a thing, right? I thought the trickiness was "radioactive" as in active on the radio) instead of DECAYS ... which I "confirmed" with the R, and the E, and the A, and the Y, and the S! I was working hard to convince myself that a DEBTEE might be [One getting schooled] before fixing that mistake.
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| SATAY is yum |
The short stuff here is super solid ... there's very little I could reasonably try to fault. FIE, perhaps? RIAS? It really is a remarkably clean grid. Impressive!
Bullets:
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- 40D MAYER: Supposed subject of Taylor Swift's "Dear John" — I am a *huge* Swiftie so this was, naturally, my favorite clue in the puzzle. Plus it was nice to be 100% sure of an answer in that tricky corner.
- 25D PEELE: Key's partner — Fun misdirect in the clue, the age-old proper noun hidden in the first word of the clue. As you may recall from previous posts, I am not a movie person ... but I have been meaning to watch Peele's "Nope" -- should I?
- 29A MONEY SAVERS: Coupons, e.g. — Sometimes I get TikTok videos of extreme couponers buying cartloads of things for something like $0.31 after scanning all their coupons. That sounds like a lot of work, but it is quite thrilling to watch the total keep decreasing as the coupons are getting processed.
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