Constructor: Susan Gelfand
Relative difficulty: Tuesdayish, maybe a tad harder than normal
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THEME: famous person does something— noun phrases are reimagined as verb phrases involving famous people of various sorts:
Theme answers:
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This felt a bit hack-y, the noun-to-celebrity-name gimmick. ROCK GARDENS in particular seemed really, really familiar. So I did a little archive digging. Actually ROCK GARDEN(S), though it has been used many times, has never been used in a Chris Rock switcheroo theme answer, the way I had imagined. But I knew this basic concept had been done before, possibly to death, so I went after a few more of the theme answers. Then I just searched *POUND* in the cruciverb database and, well, bingo, of sorts. A Monday NYT puzzle from seven years back with the following themers:
In terms of difficulty, it's interesting that this puzzle didn't provide the famous person's first name, the way that 2008 puzzle did. Definitely adds a modicum of difficulty, withholding that name. But providing it, esp. in the case of someone with a name like Leontyne (!), would perhaps have rendered the puzzle too easy. Who knows? My time came out Tuesday-normal, so this cluing seemed fine to me. Fill is OK today—more junk than you want to see, but lots of interesting longer answers in the Downs. I had trouble coming up with both LOSER and POSER, which is probably telling, hopefully to my credit but maybe not from where you're sitting. My only real struggle, though, was in the SW, where I went with BRAVERY and BETAMAX, side by side. Luckily, the wrongness thereof was readily apparent. Finished with the "G" in Josh GROBAN, whom I once saw on the streets of Carmel, CA. This was peak GROBAN (so, like, a decade ago), and man the middle-aged ladies were happy to see him. He wasn't mobbed (Carmel's too sleep for mobs), but he was, let's say, surrounded. Politely and lovingly surrounded.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Tuesdayish, maybe a tad harder than normal
Theme answers:
- ROCK GARDENS (17A: Comedian cultivates flowers?)
- POUND SIGNS (23A: Poet inks a contract?)
- PRICE TAGS (33A: Opera singer scrawls graffiti?)
- FIELD TRIPS (48A: Actress stumbles?)
- BACON STRIPS (53A: Philosopher removes his clothes?)
Betacam is a family of half-inch professional videocassette products developed by Sony in 1982. In colloquial use, "Betacam" singly is often used to refer to a Betacam camcorder, a Betacam tape, a Betacam video recorder or the format itself. (wikipedia)
• • •
- 18A: Poet Ezra's favorite desserts? (Pound cakes)
- 4D: Writer Anne's favorite dessert? (Rice pudding)
- 27D: Writer Jack's favorite entree? (London broil)
- 62A: Essayist Charles's favorite entree? (Lamb shanks)
In terms of difficulty, it's interesting that this puzzle didn't provide the famous person's first name, the way that 2008 puzzle did. Definitely adds a modicum of difficulty, withholding that name. But providing it, esp. in the case of someone with a name like Leontyne (!), would perhaps have rendered the puzzle too easy. Who knows? My time came out Tuesday-normal, so this cluing seemed fine to me. Fill is OK today—more junk than you want to see, but lots of interesting longer answers in the Downs. I had trouble coming up with both LOSER and POSER, which is probably telling, hopefully to my credit but maybe not from where you're sitting. My only real struggle, though, was in the SW, where I went with BRAVERY and BETAMAX, side by side. Luckily, the wrongness thereof was readily apparent. Finished with the "G" in Josh GROBAN, whom I once saw on the streets of Carmel, CA. This was peak GROBAN (so, like, a decade ago), and man the middle-aged ladies were happy to see him. He wasn't mobbed (Carmel's too sleep for mobs), but he was, let's say, surrounded. Politely and lovingly surrounded.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]