Constructor: John Kugelman
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME:"Feeling Possessive" — third-person indicative verb phrases are clued as if they are possessive phrases
Theme answers:
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Today's write-up is going to be short—not because I don't have time. I have plenty of time. I've just reached a kind of ... well, a state of total exasperation and fatigue with Sunday puzzles. I don't even know where to begin with how inadequate this theme is. How limp and last-century it is. It's giving nothing. It doesn't even have corniness going for it. Our job is to imagine ... apostrophes? Look, if you've got a simple (very simple) gimmick that yields great results, hey, go for it. Go. For. It. But this ain't it. This. Ain't. It. I cannot conceive why this was made, let alone why it was accepted. The clues aren't even trying to be amusing / entertaining / zany. Yes, a castle's moat is, phrased differently, a hold's water. The sugar and cocoa content are indeed facts about any given fudge. Where is the ... joke? The fun? The ... anything? This is the Jeremy's Iron of puzzles. If you know, you know. (And if you don't know, here you go):
The very title of this puzzle tells you that everyone involved in the production of this thing has just given up and phoned it in. "What's the idea?""You imagine verb phrases as possessive phrases.""Huh ... OK, what's the revealer phrase? Something snappy? Something playful?""No revealer.""Huh ... OK, whaddya got for a title? Something snappy? Something playful?""Well, it's about possessives, so I was thinking: 'Feeling Possessive.' See, 'possessive' can mean 'overly attached' or 'clinging,' but here we're talking about 'possessive' in a grammatical sense.' Solvers won't know what hit 'em!""[30-second 1,000-yard stare] ... I ... but ... you ... [sigh] OK, sure, why not? Good enough. If I leave now I can still make happy hour. 'Feeling Possessive' it is. Good night!" [end of phone call].
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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- FUEL'S SPECULATION (23A: Oil futures?)
- HOLD'S WATER (35A: Castle moat?)
- FUDGE'S FACTS (55A: Sugar and cocoa content?)
- TAKE'S ORDERS (79A: "Lights! Camera! Action!"?)
- SET'S AT EASE (95A: "And ... cut!"?)
- EXCHANGE'S NUMBERS (110A: Stock prices?)
- POOL'S RESOURCES (15D: Noodles and floaties?)
- PLANT'S EVIDENCE (49D: Leaf fossils?)
Headcanon is a word used in film/television/comics/etc. fandom that refers to something a fan imagines about the characters (such as a scenario or relationship) but that doesn’t appear on screen/on the page. An example might be: “In my headcanon, Jar Jar Binks is the ultimate villain who orchestrated the downfall of the Jedi.” (merriam-webster.com)
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The very title of this puzzle tells you that everyone involved in the production of this thing has just given up and phoned it in. "What's the idea?""You imagine verb phrases as possessive phrases.""Huh ... OK, what's the revealer phrase? Something snappy? Something playful?""No revealer.""Huh ... OK, whaddya got for a title? Something snappy? Something playful?""Well, it's about possessives, so I was thinking: 'Feeling Possessive.' See, 'possessive' can mean 'overly attached' or 'clinging,' but here we're talking about 'possessive' in a grammatical sense.' Solvers won't know what hit 'em!""[30-second 1,000-yard stare] ... I ... but ... you ... [sigh] OK, sure, why not? Good enough. If I leave now I can still make happy hour. 'Feeling Possessive' it is. Good night!" [end of phone call].
The bulk of the puzzle was fine. It was an ordinary grid filled ordinarily, except for the SW, which was on a completely different plane. Which is to say that the SW is the corner that contained HEADCANON, a "fandom" word I've never seen in my life. Needed every cross. I also had MESS room (is that a thing?) (76A: ___ room), so NEURAL NET took longer than it should have (78D: Machine learning model that mimics the human brain). I had SEU- as the first letters there and thought "What the hell machine did Dr. Seuss inspire!?" No other part of the grid offered much resistance. Wanted "No SIREE, Bob" but it wouldn't fit. Not familiar with the phrase "No PROB, Bob," but I managed to put it down anyway (!?). We've got the return of the AGA- fake word. AGAZE!? AGAPE!? No, today, it's AGASP (10A: Thunderstruck). I had the [Slangy greeting] as "YELLO!" and "HULLO!" before "HOLLA!," which I don't really think of as a greeting, but I don't really think about it at all, to be honest, and didn't know people still said this. Thought it died some time during the second Bush administration. Shows what I know.
No idea if it was gonna be MADD or SADD for 71D: Org. with the tagline "No More Victims," so I left that first letter blank, and then the cross was kinda tricky (70A: International date line?). I guess that in Spanish-speaking countries ("International"?), people might say TE AMO ("I love you") on a "date" (hopefully not the first one). I had GOLF SHOES before GOLF SHIRT. Exciting error, that (39D: Swinger's attire). I had PENCILS before PEN CAPS and was ... well, puzzled, to say the least (74A: They prevent accidental scribbles). I wanted WISEACRES but got WISEASSES (33A: People who might answer "What's up?" with "The sky"). That imagined scenario really sounds more -acre than -ass to me, but whatever you say. No idea re: EN PASSANT (16D: Chess move with a French name), but I know enough French that I could fudge that one (please accept this fudge's fact as my gift to you). ELO gives us yet another chess answer, grrreat, who doesn't love ... that? (41A: Kind of rating system in chess). And then there's IQ RANGE, which ... I'm just ... I'm begging you all to curate / cull your giant bought wordlists. Just. Begging. And the clue doesn't even know what it's doing. [85-115, typically]? Typically? Obviously the "range" goes lower/higher. What does "typical" mean? What percentage fall in that range? I mean, I don't care about this stupid, flawed, racially biased test, but I do care about clues meaning something, and "typically" is meaningless here. When I search [IQ RANGE] this "range" doesn't appear anywhere, on any page, in any hits. I'm seeing 70-130, 90-109 ... OK, I am really stopping now, because if I go on, I'm going to drive me and you nuts. See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. This will be my last day plugging These Puzzles Fund Abortion 4 in the write-up, though the collection will be available for many weeks to come. Thanks to so many of you, the collection shattered its initial fundraising goal ($30,000) and is on the verge of reaching its next goal ($40,000)! If this is the first you are hearing about all this, here is my description of the puzzles and how to get them (from last Sunday's write-up):
These Puzzles Fund Abortion 4 (four!) just dropped this past week—over 20 original puzzles from top constructors and editors—and you can get the collection now (right now) for a minimum donation of $20 (donations split evenly among five different abortion funds—details here). You can check out a detailed description of the collection and a list of all the talent involved here. I not only guest-edited a puzzle, I also test-solved puzzles. I have now seen the finished collection, and it's really lovely, across the board. General editors Rachel Fabi and Brooke Husic and C.L. Rimkus put in a tremendous amount of work ensuring that it would be. The attention to detail—test-solving, fact-checking, etc.—was really impressive. Anyway, donate generously (assuming you are able) and enjoy the puzzle bounty!
P.P.S. [Necessities for retiring?] are SPARES because that's what you need for re-tire-ing cars after they get flats.
P.P.P.S. 18D: Sweden has more than 200,000 of them ... I wrote in IKEAS so fast I didn't even bother to read the rest of the clue (...(of which only 1,000 are inhabited)). Love the idea that there are 199,000 abandoned IKEAS in Sweden (most of them on uninhabited ISLES) (good luck understanding that, future alien explorers!)