Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle |
Posted: 06 May 2021 03:22 AM PDT Constructor: Ed Sessa Relative difficulty: Easy Theme answers:
Straight-Across answers inside the theme answers: Word of the Day: NATE Bargatze (60A: Stand-up comedian Bargatze) —
• • •
It's like the grid just comes stumbling into the party like "Hey, I'm RACIST!" and the clue is over there desperately waving its hands like "No no no no, not RACIST, not RACIST, I swear, here, look, look at the clue! 'Anti-'! 'Anti-'! SEE! ... Please don't write us letters!" Using RACIST for your 1-Across ... that is some kind of choice, that is. Quite the opening gambit. Where do we go from there? Well, straight into the theme, actually, which I picked up about as quick as I've ever picked up a trick theme—a two-trick theme, I guess, since you've got the rebus square ("RED") and the turn. Had the first themer filled in and the concept largely locked down before I ever left the above-screengrabbed section of the grid: So, aside from the fact that it's easy to get and plays out rather monotonously, there are a couple of noteworthy problems with the RIGHT ON RED theme. One is little-ish. The other ... less so. So the little-ish problem is that the clue on RIGHT ON RED isn't a thing. That is, there's no such "Traffic go-ahead." No signs say that, exactly, and you are certainly never "directed" to make a RIGHT ON RED. You sometimes see signs saying that such an action is permitted, of course. RIGHT ON RED is a thing one may do under certain circumstances, but it's not a "directive" in any meaningful sense of the word. And in the puzzle, you *must* go RIGHT ON RED. Again, the clue is the problem here. It could easily have been rewritten. Something along the lines of [Permitted action blah blah blah ... or required action four times in this grid], something like that. Phrase it how you will (e.g. "... or what you must do four times blah blah"), you get the idea. The bigger, much bigger problem with the RIGHT ON RED theme is that the answers actually go left. They go left. Yes they do. They go to *your* right, but the answers. Turn. Left. And hey, don't take my word for it—here's the New York Times Crossword Puzzle from January 21, 2021. Let's see what it has to say: The gimmick here was that the answer was to turn either Left or Right depending on whether an "L" or "R" appeared in the circled square. You can see that Every Single One of the circled themers above disproves today's puzzle's idea of what direction "Right" is. Upper left is BOREDOM ... see how it turns right at the "R," but goes to our left!? See how CHARGED does the same in the SW. And then EVIL ONE turns left at the "L," but goes to our right!? Yes, that's how directions work. Our right is not the answer's right. Quite the opposite, in fact. Thank you for coming to my extremely remedial Ted Talk. Not much else to say about the puzzle. No idea what RED DOGS are or who NATE Bargatze is, but these things happen ("these things" being "my not knowing stuff"). They're fine answers. I forgot the MARNE, which is the precise opposite of what you're supposed to do ... oh, dang, I'm thinking of the MAINE: And the ALAMO, of course. DUNNED is an old-fashioned word that a bunch of people won't know, but I've seen DUN enough in (old) crosswords, and probably (old) literature, that it feels like an everyday word to me (51D: Persistently demanded payment from). DUN is also a color, I think (yes, a "dull grayish-brown color," per google). I have this vague memory of a book from my childhood called The Dun Cow or something like that ... wow, yes, The Book of the Dun Cow.
Just seeing the cover gives me strong flashbacks. I think my mom read this to us, or tried to, when I was 8 or 9 years old. I remember nothing about it. And yet ... it's based on Chaucer's "Nun's Priest's Tale" ... and I went on (20 years later) to write much of my dissertation on Chaucer. Coincidence!? Well, yes, surely. Still, interesting. To me, if no one else. Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld [Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook] |
You are subscribed to email updates from Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States |
0 Yorumlar