Constructor: Adam Wagner
Relative difficulty: Medium (solved Downs-only)
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THEME: SYLLABLES (61A: What the first word of the answer to each starred clue counts, with respect to the second word) — just what the clue says...
Theme answers:
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Wait, I'm supposed to know a D.C. mayor who served only one term circa 15 years ago? On a Monday? LOL thank god for Downs-only solving, I tell you what! That is some bonkers ADRIAN cluing (again, for a Monday). ADRIAN Beltre wants to know, what the actual ****!? Yo, ADRIAN! ADRIAN Peterson was NFL MVP in 2012 (a year after today's ADRIAN left office). Fenty, you say!? Is he ... is he related?!
Relative difficulty: Medium (solved Downs-only)
Theme answers:
- ONE-UP (17A: *Beat by a little, as in joke-telling) ("UP" has "ONE" syllable)
- TWO-TIMING (18A: *Unfaithful to, as a lover) ("TIMING" has "TWO" syllables)
- THREE MUSKETEERS (31A: *Chocolate bar named for a group of literary swordsmen) ("MUSKETEERS" has "THREE" syllables)
- FOUR-DIMENSIONAL (48A: *Like a space measured by length, width, depth and time) ("DIMENSIONAL" has "FOUR" syllables)
Adrian Malik Fenty (born December 6, 1970) is an American politician who served as the mayor of the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2011.A Washington, D.C. native, Fenty graduated from Oberlin College and Howard University Law School, then served for six years on the D.C. Council. He served one term as D.C. mayor and lost his bid for reelection at the primary level to his eventual successor, Democrat Vincent C. Gray. Though Fenty won the Republican mayoral primary as a write-in candidate, he declined the Republican nomination and said he would likely not seek elected office again.
Since leaving office, Fenty has become a special advisor to the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and as a member of the business development team at the law firm Perkins Coie. Fenty has held advisory and business development roles with Rosetta Stone, Everfi, and Capgemini. He has served on the boards of directors at two nonprofits: Genesys Works-Bay Area and Fight for Children. He has served as a paid speaker, part-time college professor, and adviser for state and local governments with an information technology consulting firm. (wikipedia)
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[Robyn Rihanna Fenty]
As for the theme itself, the revealer is a huge anti-climax. Just ... SYLLABLES? No clever turn of phrase, no fun wordplay, just ... a tediously long clue explaining how SYLLABLES relates to the answers to the starred clues. My favorite ("favorite") part of the Downs-only solve was getting the ONE TWO THREE FOUR part and writing in FIVE at the beginning of the final themer ... only to realize later that it was the revealer (i.e. SYLLABLES). Bah. FOUR-DIMENSIONAL is a completely arbitrary FOUR-answer. I mean, any number can go before DIMENSIONAL (well, any number from ONE to FOUR). Not FOUR-specific enough (whereas the other numbers are all unique to their particular phrases; that is, you can't very well TWO-UP someone, there's no ONE MUSKETEER, and even the most ambitious lothario probably isn't FOUR-TIMING anyone. The themer placement is also awkward and wonky. There are three themers up top but only one below. Yes, there's a revealer, but there's no themer to balance out ONE-UP—how could there be, give that it's only five letters long, and good luck getting FIVE *plus* a five-syllable word to fit *anywhere* in the grid, let alone in a five-letter space. The asymmetricality is mildly jarring. GONZO is just sitting there like, "Hey, don't look at me, nobody said anything to me about any theme. They just said 'GONZO, show up at 64-Across at such and such a time and don't ask no questions,' and that's what I did. You want me to do some theme stuff, that's gonna cost extra. GONZO only looks out for one guy: GONZO!"
Oof, "ERM." That is one of those hesitation representations that just looks Terrible when written out. I didn't even see it until now (Downs-only solving saved me from a lot of grief today ... well, it saved me from ADRIAN and "ERM" anyway). Otherwise, the fill seems fine. Solid. Unobjectionable. Solving Downs-only proved tricky in many places, but no such that I ever got truly stuck. Worst hang-up was having "I'M ON IT!" for "I GOT IT!" at 1D: "Let me handle this!" You can see how many letters those two equally plausible answers have in common. And I would've left "I'M ON IT!" too if NSP hadn't been staring at me like, "Come on, you know I'm not right. Fix me!" (20A: Recipe meas. = TSP.). I thought [Eye, slangily] was going to be a very (something like OGLE), so PEEPER took a bit of thought (3D: Eye, slangily). Wasn't sure if it was gonna be UVEA or IRIS (29D: Part of the eye). Somehow managed to spell Uzo ADUBA's name correctly the first time, hallelujah! Had LIED TO before I had MISLED (49D: Wasn't honest with). And just trusted that LEMONS was gonna have that "S" on the end, despite the clue not clearly indicating it (52D: Sour fruit).
The worst part of the puzzle for me was having a dollop of whipped cream (my favorite food) referred to as a GOB (64D: Lump, as of whipped cream). GOB is a disgusting word that should only be applied to disgusting things, not the miraculous beauty that is whipped cream. GOB? Why would you refer to anything you actually wanted people to eat as a GOB? So easy to just make GOB into GOD and thereby get rid of that atrocious word altogether. Some words just rub me the wrong way (clearly). See you tomorrow!