Constructor: Alina Abidi
Relative difficulty: Easy/medium
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THEME: Fabric-ations — Pairs of theme answers use the same fabrics as letter banks, tied together with the CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH revealer
Relative difficulty: Easy/medium
THEME: Fabric-ations — Pairs of theme answers use the same fabrics as letter banks, tied together with the CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH revealer
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: ZEBRAFISH (11A: Striped minnow used in drug development) —
Bullets:
- GINGERBREAD (23A: Holiday building material (GABARDINE)) // BINGE READ (25A: Stay up all night finishing a book, maybe (GABARDINE))
- SENATE SEAT (38A: Washington post (SATEEN)) // ASSENT (40A: Thumbs-up (SATEEN))
- CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH (61A: Having similar qualities ... or what four pairs of answers in this puzzle are?)
- OPENER (79A: Precursor to the main (NEOPRENE)) // ERROR-PRONE (81A: Liable to make mistakes (NEOPRENE))
- ARM'S REACH (101A: Grabbing distance (CASHMERE)) // CREAM CHEESE (103A: Philadelphia specialty (CASHMERE))
Word of the Day: ZEBRAFISH (11A: Striped minnow used in drug development) —
The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family (Cyprinidae) of the order Cypriniformes. Native to India[2] and South Asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio[3] (and thus often called a "tropical fish" although both tropical and subtropical). It is also found in private ponds.
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Hi all -- it's Rafa here covering for Rex.
This was cute! I started solving this thinking I had the theme all figured out. And I have to confess I was a bit underwhelmed. Okay, we're using different fabrics as letter banks? Sure, "fabric-ations" is a cute title ... but why is this happening? What is this puzzle's raison d'être? Why are we repeating fabrics in consecutive across slots? I'm generally not a huge fan of anagram or letter bank puzzles, so I tend to approach them with quite a bit of skepticism.
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| Delicious LUMPIA |
But then, the revealer! This revealer delighted me like few ever have. It's perfect. Very in-the-language phrase. Totally describes what is going on. Explains why we are doing letter banks and not anagrams. Explains why we are repeating fabrics. If there is a revealer hall of fame, this revealer should be in it. If people write books about revealers, this one should be on the cover. A revealer studies college class should have this revealer as its main case study. You get the picture.
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| A delicious OMELET |
Revealer gushing aside, I do wish some of the cloths/fabrics had been a bit better known. To be fair, I am no cloth/fabric expert, but GABARDINE was new to me, and I was familiar with satin but not SATEEN, and NEOPRENE felt very familiar but I couldn't quite recall what exactly it was. Of course, there are a lot of constraints to make the whole thing work, so I understand it was slim pickings. Some of the theme entries (looking at OPENER and ASSENT) also felt a little too short, and did not have the same wow factor as GINGERBREAD or CREAMCHEESE. The revealer, though! It's all worth it for the revealer.
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| Delicious CREAM CHEESE |
The fill was super solid. Can't really find a single thing that gave me pause ... it's very well-made. HODGE / HESSE might be a tricky crossing, but I don't think any other letter could plausibly go there (maybe a Y?). LUMPIA was my favorite entry in the entire puzzle. I love food in crosswords! LUMPIA, OMELET, JALAPENO, GINGERBREAD, CREAMCHEESE ... yes, please. (Actually, no jalapeños. I am sensitive to spicy foods, alas.) The ARM'SREACH / FIREEATER / SAYNOMORE stack is phenomenal.
- ATE (15D: Did a great job, in Gen Z lingo) — This clue rubbed me the wrong way. A cursory internet search will show lotsofdiscourseabout conflating AAVE with Gen Z lingo. (I did not read/watch all of these, and I therefore am not claiming to agree with everything said in them.) It is not my place to rehash this conversation here, but this clue did not sit right with me. At best, poorly researched ... at worst, appropriative. To be clear, I'm not trying to cancel anyone here. I have had fill/clues in my puzzles that in hindsight feel similarly off to me now. Just explicitly calling it "Gen Z lingo" really struck me and I wanted to leave a note.
- ANTIHERO (78D: "It must be exhausting always rooting for the ___" (Taylor Swift lyric)) — I am obsessed with Taylor Swift. Have you been listening to 1989 (Taylor's Version)? Tell me about it in the comments.
- POLL (109A: Big ask?) — Very cute clue!
- PLASMON (60D: Type of quasiparticle) — I'm choosing to be kind to my brain and not try to research and understand what a "quasiparticle" is ... I just thought things were particles or not particles! Like neutron = particle. Armchair = not a particle. But maybe it's not that simple!