Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: none
Word of the Day: EYE RHYME (14D: Wood for food, maybe) —
Eye rhyme, also called visual rhyme and sight rhyme, is a similarity in spelling between words that are pronounced differently and hence, not an auditory rhyme. An example is the pair slaughter and laughter. // Many older English poems, particularly those written in Middle English or written in The Renaissance, contain rhymes that were originally true or full rhymes, but as read by modern readers they are now eye rhymes because of shifts in pronunciation. An example is prove and love. (wikipedia)
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (Shakespeare, Sonnet 116)
It was only after failing in the NW and then methodically taking out the NE that I finally saw the two fat gimmes that opened the whole puzzle up: SERIAL MOM (28A: 1994 Kathleen Turner movie) and ROXY MUSIC (36A: "Love Is the Drug" group, 1976). If I saw "SERIAL MOM," I've forgotten it, but I remember Ms. Turner's psychotic look on the movie poster, and I just generally love (director) John Waters (whose new memoir I just bought — hope to read a little of it this weekend). As for ROXY MUSIC—I listen to my Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music Greatest Hits album all the time. "Love Is the Drug" was a staple of college, when I first discovered who the hell ROXY MUSIC were, making this answer one of the longest, fattest gimmes I'm ever likely to see on a Saturday.[Bubbles!]
And still, I struggled the way one should on a Saturday. Most of the struggle was in the NW, which, as I say, I abandoned and came back to. It stumped me at first even though I was able to
throw down ELP (21A: Aid, to Eliza Doolittle), FOAM (4D: Bud head), RIME (9D: Natural coat), and SLY (10D: Sneaking), all of which turned out to be right. Still, couldn't get anywhere, so abandoned it and ended up not returning til the very end. I had a wee moment of panic thinking I wouldn't be able to follow 7D: Things that get longer and longer for procrastinators back *in* to the NW. That answer was going to be my ladder, but when I'd finished with the middle of the puzzle, all I got was -STS to help me out. Luckily I remembered that Tony's consigliere, familiarly, on "The Sopranos" was S-L, and when that "L" flickered into view, so did LISTS, and thus TO DO LISTS. Since RIME and SLY were already in place, the "D" in TODOLISTS gave me THE ACADEMY (17A: Much-thanked group), which gave me EXHALE (2D: Release), which gave me EXXON-MOBIL (15A: Corporate giant based in Irving, Tex.).
Started in the NE wanting A-something for 20D: Strong as ___ (AN OAK), and using that "A" to get ALTAR (20A: Promising site). Then put in the fairly easy ASHY at 16A: Pallid and then got IS IT TIME? (12D: "Now?"), LIFE (18A: "That's ___), and FALL ILL (11D: Become sick) in quick succession. Though I'd (astonishingly) never heard of EYE RHYME, I managed to finish off that (lovely) corner fairly quickly. Then came the revelations of SERIAL MOM and ROXY MUSIC. ART MONK I was able to get off the "-NK," with a little thinking (33A: First N.F.L. player to record 100 receptions in a season). SW went down easiest of all, as ROXYMUSIC has some very useful letters. Wrote in INTO IT with only "T" in place, and that gave me YOU KNOW... (37D: "The more I think about it ..." — great clue/answer) and STRUTS (45A: Bars under cars) and thus everything else.
ROCK CLIMB (29D: Do some scaling) ironically provided the visual of a spelunking rope, dangling down into a cave—nothing else down there. Just cavernousness. Totally empty. Totally dark. "OK. Turn on the light. Look around. What do you see?" [Click of flashlight] "Not much. Just ... O dear god! No, no! Pull me up, pull me up, it's the C.H.U.D. Aaaaaa—" [sound of flesh being devoured]. Actually, it was all somewhat more pleasant than that. Just took some work to get going. Just as SIL helped in the NW, so ANKE helped in the SE (50D: Huber of women's tennis). ANKE + RAT (53D: Not a good confidant) got me "ASK ME LATER" (55A: "I don't have time to answer you"). Once again, didn't even see the clue for THE BREWERS until I'd struggled a bit. If I'd looked at it *first*, I'd have been off and running (57A: Miller Park squad). Had MLB for PGA (42A: Club wielder's club: Abbr.) and had to guess that "Goldilocks" were ASTERS (44D: Goldilocks and others). So, to recap, Bottom easier than Top due largely to big boost from SERIAL MOM and ROXY MUSIC.Mysteries of the day:
- BETSEY (1D: Fashion designer Johnson)
- AMALIE (6D: Norwegian novelist/feminist ___ Skram) — most obscure person I've seen in grid in while; the clue made me laugh out loud.
- EYE RHYME
- EBEN (8D: Irving Bacheller's "___ Holden") — never heard of the book or the author.
- ENCASH (5D: Covert at Barclay's, say) — ow, my eyes! My ears!
- "Goldilocks" = flower
19A: Sitcom character who said "Not many people know this, but I happen to be famous" (SAM MALONE) — Nice. I like all the double letters in the NW. The double-E / double-X box, with the double-M of SAMMALONE right underneath, adds a little visual flavor to the grid.- 35A: Homophone of 25-Across (ERE) — didn't see this til after I was done (solved it all from crosses). Aaaargh. Really would have helped me get into the NW, as it would have given me HEIR much more quickly (25A: A throne has one).
- 39A: Certain match results (TKOS) — Other match results: 0-0. Hey, World Cup. Be More Exciting!
- 54A: Electronic product sensation of 2005 (NANO) — iPod variety. I'd forgotten it was ever a sensation.
- 32D: Spare (EXTRA ONE) — The ONE here is OK, but a little wonky, since "Spare" and "EXTRA" swap out perfectly. "Do you have a spare?" "Do you have an EXTRA?" You're using "Spare" as a substantive adjective but then asking me to pretend that "EXTRA" isn't one, i.e. that it's merely an adjective and needs the noun "ONE" to make sense. Not true.
- 42D: Steiger's "Jesus of Nazareth" role (PILATE) — knew it was gonna be a bad guy, but could think only of JUDAS.
[this scenery-chewing scene made me laugh — warning: profanity]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]
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