Sunday, May 26, 2024 | (2024)

LATtk (Gareth)

NYT13:20 (Nate)

WaPo5:26 (Matthew)

John Kugelman’s New York Times crossword, “Roughly Speaking” — Nate’s write-up

– 21A KNOCK ON WOOD [*”That rotted old log ain’t even fit for termite food!”]
– 31A KNITTING NEEDLE [*”Huh, I wasn’t aware I was at an ugly sweater party”]
– 45A BURN AFTER READING [*”The only mystery in this novel is why I finished it”]
– 59A ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG [*”My dog could translate an ancient Mesopotamian tablet faster than you”]
– 75A BLAST FROM THE PAST [*”Thou art a villainous knave”]
– 89A PUT DOWN ON PAPER [*”Dear John, I’m writing you this letter to tell you — it’s not me. It’s 100% you.”]
– 101A FRENCH ROAST [*”Tu as le Q.I. d’une huître” (“You have the I.Q. of an oyster”)]

Each themer is reimagined through the lens of an insult / putdown: 21A is an insult about (“knock on”) wood, 45A is an insult (burn) about a book after reading it, etc. There was enough variety in the themers that it kept my interest, though I’ll admit that some seemed more stretchy (or more mean!) than others. This might not be a puzzle for folks who try to stay positive and kind, but it’ll certainly be a laugh for others.

What did not quite spark joy for me in the puzzle was how many of the clues or entries felt dated or like crosswordese. As soon as I saw GAOL, AMBI, ACK, IGOR, RKO, MON, DIT, NESS in the top bit of the grid alone, I had a sense of what type of solve I was in store for. Erik Agard once gave me amazing advice that a puzzle often lives or dies based on the strength of its shortest fill (no matter how strong the theme and longer fill are), and this puzzle’s shortest fill felt relatively roughly all around. My solve time was still fine, but the experience filling in many sections (NGO SOOTIER CCR NIC, NAVE GARR FIVE-O, etc.) was less so. This puzzle certainly has a lot of fun longer fill, but I think that came at the expense of the shorter fill. My hope is that as this constructor gets even more experience, his short fill game will improve to match the strength and fun of his themes.

How did the puzzle feel for you? Let us know in the comments! And remember, as always, to be civil and constructive in both your feedback about the puzzle and in how you respond to each other. It’s okay if a puzzle wasn’t for you, but insulting either the constructor or each other isn’t the way. Let’s leave the knocks, needles, burns, digs, blasts, put downs, and roasts to this puzzle’s theme. :)

Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post crossword, “Screen Gems” — Matt’s write-up

Colored squares and circled letters greet us this week. Let’s see what we’ve got.

The puzzle title is “Screen Gems”, and each themer is a movie title, with a portion colored, and separately a circled letter:

• 23a [2001 Oscar-winning film about the mathematician John Nash] A BEAUTIFUL MIND
• 31a [2012 romantic comedy about teenagers in love] THE FIRST TIME
• 54a [2017 superhero film featuring Zords (battle vehicles modeled on prehistoric creatures)] POWER RANGERS
• 70a [1947 film that topped Christina Newland’s “50 Best Boxing Movies” list in Paste Magazine] BODY AND SOUL
• 88a [2000 adventure film in which “Fly Me to the Moon” plays during the end credits] SPACE COWBOYS
• 107a [1994 romantic dramedy starring Winona Ryder as an aspiring documentary filmmaker] REALITY BITES
• 117a [Colorful artifacts of Avengers films, represented by the puzzle’s shaded words] INFINITY STONES
• 123a [Josh who played the supervillain who collected the 117 Across (this supervillain is spelled out in the puzzle’s circled squares)] BROLIN

Each of the colored portions are hued to match their respective infinity stone – literally “Screen Gems” – from the Avengers films. It’s surprising to think that decade-long arc ended five years ago. I enjoyed the theme, which helped with a few of the entries – I haven’t heard of THE FIRST TIME or BODY AND SOUL, and other than A BEAUTIFUL MIND, I didn’t recognize the other films from the clues. While solving, I thought the circled letters spelling out THANOS were extraneous fluff, but having Josh BROLIN as a secondary revealer was a nice touch, and I’m glad they were there.

Notes:

• 43a [Euchre declaration that makes aces the highest cards] NO TRUMP. This variant is unfamiliar to me – I might play where the dealer is forced to call trump, or where if no trump is called, the deal is lost and passed on, but I’ve never played ace-high euchre.
• 69a [___ Pretenders (Norwegian baseball team)] OSLO. Lately, the go-to cluing angle for OSLO across the puzzles I solve has been to reference one Scandinavian museum or another. Refreshing to see something different.

Paul Coulter’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Double Talk”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are colloquial phrases of the form “x AND y” where x and y are rough synonyms of each other. Further, clues for these entries are colloquial reduplicative terms unrelated to the entries, but where each half might be a synonym for x and y.

• 23a. [*Hush-hush?] PEACE AND QUIET. “Hush” could be a synonym for “peace” (roughly) as well as for “quiet.”
• 38a. [*”Chop chop!”?] SLICE AND DICE. This one is straightforward and a clear example of the theme.
• 46a. [*Can-can?] PITCH AND TOSS. This one’s different. Seems to me that “can” means to throw away. Both “pitch” and “toss” can mean this also, but don’t in the original phrase.
• 67a. [*Din-din?] HUE AND CRY. Do we ever use “hue” to mean “noise” outside of this phrase?
• 83a. [*”All right, all right!”?] SAFE AND SOUND.
• 93a. [*”Nudge, nudge”?] PUSH AND SHOVE.
• 112a. [*”Well, well”?] GOOD AND PROPER.

I was slow to grok the theme, but it grew on me. These are some really nice finds. They’re not entirely consistent though where, for example, “nudge” in 93a doesn’t change meaning but “din” in 67a does (where it was originally short for “dinner”). But that inconsistency didn’t bother me in the least with a theme this tight. Looking at it from the constructor’s perspective, not only do you have to find “and” phrases with synonymous words, but then you have to find colloquial reduplicative terms that can apply to both words in your phrase. That’s a tall order, so I’m impressed with this theme set. Nicely done.

Lots to like in the fill as well with SOCRATIC, INTEL INSIDE, ACCESS CARDS, EURASIA, HAND PUMPS, “HERE I AM,” SHARP TURN, CANTEENS, and EYE OF RA. However, I’m not convinced that WASTE AREA is an actual phrase. Also, I needed every crossing for STASTNY [“Peter the Great” of the NHL], and I still wasn’t sure of it after I filled it in. Same with UNU, but at least that one was quick to double-check. ID NO is MEH.

Clue of note: 71a. [Classic name in wafers]. NECCO. I’m going to guess about 80-85% of solvers (including me) went with NILLA first. What do you think?

Four stars from me.