Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: "MUSICAL PLAY" — composer puns
Word of the Day: ELEMI (4D: Aromatic resin) —
Elemi (Canarium luzonicum) is a tree native to the Philippines, and an oleo-resin harvested from it. // Elemi resin is a pale yellow substance, of honey-like consistency. Aromatic elemi oil is steam distilled from the resin. It is a fragrant resin with a sharp pine and lemon-like scent. One of the resin components is called amyrin. // Elemi is chiefly used commercially in varnishes and lacquers, and certain printing inks. // Elemi is used as a herbal medicine to treat bronchitis, catarrh, extreme coughing, mature skin, scars, stress, and wounds. The constituents include phellandrene, dipentene, elemol, elemicin, terpineol, carvone, and terpinolene. (wikipedia)
• • •
This was way harder than I thought it was going to be once I uncovered the theme. Some theme answers came easily (e.g. THINK OUTSIDE THE BACHS), while others ... did not (e.g. GRASP AT STRAUSS ... had STRAUSS but couldn't think of a thing that it could be a pun for; still can't. "Straws" is a stretch too massive for my brain to handle, perhaps because I pronounce both the vowel and the terminal "S" sounds differently. I think I also German up the initial "ST" a bit. Anyway...). Mostly I thought the puns were cute; I don't generally like puns, but these seemed OK. I also thought the grid was really interesting and lively, but holy cow some parts of it were Really thorny. Mostly good thorny, but not always. I think I literally flipped off the puzzle when SHE-DEVIL turned out to be (the Weak) SHE-DEMON (11D: Succubus).NW was a definite SHE-DEMON in general. I had most of the area about BACHS blank for a good chunk of time, largely due to ALERO's sitting in the place of the (much less "popular") CIERA (13A: Once-popular Olds). All the Across clues were very vague, I could not think what type of -IN
21D: Peaceful protest could be. SIT-IN. BE-IN ... and I'm out (it's LOVE-IN). Not up on my Hindu gods (of thunder or otherwise), so I had to fight like mad for this section (14D: Hindu god of thunder=>INDRA). Same thing with the lower-west (AT WORST) section of the grid. Once I (finally) got HAYDN in there, I was able to bring it down, but before that, yikes. Both 66D: France's ___-Pas-de-Calais (NORD) and 67D: ___ Islands, group at the mouth of Galway Bay (ARAN) are pretty obscure geographical clues, 75D: Not straight (WRY) is vague, again (I had GAY, not surprisingly). The only thing I thought was certain in there was TEA (74D: Crumpet's go-with). I started out sure of SERRA (78A: Missionary Junipero ___), but when none of the Downs behaved, I figured it had some weird spelling I couldn't remember, so pulled it. Oh, and I had AT LEAST for AT WORST (73A: If all else fails). Got beat around in other places too, but mostly with pleasure.Theme answers:
- 22A: "Carmen" composer-turned-dam builder? (BIZET AS A BEAVER)
- 29A: Embrace more than just a family of Baroque composers? (THINK OUTSIDE THE BACHS) — "Embrace?"
- 39A: Romantic overindulgence in nocturnes and mazurkas? (CHOPIN SPREE)
- 55A: Singing a "Messiah" piece too quickly? (FLYING OFF THE HANDEL)
- 66A: Countrywide music celebration in Hungary? (NATIONAL LISZT PARTY) — composer as suffix ... weird
- 83A: Part of a children's game with the Father of the Symphony? (HAYDN GO SEEK)
- 93A: Grand nuptials whose only music was "Peer Gynt"? ("MY BIG FAT GRIEG WEDDING")—probably the most inventive of these answers, though the BACHS one is good too.
- 105A: Try to capture the Waltz King? (GRASP AT STRAUSS)
The BAHA Men are missing their usual "Who Let The Dogs Out?" clue and today get this much more obscure clue, 20A: ___ Men ("Move It Like This" group). I love diners—I'm trying to go to every one I can in my general geographical area—and I can tell you that I have yet to see a JUKEbox in any of them (1A: Diner fixture, informally). Maybe because they are real diners and not "50s Retro Diners." No idea who the physicist is— just guessed his name from crosses (104A: Physicist Schrödinger and others=>ERWINS). I know EIDER as down, so no idea what's up with 102A: Cousin of a goldeneye. "Goldeneye" sounds floral, so I thought maybe EIDER was a plant I didn't know about; turns out I'm backwards—EIDER isn't floral; "Goldeneye" is a kind of duck (who knew? Outside birdies and ornithologists, I mean?). Seen "ANTZ" in the puzzle many times—saw it in the theater when it first came out—and yet today's clue was utterly meaningless to me (53D: 1998 film featuring Princess Bala). Another common answer—RIATA—also had a tough clue (98D: One thrown from a horse). I started with RIDER. All in all, a solid, tougher-than-avg Sunday workout for me.Bullets:
- 26A: It hangs around the Amazon (MIST) — really good clue. I was looking for some kind of vine. A four-letter LIANA, maybe.
- 52A: Oblast bordering Kazakhstan (OMSK) — my go-to oblast (that is not a joke).
KAZ is in the grid (3D: Second baseman Matsui, to fans) ... pretty sure the country and the second baseman are etymologically unrelated, though. - 81A: Ohio city named for a queen (MARIETTA) — which queen, you (that is, I) might ask? Seems it was named "Adelphia," but was renamed "MARIETTA," after Marie Antoinette, "in honor of France's contributions to the American victory in the American Revolution."
- 103A: Some old runabouts (REOS) — again, common enough answer, but toughish clue.
- 5D: Purchase of 1867 (ALASKA) — Seward's Folly!
- 32D: Lager sources (TAPS) — not at all intuitive to me. I had TUNS (?!) at first.
- 91D: It's often carried around at the gym (ODOR) — Weird: I have experienced other people's body ODOR way more strongly in stores, restaurants, subways, etc. than I ever have in the gym. I think most people in gyms tend to, uh, take care of themselves, and be kind of self-conscious about such things. I mean, they clearly care how their bodies look, so ...
- 93D: Irish novelist Binchy (MAEVE) — gimme, but only because she was in this Encyclopedia of Popular Contemporary Writers that I edited. Had never heard of her before I signed on for that project.
- @greenmelinda Dear @KCStar: why is there a section for "faith" listed and not one for the damned crossword puzzle?
- @TSWHITLOW This lady is eatting n front of her kids while they have nthng bt a crossword puzzle ☹ wtf is the deal
- @JayyGotOneToo 12th grade still doin crossword puzzles and word searches nshit -_- what kind of shit is this.
- @dexshow Finished the whole USA Today crossword from yesterday by myself! Who says athletes are dumb? Cmon man! http://yfrog.com/n5g66nj
- @joannamogo This isn't crossword, its sudoku! :'( what a way to spoil my day
- @lizzwinstead It really is shocking that in such serious times, GOP keeps supporting candidates who couldn't solve the TV Guide crossword puzzle
- @TheVeganButcher I just finished a whole crossword puzzle for the first time in my entire life! Completely drunk!!!
- @IreneZiegler The Sunday NYTimes #crossword puzzle wiped the floor with my non-absorbent butt. #BillShortzMustRepent
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]
No comments:
Post a Comment