Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel and Dennis Ryall
Relative difficulty: Easy (my fastest time in years)
![]()
THEME: STOP (69A: "Freeze!"… or, when broken into three parts, how the answer for each of the six starred clues goes) — they start with "S" and end with "P"
Theme answers:
![]()
Wow, this was easy. Even for a Monday, easy. Cluing was very straightforward and the theme is essentially a non-theme. Starting with "S" and ending in "P"… so, five unrelated things. Oh, sorry, six. I forgot about SLAP. Couple of things about this theme: it's an old concept, this breaking STOP into three parts. When I've seen it done before, it has involved a letter change (i.e. turning "S" to "P," to wacky effect). I don't think I've seen this interpretation of the S TO P concept before. I don't know what to say about it. There it is. I do think the theme density, particularly up top, gets you into some fill problems. I mean, stacking those two themers gives you an overlapping succession of letters that are not that fill-friendly. Ends -TD. Ends -AI. Has -NP- in the 3 & 4 spots of a five-letter answer. Probably lucky to get out of that mess with ERL as the only atrocious bit of fill. On a Monday, I think ERL, ALAE and OAKIE are all pretty much unacceptable. Like ERL, OAKIE is in a danger zone (right next to overlapping themers again). And I have a theory about ALAE, which is that it's also a victim of theme pressure—my hypothesis is that STP was supposed to be a themer. That this grid was designed to have STP there, in the crossing center position. Then perhaps the editor was like "that's a really weak themer, let's pretend it's not one" but then didn't have constructors rework the grid. How else to explain the fact that it's an answer that goes from S to P, in a totally acceptable theme position, that is yet unstarred? This means ALAE is sitting smack between two very theme-dense areas, which would explain its existence. Otherwise, how in the world do you end up with ***ing ALAE in your Monday puzzle?
The clue on SLAP is disturbing on several levels. It's the syntactic level that bugs me most, though. "Action on a behind" is such odd, inelegant, creepy phrasing. Otherwise, cluing seems fine. Just dull.
SALARY CAP, STUTTER STEP, STOCK TIP … you could go on and on. But please don't. Let's just leave this be and move on.
Relative difficulty: Easy (my fastest time in years)
THEME: STOP (69A: "Freeze!"… or, when broken into three parts, how the answer for each of the six starred clues goes) — they start with "S" and end with "P"
Theme answers:
- SLAP (1A: *Obstetrician's action on a newborn's behind)
- STANLEY CUP (18A: *Goal an N.H.L.'er shoots for?)
- SKINNY DIP (20A: *Go swimming in one's birthday suit)
- SKI TRIP (40A: *Visit to Vail, maybe)
- STEEL TRAP (56A: *Sharp mind, figuratively)
- SUMMER CAMP (61A: *Setting for "Meatballs" or "Friday the 13th")
Jack Oakie (November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978) was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television. […] Oakie is probably most notable for his portrayal of Benzino Napaloni, the boisterous dictator of Bacteria, in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940), for which he received an Oscar nomination for the Best Supporting Actor Award. This role was a broad parody of the fascist dictator of Italy, Benito Mussolini. (wikipedia)
• • •
The clue on SLAP is disturbing on several levels. It's the syntactic level that bugs me most, though. "Action on a behind" is such odd, inelegant, creepy phrasing. Otherwise, cluing seems fine. Just dull.
SALARY CAP, STUTTER STEP, STOCK TIP … you could go on and on. But please don't. Let's just leave this be and move on.