Constructor: Jacob McDermott
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: WABI-SABI (35D: Japanese aesthetic that embraces imperfection) —
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I'm calling this one "Easy-Medium" but honestly that "Medium" part is there solely because of two answers in particular, two names, that I didn't know at all, and I had to work around them, and I figured others might have to as well, and maybe this would add some difficulty to the overall experience, and so ... "Easy-Medium." The thing about MOMALA and WABI-SABI is that they weren't just names I didn't know, they were names in which I had no real ability to infer any of the letters—that is, until I got the WABI- part. For some reason, that made me think WABI-SABI, but that sounded like possibly some nonsense Japanese that a dumb American would make up, so tested the crosses before putting it in. WABI-SABI is obviously a term that is getting used carelessly by non-Japanese speakers; otherwise, why would wikipedia warn me "Not to be confused with wasabi"? Hey, wikipedia, you're not the boss of me. If I wanna apply WABI-SABI to my tuna roll, I'm gonna apply WABI-SABI to my tuna roll. Embrace the many imperfections of GAS STATION SUSHI, I say. It's probably the only way you're going to enjoy it. (For more on GAS STATION SUSHI, see yesterday's puzzle)
Oh, right, the puzzle. It's a very first-person plural puzzle. "WE ARE SO DEAD!""WE CARE!""SPARE US!" It's also packed with multiword answers, with six (!) of the seven long Acrosses running to three words or more. This could've/should've made parsing those answers difficult at times, but it really didn't. The worst trouble I had was trying to parse RAISE A STINK from the center—just a bunch of ultracommon letters in an incomprehensible pile-up. But once I got the "K" from FREAKS, even that answer just fell over. Very colloquial grid as well—lots of spoken phrases, including the iconic "LUCY, I'M HOME!" It's fun, this grid. It's not really showing me anything new, but it's doing what it's doing fairly well. I think I like the NW corner the best, where the longer answers are concerned. There's just a nice zip, as well as a pleasing textural contrast, in that BANANA CHIP / "LUCY, I'M HOME!"stack. Plus I enjoyed learning new TARA REID facts! (11D: Portrayer of Bunny Lebowski in "The Big Lebowski"). She's more than just ["Sharknado!" actress], people!
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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: WABI-SABI (35D: Japanese aesthetic that embraces imperfection) —
In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘び寂び) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of appreciating beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" in nature. It is prevalent in many forms of Japanese art.
Wabi-sabi is a composite of two interrelated aesthetic concepts, wabi(侘) and sabi (寂). According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, wabi may be translated as "subdued, austere beauty," while sabi means "rustic patina." Wabi-sabi is derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (三法印, sanbōin), specifically impermanence(無常, mujō), suffering (苦, ku) and emptiness or absence of self-nature(空, kū).
Characteristics of wabi-sabi aesthetics and principles include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and the appreciation of both natural objects and the forces of nature. (wikipedia)
• • •
But where was I? Right, Japanese aesthetic concepts and Vice Presidential family names (!?). This latter one ... wow, I did not understand the clue at all (40D: Vice President Harris's family nickname). I was looking for a family name (I missed the "nick-" part), and so figured it was her family name—the last name she had before she got married. Anyway, how am I supposed to know that MOMALA is what the Vice President's stepchildren call her (!?!?) (it's a portmanteau of "mom" and "Kamala")!? Also, why would I want to know that? When I google this term, I get a lot of hits involving a recent episode of the Drew Barrymore Show (that's a thing?) where she apparently asked the VP to be "MOMALA" for the country (!!?!?), and people are mad at how embarrassing or problematic this is, or something like that. There are stories about this on seemingly every major media outlet (!?!?). The "think pieces" this has inspired in the last (squints at screen ... checks watch) three days ... including in the NYT (!?!?!) ... so many think lecturey think pieces. All because of something that Drew (aside: "... really? ..." (checks notes)) ... yep, Drew Barrymore said. Wow. I do not ... understand ... what interests people. (One of the worst aspects of this job is looking things up. "You'll learn things!" Will I, though?)
Probably shouldn't have "family" in your MOMALA clue when you've got FAMILY in your grid (5D: Where roots are branches => FAMILY TREE). But I only just noticed this. As I was solving, there was very little that made me cringe or groan. As for errors, I had just three, and they didn't last long. The one that threatened to do the most damage was APTER for ABLER (1D: Better fit). But when I ended up with the iconic 1950s TV line starting "TUCY!" I knew something was wrong. I spelled FEY with an "E" because ... well, I thought that was how you spelled it, frankly (4D: Elfin folk => FAY). From merriam-webster.com:
Fey is a word that defies its own (original) meaning, since it has yet to even come close to the brink of death after being in our language for well over 800 years. In Old and Middle English it meant "feeble" or "sickly." Those meanings turned out to be fey themselves, but the word lived on in senses related to death, and because a wild or elated state of mind was once believed to portend death, other senses arose from these. The word fay, meaning "fairy" or "elf," may also have had an influence on some senses of fey. Not until the 20th century did the word's most recent meanings, "precious" and "campy," find their way into the dictionary.
Speaking of Merriam-Webster (well, WEBSTER, anyway), that's the other answer I screwed up. I had -STER at 37A: Man of many words? and wrote in TOASTER (as in ... the man ... who gives a toast ... thus saying many words, perhaps).
Notes:
- 5A: Stays hungry (FASTS)— the FASTS / SHOTS / LOS patch was dicey for a bit. You're assuming someone who is fasting is hungry. And started hungry and then stayed that way. I get that you're doing a misdirection bit here, but it feels mildly off. SHOTS got clued as if it were a verb (7D: What some do during a night out), so that was tough. Then LOS got clued as if it had something to do with music (24A: Altos might follow this). Just a wicked little patch of black ice. But still, ultimately navigable.
- 9D: Dimension, e.g. (SPEC)— again, I see that you are doing a bit here with the doubling of the "dimension" clues at 8- and 9-Down, but in the singular, in this context, this is weird. I would count "dimensions" (plural) as one SPEC.
- 60A: Singles material, say (CLAY)— really really trying on these misdirection clues. One dollar bills? Unmarried people? No. Tennis, with the "material" being tennis playing surfaces.
- 2D: More than tipsy (SAUCED)— SAUCED/SOUSED is an entirely unexpected kealoa*! Luckily I had the "C" from ECO firmly ensconced, so no problem here.
- 3D: Figure that's not usually discussed (INCOME) — unless you are a professional baseball player, in which case it's all anyone discusses.
*kealoa = a pair of words (normally short, common answers) that can be clued identically and that share at least one letter in common (in the same position). These are answers you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] ATON/ALOT, ["Git!"] "SHOO"/"SCAT," etc.
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