Constructor: Sophia Maymudes
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (easy for me, but lots of names means "not easy" for some)
THEME: BOTTOMLESS BRUNCH (7D: Event that might feature unlimited mimosas ... or a literal description of the answers to the starred clues) — six Down answers end in words that are food items one might have at "BRUNCH," but in every case the last letter of that word is missing, making those answers "BOTTOMLESS":
Theme answers:![]()
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I loved seeing GENTS at the very bottom of this puzzle. Why? Because it feels ironic. Or ... like a little wink. Could've been clued [What this puzzle is missing entirely]. Even the clue on GENTS highlights the "Ladies"! (69A: "Ladies and ___ ..."). I had this feeling mid-solve that the puzzle was very heavy on names, and women's names in particular, and then, when I was done, I went hunting for men's names (zero), and *then* I went hunting in the clues to see if I could find any men there (zero) (actually, I don't know the gender of Flotsam or Jetsam in The Little Mermaid ... but what they aren't is either human or real, so I think I'm still safe saying "there are no men in this puzzle") (the Little Mermaid wiki is telling me they're male, btw). No men in the grid, that might just be chance (unlikely but possible). No men in the grid *or* clues ... that's a deliberate act. Someone making a point. I don't know that there are any stats about the visibility of men v. women in grids (and clues), but I know I've done plenty (Plenty!) of puzzles that seem to come from a world where women may as well not exist, so I love a little sorority puzzle like this. I don't know if most people are going to notice, but I sure as hell did. The puzzle skewed female and young, which I'm pretty sure describes the constructor herself—but I am neither female nor young, and the puzzle didn't feel exclusionary in the least. I do not mind if the puzzle leans into a certain identity or demographic or whatever as long as it doesn't feel like it's giving the finger to outsiders. I appreciated this puzzle's commitment to the bit. I imagined that the BOTTOMLESS BRUNCH in question was a girlfriend get-together type thing. Seems fun (I cannot remember the last time I had "brunch," or how it's significantly different from "breakfast" aside from the fact that drinking is, apparently, encouraged). BOTTOMLESS BRUNCH sounds like a Brunch where no one is wearing pants. Drink enough mimosas, I guess anything is possible.
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Bullets:
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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (easy for me, but lots of names means "not easy" for some)
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| [16 rows! Super-sized, like your mimosa consumption...] |
Theme answers:
- BAD EG ("egg") (53D: *No-goodnik)
- COUGH SYRU ("syrup") (3D: *Remedy for a cold)
- PROPOSE A TOAS ("toast") (25D: *Raise one's glass)
- SAVE ONE'S BACO ("bacon") (9D: *Help avoid disaster)
- RAGAMUFFI ("muffin") (39D: *Little scamp)
- REHAS ("hash") (13D: *Go over again)
Naomi Novik (born 1973) is an American author of speculative fiction. She is known for the Temeraire series (2006–2016), an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars involving dragons, and her Scholomance fantasy series (2020–2022). Her standalone fantasy novels Uprooted (2015) and Spinning Silver (2018) were inspired by Polish folklore and the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale respectively. Novik has won many awards for her work, including the Alex, Audie, British Fantasy, Locus, Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards. (wikipedia)
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One thing I like about this puzzle is that none of the "brunch" items are clued as food. The "egg" is metaphorical and the "syrup" is for coughs and the "toast" is something you make with a glass (possibly a mimosa), etc. To find not only plausible brunch items, but also ones that can be clued in non-brunch ways, that's a nice extra level of elegance. I will see that "syrup" is a bit of a stretch (it's more a condiment than a food), but there's no denying that you put syrup on French toast, and French toast is a brunch food, so ... OK. But when you get into condiments, you're kind of stretching the theme limit. If TRAFFIC JA had been a theme answer, I'd be squawking in this same way, possibly louder. On the whole, this is a really original theme concept, and the execution is nicely done. The theme's got a Thursday feel (the missing letter bit feels sufficiently tricky to be a Thursday) but it's all clued back at Wednesday or even Tuesday level. I love a tricky Wednesday. Think of it as Thursday gimmickry at Wednesday prices. Like a bargain Thursday. One everyone can do. Would've been nice if the missing letters in the theme answers spelled something (like BRUNCH! or MIMOSA!) but that would be a Lot to ask.
I wish EMPANADA weren't in the grid (29A: Snack whose name translates as "breaded"). This is the only time I can remember ever wishing that an EMPANADA would go away. I apologize to the EMPANADA and all of turnoverkind. But with a heavily food-based theme, I don't think there should be stray foods in the grid. Don't distract me from the brunch! I will take an EMPANADA over any of these brunch items, any day of the week, any time of day. It would be a more elegant construction if food were confined to the theme alone. I'm having a very hard time staying mad at EMPANADA, though. And now I'm hungry. So let's move along...
There are a lot of names today (eight, by my count), which can often spell trouble, especially if those names aren't universally known, but most of these are pretty straightforward. REY and ELENA are in the puzzle all the time. Diana RIGG is a legend. KAY Thompson might be less well known (I couldn't have named her off the top of my head, but I got her after seeing the 3-letter slot and getting maybe one cross). SOFIA Coppola is prolific and successful. Tegan & SARA have been used in clues for one or the other of their names a bunch (it seems) in the past five years or so. Hmm, actually this is just the fourth time, and TEGAN has actually never appeared in the NYTXW. That will surely change someday. Anyway, SARA was a gimme for me. That leaves NAOMI Novik, whose name I know well because wife and especially daughter are big fans. So.... the one name I didn't know, the one name that feels like it's the most obscure (because it's a recent non-titular character name) is ASTRID (38A: Gemma's role in "Crazy Rich Asians"). Tbh, I don't even know who Gemma is (it's Gemma Chan). But ... ASTRID is a name that I've heard of, and one that I could infer from just a few crosses, so no problem, no complaint.
Bullets:
- 1A: Home of Spaceship Earth (EPCOT)— dropped this answer in immediately. No idea why. I've never been to EPCOT. I really don't know much about it. And yet I seem to know that Spaceship Earth is there. Weird.
- 21A: Appropriate for all gamers (RATED E) — "E" for "Everyone." Def had this as RATED G at first.
- 23A: West Coast team, on scoreboards (LAA) — Los Angeles Angels, best known for once having the two best players in baseball and still sucking.
- 24A: Characteristic of a fork in the road (Y-SHAPE) — this might've been tricky if I hadn't had the "YS-" in place before I ever read the clue. "Nothing starts YS-! ... oh!"
- 27A: Minnesotan trio? (ENS) — a "letteral" clue. "Minnesotan" has three "N"s (ENS) in it.
- 43A: One of a wide pair for snow sports (SKIBOARDS)— the "pair" thing threw me because I think of boards being different from skis in that there are just *one* of them, but I was thinking snowboards. SKIBOARDS are just ... fatter / shorter skis. They come in pairs.
- 51A: Farm share inits. (CSA) — "Community-Sponsored Agriculture"
- 64A: Merchandise with logos for "Baienglaca" or "Guddi," e.g. (KNOCKOFFS) — a very fun clue, and a great debut answer (though KNOCKOFF has appeared one time before, in the singular) (Balenciaga and Gucci are famous fashion brands, in case you didn't know what was going on with those insane "brand" names in the clue)
- 29D: Kernel locale (EAR) — think corn
- 31D: World of Warcraft or Rune, in brief (RPG) — Role-Playing Game
- 50D: Popular logic puzzle (KENKEN) — I believe that these are logic puzzles. I do not believe that they are "popular" in any meaningful sense of that word.
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