Constructor: Jesse Cohn
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: CAP (56D: Lie, in slang) —
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A solid enough Friday, but the highs weren't high enough, and there were some editorial glitches that really put a few [Negative impression?]s (DENTs) in the solving experience. Speaking of highs not being high ... the word "high." It's in the grid (HIGH SCORES). And then it's in a clue (5D: High degree) ... and then it's in another clue (38A: High range). A minor issue? Possibly. But the issues continue. There's the "HEY" in the grid (15A: "Oh, why not" => "WHAT THE HEY") and then "Heyo" in the clues (46A: "Heyo" => "'SUP?") (short for "what's up?"). Only a desperate lawyer is going to claim that's not a dupe. And then there's the worst dupe of all. POWER USERS and "USE ME." That's a construction issue. Those "USE"s are pretty close to each other in the grid. And POWER USERS was probably my least favorite long answer in the grid to begin with (does merely "using" make you necessarily "Tech savvy"?). The fact that I'm noticing all these dupes means there's not enough pop and wow, not enough marquee answers in the grid. The ones that are there are mostly flat—acceptable, for sure, but definitely in need of an ACCENT WALL or two (liked that answer, btw) (1A: Pop of color for an interior designer). The NW corner had the most inventive and sparkliest longer fill, but it was also the hardest corner (because first) so I didn't feel its sparkle the I would have if I'd hit it at a whooshier moment in the solve, but when things did get whooshier and I anticipated running into similarly sparkly fill, none of the rest of the grid would oblige me. There's nothing very wrong with this puzzle, it just didn't do the Friday Thing I like Friday puzzles to do, namely razzle (and also dazzle). It also has SMELLERS (23D: Noses). Hard to overcome SMELLERS. Really putting yourself in a hole there...
Relative difficulty: Medium
Word of the Day: CAP (56D: Lie, in slang) —
Cap has functioned as a verb in English since the 15th century: mountains can be capped in snow, teeth can be capped with crowns, and pens and heads can be capped with, well, caps. In each of these cases cap has to do with a cover or top. But the verb cap can also be used to mean something else entirely: to lie, to boast, or to front. // Though often mistaken for new internet slang, capping (or cappin’) has been used in African American English for decades, and possibly much longer. In a Genius video featuring interviews with multiple rappers as well as a linguist, journalist Jacques Morel details the history of the term in rap music and dates the first mentions of capping in hip-hop to the mid-1980s and the phrase “high capping” to the end of that decade. The phrase no cap appears to be a newer development, becoming popularized in the 2000s and the 2010s with songs like “No Cap” by Atlanta rappers Future and Young Thug, and “Deadz” by Migos and 2 Chainz. In “Deadz,” Migos can be heard rapping the lyrics “no for real, no cap.” In Morel’s video, Migos rapper Offset defines cap as “bullshit” and “lies,” and no cap as “I’m dead serious.” (No cap is today sometimes rendered in emojis as 🚫🧢 or 🙅🏽🧢.) Willie D of Geto Boys glosses capping with multiple meanings ranging from the act of insulting someone to bragging or fronting. (merriam-webster.com)
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My only other significant gripe with this puzzle is the clue on AHAB (8D: Who soliloquizes "The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run"), specifically the use of the term "soliloquizes." I know you want to misdirect people, it's fun, etc., but that is a term for drama. "Hey, remember that famous AHAB soliloquy?" No, you absolutely do not, because there's no such thing. Hamlet has soliloquies, Macbeth has soliloquies, and almost certainly IAGO has soliloquies, which is what I (and, please tell me, many of you?) put in there at first. That quotation sounds very poetic, Shakespearean, even, and if you'd told me IAGO's soul was grooved to run on iron rails, I'd've said "yes" (and also "why are you talking like that?"). I love good misdirects, but that was a cheap one. On the plus side, the puzzle really nailed a couple "?" clues today, particularly the clue on WEREWOLF (7D: One who can't handle their moonshine well?"). That got a definite mid-solve nod of respect from me. Same thing with the clue on NAVEL (34A: Evidence of a past personal connection?). Yes, the umbilical cord is a "past personal connection," that is undeniable. Hat tip, slight bow, kudos.
Trouble spots mostly came early, with DEL v DES (22A: "Of the," abroad), EASES v CALMS (3D: Placates), ELLA v ETTA (4D: Name that's also a suffix in Italian), and PHD v NTH (5D: High degree) confusion. Also, CHLOE was right in the middle of all that, and I have no idea who she is (2D: Actress ___ Grace Moretz) (b. 1997) (she's been in so many things and I've seen almost none of them). Oh, and as for AWARD, yikes (1D: Speech prompter, perhaps). I built it from the bottom so had an answer that looked increasingly like some kind of CARD. Sincerely thought there might be some kind of rebus going on for a second. [CUE] CARD?? The ambiguity of "prompter" made that one tough. Once I got out of that corner, far less trouble. Weirdly, the most trouble came from a name I knew (or "knew," I guess)—I watched all of Veep a few years back, and loved it, but couldn't remember (today, just now) if Julia Louis-Dreyfuss's character was a SERENA or a SELENA ... but, surprise! Turns out the answer is "neither." She's a SELINA (43D: ___ Meyer, the V.P. on "Veep"). That SE corner got harder in other ways too. While ROMA was easy to come up with, TRIESTE was less so (41D: Italian seaport that's home to Miramare Castle), in part because 45A: Some hired professionals, for short was so vague that almost any letter of the alphabet seemed plausible in the P-S slot. I exaggerate. Some. I wanted PAS (short of "personal assistants"). But no: PIS ("private investigators"). I've seen several PTS in the past couple weeks for my stupid-but-improving wrist (multiple PTS working at the same clinic, that is). Are PMs "hired professionals"? Kinda? Are POs "parole officers?" Anyway, P-S slowed me, especially insofar as it crossed that Italian (but looks French) city I never think about.
I am quite certain that CAP will have put nails in more than a few solvers' tires today. Hard, hard generational divide there. I forget where I (recently) learned that meaning of "(No) CAP," but I know that after I learned it, I marched into class and asked my students if they knew the term, and yeah, they all knew it (and laughed at me, I presume affectionately). Meanwhile, I heard an older man (i.e. roughly my age, lol) working behind the coffee counter at school try to make a "cap" pun/joke to one of his coworkers, and then ask semi-earnestly, "isn't that what the kids say? 'No CAP!'" I told him yes, that is what they say, his pun was good and he should be proud of it. Not every "old guy looking out for old guy" situation is bad.