Constructor: Jeremy Newton and Tracy Gray
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: "Breakout Performance"— a puzzle based on THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (3D: With 6-Down, prison drama released on September 23, 1994); the grid contains a visual depiction of the movie's climactic prison escape, which is represented by a series of tunnels (made out of shaded squares containing words meaning "tunnel") in which the main character's name (ANDY DUFRESNE) can be found (spelled out in circled squares)
Theme answers:
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If ever a puzzle was (extremely) not for me, this is it. I really don't like this movie. I don't like this movie as strongly as most dudes loooove this movie. It is a classic guy movie. A touchstone for men everywhere. But it was so full of clichés and tired tropes that I just ... couldn't. Love TIM ROBBINS, love Morgan Freeman, do not love THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. Speaking of Morgan Freeman ... where is he? The complete erasure of Morgan Freeman ("Red") from this puzzle is ... telling? Ironic? Fitting? I know Red's not the one who digs his way out of prison, but still. Still. A little nod, maybe? Something? This movie has been accused (on more than one occasion) of indulging in the "Magical Negro" stereotype, where the Black character exists primarily to impart wisdom to the white protagonist and help him on his journey. In this puzzle ... well, we get a white man's journey, and the Black guy ... he's not even in the picture. Not even on that beach or wherever Andy ends up meeting him at the end of the movie ... [looks it up] ... ZIHUATANEJO! Why isn't that in the puzzle!? And where's Red, man? What happened to Red? You can't spell REDEMPTION without "Red."
Bullets:
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Book giveaway time! Stuart Gibbs's newest installment in his popular Spy School series—Spy School: Entrance Exam—is out this week (Sep. 24). Spy School is a humor/mystery novel series for young readers (ages 7 to 12), and this new book contains puzzles by none other than prolific NYTXW constructor Jeff Chen! If you've ever tried to get your young kids hooked on puzzles (come on, you know you have), then you know how hard it is to find good, age-appropriate puzzles. If you've got a young puzzler or young reader or young puzzler/reader in your home, you might give this book a try (read more about it here). You can always steal it from your kid and solve the puzzles yourself if you like, who's gonna stop you!? Anyway, Jeff has three (3) copies of Spy School: Entrance Exam to give away. If you want a shot at a free book, just send me an email (rexparker@icloud.com) with the subject line "SPY SCHOOL" by the end of tomorrow (Monday, Sep. 23, 2024). I'll pick three emails at random and then Jeff will send the winners their books. Or you could just buy the book! Whatever works.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- 18D: Lead role in 3-Down/6-Down (ANDY DUFRESNE)
- 15D: Portrayer of 18-Down (TIM ROBBINS)
- 50A: Houdini's signature feat ... or a hit to the circled squares in this puzzle (ESCAPE ACT)
- 57A: "Bad luck, I guess ... it was my turn, that's all. I was in the path of the ___" (quote from 18-Down) ("TORNADO")
"A series of tubes...":
- 114A: Stage a jailbreak à la 18-Down (TUNNEL OUT)
- 87D: Main blvd. through N.Y.C.'s Chinatown (CANAL ST.)
- 91A: What a police escort may offer (SAFE PASSAGE)
- 44D: Fall accessory? (PARACHUTE)
- 82A: Certain online video snippet (YOUTUBE CLIP)
- 46D: 4x100 relay (TEAM EVENT)
- 95A: Classic cover-ups for spies (TRENCH COATS)
- 116A: Held together in a makeshift way (DUCT TAPED)
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television networkthat operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' subsidiary, United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which produced most of UPN's series) turned it into a joint venture in 1996 after acquiring a 50% stake in UPN, and subsequently purchased Chris-Craft's remaining stake in 2000. On December 31, 2005, UPN was kept by CBS Corporation, which was the new name for Viacom when it split into two separate companies. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Time Warner jointly announced that the companies would shut down UPN and competitor The WB to launch a new joint venture network later that year. UPN ceased broadcasting on September 15, 2006, with The WB following two days later. Select programs from both networks moved to the new network, The CW, when it launched on September 18, 2006. [...] Most of UPN's programming through the years was produced by Paramount Television or a Viacom-owned sister company (Viacom Productions, Big Ticket Television, Spelling Television or CBS Productions). UPN's first official program was Star Trek: Voyager, with the first comedy shows to debut being two short-lived series: the Richard Jeni starring vehicle Platypus Man and Pig Sty. // Other notable UPN programs during the network's existence included The Sentinel, Moesha, Star Trek: Enterprise, WWE SmackDown, America's Next Top Model, Girlfriends, the Moesha spin-off The Parkers, Veronica Mars, Everybody Hates Chris, and the animated adaptation of Dilbert. In Summer 2005, UPN aired R U the Girl, in which R&B group TLC (not with Left Eye) searched for a woman to join them on a new song. The network also produced some special programs, including 2001's Iron Chef USA. Much of UPN's comedy programming between 1996 and 2006 (particularly those that aired as part of the network's Monday evening lineup) was largely aimed at African American audiences, with minor exceptions in shows such as Clueless, Realitycheck and Head Over Heels.
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But let's leave movie quality aside. Just 'cause I don't like the movie doesn't mean the puzzle can't still be good. And, yeah, if you're a superfan of this movie, I can see liking this, I guess. There are some execution problems, some things I didn't get, or that seemed clunky. The use of circled squares to spell out ANDY DUFRESNE in the "tunnels" was odd. Why is his first name all contiguous circles but his last name stretched absurdly throughout the series of "tunnels"? And the "Y"—Why "Y"? Why is that the letter that (visually) represents the breakout. And why is it given to us? Mine came pre-filled in, did yours? It's not an unchecked letter, given that the "Y" is in both INDY (115A: Annual May race, familiarly) and ANDY DUFRESNE's name, so that was ... weird. Visually weird. Also weird to have ANDY DUFRESNE as a regular entry in the grid ... why in two places?? Seems redundant. I already had tunnel-ANDY before I ever got to regular-answer ANDY, so that was extremely anticlimactic. I assume that the "tunnel" words are not an accurate reflection of the actual path Andy takes in the movie. I don't think they need to be. Just being passages that one might take when escaping prison is enough. But I don't know. I wonder about how much I have to know (or remember) about the movie in order to fully "get" the puzzle. And I feel bad for those solvers who never saw it (or worse, never heard of it).
A couple smaller but still irksome problems: all the "tunnels" appear as standalone words (or word parts) in their respective answers, except VENT (which is buried in "EVENT"). Outliers like that always bug me. Make me tic / twitch / grimace a little. Also deeply ironic to clue make the PASSAGE answer SAFE PASSAGE and clue it in relation to help from the cops (91A: What a police escort may offer), considering what the puzzle is supposed to be representing. I think ESCAPE ACT is a decent revealer, or descriptor, but "TORNADO" is just arbitrary and awful (57A: "Bad luck, I guess ... it was my turn, that's all. I was in the path of the ___" (quote from 18-Down)). Has no place here. It's a part of a quotation that has nothing to do with prison escape. Bizarre choice of thematic material. But in the end, the puzzle is easy, and it's about a beloved movie, and it's at least trying to do something visually interesting, so I expect people will like it.
The fill is pretty decent except man FISH FIN made me want to throw my computer out the window. LOL, it's a debut! Not a welcome debut, but a debut nonetheless. A [Rudder found in nature] is a fin. It's just a fin. FISH FIN is ridiculous. True, not a '50s Cadillac fin. '50s Cadillacs are not found in nature. I had FIN and thought "well I know it's not FISH FIN." And then it was. The only other things in the grid that made me really wince was AS A BONUS (not standalone worthy) and MENSANS (because I think Mensa is corny and MENSANS is a godawful plural ... and another debut, what is happening?). Speaking of godawful plurals, AGAPES (LOL, yet another debut! yeesh, they're really debuting some clunkers today) (97D: Early Christian meals of love and fellowship). I know agape as a higher, unconditional, divine kind of love, a counterpart to eros (sexual love) or philia (brotherly love). These Christian potluck dealies ... no idea. Otherwise, I think the grid is actually admirably clean, especially given the thematic density.
Bullets:
- 1A: One getting into some hot water? (BATHER)— my weird comment on this clue is that "some" should not be there. The idiom is "get into hot water." If you're going to play on the idiom (as the "?" indicates), then get the idiom just right. The "some" feels extraneous.
- 35A: Texter's alternative to an eye roll emoji (SMH) — every time SMH appears in a puzzle, commenters wonder what it means and say they've never seen it before. This is the fifth overall appearance of SMH in the NYTXW, but the fourth this year (it debuted in 2020). It stands for 'shaking my head'and indicates a kind of exasperated disbelief or disappointment at another's ignorance or stupidity. "Bemused incredulity" is a phrase that Merriam-Webster uses. I like that.
- 55D: Yeti's commercial rival (IGLOO) — they both make coolers.
- 7D: Instrument strummed in the Train song "Hey, Soul Sister" (UKULELE) — that second "U" gets me every time. Because of UKE (a crossword standard), I spell it UKELELE. Sigh. Anyway, I won't subject you to "Hey, Soul Sister." But I will subject you to "Drops of Jupiter" ...
["She checks out Mozart while she does TAE BO (5)!"]
See you next time.
P.S. Happy 24th birthday to my daughter Ella, who has given up crosswords ... for now ... she'll be back ...
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