Constructor: Hoang-Kim Vu
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME:"Countdown" — ten theme answers contain the numbers "TEN" through "ONE" (counting down, starting with TEN at the top of the grid and ending with ONE at the bottom); though the theme answers are Acrosses, the numbers contained within them run Down wherever they appear:
Theme answers: (RED letters run Down) ![]()
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Architecturally, this is reasonably impressive. It's just not that interesting, in the end. What I mean is, I figured out fairly early on how the "Countdown" concept was going to work—that it was going to apply in two senses (i.e. we're counting down from TEN to ONE, and each number in the "count" is actually going to head "down"). It's not too hard to find the numbers—they all have empty Down clues. So once you get TEN and NINE up top, you can just fill in the rest of those Downs with the remaining numbers if you want. I didn't, but I could have if I'd care to. So after you discover the theme, it really has nothing left to show you. There's nothing to discover. There's no wordplay. There's just a bunch of answers with numbers running Down inside them, only those aren't going to trip you up, because you know both where they are and what they are. So you've basically got a themeless puzzle on your hands at that point, and even though this grid has a few winners in it ("HE'S WITH ME," SLUSH PILES, "WANNA TRADE"), there's not enough to make a Sunday-sized grid terribly interesting. It's basically a diversion. A fine way to spend 10 minutes or half an hour or whatever, but whatever special magic the theme had to offer is all gone very early, and then it's just a matter of dutifully finishing the job.
So excited that the world (Crossworld and normal world) finally gets to read this beautifully written, deeply engrossing, and often wryly funny memoir/history about the connections between crosswords and feminism, written by the brilliant Anna Shechtman, crossword constructor for the New Yorker and (as of very recently) Cornell University English professor. Anna writes about her own life in candid, surprising ways, and her research on the roles women have played in the history of the crossword is original and revelatory. The Riddles of the Sphinx is the best writing on crossword puzzles that I've ever read. So treat yourself. Go get it. And if you can, go see her!:
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Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers: (RED letters run Down)
- 1A: Loose-fitting garment (TENT DRESS)
- 24A: It might help you keep up with old classmates (ALUMNI NEWSLETTER)
- 30A: Carrier of goods by rail (FREIGHT TRAIN)
- 47A: Stop on a publicity tour (PRESS EVENT)
- 61A: Chosen name of five popes (SIXTUS)
- 71A: Break for a bit (TAKE FIVE)
- 80A: French desserts whose name Translates as "small ovens" (PETIT FOURS)
- 108A: Concern at the end of a space journey (EARTH REENTRY)
- 115A: "Take it easy once in a while!" ("DON'T WORK TOO HARD")
- 118A: Sonny and Fredo, for two (CORLEONES)
Sandra Lee Christiansen (née Waldroop; born July 3, 1966), known professionally as Sandra Lee, is an American television chef and author. She is known for her "Semi-Homemade" cooking concept, which Lee describes as using 70 percent packaged and 30 percent fresh products. She received the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Show Host in 2012 for her work and her show. As the partner of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, she served as the de facto First Lady Of New Yorkfrom 2011 to 2019, when the couple ended their relationship. (wikipedia)
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[35A: Haim of "Licorice Pizza" (ALANA)]
There's one notable issue with the theme execution, but it's a problem that was quite possibly unavoidably—namely, that all the numbers from TEN to ONE are well and truly hidden inside their respective answers. That is, TEN does not appear as the number TEN, but as the letter string T-E-N, and all the other numbers do likewise ... except FIVE. FIVE just cannot hide. It appears as itself, in the answerTAKE FIVE. It's a tribute to how well, how cleverly the other numbers are hidden, that the FIVE stands out so glaringly. Like, "hi, I'm FIVE, sorry, I don't know how to hide inside other answers, just pretend I'm not here." But what longer answer could possibly contain the letter string "F-I-V-E"? SCIFI VENTURE? WIFI VENDOR? "... IF I'VE EVER SEEN ONE"? That last one is at least a phrase people say. But my point is, there are next to no options. So ... TAKE FIVE.
There were some awkward moments while solving this, most notably ... SIXTUS!!? Five popes actually chose that name, and I've heard of precisely none of them? Wow. I really (really really) wanted the answer to be SEXTUS, which sounds so much more popey, but SEX is not a number (well, it is, in Latin, it's "six," but ... it's not one of *our* numbers). So that was awkward because it was arcane. Then there was TINDERS, which was awkward because it was an Improbable Plural (71D: Birch bark and pine cones, e.g.). And then ASPIRER, awkward because no way, not a thing, please stop (111A: Ambitious sort). And something about STOLEN ART feels kind of "green-paint"-y to me.* You could put anything after STOLEN and kinda sorta justify it, but STOLEN ART doesn't quite feel strong enough to stand alone. Mostly, though, I thought the fill held up just fine, especially considering the fairly demanding theme.
The cluing felt sufficiently difficult for a Sunday. Despite the theme's revealing too much of itself too quickly, the grid still had some resistance to offer. Something about the phrasing of the clue on COW POX made it hard for me—I think it's the "used it" bit (11D: Edward Jenner used it when developing the world's first successful vaccine). Accurate enough, I'm sure, but I'm not used to think of viruses being "used." I had to go through both REAIR and RERUN before I got to RERAN (31D: Put on the air again) (really should've noticed that "air" was in the clue and so couldn't be in the answer). Had "UH, NO" before "UM, NO" (19D: "Yeah ... pass"). No idea who SANDRA LEE is, despite the fact that she was apparently First Lady of my state from 2011 to 2019 (!?!?!). SANDRA DEE and SARA LEE, them I know, but SANDRA LEE—this is the first I'm hearing of her. I had SEETHES before SEES RED (129A: Rages). I wish I had more interesting errors. Sorry.
A reminder that the Boswords Spring Themeless League starts this week, with Puzzle #1 dropping tomorrow, Monday, Mar. 4! There are three different difficulty levels so if you're crossword competition curious, why not give it a go? Here's League coordinator John Lieb with the deets:
Registration for the Boswords 2024 Spring Themeless League is open! This weekly event in March and April features weekly themeless puzzles -- clued at three levels of difficulty -- from an all-star roster of constructors and are edited by Brad Wilber. To register, to watch a short video about the league, to view the constructor line-up, and to learn more, go to www.boswords.org.Also out this week:
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*"green paint" is a term for an answer you can imagine someone saying, but that doesn't seem strong enough to qualify as a standalone crossword entry