Constructor: Bruce Haight
Relative difficulty: I don't know. I kept stopping to sigh and shake my head and take pictures of my grid. Medium?
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THEME: HERO SANDWICH (57A: Sub … or a literal hint to 20-, 34- and 43-Across) — "HERO" is "sandwiched" inside three theme answers:
Theme answers:
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This isn't just bad, it's comically bad. It's like someone set out to write a bad puzzle. It's like a parody of a bad puzzle. In fact … is it a parody? … [checking] … I don't see parody. I just see atrocity. And the thing is, so do you. None of you think this is good enough for the NYT. Even if your favorite thing is disagreeing with me, I don't believe you can defend this puzzle with a straight face. No, I see your face, and it is decidedly not straight. The fill is a 1 out of 10 (if we exclude the longer fill, it's a 0). The theme might have worked if the execution had been anything like interesting or competent, but it is neither. Sandwiches have two pieces of bread, and the filling touches the bread. So for the theme to work, you need two-word phrases, with letter string "HERO" shared between them. Only one of the themers does this (BEACH EROSION). In the others, BEER and LEARN just stick out there on the ends of their respective answers, like one of those colored toothpicks that sometimes get stuck in sandwiches. Or like a piece of fluff that really doesn't belong on a sandwich at all and isn't really edible. But the sad theme is just a sad theme. A kind of run-of-the-mill sad theme. Unacceptable for a puzzle of the NYT's stature, but not, in and of itself, a crime against humanity. It's the shamelessly terrible fill that's the real issue here. Did you see the NW corner? Did you? Here, let me refresh:
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This is where I thought the puzzle was trolling me. Why is the fill this bad? It must be theme-related. Last time this constructor published a puzzle, the fill was also terrible, but there, at least, there was a thematic reason (severely limited letter bank). Here … dear lord, Why? And then there's EZIO over EZER, which is like some kind of terrible crosswordese joke. I could list many, many more total bummer answers. Probably a dozen Bad, another dozen Less-Than-Good. I nearly made RUER the Word of the Day because that is what I am. I rue that I solved this at all, rue that I had to write about it. Mostly, I resent that the position of editor of the NYT Crossword puzzle has become such a sinecure that stuff like this gets published, and will continue to get published, with absolutely no repercussions. Every single puzzle at the Indie 500 Crossword Tournament this past Saturday put the average NYT puzzle to shame—difficulty levels varied, but conceptual brilliance and overall polish did *not*. My fellow crossword critics (the two who were in attendance) agreed—almost zero scowling. Just joy. You'd think the self-described "Best Puzzle in the World" (!?) could at least come close to meeting that kind of quality standard. You'd think. And to think, I kept telling people this past weekend, "You know, last week's Times' puzzles were almost all really solid … I think things might be looking up." LOL.
The fault, once again, lies entirely with the editor, who a. never should've accepted this puzzle, and b. once he'd accepted it, should've … what's the word? … right, *edited* the damned thing to make it far less ABBR-ABRA-BAABAA-Bominable. An assiduous editor would've rejected it with a note indicating that the theme concept was indeed solid, but that the execution (including theme answer choice and overall fill) needed to be considerably improved. Then maybe you end up teaching a novice constructor something about professional standards. And maybe the puzzle he later resubmits to you is good. And we are all the better off for it. But this is not the puzzle world we live in. I thought this was a CHER tribute puzzle half way in. I think I might've liked it *slightly* better if it had been.
Go buy the Indie 500 puzzles ($10 for Play-at-Home option, under "Register"). You won't rue it. Oh, and the clue on NATE (44D: Silver of fivethirtyeight.com) reminds me—there is a World-Class Nate Silver-related clue in one of the Indie 500 puzzles (don't worry, he's in the clue, not the answer, so nothing's been spoiled). So good, I said "wow" out loud while solving (much to the annoyance, I'm sure, of the competitors in my vicinity).
[Follow Rex Parker on Facebook and Twitter]
Relative difficulty: I don't know. I kept stopping to sigh and shake my head and take pictures of my grid. Medium?
Theme answers:
- BEACH EROSION (20A: Problem cause by ocean storms)
- PITCHER OF BEER (34A: Bar order for the whole table)
- LEARN THE ROPES (43A: Pick up basics)
Ezio Pinza (May 18, 1892 – May 9, 1957) was an Italian opera singer. A bass with a rich, smooth and sonorous voice, he spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas. At the San Francisco Opera, Pinza sang 26 roles during 20 seasons from 1927 to 1948. Pinza also sang to great acclaim at La Scala, Milan, and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.
• • •
The fault, once again, lies entirely with the editor, who a. never should've accepted this puzzle, and b. once he'd accepted it, should've … what's the word? … right, *edited* the damned thing to make it far less ABBR-ABRA-BAABAA-Bominable. An assiduous editor would've rejected it with a note indicating that the theme concept was indeed solid, but that the execution (including theme answer choice and overall fill) needed to be considerably improved. Then maybe you end up teaching a novice constructor something about professional standards. And maybe the puzzle he later resubmits to you is good. And we are all the better off for it. But this is not the puzzle world we live in. I thought this was a CHER tribute puzzle half way in. I think I might've liked it *slightly* better if it had been.
Go buy the Indie 500 puzzles ($10 for Play-at-Home option, under "Register"). You won't rue it. Oh, and the clue on NATE (44D: Silver of fivethirtyeight.com) reminds me—there is a World-Class Nate Silver-related clue in one of the Indie 500 puzzles (don't worry, he's in the clue, not the answer, so nothing's been spoiled). So good, I said "wow" out loud while solving (much to the annoyance, I'm sure, of the competitors in my vicinity).
[Follow Rex Parker on Facebook and Twitter]