Constructor: Emily Rourke
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (solved Downs-only)
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THEME:"HELLO, DOLLY" (64A: Classic Broadway musical about an N.Y.C. matchmaker ... or how one might respond to the introductions of 17-, 24-, 39- and 50-Across) — theme answers are dolls, clued via the years in which they were "introduced":
Theme answers:
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The revealer on this one feels very weak. This theme is really just ... four arbitrary dolls. Like, why these dolls? (Answer: because they fit symmetrically, I'm guessing — that's why Ken *and* Barbie but only RAGGEDY ANN, no Andy). I would never put CABBAGE PATCH KIDs with these others. Maybe that's just because their fame was short-lived. Anyway, why these dolls? Why not other dolls? The dolls have nothing in common besides being dolls. It's four random dolls—that's your theme. That's not much of a theme. Actually, it's *five* random dolls, which brings me to another serious problem with this theme: you would not say "HELLO, DOLLY" to BARBIE AND KEN—you'd have to say "Hello, dollies." The revealer is trying hard to create some kind of coherence today, but again—it's just four (five) dolls. Where are the BRATZ or POLLY POCKET or BETSY WETSY or BABY ALIVE or FURBY or etc. etc.? Also, a lesser problem, but CABBAGE PATCH KID in the singular is weird. It's always plural. AMERICAN GIRL is singular (despite there being many of them), but Cabbage Patch Kids, plural, it's plural. They didn't introduce a single "kid" in 1982, they introduced the "Kids." I'm nitpicking because, again, there's not nearly enough coherence to this thing. Better theme, less pettiness.
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Bullets:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (solved Downs-only)
Theme answers:
- RAGGEDY ANN (17A: Redhead introduced in 1918)
- AMERICAN GIRL (24A: 18-inch figure introduced in 1986)
- CABBAGE PATCH KID (39A: Adoptable playmate introduced in 1982)
- BARBIE AND KEN (50A: Fashionable pair introduced in 1959 and 1961, respectively)
Cabbage Patch Kids are a line of cloth dolls with plastic heads first produced by Coleco Industries in 1982. They were inspired by the Little People soft sculptured dolls sold by Xavier Roberts as collectibles. The brand was renamed 'Cabbage Patch Kids' by Roger L. Schlaifer when he acquired the exclusive worldwide licensing rights in 1982.The doll brand set every toy industry sales record for three years running, and was one of the most popular lines of children's licensed products in the 1980s and has become one of the longest-running doll franchises in the United States. Additional Cabbage Patch products include children's apparel, bedding, infants' wear, record albums and board games. [...]
At the peak of their popularity, between 1983 and 1986, the dolls were highly sought-after toys for Christmas. Cabbage Patch riots occurred as parents literally fought to obtain the dolls for children. (wikipedia)
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Outside the theme, it's an unremarkable Monday. The grid seems fine, the two long Downs are solid, although ... no one calls the sandwiches SUBMARINES (29D: Footlong sandwiches). If you're going to go all formal like that, you'd definitely say "submarine sandwiches." It's that or SUBS. There's no in-between. SUBMARINES is still a fine answer, just ... not with that clue. Now that I look the grid over carefully, there's probably more crosswordese than you want here, especially on an easy Monday. ARTIE ECRU OBI LYS ... and that's just in the broader SW section. ACAI SITH BAMA BLAH. Never ever gonna like the brand-name-only plural ECHOS (52D: Amazon smart speakers). A better, tighter core theme concept and a somewhat livelier and cleaner grid—that's what this Monday needs.
The Downs-only solve was relatively uneventful. TOON for BIRD as my very first answer (1D: Tweety, Woodstock or Woody Woodpecker) was peak difficulty drama. LEGS was also not a gimme for me, so fixed was I on the definitive stork part (the beak) (3D: Storks have long ones). Took some doing to finally see "GLAD I ASKED" (the best answer in the grid by a long shot), but once the two themers that cross it went in (giving me the "I" and the "K"), I saw it. At the very end, I had the "HELLO-" and, looking at the theme answers I had in place, and seeing they were all toys, I wrote in the only toyish thing that came to mind: "HELLO KITTY!" But that didn't last long. Finished with an error, but that's only because I didn't check my cross at 65D: Fleur-de-___ and wrote in LIS, which is how it's spelled sometimes, isn't it? Ha ha, yes—most of the time!
Bullets:
- 45A: Where Z is in the alphabet (LAST)— really glad I wasn't reading Across clues because I took one look at this clue and definitely thought the answer was going to be a geographical place. "Uh ... CUBA?"
- 33A: Long-running police drama (NCIS) — find someone who looks at you the way the NYTXW looks at NCIS, my lord. Get a room. (Everything I know about NCIS, I learned from crosswords—for instance, I hear Mark HARM-N is involved somehow)
- 4D: Summation symbol, in math (SIGMA) — speaking of things I know solely because of crosswords—this answer! I read this clue, thought "I don't know that," but looked down and found my fingers just typing in SIGMA. "Trust us," they said.
- 60D: Palindromic Parisian periodical (ELLE)— yes, ELLE is crosswordese, but at least this clue is trying to have some fun. This clue gets it.
That's it. See you next time.
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