Country singer Clark / TUE 4-14-15 / Blue Moon lyricist / Dwarf planet discovered in 2005 / Old Turkish VIP / Art deco notable / Employee of paranoid king

Constructor: Bruce Haight

Relative difficulty: Challenging (**for a Tuesday**) 


THEME: EIGHT (36A: Total number of letters of the alphabet used in this puzzle) —

Word of the Day: GIRTHS (43D: Saddle straps) —

noun

plural noun: girths

1. 1. 

   the measurement around the middle of something, especially a person's waist.

   synonyms:

   circumference, perimeter; More
2. 2. 

   a band attached to a saddle, used to secure it on a horse by being fastened around its  belly.

   synonyms:

   cinch "a horse's girth"

    (google)

So my first thought is "Dear lord, why is the fill so terrible? Like … Terrible. Like, so terrible that even people who only say nice things about puzzles would say it's terrible. Terrible." That was here:

Actually, the moment came earlier, when I went on a SHISH / HIES / REES / AIRES / IRREG run, but SIEG… SIEG was the Hitler-esque cherry on the top. SIEG was when I stopped and said "I gotta take a picture of this." Unreal. I took another picture when I hit RAES, but who cares? It was at that moment that I thought "Where are the Os and Us…?" And then I tried desperately to predict what the conceit would be. Why would you do this? What's the hook? But the hook is … [drum roll] … EIGHT. An arbitrary number! OK, so when does the other shoe drop? EIGHT is important / interesting … why? It's April 14, so 4/14 so … [...carry the 7…] … nope nothing there.


So, let me get this straight (str-EIGHT!) … the grid has all the letters in EIGHT… plus SAR? And that anagrams to … something? AH, TIGERS! SHIT RAGE! How about SIGH RATE, as in "This puzzle will make your SIGH RATE high, as you encounter garbage fill over and over and over." Stunning. I give this puzzle EIGHT stars (out of a possible two thousand).


Seriously, I challenge you to find a worse puzzle than this one in recent NYT history. This is rock bottom. (Please let this be rock bottom.)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. now please read this cogent explanation of the real problem here: "It's All About the Fill" by Evan Birnholz.

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