Author: | David Woolf |
Editor: | Will Shortz |
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This was really just an excuse to get BIGSPOON in a puzzle. With that in at 1A, I decided to shoot for big, open northwest and southeast corners while keeping the number of 3 and 4 word answers to a minimum. So here's a short list of the things I liked about the puzzle while I was constructing it.
I was happy to see many of my favorite clues survive the cut, and particularly enjoyed some of Will's additions in the southwest. Also, the timing of this puzzle's publication couldn't have been better, as my wife just 41D'ed a baby while her family was on 47A for a wedding, so they're surrounded by 16A while we're surrounded by, well, 5D. I hope you enjoyed the puzzle!
That northwest corner is sooooooo impressive. Almost no one tries an 8x4 themeless region, because it's too tough to get both colorful and smooth. Who would be crazy enough to run a 7x4 region through an 8x4 — along with a long entry as good as STRESS EATS? Check out how much great material David packed in: BIG SPOON, LOGROLLS, BOLO TIE, GAG REEL, STRESS EATS, and even OIL RIG. Yowza! Well worth the price of the unsightly I REST partial. Nice bonus to have POOP deck and ORLOP (that's a thing, apparently) deck right next to each other, too.
Pretty nice work in the opposite corner too, considering the constraints. Seeing things like ETOILES (deep foreign vocab) and ONE TO TEN (felt kind of arbitrary) is more what I'd expect from a giant L-shaped region like this, but to get FIRE SALE and RATS NEST, with only ESOS as a price to pay is a good result.
Snazzy lower left. BMX BIKE has that lovely BMXB start, and TEAR GAS / BAR CAR make for excellent additions to that corner. The one oddity was IN GAME. Tough to swallow — I couldn't force myself to believe that was "a thing" — but apparently it is. Huh.
HOT DOGGER anchored the final corner, and I particularly liked how it echoed the nature of some BMX BIKErs.
I had to really think about why yesterday's themeless struck me better than today's. As a constructor, I really admire the tremendous challenge David set for himself. But there were enough entries that made me hitch — GOOD REASON was another where I wondered "is this good or not?" — that the solving experience was more one of admiration for the construction feat rather than the pure joy of the solve. There were some feature entries today that I've seen several times already, like RATS NEST and ORATORIO, as opposed to debuts like yesterday's HACKATHON.
Still, there's something to be said for very nice piece of ambitious construction work. Kudos!
1 B | 2 I | 3 G | 4 S | 5 P | 6 O | 7 O | 8 N | 9 H | 10 A | 11 H | 12 A | 13 H | 14 A |
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15 O | R | A | T | O | R | I | O | 16 O | L | I | V | E | S |
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17 L | O | G | R | O | L | L | S | 18 T | I | N | I | E | S |
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19 O | N | R | E | P | O | R | T | 20 D | A | D | A | D | A |
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21 T | O | E | S | 22 P | I | A | 23 N | O | S | 24 T | I | N |
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25 I | R | E | S | 26 T | 27 G | R | O | G | 28 G | O | N | G |
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29 E | E | L | E | R | 30 S | 31 S | T | G | 32 E | O | R | G | E |
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33 A | E | O | 34 N | 35 H | E | R | O | |||||||
36 B | 37 A | 38 T | T | E | R | U | 39 P | 40 R | I | D | 41 G | 42 E | 43 D |
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44 M | R | E | S | 45 C | L | A | 46 M | 47 C | R | E | T | E |
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48 X | I | A | 49 C | E | L | I | A | 50 C | 51 E | S | O | S |
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52 B | A | R | 53 C | A | R | 54 D | R | A | 55 M | A | T | I | C |
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56 I | N | G | A | M | E | 57 F | I | R | E | S | A | L | E |
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58 K | N | A | V | E | S | 59 O | N | E | T | O | T | E | N |
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60 E | A | S | E | L | S | 61 R | A | T | S | N | E | S | T |
Across | Down | |
1. One of a pair of cuddlers : BIGSPOON 9. Desired response to a 3-Down : HAHAHA 15. Handel bars : ORATORIO 16. Bartender's stock : OLIVES 17. Participates in quid pro quo : LOGROLLS 18. Edward Gorey's "The Gashlycrumb ___" : TINIES 19. In trouble for base violations? : ONREPORT 20. 1982 international chart-topper by Trio with a repetitive title : DADADA 21. Digits in flats, maybe : TOES 22. Noted challenges for movers : PIANOS 24. About 92% of britannium : TIN 25. Start of a lawyer's conclusion : IREST 27. Tar liquid : GROG 28. One getting hammered : GONG 29. Some workers along Chesapeake Bay : EELERS 31. Roman soldier who became a Christian martyr : STGEORGE 33. Very long span : AEON 35. Grinder : HERO 36. Call to someone on deck : BATTERUP 40. Like sand dunes : RIDGED 44. G.I. portions : MRES 45. Symbol of happiness : CLAM 47. Iraklion is its capital : CRETE 48. First Chinese dynasty : XIA 49. Relating to the abdomen : CELIAC 51. Just those of Juan's things? : ESOS 52. It's on track to serve people : BARCAR 54. Showy and sudden : DRAMATIC 56. Like live-blogged sports updates : INGAME 57. Everything must go in it : FIRESALE 58. Deceitful sorts : KNAVES 59. Basic count : ONETOTEN 60. Three-footers : EASELS 61. Hoarder's squalor : RATSNEST |
1. Western wear : BOLOTIE 2. Major export of Western Australia : IRONORE 3. Series of bloopers : GAGREEL 4. Puts away under pressure? : STRESSEATS 5. ___ deck : POOP 6. ___ deck : ORLOP 7. Where a mud engineer works : OILRIG 8. Awful rating : NOSTARS 9. Showboat : HOTDOGGER 10. Billy the Kid, e.g. : ALIAS 11. Rear : HIND 12. Howard Hughes, for one : AVIATOR 13. Taking seriously : HEEDING 14. Subject of the 2013 film "The Fifth Estate" : ASSANGE 23. Chris of CBS's "The Good Wife" : NOTH 26. Kind of diagram : TREE 28. Motive that makes sense : GOODREASON 30. Spelling pro? : SORCERESS 32. Decker or Dickerson of the N.F.L. : ERIC 34. { }, in mathematics : NULL 36. Off-road racer : BMXBIKE 37. Huffington of The Huffington Post : ARIANNA 38. March interrupter, maybe : TEARGAS 39. Purchased : PAIDFOR 41. Take to term : GESTATE 42. Headliners at le Palais Garnier, e.g. : ETOILES 43. Spelunker's activity : DESCENT 46. Place for an anchor : MARINA 49. Brand once advertised with the line "They never get on your nerves" : CAMEL 50. Addition sign : CARET 53. Give up : CAVE 55. Subway Series squad : METS |
Answer summary: 8 unique to this puzzle, 2 debuted here and reused later, 1 unique to Shortz Era but used previously.
Found bugs or have suggestions?