Feminist author Millett / SAT 6-20-15 / Chicago-born choreographer / Service begun in 1947 for short / Country created by Treaty of Sevres 1920 / Social media debut of 2010

Constructor: Kyle T. Dolan

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Brienne of TARTH (10A: Brienne of ___, "Game of Thrones" protagonist) —

Brienne of Tarth is a fictional character in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fireseries of fantasy novels. She is a prominent point of view character in the fourth novel, A Feast for Crows, and a main character in the television adaptation. (wikipedia)

Need to wrap this up quickly, as I'm kind of at Peak Summer Cold right now, and also it's "Summer of Noir" on TCM so Friday nights are Always Something Good On nights, all summer. Nice to have illness dovetail with film noir marathon (and that is literally the only "nice" thing about this summer cold). I didn't love this one. Its marquee answers seemed not marquee enough—straining to be hip and relevant, but landing somehow just off the "Wow" mark. WIN AT LIFE is a phrase, I guess, but it left me cold, as did the '90s-era-Bud-ad "WASSUP!" and whatever SPANDRELS are (got that answer entirely from crosses).


Really started to sour on this puzzle when I hit the truly hackneyed, seen-only-in-crosswords ICEAXE.

I've seen that answer a million times, and I doubt I've ever complained about it, and it's an actual thing, but it's … well, with SOG already in the books, it seemed to herald mediocrity. AMINO ACID, too, felt limp. Not bad. Just so-so. Didn't help that I immediately followed ICE AXE up with ENDO. ENDO is slang for pot. Just FYI, in case that ever shows up in a clue, which, in the NYT, it probably won't, but such a clue would almost make ENDO interesting. EMONEY will never be interesting unless someday there is a rapper called E MONEY. Or unless you clue that answer [How "Two Tickets to Paradise" singer signs his checks"]. The NE didn't liven things up much.

TARTH wants you to think it's fresh, contemporary fill, but it's not. It would be fine if it were necessary to hold something good together, but as a gratuitous "hey I watch GOT" reference, in a corner where we have to suffer through EASEIN and HENNAED, no, TARTH isn't good. Rest of the puzzle was too easy to be terribly remarkable.


I almost like HAVE A BEER, in that I like having beer, but the clue (60A: Kick back while watching the ball game, say) struck me as odd. First, you HAVE A BEER as a possible addition to kicking back. You'd kick back *and* HAVE A BEER. You can certainly kick back without one, and I have been in plenty of baseball-watching, beer-drinking situations where I was not at all kicked back (if it's a tense game, I'm often standing and "talking" to the screen, decidedly unkicked back, possibly frightening my dogs and causing them to leave the room). Also, if that's your clue, then apparently any clue will do, e.g. [Relax after work], [Celebrate the end of the work week], [React to thirst], etc. It's weird that I find myself disappointed by beer, but here we are. Maybe STEAK RUB was supposed to be an exciting answer? It's acceptable, for sure, but like most of the rest of the grid's "highlights," it just didn't do much for me. Not a bad puzzle overall, but I'll forget about it as soon as I post this.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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