Constructor: Joel Fagliano
Relative difficulty: Mondayish
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THEME:@rexparker— imaginary Twitter handles (that is, actual words reimagined as Twitter handles)
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: SHUTTERFLY (27D: Internet photo company named after an insect) —
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Smart, funny, modern, clean. Hurray. Mondays rarely have this kind of life, and rarely have grids that are both this theme-dense *and* this interesting. All those themers and he got STATE FAIRS and TAXIDERMY and SHUTTERFLY and CATACLYSM in there too. Pretty sweet. I wish beginning constructors would study this grid as an example of what an easy puzzle should be. Note especially the dearth of terrible short fill. And in a grid loaded w/ 3- and 4-letter words, that is some kind of accomplishment. I think I'd send back the partials GRATA and CRUE, and maybe AAA and NENE and SANTO, if I could, but if that's the worst stuff you're throwing out there, and you've got six good themers and six (6!) good 9+-letter answers in the Downs, that's something. People are happy to put up with The Usual Stuff in the short fill as long as the theme + longer fill entertains. That is today's lesson.
Plays fast and loose with the ends / tenses of the "handles" to make them work: present participles here, third-person present verb there, past tense verb there, noun there. And I might've gone with something other than "tire company" for @TRACTION, since @TIRED is already in the grid. But the lack of part-of-speech consistency in the handles is a non-issue—it certainly doesn't detract from the sense of the clues or the fun of figuring them out. And the "tire" thing is just a little thing. A note. A suggestion. Puzzle is still a winner. Winning Mondays are hard to make, and this one is clearly a cut above NYT-normal (i.e. about where I'd like the self-described "best puzzle in the world" to be every week).
Check out these kids, tearing up the crossword on the subway:
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This photo made me terribly happy. If you see anyone solving "in the wild" feel free to snap a pic and send it to me. Love it. (photo courtesy of reader Shandra Dykman)
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Facebook and Twitter]
Relative difficulty: Mondayish
Theme answers:
- @TEMPTING (17A: Good Twitter handle for a seductress?)
- @TESTING (21A: … for a teacher?)
- @TUNES (37A: … for a musician?)
- @TIRED (39A: … for a sleepyhead?)
- @TRIBUTE (53A: … for a eulogist?)
- @TRACTION (59A: … for a tire company?)
Word of the Day: SHUTTERFLY (27D: Internet photo company named after an insect) —
Shutterfly is an Internet-based image publishing service based in Redwood City, California. Shutterfly's flagship product is its photo book line. The company was founded in 1999 and is currently led by Jeffrey Housenbold, who joined the company in 2005.[2]The company went public in 2006. The customer base is heavily skewed toward women, who accounted for 80% of customers as reported in 2013.Shutterfly's revenue derives from "turning digital snapshots into tangible things". (wikipedia)
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Plays fast and loose with the ends / tenses of the "handles" to make them work: present participles here, third-person present verb there, past tense verb there, noun there. And I might've gone with something other than "tire company" for @TRACTION, since @TIRED is already in the grid. But the lack of part-of-speech consistency in the handles is a non-issue—it certainly doesn't detract from the sense of the clues or the fun of figuring them out. And the "tire" thing is just a little thing. A note. A suggestion. Puzzle is still a winner. Winning Mondays are hard to make, and this one is clearly a cut above NYT-normal (i.e. about where I'd like the self-described "best puzzle in the world" to be every week).
Check out these kids, tearing up the crossword on the subway:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Facebook and Twitter]