Constructor: Jeffrey Martinovic
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: PI DAY (33D: An irrational reason to celebrate?) — I guess it's PI DAY? Black squares at center of grid form (roughly) the "π" symbol. There are a couple of mathematicians in here (born and died on PI DAY, respectively) and then it's all tied together by ... the dimensions of the crossword grid (?!?) (7D: First digit of this puzzle's subject whose next four digits are the number of rows and then columns of the grid) (THREE [point] "14""15")
Some scientists [🤷🏼♀️]:
"... oh, we're doing this again?" That was my first and only reaction to this puzzle. Not sure how many PI DAY puzzles I've seen in my life. I've definitely seen two in the NYTXW alone (here, here). It's weird how many puzzlemakers like this day and think it's funny to make crossword themes about it, when it's not a day at all, nothing happens, no one cares, it's Thursday. But have fun enduring the "pie" puns! This puzzle has nothing to show us at all. A black-square picture? So what? Two scientists whose names happen to be the same length, and who (coincidentally) were born or died on this day? That's trivia. So what? What do they have to do with pi, exactly? Make "π" do something, anything! Justify this concept, please. There's no *puzzle* reason to do this, except to show us a rudimentary picture of "π." The revealer is ... THREE (!?!?!). And then you want me to be impressed by the fact that the grid is 14x15!? It's 15x15 most days. You just took a row away and you want me to, what, clap? No dice. On top of this anemic "theme," you want to give me jocular American fake-Spanish ("No BUENO") and the *&%^ing NRA? Absolutely not. What a waste of a Thursday puzzle.
Additional notes:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Easy
Some scientists [🤷🏼♀️]:
- ALBERT EINSTEIN (11D: Scientist who was notably born on 33-Down (1879)
- STEPHEN HAWKING (3D: Scientist who notably passed away on 33-Down (2018)
- EULER (is he part of this???) (29D: Mathematician known for the constant "e" (2.71828))
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. It was set up on May 6, 1935, by presidential order, as a key part of the Second New Deal.The WPA's first appropriation in 1935 was $4.9 billion (about $15 per person in the U.S., around 6.7 percent of the 1935 GDP). Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA supplied paid jobs to the unemployed during the Great Depression in the United States, while building up the public infrastructure of the US, such as parks, schools, and roads. Most of the jobs were in construction, building more than 620,000 miles (1,000,000 km) of streets and over 10,000 bridges, in addition to many airports and much housing. In 1942, the WPA played a key role in both building and staffing internment camps to incarcerate Japanese Americans. [...]
In one of its most famous projects, Federal Project Number One, the WPA employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in arts, drama, media, and literacy projects. The five projects dedicated to these were the Federal Writers' Project (FWP), the Historical Records Survey (HRS), the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), the Federal Music Project (FMP), and the Federal Art Project (FAP). In the Historical Records Survey, for instance, many former slaves in the South were interviewed; these documents are of immense importance to American history. Theater and music groups toured throughout the United States and gave more than 225,000 performances. Archaeological investigations under the WPA were influential in the rediscovery of pre-Columbian Native American cultures, and the development of professional archaeology in the US. (wikipedia)
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| [2023, co-starring ALIA Shawkat] |
The one day the puzzle decides *not* to do the double-clue thing and it's the one day they really could've used it—you know that, in addition to the WPA, the NRA is *also* a [New Deal org.] (National Recovery Administration). No idea why constructors (editors) are still going with this garbage gun org. It's an unforced error, tonally. There's no reason to use the gun org. That corner that it's in isn't even strong. OPEN ERA? TSARISM? APSE? URSA? Try harder! Why am I having to tell the NYTXW two days in a row now to just do its job and fill grids professionally, in a reasonably pleasing way. I like THE TOWER OF BABEL (17A: Origin story in Genesis 11:1-9) and PURPLE PROSE (20A: Colorful language?) fine. If this were a themeless, and the rest of the grid were similarly bright, I would be happy. But instead I get random famous scientists and a picture of one of those plastic doohickies that keeps the pizza box from collapsing onto your pizza and then I get to count rows and columns, which are almost the same in number as they are any other day of the week. And what is with EULER? Is he thematic? The clue says he's known for a "constant" (29D: Mathematician known for the constant "e" (2.71828)) and "π" is a "constant," so I thought maybe EULER was being roped into this clown show. But then he has no symmetrical counterpart (except the great Dr. SOAMI) (28D: "Same here"). Dr. SOAMI keeps insisting that he, too, is a mathematician, but I'm not inclined to believe him.
No trouble with this one at all except the trouble I made for myself, most notably botching the [New Deal org.]. My brain got stuck somewhere between NRA and TVA and I ended up writing in NEA, which is a teachers union, not part of the New Deal alphabet soup of orgs. That NEA kept the two long answers up top from coming into view as quickly as they should've. Stupid of me to write the org. in at all, as there are roughly 4,033 three-letter New Deal orgs. (give/take). I didn't know SWAY BAR right away (47A: Component in a car's suspension system), but that's about the only other answer I had any trouble with. Oh, except "No BUENO," which ... again, why would you do that to BUENO? (35A: "No ___" ("Unacceptable")). Unacceptable, indeed.
Additional notes:
- 9D: Apply, as sunscreen (RUB ON) — had PUT ON. Then DAB ON.
- 25D: Carolina N.H.L.'ers, informally ('CANES)— as in HURRI-...
- 32D: Starting point for a slippery slope argument (GRAY AREA)— I don't think of GRAY AREA as having any necessary, or even tight, connection with "slippery slope arguments." People just extrapolate in implausible or logically untenable or extreme ways. Don't need an area to be particularly gray in order to do this.
I liked how the clues leaned into cinema today (ETHAN Hawke and ALIA Shawkat and "ALIEN" and the horror film character who is home ALONE (or is she!?)). But that's small consolation today. Can we have a moratorium on PI DAY puzzles now. This one's clever revealer clue (33D: An irrational reason to celebrate?) wasn't even original (it was first used in a 2021 Robyn Weintraub puzzle). I can handle all the corny mathiness you've got if I just get something properly *puzzle*-y to work through on Thursdays. This one had zero puzzle juice. Very disappointing.