Author: | Jeffrey Wechsler |
Editor: | Will Shortz |
The theme of this puzzle arose in a manner that I suppose is common for many constructors — a word (or a word in a phrase) suddenly triggers a thought process that ultimately leads to a crossword. Here, I noticed the one-syllable word English word SAKE can be transformed simply by a variation in pronunciation into the two-syllable Japanese wine SAKE. When applied to FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, the standard English phrase becomes re-defined into a rather amusing concept by using the Japanese meaning. With this revelation, the essence of a constructor's "aha moment" had taken place, and the hunt for other words that could offer parallel transformations began.
It turned out that there aren't many relevant choices. In the completed puzzle, the letter E is the consistent transformative focus, shifting in pronunciation, with the E changing from a silent to a voiced vowel in three of the entries. This is nice, although it is partially a side effect of the apparent dearth of options. In the end, three of the key words referred to food or drink. There is another edible option — PATE — but the English meaning of PATE (the top of the head) did not offer any common or reasonable phrases. Thus, LAME might be considered the outlier of the group, but I like the humor of LAME's altered meaning in the puzzle, so the thematic set seems OK to me.
The length of the theme entries was a bit awkward — two 14s and two 10s — with letter positions leading to the stepped wedges that bracket the grid. But the layout did allow symmetrical pairs of relatively long downs — 8s, 9s, and 10s — giving the opportunity for a few interesting entries.
Finally, when one submits a slightly lengthy quote as a clue, it's never certain that it will be retained through the editorial process. So I'm particularly gratified that the trenchant quote from Mark Twain is present.
Fun theme idea, one-syllable words interpreted as their two-syllable counterparts. I'm a big fan of MOLE sauce (spicy chocolatey goodness!), so WHACK A MO-LE made me laugh. FOR HEAVENS SA-KE and LA-ME EXCUSE felt more tortured grammatically, but I was still amused.
I did like RUN FOR THE RO-SES (pinkish wines), but it felt inconsistent with the rest of the themers, as the only plural. I don't mind a lack of tightness if the theme is ultra-constrained, but there are a lot of ROSE phrases out there.
I know, my OCD constructor's brain is so annoying!
I like that Jeffrey made an effort to give solvers some bonuses in the fill. Fun to have WHITE RICE and THE NATURAL, as well as YESHIVAS and SUM TOTAL.
There were prices to pay for this, though. WHITE RICE and THE NATURAL are made possible by not using the typical black squares which would break up the side of the puzzle — the RET of RETAIN would normally be black squares to facilitate better fill. This forces some crossword glue like A TALE, and the odd LAND AT. I don't mind add-a-preposition phrases when they sound natural, but LAND AT … hmm.
My immature brain giggled at LUDE and TOKE in the same puzzle.
My constructor's brain pointed out RECTO, TVA, ROUES, HMS. Nothing terrible, but all slightly iffy. Overall, I would have preferred a slightly cleaner puzzle with slightly fewer goodies.
Neat concept with some funny results. If 1.) this had been on a Wednesday or Tuesday, where I expect these simpler types of themes, 2.) the themers had all been singular, and 3.) the puzzle had been executed more smoothly, I would have given it the POW!
1 A | 2 W | 3 A | 4 Y | 5 S | 6 O | 7 L | 8 I | 9 D | 10 A | 11 T | 12 I | 13 T |
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14 S | I | Z | E | 15 P | L | U | M | E | 16 B | O | N | E |
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17 O | N | U | S | 18 R | A | D | I | I | 19 R | O | V | E |
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20 F | O | R | H | 21 E | A | V | E | N | S | 22 S | A | K | E | |
23 I | V | Y | 24 M | I | D | A | C | 25 T |
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26 T | V | A | 27 M | 28 A | 29 R | 30 R | E | C | T | O |
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31 W | H | A | C | 32 K | A | M | O | 33 L | E | 34 L | I | P |
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35 S | H | E | S | 36 I | M | B | U | E | 37 S | A | V | E |
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38 P | I | N | 39 L | A | M | E | E | X | 40 C | U | S | E | ||
41 A | T | A | 42 L | E | 43 A | R | S | 44 H | M | S | ||||
45 R | E | T | A | I | 46 N | 47 B | E | T | ||||||
48 R | U | N | F | O | 49 R | 50 T | 51 H | E | R | O | 52 S | 53 E | 54 S |
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55 G | I | R | D | 56 F | A | T | A | L | 57 T | O | K | E |
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58 N | C | A | A | 59 A | T | O | L | L | 60 A | L | E | X |
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61 C | E | L | T | 62 T | E | P | E | E | 63 L | O | S | T |
Across | Down | |
1. Departed : AWAY 5. Unwavering : SOLID 10. Feuding : ATIT 14. Economy, for one : SIZE 15. Active volcano feature : PLUME 16. Chew toy alternative : BONE 17. Responsibility : ONUS 18. Pie chart features : RADII 19. Go here and there : ROVE 20. Why Japanese tipplers anticipate the afterlife? : FORHEAVENSSAKE 23. Columbia, e.g. : IVY 24. Halfway through a stage routine : MIDACT 26. Power and economic development corp. started in 1933 : TVA 27. Scratch : MAR 30. Page 1, 3 or 5, usually : RECTO 31. Pound on some Mexican food? : WHACKAMOLE 34. Back talk : LIP 35. The Rolling Stones' "___ a Rainbow" : SHES 36. Suffuse : IMBUE 37. Excepting : SAVE 38. Brooch : PIN 39. "I didn't know you disliked shiny fabrics!," e.g.? : LAMEEXCUSE 41. "And thereby hangs ___": "As You Like It" : ATALE 43. "___ longa, vita brevis" : ARS 44. Designation for U.K. vessels : HMS 45. Not forget : RETAIN 47. Track transaction : BET 48. Quick trip to pick up white zinfandel and blush? : RUNFORTHEROSES 55. Strengthen : GIRD 56. "Travel is ___ to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness": Twain : FATAL 57. It's a drag : TOKE 58. Sports org. headquartered in Indianapolis : NCAA 59. Sight in Micronesia : ATOLL 60. Antihero of "A Clockwork Orange" : ALEX 61. Influence for Enya, historically : CELT 62. Function for a buffalo hide : TEPEE 63. Lacking a purpose in life : LOST |
1. Starting : ASOF 2. Overindulging sort : WINO 3. France's Côte d'___ : AZUR 4. Places to study the Talmud : YESHIVAS 5. Many an insect repellent : SPRAY 6. Name of five Norwegian kings : OLAV 7. Certain trank : LUDE 8. Poker declaration : IMIN 9. Something many Founding Fathers believed in : DEISM 10. Wear down : ABRADE 11. Went to night school, maybe : TOOKACLASS 12. Words meant to hurt : INVECTIVE 13. One of a group of 18 : TEE 21. Emergency procedure, briefly : EVAC 22. Courtly term of address : SIRE 25. Emulate a 2-Down : TOPE 26. 1952 Bernard Malamud novel made into a hit 1984 movie : THENATURAL 27. Start of many an Italian pizzeria name : MAMMA 28. Organic jewelry material : AMBER 29. Libertines : ROUES 31. One side of China? : WHITERICE 32. Soul maker : KIA 33. Law of ancient times : LEX 35. It's often rigged : SPAR 37. Entirety : SUMTOTAL 39. Eric's seafaring son : LEIF 40. The Goddess of Pop : CHER 42. Reach by air : LANDAT 46. Property of skim milk : NOFAT 47. Beauty in "Beauty and the Beast" : BELLE 49. Compare, in a way : RATE 50. Corvette feature : TTOP 51. Fit : HALE 52. Alone : SOLO 53. Stretches (out) : EKES 54. Blue note? : SEXT 55. Vitamin and supplement retailer : GNC |
Answer summary: 5 unique to this puzzle, 2 unique to Shortz Era but used previously.
Found bugs or have suggestions?