Constructor: Simeon Seigel
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (if it felt slow, keep in mind the grid is an oversized 16x15)
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THEME: FOLLOW DIRECTIONS (40A: What one must do using the circled letters to solve this puzzle) — each of the four circled squares contains one of the cardinal "directions" (north south east west); the answers containing those squares change direction at the circled square, in the direction indicated by the circled square, i.e. the answer turns north after the NORTH square, west after the WEST square, etc.:
Theme answers:
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Interesting idea, poor execution. If you're going to have a NEWS premise, a weathervane premise, a map premise, then those directions better line up. The concept demands a certain elegance that this jumble of asymmetrical circled squares does not deliver. Visually ugly. But again, the *idea* is good, and it was semi-entertaining to discover the trick, and work out the theme answers ... though once you discover the trick, the theme answers pretty much work themselves out. Took me a while to figure out what those circled squares were doing, but once I found NORTH, the EAST- SOUTH- and WEST-containing answers were instantly obvious, and the puzzle went from normal Thursday-tricky to Tuesday-simple. I did get a good 'aha' out of "SO WHERE DO WE STAND?," by far the most inventive answer in this grid. I had many letters in place but couldn't make any sense of it until the "directions" concept dropped. The revealer did a good job of revealing the premise, which became clear with the "NORTH" in MINOR THIRD, and then I looked over, plugged in "WEST," and (finally!) got "SO WHERE DO WE STAND??," so I had kind of an "oh ... Oh!" reaction. Like a double revelation. As for the other direction-answers, HOLDS OUT HOPE is a nice solution to the "SOUTH" problem, and IKEA STORE ... well, that one sucks (feels kinda redundant), but they can't all be winners (probably). I've seen direction-changing themes A Lot, and this one ... yeah, it's an interesting variation. Aesthetically sloppy, but conceptually solid.
Perhaps because the theme was architecturally demanding, the fill got a little iffy in places. Lots of places. If I could throw one answer into the sea and then retrieve said answer and shoot it into the sun, that answer would be EDUCE (12D: Extract, as from data). I have a grudge against this dumb-ass word (a word I only ever seen in crosswords). It's not that it's not a word, it's that it's so displeasing to the eye and ear. Also, arbitrary Latin plurals bug the hell out of me ("arbitrary" in the sense that yes, that is how you pluralize the word in Latin, but we're not speaking Latin, are we? So stop). I'm looking at you, TOGAE, lol what a dumb-looking word. Really hated "SAY AAH," because the length of "AAH" and the "A"-to-"H" proportions, again, totally arbitrary. I've seen "SAY AH" in puzzles a bunch (24 times!). But now we can also apparently say "AAH" (this is the 3rd time). So far no "SAY AHH," as "AHH" is generally the way you spell the sound of satisfaction or pleasure, not the sound you make at a doctor's exam, although AHH was once clued [Something to say to a doctor], so you never know. What I do know is that "SAY AAH" makes me roll my eyes. Roll out as many "A"s as you want I guess, why stop at two? Other unpleasant moments included OLAFI and CDR and lots of plurals of things that you don't normally think about in the plural. BOS'NS, for instance (34D: Cap'n's subordinates). Have you ever seen more than one at a time? Ever. I think I've only ever seen one ... in The Tempest ... and I'm not even sure I saw him. I just know shouts the word early on. And OKRAS? Never a fan of that plural. We're having fried okra, not OKRAS. And we're drinking Stoli, not STOLIS, come on. From awkward plurals we go to the rarely seen awkward singular: E-SPORT. Your forte is E-SPORT? Which sort of sport, Mort? One where you teleport? From court to court? I think you mean E-SPORTS, plural, which is the name of the category in question. That is the thing. E-SPORT is like ... a single ARREAR (thankfully, this puzzle brought more than one) (IN ARREARS (38D: Financially behind)).
Bullets:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (if it felt slow, keep in mind the grid is an oversized 16x15)
Theme answers:
- MINOR THIRD (22A: Musical interval like C to E flat)
- "SO WHERE DO WE STAND?" (5D: Question from an impatient negotiator)
- HOLDS OUT HOPE (53A: Keeps the faith)
- IKEA STORE (42D: Furniture outlet with an average size of 300,000 square feet, or five football fields)
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An April 2002 lawsuit by agent Sandra Epstein against Endeavor Agency brought forth accusations by Epstein and other Endeavor employees against Emanuel. In the court filings, Emanuel is alleged to have allowed a friend to operate a pornographic website out of Endeavor's offices. According to Epstein, Emanuel made racist and anti-gay remarks and prevented her from sending a script about Navy SEALs to actor Wesley Snipes, saying: "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Everyone knows that blacks don't swim." Emanuel disputed these accusations at the time. Emanuel settled Epstein's claims for $2.25 million. (wikipedia)
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Perhaps because the theme was architecturally demanding, the fill got a little iffy in places. Lots of places. If I could throw one answer into the sea and then retrieve said answer and shoot it into the sun, that answer would be EDUCE (12D: Extract, as from data). I have a grudge against this dumb-ass word (a word I only ever seen in crosswords). It's not that it's not a word, it's that it's so displeasing to the eye and ear. Also, arbitrary Latin plurals bug the hell out of me ("arbitrary" in the sense that yes, that is how you pluralize the word in Latin, but we're not speaking Latin, are we? So stop). I'm looking at you, TOGAE, lol what a dumb-looking word. Really hated "SAY AAH," because the length of "AAH" and the "A"-to-"H" proportions, again, totally arbitrary. I've seen "SAY AH" in puzzles a bunch (24 times!). But now we can also apparently say "AAH" (this is the 3rd time). So far no "SAY AHH," as "AHH" is generally the way you spell the sound of satisfaction or pleasure, not the sound you make at a doctor's exam, although AHH was once clued [Something to say to a doctor], so you never know. What I do know is that "SAY AAH" makes me roll my eyes. Roll out as many "A"s as you want I guess, why stop at two? Other unpleasant moments included OLAFI and CDR and lots of plurals of things that you don't normally think about in the plural. BOS'NS, for instance (34D: Cap'n's subordinates). Have you ever seen more than one at a time? Ever. I think I've only ever seen one ... in The Tempest ... and I'm not even sure I saw him. I just know shouts the word early on. And OKRAS? Never a fan of that plural. We're having fried okra, not OKRAS. And we're drinking Stoli, not STOLIS, come on. From awkward plurals we go to the rarely seen awkward singular: E-SPORT. Your forte is E-SPORT? Which sort of sport, Mort? One where you teleport? From court to court? I think you mean E-SPORTS, plural, which is the name of the category in question. That is the thing. E-SPORT is like ... a single ARREAR (thankfully, this puzzle brought more than one) (IN ARREARS (38D: Financially behind)).
I had a couple major vowel hesitations. Was it PRIME or PRIMO!? (36D: A-one). Gotta check the crosses to find out (it's PRIMO). And as for SUGAR MOMMA ... wow, no (61A: Spouse to a trophy husband, perhaps). It's SUGAR MAMA, right? MOMMA looks so weird. The only time I'd ever use that spelling is when referring to the long-running 20th-century comic strip "MOMMA." Looks like "SUGAR MAMA" googles about 3x better than "SUGAR MOMMA," but my problem today wasn't MOMMA v. MAMA but MOMMA v. MAMMA, which also seemed possible. Isn't that how it's spelled in "MAMMA MIA!"? Yes, yes it is. Did you know that the phrase "SUGAR MOMMY" googles best of all the "SUGAR [slang for mother]" options? It's true. It googles slightly better than "SUGAR MAMA," though that may be because it is (apparently!) the title of a song.
Bullets:
- 58D: Had the best time, say (WON)— wow I did not understand this for many seconds after I got it. The clue is not referring to "having a good time" as in "enjoying oneself" but rather "having the best time in the race you are competing in."
- 65D: Very basic cleaner (LYE) — "basic" here refers to pH level. LYE has a pH level around 13 or 14—anything over 7 is "basic"; don't normally love the "successive paired clues" gambit, but I did like how the meaning of "basic" changes from one answer (63D: Basic cleaner: MOP) to the next.
- 37A: Aunt, in Italian (ZIA) — reflexively wrote in TIA. I figured "Italian, Spanish, both romance languages, how different can they be?" Did not see that "Z" coming. Luckily I have some (vague) idea who ZOROASTER is (37D: Founder of a Persian religion)
See you next time.
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