New York Times, Tuesday, May 10, 2016
| Author: | David Kwong |
| Editor: | Will Shortz |
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My frequent collaborator Kevan Choset had a similar theme back in 2006, so I have to give a shoutout to him. But after BIRDMAN won the Oscar for Best Picture I couldn't resist. Sorry Kevan!
I wanted to stay away from his entries and put in new ones. Had to overlap with FINCH, but 5 new ones ain't bad. Was pleased that I got 7 themers in there, but at the expense of some fill.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it!
BIRDMAN hinting at "men with last names that are birds." I've seen this type of theme before, but I like the freshness of using the 2014 movie as a revealer.
Most of the guys I had seen before in this last name = bird capacity, although EARL WEAVER made me scratch my head. I sort of follow baseball, just like I sort of follow most everything to keep up (sort of), but this one was a mystery to me — not only his name, but that a WEAVER is a bird. Apparently it is!
David finds an amazing six examples, which is pretty cool. I did find it odd that BIRDMAN wasn't the last themer though — its placement as number six out of seven is curious. It is true that using a seven-letter theme revealer in row 13 is tough — that creates big corners, hard to fill — but it would have avoided the inelegance of hitting the revealer … and then getting one single more themer.
Seven themers is tough to work with. Gluey fill in almost inevitable where themers overlap. David does quite well in the center of the puzzle, with STUF being the only even slightly wonky answer (it can only be clued one way, really). But he does this by using a ton of black squares to section it off, which chokes down puzzle flow.
Given that the theme quickly became apparent, I appreciated David's efforts to include bonus fill to hold my interest. There's not much room to work in long fill, but SEESAWS, EARDRUMS, SAVANNAH, even BALCONY adds to the feeling of a satisfying solve.
This is a prime example of trade-offs in construction. Seven themers can be hugely impactful and impressive, but it's so difficult to avoid a slew of IN SO, SADO, ILEA, INANER, ROI, ANO/DIAS, etc. All minor, nothing glaring, but as a whole, it's quite a bit.
1 A | 2 B | 3 C | 4 S | 5 C | 6 L | 7 O | 8 W | 9 N | 10 I | 11 N | 12 S | 13 O |
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14 H | A | H | A | 15 A | E | G | I | S | 16 S | E | E | R |
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17 S | L | A | V | 18 E | A | R | L | W | 19 E | A | V | E | R |
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20 C | T | A | 21 S | K | E | D | 22 D | I | A | S | ||||
23 J | O | H | N | 24 J | A | Y | 25 D | A | D | A | 26 S |
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27 I | N | A | N | E | R | 28 T | 29 O | 30 N | Y | H | A | W | K |
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31 M | Y | M | A | N | 32 S | A | A | B | 33 N | S | A |
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34 H | A | 35 R | T | C | R | A | 36 N | 37 E | ||||||
38 E | 39 N | 40 S | 41 O | U | I | S | 42 O | A | 43 S | 44 E | 45 S |
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46 T | O | M | 47 S | 48 W | I | F | T | 49 M | O | R | A | L | E |
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50 C | R | E | P | E | 51 B | I | R | D | M | A | N |
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52 I | L | E | A | 53 M | 54 O | O | G | 55 R | A | P | ||||
56 P | E | T | E | R | 57 F | I | N | C | H | 58 U | R | S | 59 A |
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60 A | G | E | D | 61 E | L | E | C | T | 62 M | I | E | N |
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63 W | A | D | S | 64 N | O | S | E | Y | 65 S | A | D | O |
| Across | Down | |
| 1. Some rote learning : ABCS 5. Cutup : CLOWN 10. Not ___ many words : INSO 14. "You make me laugh" : HAHA 15. Sponsorship : AEGIS 16. Oracle : SEER 17. Bosnian, e.g. : SLAV 18. Longtime Orioles manager in the Baseball Hall of Fame : EARLWEAVER 20. El-overseeing org. : CTA 21. TV Guide chart, for short : SKED 22. "Buenos ___!" : DIAS 23. Co-author of the Federalist Papers : JOHNJAY 25. Fathers, to tots : DADAS 27. More foolish : INANER 28. Big name in skateboarding : TONYHAWK 31. "Dude!" : MYMAN 32. 9-3 automaker : SAAB 33. Covert org. : NSA 34. "The Broken Tower" poet : HARTCRANE 38. "Annie" characters : ENS 41. Alsace assents : OUIS 42. Havens : OASES 46. Boy genius of old teen fiction : TOMSWIFT 49. Team esteem : MORALE 50. Relative of a blintz : CREPE 51. Best Picture of 2014 ... or what 18-, 23-, 28-, 34-, 46- and 56-Across each is? : BIRDMAN 52. Parts of small intestines : ILEA 53. Famed synthesizer : MOOG 55. Genre first included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 : RAP 56. "Network" Oscar winner : PETERFINCH 58. ___ Minor : URSA 60. Like fine wines and cheeses : AGED 61. Put into office : ELECT 62. Appearance : MIEN 63. Mouthfuls of chewing gum : WADS 64. Poking around in other people's business : NOSEY 65. Lead-in to masochism : SADO |
1. Sounds of comprehension : AHS 2. One set in a "Romeo and Juliet" production : BALCONY 3. Georgia county of which 4-Down is the seat : CHATHAM 4. Oldest city in Georgia : SAVANNAH 5. "Veni, vidi, vici" speaker : CAESAR 6. Like a faulty pipe : LEAKY 7. Shrek, e.g. : OGRE 8. Word repeated before "West" in a film and 1960s TV series : WILD 9. Its capital is Sydney: Abbr. : NSW 10. Book after Song of Solomon : ISAIAH 11. Many a resident on Lake Tahoe : NEVADAN 12. Vacillates : SEESAWS 13. Boston Bruin great : ORR 19. Turning point? : EDDY 23. Brown or Rice : JIM 24. Actress Malone of "The Hunger Games" : JENA 26. Cousin of reggae : SKA 28. Implied but not stated : TACIT 29. Sculls : OARS 30. Magic and Wizards org. : NBA 32. Double ___ Oreos : STUF 35. Reine's husband : ROI 36. Former queen of Jordan : NOOR 37. Catchers of some waves : EARDRUMS 38. And everything else, for short : ETC 39. Former dictator of Panama : NORIEGA 40. Refined : SMELTED 43. Biblical city of Palestine : SAMARIA 44. Passed, as time : ELAPSED 45. Jack Reed or Harry Reid: Abbr. : SEN 47. Barrels along : SPEEDS 48. Have on : WEAR 49. Powerful : MIGHTY 51. Lawn game : BOCCE 53. Minderbinder of "Catch-22" : MILO 54. Cash register compartment : ONES 56. Manhandle : PAW 57. Swamp : FEN 59. Enero begins it : ANO |
Answer summary: 1 unique to this puzzle, 1 unique to Shortz Era but used previously.
Found bugs or have suggestions?