Wednesday 8 Dec 2021 - Portrait of a Theme on Fire

 

Author: Philip Koski

Ash

Duration: 50:29
Difficulty: SLOGGER
Theme: 0.5/5 Stars

One thing I love about doing crosswords is the chance to learn random facts. Today I learned that a WOMBAT (2D: Marsupial with distinctive cube-shaped droppings) poops in cubes, there used to be a major gas company from Indiana called AMOCO (44A: Classic gas brand), and the word 'BASEST' (51D: Most despicable) describes a person with low morals. That brings a whole new meaning to calling your friend a 'basic b*tch', sorry Lou! I started off this puzzle having a lot of fun. A couple times singing Sweet Home Alabama at karaoke informed me all about Muscle SHOALS and their swampers (1D: Muscle ____, Ala.). With most of the NW corner filled in, I got A BATTLE OF WITS (20A: What intellectual rivals engage in) pretty easily, which got me very excited about the theme. A battle?! of wits!? That seems exactly up my alley! Can you tell I enjoy escape rooms? I was envisioning a Princess Bride theme, which is where my brain went after this answer. Boy oh boy was I wrong! The themers went tumbling down hill after that with SARGENT PORTRAIT (37A: "Theodore Roosevelt" or "Robert Louis Stevenson") and TSAR NICHOLAS I (58A: Mid-19th-century Russian ruler described as "autocracy personified"). While I got the theme quite easily, there was no pizzazz to it. IT'S A WRAP? Cool, I guess. I was able to fill in the remaining bubbles I didn't have but there weren't many and I was expecting a little bit more from a Wednesday puzzle. Where's the B.W.E. (Big Wednesday Energy)?

Not to mention, art is not my strong suit...neither is history. Art History? Forget it. I needed most of the crosses for both answers, which contributed a lot to the 50min run time. Siri: add John Singer Sargent to the list of things I learned today.

The fill wasn't all bad. I like DIASPORA (11D: Population beyond the homeland); it's new and fresh and a great transition into the lower NE section. I gave myself a little pat on the back for ATOI (26D: Yours, in Arles) as I've been practicing my French on Duolingo again. I loved the clue for TITLE (56D: Line on a spine) and ION (22D: It comes with a charge), those always make me smile. I've never heard of a MARIMBA (48A: Percussion instrument that's also the name of a popular ringtone) and went so far as to look up Ringtone options on my phone to see if there were any that fit the bill. Spoiler...there wasn't. Fact: it's not cheating if you don't use Google! Lou, remember that time I didn't know an alternative to Maytags and it just so happened that my washer/dryer were Amanas? Hehe.....time to pass the SALT (69A: Word after rock, sea or table).

Lou

Duration: please don't make me say (1:20:32)
Difficulty: Yes, there was quite a bit of difficulty
Theme: On fire (and not in a good way)

It's okay, Ash, this puzzle made me feel like a basic b*tch (in that doing this puzzle made me the most despicable version of myself). It always takes me a little time to get into a crossword, so usually I'll just tap through the top quadrants, not really putting a lot of thought into it and end up solving the thing from the bottom up. Did that happen here? Kind of. Here's my beginning board, it's not pretty so please be kind.

HDMI? Wrong. Which really set me up for failure in the top left quadrant. So we'll come back to that. Wednesdays, as Ash can attest, are where I really start to struggle. Up until recently I was a steady Monday and Tuesday gal, I'd get to Wednesday and be so frustrated that I'd give up. I try not to let the eventual slog I go through, on my midweek crossword, get to me too badly and when Ash and I help each other here and there it feels doable. But damn. Todays? I felt RUST[Y] (54A: Sign of inactivity). I had SNOTTY in for a while until I got DIASPORA (11D: Population beyond the homeland) and, smacking myself on the forehead, switched it to SNOOTY (31A: Arrogant). I had VILEST for the longest time in the SE quadrant and honestly, if that wasn't a sign of how the rest of this puzzle went for me, I don't know what is. It was vile.

Ash, I LOVE the idea of a Princess Bride theme and sadly it would have been about one million times better than the shit we were given (no offense, Philip, I've never created a crossword puzzle and had it published in the NYT so overall you win). But come on? IT'S A WRAP?? More like IT'S-A-LOAD-A-CRAP. Here's a short excerpt from our convo about the theme today, if you had any doubts to our feelings thus far.

The epic slog through this crossword that took me over an hour was STORIED (28A: Like the Tower of Babel, in two ways) to say the least. Did a double take on SLEWS (70A: Tons and tons) because who uses slew in the multiple?? Philip. That's who. I was so annoyed that I ended up doing some post-puzzle googling and guess what? Google also hates the idea of multiple slews. Did I MEANTO enjoy this puzzle? Yes. But did I? No. I wasn't (50D) given the chance.

P.s. YES THE AMANAS!!!!

IT'S A WRAP!

Ash & Lou