What a cool grid pattern! The triple-stack down the center plus a TON of long entries — a pair of long downs in the NW / SE and an ...
read moreWhat a cool grid pattern! The triple-stack down the center plus a TON of long entries — a pair of long downs in the NW / SE and an enormous number of long acrosses — made me eager to dive in. The central stack didn't disappoint, with THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. (I said a prayer of thanks that it was Biggie and not some new rapper I'd need every cross for) next to HATERS GONNA HATE. AMERICAN APPAREL is good, too.
(ADDED NOTE: people have been asking me about the pic of Ruth Bader Ginsberg — she's got one of my favorite nicknames, "the Notorious RBG.")

Neat to see long answers run straight through that triple-stack. YOGA PANTS is not only a great entry, but it becomes stellar when you add a clue like [They may be put on a stretcher]. That's clue of the year material for me — I kept wondering what kind of accident victim the clue was hinting at. ART SCENE / HOP ON POP / SHAKE ON IT / I DON'T BITE also running through the stack? Yes yes yes!
ESNE? And a cutesy clue attempting to beg forgiveness for such a fusty piece of crosswordese? No no no! Along with some very minor stuff like OTO, PDS, SEP, it demonstrates the eternal trade-off of going B.I.G. (and needing to use some crossword glue), or staying more conservative (and completely smooth). I imagine Natan agonized about that corner, with such a great number of long words connecting up in the NE … but also the dreaded ESNE.
RPG is an interesting one. I'm not much of a gamer these days, but role-playing games like D&D are very familiar to me. It's going to be a toughie for some, especially when crossing GUAPOS, a word pretty deep into Spanish.
BOLLYWOOD is a great way to launch a themeless. I liked the misleading plural in [Indian pictures]. I wasn't as hot as some of the other long entries, DOCTRINAL / ETCHED IN / HAPPENED more neutral in my eyes than assets. Still, with a whopping 19 (!) long entries, Natan still converts many of those slots into POW-quality material. It just wasn't quite enough for me to be able to look the other way and give it the award this week.