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Constructor: Matthew Linzer
Relative issue: Medium
THEME: MAKE A WISH (17A: What to do once you see … [see 23-, 37-, 39-, 48- and 60-Across] — belongings you make a want on:
Theme solutions:
- SHOOTING STAR (23A: … this streaker within the evening)
- EYELASH (37A: … this stray bit in your face)
- LADYBUG (39A: … this insect crawling by)
- ELEVEN ELEVEN (i.e. 11:11) (48A: … this on a clock)
- DANDELION (60A: … this simply earlier than you blow on the seeds)
Phrase of the Day: CHOP SUEY (10D: Chinese language-American dish) —
Chop suey () is a dish in American Chinese language delicacies and different types of abroad Chinese language delicacies, consisting of meat (normally rooster, pork, beef, shrimp or fish) and eggs, cooked shortly with greens resembling bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and sure in a starch-thickened sauce. It’s sometimes served with rice however can change into the Chinese language-American type of chow mein with the substitution of stir-fried noodles for rice.
Chop suey has change into a outstanding a part of American Chinese language delicacies, British Chinese language delicacies, Filipino delicacies, Canadian Chinese language delicacies, German Chinese language delicacies, Indian Chinese language delicacies, and Polynesian delicacies. In Chinese language Indonesian delicacies/Dutch Chinese language Indonesian delicacies it is called cap cai (tjap tjoi) (雜菜, “blended greens”) and primarily consists of greens.
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This jogged my memory a little bit of the SMASH HIT puzzle from final week, in that the theme feels upside-down and backwards. That’s, we get the revealer first, after which every thing thereafter is form of anticlimactic. Sure, you would like upon this, you would like upon that, shrug. The revealer comes first, and it is bought all these ugly cross-reference indications in it, and then you definitely simply get an inventory of “belongings you would possibly want on.” I get that the thought is to inform a narrative, or a number of tales—therefore the elliptical cluing, with every theme clue being a supposed continuation of the “revealer” clue (“What to do once you see…”). I recognize the hassle to make the puzzle unfold in a semi-unconventional approach, however the revealer-first construction right here simply deadens the puzzle, one way or the other. I imply, this theme was by no means going to be something greater than an inventory, however we do not even get the tiny aha of discovering out how all of the solutions tie collectively on the finish. We get the tiny aha up entrance, after which we get to find the issues on the checklist, however one way or the other the aha is dampened and the pleasure of the resolve weakened. I believe the narrative construction of the theme has one thing to do with the truth that you must pressure the solutions to adapt—that’s, they want contexts with a view to make the “wishing” half make sense. You do not want upon a dandelion, you would like *earlier than* blowing a dandelion to bits; you do not want upon an eyelash, you would like upon an eyelash that you’ve got (or another person has) eliminated out of your face; and so on. So maybe an easy revealer would not fairly have executed the trick. Nonetheless, the theme right here unfolded in a reasonably boring, workmanlike approach, and the “…” conceit by no means fairly works in a crossword, the place soooooo many clues and solutions intervene between theme parts. Plus, the theme clue writing leaves one thing to be desired. There’s one thing clunky and inelegant about it. As an example, “… this streaker within the evening” makes it sound such as you’re hoping on somebody working bare via your yard simply earlier than bedtime, and “… this stray bit in your face” makes it sound like you’re a actually sloppy eater. “Stray bit”??? Little bit of what? Such an unpleasant method to seek advice from an EYELASH. The entire thing by no means actually comes collectively, on any degree, besides on the degree of mere checklist. If this puzzle had come out on ELEVEN ELEVEN, I might’ve appreciated the wink, and would’ve appreciated it just a little extra, most likely.
The fill on this grid is fairly bitter. I like the CHOP SUEY / MARIGOLDS bit, however too typically the fill was leaden and unusual—and inexplicably so. Why would you set CRAP in your grid if you did not have to? That is an easy-to-fill little nook, and one way or the other you’ve got chosen to go along with CRAP (!?). Why? It is not holding up something good. In actual fact, its cornermates are largely a bunch of plural abbrs. (ATMS, EXECS, SPECS). CRAP is like ANAL in that OK should you *want* it, use it, however in any other case keep away from it as a result of its floor that means simply is not enhancing the surroundings. I remade the nook in roughly zero minutes (no development software program wanted):
After which I did the identical for the SW nook, the place LAS VEGAN (“The vegan!”) was bugging the hell out of me. Like, why not simply make it the precise metropolis!? The “N” would not *do* something for you, so why would you … why would you?
I am not saying both of my corners is nice (once more, I did not spend time on them), however they eliminate the conspicuously junky bits. There simply did not appear to be plenty of care given to creating the grid easy all through. Fill appeared like an afterthought. The worst of it was MNOP and its (to me) baffling clue (35A: Rows #13-#16 in a theater). I got here to a lifeless halt making an attempt to get via that bottleneck of a center part:
No concept what this was after, thought I had an error. Oh, and the issue was compounded by the arbitrarily three-“O” “OOOH,” what the hell (25D: “I like {that a} LOT!”). Becoming that one of many phrases working straight via this part is WOE, as a result of sure, that’s what I am feeling right here (32A: Deep grief). MNOP is the form of dangerous fill you simply do not see a lot any extra—the random four-letter alphabetical sequence. And “OOOH” is simply made-up. “OOOOOOH” appears simply as believable. In actual fact, I respect “OOOOOOH” extra as a result of at the very least it has the braveness to go Tremendous large. This one further “O,” bah. You possibly can see how the constructor bought in a pickle from the soar, with themers positioned such that you simply gotta have a four-letter O–H phrase to lock them collectively. There simply aren’t that many four-letter O–H solutions to select from. OATH, ORCH., “OH! OH!” OPAH … OK, there are a number of, however nonetheless you are severely restricted by the letter placement. So you find yourself with MNOP / “OOOH!” Oo(o)f.
“HI, Y’ALL” felt off (30D: “Howdy, of us!”). Actually desires to be “HEY, Y’ALL.” I imply, there is a nation music and a tough ice tea (!) and every thing.
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