Hole-positioning gadget / MON 4-22-13 / Ugandan site of 1976 Israeli rescue / Automated Web program

Constructor: Allan E. Parrish

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: Bat-to-But vowel progression puzzle —

• 18A: Louisville Slugger, e.g. (BASEBALL BAT)
• 24A: Wager that's not made at the site of the race (OFF-TRACK BET)
• 37A: Hole-positioning gadget (CENTER BIT)
• 56A: Automated Web program (INTERNET BOT)
• 62A: By no means (ANYTHING BUT)

Word of the Day: CENTER BIT —

n. A drill bit having a sharp center point, used in carpentry for boring holes.

Found this one pretty dull. Vowel progression puzzles are common, and need to have some damned spicy answers in order to be at all interesting / not reek of antiquity. Today, theme answers are adequate, and they actually get better as the puzzle progresses, but the cluing is ultra-snoozy—perhaps because it's Monday and the cluing needed to be as transparent as possible. Clues are just so literal. [Not made at the site of the race] => OFF-TRACK. [Web] => INTERNET. Plodding and unimaginative cluing combined with just OK theme answers = not much joy in Rexville. Doesn't help that the non-theme fill is from some dusty crossword attic. Perversely, my favorite part of this grid is AAA over RRR. That's some daring stacking. I wonder how far someone could take that idea—stacking triple-letter answers. Consider the gauntlet thrown.

Puzzle would've been Easy if not for CENTER BIT, which I've never heard of. Needed literally every cross. I know what a bit is, and a drill bit, but not a CENTER BIT. I also briefly blanked on the old-school crosswordese AMAHL (41A: Menotti's "___ and the Night Visitors"). Hate when that happens. That stuff's supposed to be right at my fingertips, but I fumbled it. No big time loss—just 10 seconds or so, probably. Just a loss of pride.


OK, that's it. Brace yourself for tomorrow's puzzle. The early chatter is ... insane (it was one of the puzzles at the Marbles crossword tournament that took place this past weekend; my friends were ... let's say 'impressed'; yes, that's non-commital enough).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld