Constructor: Jill Rafaloff and Michelle Sontarp
Relative issue: Straightforward (best Downs-only I’ve ever achieved, presumably)
THEME: BABY (64A: The primary phrase of 18-, 23-, 36-, 49- or 56-Throughout is one) — first phrases of theme solutions are BABY animals:
- KITTEN HEEL (18A: Brief stiletto shoe)
- JOEY FATONE (23A: ‘N Sync bandmate of Justin Timberlake)
- PUPPY LOVE (36A: What a primary crush is perhaps dismissed as)
- CALF MUSCLE (49A: Spot which may be affected by a charley horse)
- CHICK FLICK (56A: Film marketed towards a primarily feminine viewers, informally)
Phrase of the Day: Make Approach For Ducklings (9D: Setting for “Make Approach for Ducklings” = POND) —
Make Approach for Ducklings is an American kids’s image ebook written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey. First printed in 1941 by the Viking Press, the ebook facilities on a pair of mallards who elevate their brood of ducklings on an island within the lagoon within the Boston Public Backyard. It received the 1942 Caldecott Medal for McCloskey’s illustrations, executed in charcoal then lithographed on zinc plates. As of 2003, the ebook had offered over two million copies. The ebook’s recognition led to the development of a statue by Nancy Schön within the Public Backyard of the mom duck and her eight ducklings, which is a well-liked vacation spot for youngsters and adults alike. In 1991, Barbara Bush gave a replica of this sculpture to Raisa Gorbacheva as a part of the START Treaty, and the work is displayed in Moscow’s Novodevichy Park.
The ebook is the official kids’s ebook of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Reward for the ebook remains to be excessive over 80 years since its first publication, primarily for the enhancing illustrations and efficient pacing. The ebook is in style worldwide.
• • •
Whereas this puzzle is stable in some ways, it is also means too remedial for the NYTXW. For those who might see a number of the puzzles that the NYT is rejecting nowadays, you would be baffled by how one thing as simple and, frankly, stale this acquired accepted. I used to be lifeless sure that somebody *should* have achieved a theme precisely like this earlier than, presumably many occasions, most likely someday within the early ’00s or earlier, and boy was I not fallacious. It took me no time in any respect to seek out that it had been achieved at the very least twice—as soon as by Liz Gorski in 2000, and one other time by Stella Zawistowski and Bruce Venzke in 2007. And sure, it is true, most individuals is not going to keep in mind that far again, however I do know many constructors on the market, professionals and aspiring professionals, who work so laborious to provide you with unique themes solely to have the overwhelming majority of what they submit get rejected … and should you’re them and also you see one thing like this get printed, some little a part of you must be considering “how? why?” Once more, it isn’t a badly made puzzle. It isn’t terribly imaginative, but it surely’s coherent, and the grid is notably clear and stable. However the revealer is a complete letdown—fully pointless, the truth is—and the one means this puzzle distinguishes itself from its predecessors (past the pointless revealer) is that it has 5 themers as a substitute of 4. The solutions are barely completely different—KITTEN HEEL is a brand new one, and this one lacks the CUB REPORTER that the others had (which was the primary different theme reply I considered, together with KIT CARSON and perhaps, I dunno, choose a KID any KID: Cudi? Charlemagne? Rock? Ew, not Rock. However you get the concept). However on the entire that is only a barely warmed-over theme that was solely so-so to start with. All you gotta do is search your potential theme solutions within the database to see if they have been used earlier than, and if that’s the case, in what capability. For those who discover somebody has achieved your theme earlier than, however yours presents one thing actually contemporary and new, that is OK. In any other case, return to the drafting board.
[R.I.P., Brian Wilson]
What was attention-grabbing about wanting again at earlier puzzles with this theme was the JOEY evolution. Fixing Downs-only, I acquired the JOEY half fairly shortly, and I actually thought the reply was going to be JOEY RAMONE (used as soon as earlier than, in a Tim Croce themeless, 2013). He is an iconic determine of ’70s punk. However then OFF-DUTY (21D: Not working, as a police officer) gave me the “F” and made me bear in mind JOEY FATONE, in addition to this JOEY FATONE-themed die-cast steel hotrod I purchased at Toys ‘R’ Us across the flip of the century for $1.18, Why!?
One other bizarre factor I found is that CHICK FLICK had a twenty-four (24!)-year hiatus earlier than at the moment’s look. That appears very lengthy. Truly, it acquired used within the plural in that 2007 model of this puzzle, however nonetheless, that is eighteen years. I might’ve anticipated a solution that colloquial and rhyming and bouncy to have snuck its means into some puzzle someplace—a themeless, if nowhere else. Possibly individuals draw back from it as a result of it sounds a bit derogatory, and positively has been utilized by males that means for many years. I would not usually use the time period, for that purpose, however I kinda prefer it as a phrase. It is acquired some life, some pizzazz. The opposite theme solutions are wonderful as standalone phrases, and the grid general, as I say, could be very easy, with a bunch of good mid-range (6-7-letter) fill. There are actual grid expertise on show right here. I simply want the theme had been extra … one thing. Something.
Bullet factors:
- 30A: Vaccine-approving org. (FDA) — type of darkish, ironic humor right here, having “Vaccine-approving” and RFK in the identical grid (5D: ___ Stadium, former D.C. sports activities venue)
- 35A: Slanted edges, as on mirrors (BEVELS) — good phrase. Fixing this Downs-only, I wanted each cross however the “V” earlier than I might guess it, which jogged my memory of that point (a protracted very long time in the past) once I confronted an identical letter sample in a crossword (BE-EL) and the clue was one thing like [Chisel face] or [Gem holder] and I believed “huh, should be BEVEL and the reply ended up being BEZEL, a phrase I would by no means seen earlier than in my life. Looks like type of a merciless joke that one of many definitions of BEZEL is “A groove or flange designed to carry a beveled edge, as of a gem” (wordnik). Anyway, that “V” was essential in my with the ability to get ADHESIVE (10D: Sticky stuff), the one Down that required a number of passes. Effectively, the one one apart from …
- 7D: Outset (GET-GO) — I had INTRO
- 23D: Chicken whose identify appears like a letter of the alphabet (JAY) — first intuition right here was the most typical of three-letter birds: EMU. However that … appears like two letters of the alphabet (Roman, Greek), not one.
See you subsequent time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. Listed below are the grids from these 2000 and 2007 puzzles which have this similar theme, for comparability (each pictures taken from xwordinfo)
