Former New York archbishop / TUE 9-1-15 / Madrid's Sofia Museum / Phrase over movie poster / Like clothing customized from raw fabric / Like name Leningrad

Constructor: Michael Torch

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: Vowel sound progression—last syllables go through 5 vowel sounds, from long A sound (allegedly) to long U sound

Theme answers:

• RIVER SEINE
• CRASH SCENE
• "LORD, GIVE ME A SIGN"
• CUT AND SEWN
• COMING SOON 

Word of the Day: Cardinal Edward M. EGAN (53D: Former New York archbishop) —

Edward Michael Egan (April 2, 1932 – March 5, 2015) was an American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Bridgeport from 1988 to 2000, and as Archbishop of New York from 2000 to 2009. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 2001. (wikipedia)

These puzzle continue to skew old, staid, and safe. This concept is fine—sound progression is a time-tested theme. I've seen many of these before. This one seems reasonably original.Well, there's one problem. Kind of a biggie: uh, that river? It's not pronounced SAYn.  It's more SENN. So, short e, not long a. But maybe it's some Americanism I don't know about. Even so, both RIVER SEINE and CUT AND SEWN both feel like stretches to me. What other SEINE is there? The SANDWICH SEINE? The DIVE BAR SEINE? I get that there is a convention (an olde one) of saying things like "The River Nile"—maybe it's a poetic convention? But it feels stilted. CUT AND SEWN, on the other hand, just doesn't stand alone well, though perhaps this is some inside baseball (or inside tailoring) term that I just don't know. Possible. Anyway, themewise, we move through the long vowel sounds in that last syllable. That's all. Fill is a bit cleaner than yesterday, but still ruthlessly uncontemporary, as is the cluing. Again, this puzzle could've come straight out of '80s, '70s, '60s, no problem. I knew it was not going to be my cup of tea with the first answer I put in the grid:

Is that an *inherently* bad answer? Well, no. But at 1-Across, I knew. I've done enough of these. I knew. It was a harbinger. A telling sign of what the puzzle's cultural center of gravity would be. I feel like the NYT has just decided that making inoffensive, familiar fare for Boomers and their parents is the way they're gonna go. FALA-lalala, HAHA ECRU. This is mightily disappointing, as well as mighty confusing. But maybe as a business model, this makes great sense. For now.



Here's an epic puzzle tribute to the late Merl Reagle, by non-prolific crossword artisan Kevin Der. It's got several layers, and is really beautiful, in more ways than one. Check it out.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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