Constructor: Alex Eaton-Salners
Relative difficulty: Medium-hard (I printed this off, and my copy didn't include picture clues, so I had to get six answers from the crossings. Honestly didn't realize I was missing clues until a third of the way through it, and then it seemed like every clue I wanted to look at after that had the clue missing, but I was still able to power through this because the missing clues were also thematically tied and not just random words and phrases.)
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THEME: AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE — six of the clues are given in ASL, and their answers are all common words and phrases you'd use in conversation.
Word of the Day: OPI (17A: Nail polish brand with colors like "Berry Fairy Fun" and "Aurora Berry-alis") —
Theme answers:
Olio:
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Relative difficulty: Medium-hard (I printed this off, and my copy didn't include picture clues, so I had to get six answers from the crossings. Honestly didn't realize I was missing clues until a third of the way through it, and then it seemed like every clue I wanted to look at after that had the clue missing, but I was still able to power through this because the missing clues were also thematically tied and not just random words and phrases.)
THEME: AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE — six of the clues are given in ASL, and their answers are all common words and phrases you'd use in conversation.
Word of the Day: OPI (17A: Nail polish brand with colors like "Berry Fairy Fun" and "Aurora Berry-alis") —
OPI, originally named Odontorium Products Inc., was a small dental supply company purchased by George Schaeffer in 1981. Shortly after taking over the company, Schaeffer was joined by Hungarian-born Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI's Executive Vice President and Artistic Director. Schaeffer and Weiss-Fischmann partnered with R. Eric Montgomery, a biochemist, and created an acrylic system that Schaeffer sold door-to-door to local nail salons. They closed the dental sales and focused entirely on nail products changing the name to OPI Products Inc.In 1989, OPI expanded its portfolio to nail lacquers and later other products. In 2003, OPI created a Legally Blonde 2 collection that was also featured in the film. Collaborations that have followed include Ford Mustang, the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland, and Dell (2009). [wikipedia]
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Hey hi hello and howdy, Christopher Adams here filling in for Rex for the first time in (checks watch) twenty-four hours. Liked this puzzle more than yesterday's, despite having no theme content to work with due to printing issues. But it was a fun solve that had more flavor than yesterday's, and I enjoyed the challenge of trying to figure out what clues I was missing before I actually got to the reveal. I didn't guess the theme right before seeing the reveal, but the fact that they're all conversational phrases helped. And it was nice to have that extra layer on top of the theme; it feels more cohesive that way (contrast with, say, this last Sunday's puzzle, which I hated hated hated in part because the theme was so loose).Theme answers:
- YOU'RE WELCOME
- I LOVE YOU
- PLEASE
- THANKS
- HELLO
- SORRY
So yeah, didn't have a theme to work with throughout, but in addition to the (fun) challenge of trying to figure out why clues were missing and what those answers were, also had lots of fun clues (OPI, PYRO, ROUGH UP, COLLEGE, more below in olio) and good fill (EAST BERLIN, HONEY LEMON, GOT CAUGHT), and overall it just had a good vibe and personality and felt like it was actually constructed by a single person, rather than (over)edited down to fit the publication voice.
Also, now that I've had a chance to look at the images post-solve, I think I would've still enjoyed the solve for mostly the same reasons, but also a few new reasons. Like, some of the images are more helpful to me than others; I wouldn't have gotten the same fun from puzzling out those answers without any clues, but I would've gotten a new fun from being able to translate the pictures into answers.
Olio:
- DESK [Work station] — If you know anybody in the Iowa area who is looking to get rid of furniture (especially a desk and/or a couch), put them in touch with me. I'm open to other items of furniture as well, but desks and couches are the only things that are more needs than wants.
- TEN [Largest of the three-letter numbers] — Can you find a way to express the number ten, using each of the other three-letter numbers exactly once?
- STEAK [For which you might tell a chef "Well done!"] — No no no no no no no no. If you want your steak well done, order something else instead.
- SHOELACES [They often take bows]— Great misdirect, especially since it's next to [Allegro or adagio] to put you in a musical mindset. Could've done without the cross-reference at 51-Down, though; never a fan of cross-references that go all the way across the grid.
- ST LUCIA [Caribbean country whose capital is Castries] — This clue brought to you by the letter C; also, side-eye at the abbreviated spelling when "Saint Lucia" is more common in my experience.
- PSI [Greek consonant hidden in the names of two Greek vowels] — Epsilon and upsilon, also this is just a cool find to include in a clue.
- MOOSE [Mammal whose babies can outrun humans at only three days old] — Love me some fun animal facts, cervine megafauna, and fun animal facts about cervine megafauna.
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