Constructor: Jeff Chen
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME:"Look What Turned Up!" — theme answers are Down that bounce (or "turn") back up at the end. That is, the last four letters turn back on themselves—or, at least, you have to read them that way for the theme answers to make sense (turned-up part is in red, below):
Theme answers:
So the theme … I got it early and then … there it was. It's pretty joyless. Luckily, the phrases that got used were mostly delightful, but the bouncing back part? Shrug. The title made things too obvious. I was able to get it from the Obvious "WISH YOU WERE H." I mean, it didn't fit, so I looked at the title, and then all questions were answered. It's just not much of a trick, not much of a Thing to discover. But Jeff lays down a nice grid most every time out, so as a kind of oversized themeless, I was able to enjoy this one plenty. I'd prefer more humor / wordplay / cleverness in my Sunday theme, but I'll take this over plainer, cornier fare (the real danger on a Sunday).
Weird thing about this grid is the lack of longer answers (outside the themers). You got some 8s in the NE/SW corners, but they're not very remarkable (come on, ICE CANOE? What is that?). Outside of that, most of what you got in terms of longer fill is some stray 6s, 7s, and a couple 8s floating here and there. In that range, there's a number of good entries—stuff like FARMBOY, GUT BOMBS, I CHOKED, BAT PHONE, and DRY SPELL foremost among them. (Speaking of DRY SPELLs: I was on vacation last week in California. That drought stuff is for real. And snow packs are now at something like 6% of normal. It's terrible. Reassuringly, it ended up being not traumatic at all to commit to serious water stinginess. I wasn't a big "showering" fan to begin with, and under drought conditions, my slovenliness becomes a virtue. For me, and for the environment, it's a win-win.). I refuse to accept that ECOTAGE is a thing anyone has ever said. You can put ECOTAGE in your ICE CANOE and send them both right over the falls. But nothing else about the grid was grating. It's very nicely put together overall.
My favorite moment of the solve came early, when I hit 6D: Ones found in the closet? At that point, my grid looked like this:
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I was pretty excited about the possibilities. But no: just MOTHS.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
THEME:"Look What Turned Up!" — theme answers are Down that bounce (or "turn") back up at the end. That is, the last four letters turn back on themselves—or, at least, you have to read them that way for the theme answers to make sense (turned-up part is in red, below):
Theme answers:
- WISH YOU WERE H (2D: Postcard message)
- TAKES THE TOPS (59D: Wins)
- GLUTEN-FREE B (5D: Beverage brewed without barley or wheat)
- ON A SCALE FROM ONE TO (22D: How things may be rated)
- "NOW WHERE WER?" (70D: "What was I talking about before?")
- REACHES LEGAL (11D: Becomes an adult)
- DO EXACTLY AS I (63D: "Follow my command!")
noun
• • •
So the theme … I got it early and then … there it was. It's pretty joyless. Luckily, the phrases that got used were mostly delightful, but the bouncing back part? Shrug. The title made things too obvious. I was able to get it from the Obvious "WISH YOU WERE H." I mean, it didn't fit, so I looked at the title, and then all questions were answered. It's just not much of a trick, not much of a Thing to discover. But Jeff lays down a nice grid most every time out, so as a kind of oversized themeless, I was able to enjoy this one plenty. I'd prefer more humor / wordplay / cleverness in my Sunday theme, but I'll take this over plainer, cornier fare (the real danger on a Sunday).
Weird thing about this grid is the lack of longer answers (outside the themers). You got some 8s in the NE/SW corners, but they're not very remarkable (come on, ICE CANOE? What is that?). Outside of that, most of what you got in terms of longer fill is some stray 6s, 7s, and a couple 8s floating here and there. In that range, there's a number of good entries—stuff like FARMBOY, GUT BOMBS, I CHOKED, BAT PHONE, and DRY SPELL foremost among them. (Speaking of DRY SPELLs: I was on vacation last week in California. That drought stuff is for real. And snow packs are now at something like 6% of normal. It's terrible. Reassuringly, it ended up being not traumatic at all to commit to serious water stinginess. I wasn't a big "showering" fan to begin with, and under drought conditions, my slovenliness becomes a virtue. For me, and for the environment, it's a win-win.). I refuse to accept that ECOTAGE is a thing anyone has ever said. You can put ECOTAGE in your ICE CANOE and send them both right over the falls. But nothing else about the grid was grating. It's very nicely put together overall.
My favorite moment of the solve came early, when I hit 6D: Ones found in the closet? At that point, my grid looked like this:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]