THYME OUT
This one needed to go back to the drawing board. Not to discredit the co-authors, but the puzzle, at best, is clunky, with a mediocre theme, too many names, and egregious fill - and that's on the editor. YMMV, but fills like 5 and 53D., with names not only at 1D. - Chairman Moe mentioned certain editors will not allow abbrs to start, and I agree - but also as theme answers ( even if I know two-thirds of them ) makes this grid lose lustre . . . Congratulations to Sheri, as this looks to be her debut, and Katie has constructed and co-authored several crosswords for the LA Times, "et al."; I do hope to see more collaborations. Standard grid, only 13 3LWs - all the "worst" ones - and an oversampling of 'generic' crossword fill - but hey, no circles~! The themers and the reveal;
20. Winner of the first Olympic gold medal in men's snowboard slopestyle: SAGE KOTSENBURG - name #1 - really vague - more here
34. "White Christmas" co-star: ROSEMARY CLOONEY - name #2
43. "Peanuts" character with a tendency to sleep through class: PEPPERMINT PATTY - name #3
58. Shampoo brand that claims to be "plant obsessed," and what 20-, 34-, and 43-Across all have: HERBAL ESSENCES
* - I see that there's a new analytic on the XWord Info page that tracks "Grid Flow", created at a site called Crosserville. There is a mathematical algorithm involved, and so far, the highest flow recorded has been 219.2, and the median 31.8 - turns out that Friday and Saturday crosswords show higher flow #s; I'm gonna keep an eye on this moving forward. Today's grid~? 20.0
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Dreary: DRAB - this definitely describes my feelings about this puzzle
5. Shock: JOLT - when I filled in 53D., I certainly got a shock - I mean, really~?
9. Improvises vocally: SCATS
14. Currency in 20 countries: EURO
15. Desire: URGE
16. Like days long ago: OLDEN
17. Has-__: BEEN - hmmm . . . filled via perps
18. Cornhusker st.: NEBRaska - HuskerG nailed this one; abbr, geo name #1 - and meh.
19. McDonald of "The Gilded Age": AUDRA - name #4 in the Hahtoolah Convention -her IMDb
23. Not even: ODD
24. Pilot's approx.: ETD - Estimated Time of Departure, crossword "alt" staple to ETA
25. Dads: PAs - yes, but semi-meh.
26. __-la-la: TRA - crossword staple . . . . sheesh
29. Problem in one's pants or pantry: ANTS - "ants in your pants" = nervous, twitchy, "antsy"
32. Burro: ASS
40. Where to see the big picture?: IMAX
41. "Rudy" coach Parseghian: ARA - I screwed up and went with ARI - name #5
42. Erté's style: DECO - I like Art Deco; since the skyscraper was born in that ERA, we still see it's influnce 100 years later - I would get me this book
48. Soccer fan's "Bravo!": OLÉ - oh yay, more generic answers~!
49. Tennis great Arthur: ASHE - name #6, even if it's a crossword staple
50. Michigan's __ Locks: SOO - Joins the Great Lakes Superior and Huron - geo name #2
And there's another crossword staple in there - Sault STE Marie
51. Wee: SMA - meh.
54. Rocket ending: EER - RocketEER - semi-meh, in terms of fill
56. Speed Wagon automaker: REO - this one is getting as boring as ERA and ATM
64. Like sun bears and pandas: ASIAN - Naomi showed us a sun bear in this BUNS puzzle
65. __-Seltzer: ALKA
66. California roll ingredient: CRAB - I am east coast; this was a WAG from perps
And I don't care for sushi, either, but crab is good
68. Italian soccer great Maldini: PAOLO - name #7 - if you want to know more
69. __-back: LAID
70. Like a fairy tale duckling: UGLY
71. Fragrant compound: ESTER
72. Postseason honorees, briefly: MVPs - at the time of this write-up, the World Series was 1 - 1; I'm rooting for Toronto, because their NHL Maple Leafs are playoff confounders
73. Memorization technique: ROTE
DOWN:
1. Food blogger Perelman: DEB - name #8
2. Feels bad about: RUES - I feel bad about my review, but I'm being honest
3. Geometric calculation: AREA
4. Salsa hand drum: BONGO - or CONGA~?
5. Outdated term for noncoding genetic material: JUNK DNA - Maybe it's a great fill, but as a theme crossing, as part of a name, on a Wednesday, it's meh. Everything you ever wanted to know
6. Cookie with many specialty flavors: OREO - yet another crossword trope
7. Pride Month letters: LGBT
8. Not wordy: TERSE - I thought this read "worLdly" - so I was thinking CLERGY - Bzzzt~!
9. Scoundrel: SO AND SO - I do not see these as the same; "so-and-so" to me is someone anonymous, or that person whose name you cannot remember - at least that's how my mother used it
10. Country __: CLUB
11. Tally: ADD UP
12. __ firma: TERRA
13. Glitches: SNAGS - Tragedy~! A travesty~! For shame~!
Chairman paid a fine for breech of contract last Friday
21. Red-coated cheese: EDAM
22. List ender: ET AL. - abbr, Latin for "and others"
26. Klutz's move, perhaps: TRIP
27. "Ben-Hur" setting: ROME - even if I know this, it's geo name #3
28. "Hurry!" letters: A.S.A.P. - As Soon As Possible - and it's not the same as "hurry~!"
30. Peak transport: TRAM - I had T-bar, as in a ski lift to the peak
31. Lebanon neighbor: SYRIA - geo name #4
33. Bubbly beverage: SODA - good WAG; could have been COLA
35. Convention center event: EXPO - I have attended the Toy Fair in NYC twice
The Javits Center in Lego, from 2017
36. Tuna holders: CANS - NETS is next; my ARI at 41A. left the "I" in, so I did not get my ta-DA~!
37. Brooklyn B-ballers: NETS - B-ballers are basketball players, even tho Baseball could work as well; and they're name(ish)
38. Start for -derm or -plasm: ECTO - These guys knew all about Ectoplasm
"That's great Ray - save some for me~!" Ghostbusters
39. Toy on a string: YO-YO
44. "__ Rigby": ELEANOR - name #9 - and I spelled it wrong, too
45. Rod's partner: REEL - CONE worked, if we were talking eyes, as in Sunday's puzzle
46. Duds: THREADS - CLOTHES fit too, but Bzzzt
47. Hammer head: PEEN
51. Rhombus, e.g.: SHAPE - ah. Here's the actual 'classification' of four-sided polygons:
We had "kite" on Monday
52. Southwestern flattops: MESAS
53. Eliciting many laughs: A RIOT - Cringe. Even if you claimed to parse this as "the place was ariot with laughter" it still doesn't work, and sounds "meh" at best
55. Domain: REALM
57. Happen: OCCUR
59. Packed hay: BALE
60. Many an Eastern European: SLAV
61. YouTube ad option: SKIP - And I do this ASAP - now that's how to clue it~!
62. Therefore: ERGO
63. Shaker filling: SALT - Who's looking for their lost shaker of salt~?
I thought the third verse line was "and soon a Veranda" - hey, it makes sense . . .
67. "Toodles!": BYE
adieu to you, and you, "meh."
Splynter
