New York Times, Tuesday, November 24, 2015
| Author: | Gary Cee |
| Editor: | Will Shortz |
Will accepted this crossword back in April of 2012. My heart sank a bit when I saw Byron Walden's excellent RINSE CYCLE on March 26th of this year. The theme is so similar, and Byron's puzzle was certainly superior to what I have here today. Timing really is everything, isn't it?
"House of Cards" was not yet on Netflix in 2012, so my clue for 23-Across referenced "American Beauty." I was surprised that mine made the cut, as "‘House of Cards' star" might be more Tuesday-worthy in 2015.
I appreciate what Will and Joel did with 38-Across, as my original clue was the inferior "Hollywood's most commercially successful filmmaker of all time."
Crosswords are wonderful diversions, and I love making them. Aren't they great?
Gary gives us the SPIN CYCLE to accompany Byron's recent RINSE CYCLE puzzle. A strong choice of themers, UP IN SMOKE and HMS PINAFORE my favorites. The latter makes me smile, thinking about Bart Simpson tricking Sideshow Bob into singing the entirety of HMS PINAFORE in order to stall for time.
Given how easy it is to find phrases with INSP and NSPI somewhere within them, I might have liked a bit more diversity rather than two Hollywood men. A bit of searching turned up such fun ones as SHIN SPLINTS, HUMAN SPIDER, GOLDEN SPIKE, or my favorite, THE GOLDEN SPIRAL.
I really appreciated some of the longer stuff like LAY A TRAP, PET SCAN, ARSENAL, OVER HERE. MASH NOTE felt a bit fusty, but even that was kind of fun.
And in general, I think Gary did a very nice job with his short fill … with one glaring exception. Now, I debated whether or not this is way too picky, but I'm a steadfast believer in making early-week puzzles accessible to all kinds of solvers. I'm a huge jazz fan, but OLETA Adams only vaguely tickled my brain. Crossing that with "It's ___ Thing" got me hung up. "It's A MOVE Thing" sounded like it could be a pop/dance song just as much as "It's A LOVE Thing."
On one hand, it's only one square. On the other, I think a puzzle should ultimately set up the solver to beat it for a feeling of euphoric satisfaction. Just one square can leave such a bad taste.
That said, the rest of the puzzle is really well executed. Impressive to have so much theme material, plus a few longer pieces of fill, and only require A TIE to hold things together.
As Gary humbly mentioned, I liked the elegance of Byron's execution better — neat to see the cycling all in a column like it was in a washing machine — but Gary's puzzle still entertained me.
1 P | 2 A | 3 N | 4 A | 5 M | 6 S | 7 T | 8 E | 9 M | 10 A | 11 N | 12 T | 13 S |
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14 O | L | E | T | A | 15 L | Y | L | E | 16 L | O | O | T |
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17 T | O | G | A | S | 18 U | P | I | N | 19 S | M | O | K | E |
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20 O | V | E | R | H | 21 E | R | E | 22 A | S | K | E | W |
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23 K | E | V | I | N | S | P | A | 24 C | 25 E | Y | ||||
26 O | P | S | 27 A | R | S | 28 E | 29 N | 30 A | 31 L |
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32 R | 33 A | 34 B | 35 A | T | 36 A | L | I | 37 B | O | C | A |
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38 S | T | E | V | E | 39 N | 40 S | P | I | E | 41 L | B | E | R | G |
42 V | I | L | E | 43 O | A | T | 44 A | S | S | E | S |
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45 P | E | T | S | 46 C | A | N | 47 F | 48 E | Y | |||||
49 H | M | S | 50 P | I | N | A | 51 F | 52 O | 53 R | 54 E |
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55 A | 56 S | 57 S | 58 A | I | 59 O | L | D | T | I | M | E | S |
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60 S | P | I | N | C | 61 Y | 62 C | L | E | 63 R | O | A | S | T |
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64 P | A | L | E | 65 S | P | O | T | 66 A | N | N | I | E |
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67 S | N | O | W | 68 L | A | S | S | 69 P | A | I | N | E |
| Across | Down | |
| 1. ___ Games : PANAM 6. Part of a plant or a wineglass : STEM 10. Colony dwellers : ANTS 14. Soul singer Adams : OLETA 15. Cy Young Award winner Sparky : LYLE 16. Thief's bagful : LOOT 17. Memorable "Animal House" costumes : TOGAS 18. 1978 Cheech & Chong comedy : UPINSMOKE 20. Helpful cry during a rescue mission : OVERHERE 22. Lopsided : ASKEW 23. Academy Award winner for "American Beauty" : KEVINSPACEY 26. Black ___ (some military missions) : OPS 27. Weapons stockpile : ARSENAL 32. Morocco's capital : RABAT 36. Who said "It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am" : ALI 37. ___ Raton, Fla. : BOCA 38. Besides Charlie Chaplin, only film director on Time's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century : STEVENSPIELBERG 42. Repulsive : VILE 43. Kellogg's Cracklin' ___ Bran : OAT 44. Biblical beasts : ASSES 45. 3-D image in medical diagnoses : PETSCAN 47. Tina who won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor : FEY 49. Gilbert and Sullivan operetta set on a ship : HMSPINAFORE 55. Very, in music : ASSAI 59. Days of yore : OLDTIMES 60. Washer action ... or a hint to four consecutive letters inside 18-, 23-, 38- and 49-Across : SPINCYCLE 63. Certain Comedy Central production : ROAST 64. Wan : PALE 65. Word after beauty or blind : SPOT 66. Markswoman Oakley : ANNIE 67. White icing on a gingerbread house, possibly : SNOW 68. Lad's partner : LASS 69. "Common Sense" writer : PAINE |
1. Chaim who wrote "The Chosen" : POTOK 2. "It's ___ Thing" (1981 hit by the Whispers) : ALOVE 3. Israel's ___ Desert : NEGEV 4. Arcade game pioneer : ATARI 5. Love letter : MASHNOTE 6. Eats noisily : SLURPS 7. High-strung, as a personality : TYPEA 8. Whitney who invented the cotton gin : ELI 9. Baritones, typically : MEN 10. Charitable donations : ALMS 11. ___ and cranny : NOOK 12. Puff on a joint : TOKE 13. Meat-and-vegetables dish : STEW 19. Verbalizes : SAYS 21. Paranormal ability, for short : ESP 24. Colombian metropolis : CALI 25. Ontario border lake : ERIE 28. Recedes : EBBS 29. Dissents : NOES 30. Piece of land : ACRE 31. Tarries : LAGS 32. Click yes or no on an e-vite, say : RSVP 33. "___ is like kissing your sister" (sports adage) : ATIE 34. Heavyweight's prize : BELT 35. Fifth and Park, in N.Y.C. : AVES 36. Perceptive, as a pupil : APT 39. Linguist Chomsky : NOAM 40. ___-serif typeface : SANS 41. Show some guile : LAYATRAP 46. Stylish : CHIC 47. Steakhouse offerings : FILETS 48. Call it a day : END 50. Pullover shirts : POLOS 51. Grammy winner Apple : FIONA 52. Native of Muscat : OMANI 53. Pine exudation : RESIN 54. ___ Lauder : ESTEE 55. Nile vipers : ASPS 56. Extend across : SPAN 57. Structure with a rounded top : SILO 58. All over again : ANEW 61. Designer's monogram : YSL 62. Tax time busy bee : CPA |
Answer summary: 4 unique to this puzzle.
Found bugs or have suggestions?