Constructor: Hemant Mehta
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: MOBIUS STRIPS (8D: One-sided curiosities) —
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Really liked the first half of this puzzle, so let's talk about that. The first half had the whoosh I'm always looking for on Friday (or any day I can get it), and boy did it come fast. I hadn't even finished filling in 1A: Presider over weddings, in Greek myth (HERA)—I was only 90% sure she was right, and so was checking her crosses one at a time—when I hit the "R," looked at 3D: Common receptacle in beer pong, and—
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Had a very beer-pongy reaction to that one—"BRO! Did you see that! Right in the damn cup, first shot! [High five!]" (actual-high-five-may-or-may-not-have-happened). Actually, my beer-pong reaction was probably a little delayed, as I had to check crosses to make sure RED SOLO CUP was indeed right. But, YEP, nailed it, and just like that I was off, whooshing through the grid so fast that the next time I had any meaningful resistance I was already here:
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BOAST actually took some thinking (40D: "Veni, vidi, vici," e.g.), as I had to exclude TOAST ("Did Caesar say 'Veni, vidi, vici' at a wedding?") and ROAST ("Did they have ROASTs in ancient Rome? Who would dare to roast Caesar? Cicero, maybe?"). But when I hit on BOAST, that seemed the best option. And then ... stuck. Couldn't move through that little bottleneck easily. Had "HO-" and thought 42A: "That'd be nice!" was "HOW ... something!" Like "HOW NICE!," only not NICE because NICE was in the clue and also didn't fit. Took one look at the "B" at 40A: Split (BISECT) and wrote in BEAT IT ... then immediately "confirmed" BEAT IT by crossing the second "T" with ODIST (the first sign the puzzle was taking an ugly turn) (28D: Keats of Shelley). So I had a wrong answer in this (SE) section, and I had ODIST, so ... things not off to a great start (nothing screams "only in crosswords!" like ODIST). But they immediately got worse. I'm sorry, "Longtime role on 'The Young and the Restless'"??? Not even the actress, but the *role*!?!? The world can't be that devoid of TRACIs.
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: MOBIUS STRIPS (8D: One-sided curiosities) —
In mathematics, a Möbius strip, Möbius band, or Möbius loop is a surface that can be formed by attaching the ends of a strip of paper together with a half-twist. As a mathematical object, it was discovered by Johann Benedict Listing and August Ferdinand Möbius in 1858, but it had already appeared in Roman mosaics from the third century CE. The Möbius strip is a non-orientable surface, meaning that within it one cannot consistently distinguish clockwise from counterclockwise turns. [...] The many applications of Möbius strips include mechanical belts that wear evenly on both sides, dual-track roller coasters whose carriages alternate between the two tracks, and world maps printed so that antipodes appear opposite each other. Möbius strips appear in molecules and devices with novel electrical and electromechanical properties, and have been used to prove impossibility results in social choice theory. In popular culture, Möbius strips appear in artworks by M. C. Escher, Max Bill, and others, and in the design of the recycling symbol. Many architectural concepts have been inspired by the Möbius strip, including the building design for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Performers including Harry Blackstone Sr. and Thomas Nelson Downs have based stage magic tricks on the properties of the Möbius strip. The canons of J. S. Bach have been analyzed using Möbius strips. Many works of speculative fiction feature Möbius strips; more generally, a plot structure based on the Möbius strip, of events that repeat with a twist, is common in fiction. (wikipedia)
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But then came the real downer, the answer that nearly sucked all the life out of the puzzle. A low pressure system, followed by ... the BLAME STORM, which, as far as I can tell, is a storm sent to wreck your puzzle with its extreme fictionality (26D: Heated discussion of who's responsible for a failure). I've heard of "the blame game" and I've heard of a "tweet storm," but BLAME STORM feels like it was coined on the spot. I assume it's a phrase someone has used at some time or it wouldn't be in the puzzle, but yeeeeeeesh it really feels like something an uncurated wordlist coughed up (is it from the business world??). ODIST TRACI BLAMESTORM! Pass x 3.
[21A: Group of bats]
But then ... things picked up again, as I got hoisted into the NE corner via MOBIUS STRIPS, a delightful answer, even in the plural. I didn't find CHEETO DUST as charming as others might have, mostly because I don't really find Ellen Degeneres charming, and the answer seems entirely Degeneres-dependent (i.e. a term that would have no currency but for her). But I enjoyed the bouncing LOTTO BALLS and the PHONY / CLONE juxtaposition, so the puzzle got some of its snap back there at the end. More assets than debits by the end, for sure. If you "DON'T REMIND ME" of the SE corner, my feelings about this one are almost entirely positive. "AND I MEAN IT!" See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. we're in a pretty grim, long stretch of all-male constructors. I noticed it a few days ago and it's just kept going. It's been a full week now. Only one woman in the past 11 days. Only 3 in November (well, four women, three puzzles—two of the women were co-constructors). I expect there to be ebb and flow with the gender numbers, but it's worth noting that you never, ever, Ever see things swing this far toward women. I mean, seven women in a row!? It's unimaginable (outside of some tokenizing "Women's Week" or something). Women have been involved in making 34% of the puzzles so far this year, which is on track to be the best number of the Shortz era. But it's still not a great number (men will actually have been involved in far more than 66% of the puzzles, since "being involved" includes M/W collaborations). Anyway, it has been a damp, drizzly November where gender parity is concerned, and I hope things turn around soon. Tomorrow, if possible.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]