Constructor: Jason Flinn
Relative difficulty: Medium
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THEME: -onym— familiar phrases have "-ONYM" added to their ends and then are reclued accordingly.
Theme answers:
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I thought this was pretty nifty. The fill wasn't always great and the general frame of reference was just … not mine. Not my wheelhouse. BUT the theme was clever, and I solved it in what I imagine is an ideal way—that is, I got the basic idea, and thought "well OK, I guess" but then got to the last theme answer and realized I hadn't gotten he full idea at all. It was all just literal to me until I hit NEW YORK METONYM and thought "ha ha, that's funny, sounds like 'things named after the New York Mets…'" and that's when my brain went "D'oh!" and saw that all the themers were like that—ordinary phrases before you add "-onym(s)" to the end. NEAT little twist. Fill actually isn't terrible—just grimy in the short stuff, mostly in the corners (STLO OHM LTYR in the NE, ESME ODEUM NOTTE in the SE, AWHO… just being AWHO). But solid longer Downs largely drown out that noise. I found this all decidedly acceptable.
Had remarkable trouble getting going in the NW. Bygone Toyota was not coming to me at all, and SAMI was not at all obvious from 1D: Arctic residents, and even when I got -MI I wrote in SUMI (?), and I had IN ON before UP ON at 2D: Acquainted with, and I had no shot at ANTIOCH (5D: Third-largest city of the Roman Empire) until I came at it from the other end, so lots of sputtering up there to start. But once I got going, progress was pretty regular, and there were no major sticking points. Didn't get the HENS clue at first (7D: Roosters … or not roosters?), but do now (first "Roosters" = "Ones who roost"). Had NICE instead of NEAT (41D: "Ooooh!"), ODIUM instead of ODEUM (54A: Theater) (very different words), and RECUTS instead ofREDYES (40D: Changes the locks again?). All in all, untroublesome and non-STICKY (22D: Awkward).
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Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: -onym— familiar phrases have "-ONYM" added to their ends and then are reclued accordingly.
Theme answers:
- 17A: The Olympics or Andes Mints (MOUNTAIN TOPONYMS) ["mountain top" + -onym]
- 23A: White and lighted (BLACK ANTONYMS) ["black ant" + -onyms]
- 39A: Deadly or human (MORTAL SYNONYM) ["mortal sin" + -onym] — this one is the only one that involves a spelling change to the base phrase ("sin" to "SYN"); not a problem—they all still work perfectly, sound-wise.
- 51A: Wall Street and Madison Avenue (NEW YORK METONYMS) ("New York Met" + -onyms)
Alek Wek (born 16 April 1977) is a South Sudanese British model and designer who began her fashion career at the age of 18 in 1995. As the first black model whose looks did not conform to Caucasian aesthetics, she has been hailed for her influence on the perception of beauty in the fashion industry. She is from the Dinka ethnic group in South Sudan, but fled to Britain in 1991 to escape the civil war in Sudan. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. (wikipedia)
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Had remarkable trouble getting going in the NW. Bygone Toyota was not coming to me at all, and SAMI was not at all obvious from 1D: Arctic residents, and even when I got -MI I wrote in SUMI (?), and I had IN ON before UP ON at 2D: Acquainted with, and I had no shot at ANTIOCH (5D: Third-largest city of the Roman Empire) until I came at it from the other end, so lots of sputtering up there to start. But once I got going, progress was pretty regular, and there were no major sticking points. Didn't get the HENS clue at first (7D: Roosters … or not roosters?), but do now (first "Roosters" = "Ones who roost"). Had NICE instead of NEAT (41D: "Ooooh!"), ODIUM instead of ODEUM (54A: Theater) (very different words), and RECUTS instead ofREDYES (40D: Changes the locks again?). All in all, untroublesome and non-STICKY (22D: Awkward).
[Follow Rex Parker on Facebook and Twitter]