Constructor: Dan Caprera
Relative issue: Straightforward-Medium to Medium
THEME: “BUTT OUT!” (39A: “Thoughts your personal enterprise!” … or a touch to the 4 sides of this puzzle) — 4 solutions stick out (by one letter) on all sides of the puzzle; these letters spell out a synonym for “butt”:
Theme solutions:
- ROILS (2D: Muddies, as water)
- UPEND (5D: Flip topsy-turvy)
- MOPE (9D: Be down within the dumps)
- PLAID (11D: Crisscross sample)
- BRASS (15A: Generals and such)
- HALFTONE (30A: Musical pitch interval)
- AREA (49A: Subject)
- FACET (67A: Facet to think about)
- CHAIR (55D: One thing a waiter could pull out)
- SATE (63D: Fill totally)
- MENSA (58D: Sharp set?)
- DECOR (60D: Inside design)
- TAILS (13A: Coin toss name)
- UNIT (26A: Part of a curriculum)
- SENTRIES (46A: Halting audio system?)
- HEATS (65A: Qualifying races)
Phrase of the Day: My Neighbor TOTORO (37A: “My Neighbor ___,” 1988 Hayao Miyazaki movie)—
My Neighbor Totoro is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy movie written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten. It stars the voices of Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto and Hitoshi Takagi, and focuses on two younger sisters and their interactions with pleasant wooden spirits in postwar rural Japan.
The movie explores themes similar to animism, Shinto symbology, environmentalism and the thrill of rural dwelling. My Neighbor Totoro acquired worldwide vital acclaim, and grossed over $41 million worldwide on the field workplace; the movie additionally grossed considerably extra from house video gross sales and merchandise.
My Neighbor Totoro acquired quite a few awards, together with the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize, the Mainichi Movie Award, and Kinema Junpo Award for Greatest Movie in 1988. It additionally acquired the Particular Award on the Blue Ribbon Awards in the identical 12 months. The movie is taken into account as one of many prime animation movies, rating forty first in Empire journal’s “The 100 Greatest Movies of World Cinema” in 2010 and the number-one animated movie on the 2012 Sight & Sound critics’ ballot of all-time best movies. The movie and its titular character have turn out to be cultural icons, and made a number of cameo appearances in different movies. Totoro additionally serves because the mascot for Studio Ghibli and is acknowledged as one of the crucial common characters in Japanese animation. (wikipedia)
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Conceptually fascinating, however a drag to resolve. Having to think about letters outdoors the grid … I dunno, it is not probably the most enjoyable method to undergo a puzzle. I did not actually care what these letters spelled out, I simply knew I needed to bear in mind (16 occasions!) that the solutions have been going to return up one letter brief. Is it cute that these letters spelled issues? Positive. Is it a pleasant contact that every one the theme solutions are actual phrases even with their (apparently) lacking letters? It’s. However the fixing expertise itself was not so scorching. I am simply searching for lacking letters. Lots. All for a pun designed to amuse a toddler. Worse, I acquired the pun very early, and after you get it, there’s actually nothing left to find.
I suppose it may need been doable for a solver to get caught someplace after which truly use the “butt” data to make sense of a solution, however the puzzle simply is not that arduous. At no time did I cease to take a look at (or think about) what the “lacking” letters have been spelling. I by no means wanted to know. I did not even discover that the lacking letters have been symmetrical, showing in the identical locations on all sides of the puzzle. That too may’ve proved helpful should you acquired caught. However there was no getting caught at this time. Simply the considerably annoying expertise of getting to navigate a fussy theme in tight corners. The idea itself right here is simply nice—intelligent, even. However there is no pleasure past the revealer. Simply loads of plodding work that makes fixing the puzzle slower, however not likely tougher.
Seems like I made a small handful of errors, none of them associated to the theme (?!). OCEANAUT earlier than AQUANAUT (6D: One performing some deep-sea exploration). Is OCEANAUT a factor, it actually seems like a factor, however my software program is red-underlining it prefer it’s not a factor. Hey, it is a factor! It means … AQUANAUT. Cool. AQUANAUT is just too near the hairspray to be helpful, imho.
Anyway, screwed that up for a bit, after which had NOT GET earlier than NOT SEE (24A: Fail to grasp) and ABOVE earlier than ALOFT (53D: Overhead). Additionally, due to ABOVE, I went with VIEW earlier than FACE(T) (67A: Facet to think about). Completely no thought who this ALAIN-René Lesage is, though I really feel like perhaps I’ve seen LESAGE within the grid earlier than, and if I look him up, I’ll have an “oh, that man!” expertise, let’s discover out … [looks up Lesage] … oh, that man! He wrote Gil Blas, which ought to imply nothing to you until you solved crosswords within the olden days, whenever you completely had to have the ability to reply [“___ Blas” (Lesage novel)], or, (extra ceaselessly) [“Gil ___” (Lesage novel)], although most frequently, esp. within the olden days, you’d simply get [“Gil ___”]. Severely, that is it. No context, simply [“Gil ___”]. This was the form of arcane baloney that just about outlined the favored conception of crosswords for many years. Like so many four-letter solutions (ADIT!), BLAS was simply one thing you simply *realized* should you solved crosswords. I am not satisfied that the majority solvers might ever have advised you what Gil or Blas was presupposed to be, or who Lesage was, however man, you’ll see this Lesage man and his alleged e-book freakishly usually. And there was a ten-year stretch in there (earlier than my time) the place the *solely* clue for BLAS was [Gil ___]. Eleven occasions in a row from the mid-’60s to the mid-’70s, the puzzle used that actual clue (truly, there was one notable change, which is that the NYTXW stopped placing “.” on the finish of each clue someday round 1966, so there have been a bunch of [Gil ___.] clues in a row after which rapidly they flip to [Gil ___] clues) (I’ve written about crossword trivialities earlier than, however this can be the minutest statement I’ve ever made). Maybe my favourite a part of this entire Gil + Blas + Lesage odyssey is I nonetheless don’t know what the e-book is about or who reads it. I perceive invoking Lesage if, say, you ‘ve acquired LESAGE in your grid, or BLAS, however it could appear to perverse to make use of him for GIL lately, and why oh why would you go to this man for ALAIN when there are far more well-known and handsomer ALAINs obtainable?
Just a few extra notes:
- 46A: Halting audio system? (SENTRIES) — I do love this clue. It jogs my memory of the Brady Bunch episode the place Peter and Jan play SENTRIES in Hamlet, and so they should say “Halt! Who goes there!?” I feel that is the entirety of their strains. Though now that I consider it, it is in all probability “Hark! Who goes there!?” And it would’ve been Romeo & Juliet, not Hamlet.
- 1A: 2022 Jordan Peele horror/sci-fi movie (NOPE) — an awesome film. Very movie-heavy at this time with NOPE and TOTORO and MIA Goth and “I am Simply KEN.” I’ve but to see a MIA Goth movie as a result of horror is usually not my bag. Which ought to inform you precisely how a lot of a “horror” movie NOPE is (it is not) (once more, nice nice nice, simply … not “horror,” regardless of a ugly second or two … that poor chimpanzee …)
- 21D: Bike and Bike+, e.g. (PELOTONS) — this can be a cult. A few of my mates are on this cult. To affix the cult or to not be part of the cult, that’s the query.
- 33D: Who “can get in the way in which of what I am feelin’,” in an Alicia Keys hit (“NO ONE“) — I realized about this tune from crosswords. “NO ONE” is finest recognized to me as the reply I attempt to play in Spelling Bee each probability I get even though it will get rejected each time as a result of it is two phrases, not one.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
