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Constructor: Simeon Seigel
Relative issue: Medium, Straightforward-Medium, someplace in there
THEME: INSIDE OUT (64A: Completely … or the way to learn the 4 Throughout solutions with parentheses on this puzzle) — grid has 4 solutions with *double* parentheses—to grasp the wackiness, it’s a must to learn the reply from the “inside out,” i.e. interior parenthetical first, outer parenthetical second, total entry third:
Theme solutions:
- C(R(AFT)S)MEN (i.e. aft rafts craftsmen) (17A: Staff on the rear of some flat boats?)
- S(P(LATTE)R)ED (i.e. latte platter splattered) (25A: Results of dropping a tray of espresso drinks?)
- PSYCH(O(THE)R)APIST (i.e. the opposite psychotherapist) (39A: “Not that shrink!”?)
- S(C(ORE)S)HEET (i.e. ore cores scoresheet) (51A: Tally of samples at a geology competitors?)
Phrase of the Day: Scott O’DELL (7D: Scott who wrote “The Black Pearl”) —
Scott O’Dell (Might 23, 1898 – October 15, 1989) was an American author of 26 novels for younger folks, together with three novels for adults and 4 nonfiction books. He wrote historic fiction, primarily, together with a number of kids’s novels about historic California and Mexico. For his contribution as a kids’s author he acquired the biennial, worldwide Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1972, the best recognition accessible to creators of youngsters’s books. He acquired The College of Southern Mississippi Medallion in 1976 and the Catholic Libraries Affiliation Regina Medal in 1978.
O’Dell’s greatest identified work is the historic novel Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960), which received the 1961 Newbery Medal and the 1963 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in its German translation. It was additionally named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award listing. He was one of many annual Newbery runners-up for 3 different books: The King’s Fifth (1966), The Black Pearl (1967), and Sing Down the Moon (1970). (wikipedia)
The Black Pearl is a younger grownup novel by Scott O’Dell first revealed in 1967 in regards to the coming of age of the son of a pearl supplier. (wikipedia)
• • •
My downloaded puzzle didn’t have the parentheses, so I needed to infer what was occurring, which added a degree of problem—all the time welcome on Thursday. Sadly, with out the parentheses I really did not see that there have been really two “inside” phrase, one embedded inside the opposite. In different phrases, all I noticed as AFT CRAFTSMEN, LATTE SPLATTERED, OTHER PSYCHOTHERAPIST, ORE SCORESHEET, leaving me to marvel why the clues sounded form of off, and why discovering one phrase embedded inside one other was in any respect theme-worthy. However as I typed within the revealer clue, I acquired inquisitive about what “solutions with parentheses” meant, then all of the sudden realized, “oh, there’s gonna be some pictorial aspect that my software program missed, is not there?” Sure. The double parentheses is certainly extra spectacular, from a technical perspective, and THE OTHER PSYCHOTHERAPIST is an actual winner throughout—humorous, excellent phrasing on the clue … with the parentheses sitting useless heart, mwah, beautiful. The others, to various levels, really feel compelled and contrived and never fairly proper, and that offness form of saps the wackiness. AFT RAFT CRAFTSMEN is what the phrase needs to be—that is the wacky phrase juste. However with this parenthetical set-up, we’re requested to simply accept the plural RAFTS—AFT RAFTS CRAFTSMEN—and that simply sounds mistaken. The identical subject arises with ORE CORES SCORESHEET, though there it grates barely much less. One of many causes THE OTHER PSYCHOTHERAPIST beats the others by such a large margin is that you do not have to think about a very nonsensical state of affairs as a way to make sense of the wacky reply. It is humorous partly as a result of it is believable and clear. Whereas there is not any such factor as a “latte platter” (to say nothing of a “geology competitors” (!?)) until I want actual exhausting and the Wackiness Fairy makes it so. This finally ends up being one the place you are purported to CLAP on the cleverness, however the precise on-the-page outcomes are blended. (sidenote: since when is a CLAP a “gesture” ???! (34A: Two-handed gesture)?)
I am a middle-aged man who has been instructing Cyclops-containing literature for many years and I’ve by no means heard or seen the time period CYCLOPEAN. They’re certainly massive, the Cyclopes, but when I have been to make an adjective out of their identify, I’d suppose the long-lasting trait can be one-eyed-ness. A number of issues are massive. Gargantua was massive, they usually made an adjective out of his identify, and it made sense. CYCLOPEAN is an providing from the Nice God Phrase Record, one thing nobody would use until the A.I. prompt it. The identical just isn’t true for “echo pedal” (singular), but it surely appears kinda sorta true for ECHO PEDALS plural. What number of do you want on your so-called “rock live performance”? But it surely’s actually the clue I am quibbling with there, not the reply, which is a straightforward plural, and positive. PHAT is much less positive. INURN is way, a lot much less positive. The fill in any other case holds up OK. There is no actual THRILL right here, however I wasn’t BORED, both.
Hardest part for me was the SW, largely due to the bizarro “Citizen Kane” trivia (62A: Love of Charles Foster Kane in “Citizen Kane” = OPERA). I’ve seen that film a number of occasions and when ROSEBUD and HIMSELF did not match right here, I used to be fully at a loss, attempting to recollect some love curiosity’s identify that had one way or the other slipped my thoughts. However apparently he beloved OPERA. I do know there’s the entire bit the place he arranges for his girlfriend to star in an OPERA and he or she’s fairly dangerous. However as with the Cyclops’s dimension, I by no means considered Kane’s love of OPERA as notably iconic. And because the two solutions beneath OPERA (GRAIL, SINGS) have been each very vaguely clued (66A: Coveted cup / 69A: Finks), I struggled a bit to get that nook to work. However total this puzzle most likely really comes out on the “Straightforward” facet. On Thursdays, it is normally the theme that will get you, and this theme was not notably thorny.
Notes:
- 16A: Spoiler alert! It is micro organism! (E. COLI) — Why are you shouting!? About micro organism!? Is it since you’re warning me to not eat the “spoiled” meals?! OK, I hear you.
- 36A: Shrunken snack merchandise (PRUNE) — I suppose all dried fruit is indirectly “shrunken,” OK. I used to be searching for some brand-name mini-donut or one thing…
- 7D: Scott who wrote “The Black Pearl” (O’DELL) — By no means heard of this man, by no means heard of “The Black Pearl.” I simply by no means learn a lot “younger grownup” fiction even once I was a younger grownup. I went from “Peanuts” to grown-up novels (through The Catcher within the Rye) and simply skipped no matter was supposed to return in between. So I am conscious of a few of the names of last-century YA stuff (The Chocolate Conflict? A Separate Peace? The Outsiders?), however I’ve no particular expertise with it. My mom can inform you if I am misremembering any of this. My adolescence was principally MTV and video video games.
See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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