Constructor: TEDDY KATZ AND RICH KATZ
Relative difficulty: Medium (5:34, taking it a bit easy)
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THEME: DOUBLE OR NOTHING — 5 circled squares can be filled either with a double letter or left blank, and the resulting answer works either way, both across and down (32A: Risky wager ... with a hint to the letters in this puzzle's circled squares).
Theme answers:
• • •
Hey everybody, it's Eli of the Rexplacements again! Last time I was here, I was blogging on Thanksgiving night. Tonight? It's Valentine's Day as I'm writing this. So if you'll give me a minute, I need to go clear a space on my shelf for a Husband of the Year trophy...
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DATA (32D: Word with bank or base)![]()
IAGO (26D: Speaker of the line "I follow him to serve my turn upon him")![]()
BLOSSOM (9D: Flower)![]()
There. That was fun.
Additional Notes:![]()
That's all for me today. Thanks for having me!
Signed, Eli Selzer, False Dauphin of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Medium (5:34, taking it a bit easy)
THEME: DOUBLE OR NOTHING — 5 circled squares can be filled either with a double letter or left blank, and the resulting answer works either way, both across and down (32A: Risky wager ... with a hint to the letters in this puzzle's circled squares).
Theme answers:
- DIMMED or DIM (17A: Powered down, in a way)
- RIPPLE or RILE (19A: Disturb, in a way)
- CUSSED or CUED (22A: Told where to go, say)
- LONG ODDS or LONG OS (55A: Characteristic of video poker, lottos and casinos)
- FEELINGS or FLINGS (59A: Results of some dating app matches)
- DRIPPED or DRIED (3D: Sat on a clothesline, say)
- TOMMY or TOY (6D: ___ gun)
- BLOSSOM or BLOOM (9D: Flower)
- SKIDDED or SKIED (45D: Careened across snow, maybe)
- SEA EELS or SEALS (46D: Sleek ocean swimmers)
In 2010 an anonymous person began a Twitter account for the San Francisco fog, inspired by the fake BP public relations account that appeared after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that year, and named "Karl the Fog" after the misunderstood giant in the 2003 film Big Fish.
Ok, I'm back. Today's puzzle is by Rich and Teddy Katz, a father/son team. Rich has had a few NYT puzzles before, but this is Teddy's debut. Congrats!
I enjoyed this theme overall; it felt impressive to me. I was able to drop the revealer in immediately at 32A, which points to a well-developed idea. All of these words fit perfectly well with their clues with or without the double letter. LONG ODDS/LONG OS is the real standout for me, probably because they're the most different interpretations of the clue. SEA EELS feels like the longest stretch, but it's a valid alternative to loose SEALS.
I enjoyed this theme overall; it felt impressive to me. I was able to drop the revealer in immediately at 32A, which points to a well-developed idea. All of these words fit perfectly well with their clues with or without the double letter. LONG ODDS/LONG OS is the real standout for me, probably because they're the most different interpretations of the clue. SEA EELS feels like the longest stretch, but it's a valid alternative to loose SEALS.
Unfortunately, after the events in Kansas City yesterday, it's even less fun than usual to see guns in the puzzle, either TOMMY or TOY. I'd hope that the people getting the syndicated version in a few weeks won't have the same issue, but sadly there's almost no day you could run a puzzle that someone solving won't have been impacted by recent gun violence.
The theme working in both across and down clues means that the remaining fill is a little strained. Lots and lots and lots and lots of short stuff, and none of it too memorable. I'm impressed that there aren't a ton of proper nouns/trivia (BTS, IAGO, ONO, NYE, ALI, SEUSS... maybe KARL?), and there's nothing that stands out as bad to me. It's all just kinda... there. As a result, the non-themers played slow for me. The price of a Thursday theme, I suppose.
Would it be fun if I pointed out answers that immediately made me think of fictional characters? Well I'm gonna.
SKEETER (49A: Garden party annoyance, colloquially)
DATA (32D: Word with bank or base)
IAGO (26D: Speaker of the line "I follow him to serve my turn upon him")
BLOSSOM (9D: Flower)
Additional Notes:
- APEMEN (28A: So-called "missing links") — The word ape will always make me think of this (my go-to trivia team name is I Love You, Dr. Zaius):
- DE RIEN (2D: Response to "Merci")— I'm by no means fluent in French, but I studied pretty intensively before I last went to Paris. For some reason, this phrase has NEVER stuck with me.
- EGOT (52D: Impressive showbiz quartet) — Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony if you don't know. Congratulations to Elton John for completing his EGOT at the Emmys. I hope that Bruce Springsteen's cameo on this week's Curb Your Enthusiasm is enough to get him his next year (I'm kidding. Mostly).
- TAKE ME (10D: "I want to go with you!")— I do want to compliment this clue for being so naturally in the language that I dropped the answer in instantly. But I'm really highlighting it because I know Rex had someone recently complain that no one knew the band A-ha, and their Take On Me video is an all time classic and I don't need more excuse than this answer to post it here (also, doing a Bond theme makes you instantly valid as a crossword answer).
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]