Sunday, July 21, 2024 | (2024)

LATtk (Gareth)

NYT16:43 (Nate)

WaPo6:20 (Matt G)

John Ewbank’s New York Times crossword, “In My Defense …” — Nate’s write-up

– 22A: NO TRUE SCOTSMAN [All crossword fans love this puzzle; anyone who doesn’t love this puzzle can’t be a *real* crossword fan!]
– 30A: CIRCULAR REASONING [Why was this chosen as today’s puzzle? Because it’s great! What makes it great? I mean, it was chosen for publication!]
– 47A: CHERRY PICKING [I sent this crossword to 100 friends, and two of them really liked it!]
– 65A: POST HOC ERGO PROPTER HOC [What’s more, one of those friends won the lottery right after solving it — coincidence? I think not!]
– 85A: SLIPPERY SLOPE [If you criticize this puzzle, where will it end? Before long, you’ll be criticizing your mother’s cooking?]
– 101A: APPEAL TO AUTHORITY [Besides, The New York Times said it was good!]
– 114A: LOGICAL FALLACY [Part of a flawed argument, examples of which are seen throughout this puzzle]

This puzzle’s theme is simply a list of logical fallacies that fit into the grid symmetrically. That’s it. No wordplay, no clever puns, nothing we’d expect in a modern theme, except for perhaps some cheekily-written theme clues that might, in a meta way, protest a bit too much.

I unfortunately didn’t find the grid’s fill or cluing any more exciting than the theme (and, in some places, it felt particularly rough), which leaves me wondering how this puzzle made it through. IZZATSO? That being the actual entry baffled me. And, if you were stumped on NO TRUE SCOTSMAN, fear not – the constructor admits in his own constructor notes that it was new to him, too!

As has become the case quite often these days, I’m hopeful that many of you enjoyed this puzzle more than I did – if I’m the odd one out, I’d be all the happier. Let us know in the comments – and have a lovely weekend!

PS – On a happier note, if you’ll be at the Boswords Crossword Tournament on Sunday, please say hi. I’ll be there!

Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post crossword, “Made to Order” — Matt’s write-up

A meta this week. The prompt is to correct a themer: “One of this puzzle’s theme answers is the wrong one. The answer to this week’s metapuzzle is the theme answer that should replace it, formed by combining two entries in the completed grid.“

Seven across answers jumped out during the solve, notable for their wackiness, but it wasn’t until I started to list them out that I realized the first six are an anagrams of the immediately preceding entries:

MYOPES / EMO PSY
SOB STORY / BOORS STY
VOLUMES / ELMO SUV
SOCIETAL / ACE I LOST
SUBTEXT / BEST TUX
SABOTEUR / ABE OR STU
JACOBY / AHI NOW

A closer look, and the second half of each theme pair is in alphabetical order, even AHI NOW despite not being an anagram of JACOBY. It wasn’t immediately clear to me which of that pair was the wrong entry that needed to be replaced, but I didn’t quickly see an anagram of AHI NOW. Picking through the three-letter entries in the grid, ABC is near the top, and JOY near the bottom – they’re even symmetrically placed.

An anagram of JACOBY that matches the pattern of the other theme pairs, ABC JOY is also an apt payoff for a puzzle hinging on alphabetical order. A satisfying progression of ‘aha’ moments for me. The first step in particular — identifying the themers — is pretty clear, so I hope others had a similarly good time with this one.

Notes:

• 7a [Boring power tools] DRILLS. A lifetime of crossword solving had me entering and soon erasing AUGERS here
• 60d [Pieces played by a single musician] SOLO SET. The first chunk of this was easy to drop in. Finding the right way to match the plural clue took some crossings. But it’s a fair entry, in my mind.

Gary Larson’s Universal Sunday crossword, “I’ve Got a Funny Feeling…”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases that end in a word that could also be an emotion or a hint at an emotion. Crossword wackiness ensues.

• 23a. [*Despondency after a long pub crawl?] TWELVE-BAR BLUES. Good start. I like this one.
• 39a. [*Unscrupulous used-car dealer’s nefarious enthusiasm?] LEMON ZEST. Reprehensible (the car dealer, not the clue or entry).
• 43a. [*Sense of ease with one’s putter?] GREEN PEACE. Also good.
• 64a. [*Anxiety around attending a church gathering?] SOCIAL BUTTERFLIES.
• 87a. [*Vinyl collector’s euphoria in finding a rare album?] RECORD HIGH.
• 90a. [*Passion rediscovered during a midlife crisis?] FORTY LOVE. Forty is midlife? I guess I’m late for my crisis.
• 110a. [*Prime minister of England’s bouts of depression during WWII?] CHURCHILL DOWNS. Meh. I don’t like this one. You might call a bout of depression a “low point” or a “low,” but I doubt you’d call it a “down.”

These were mostly good except that last one didn’t sit well, as I noted. But good wordplay overall.

Fill highlights: LIP LINER, HOT YOGA, YVONNE (my niece’s name), MALAYSIA, sad*stIC, and KING’S MEN. That central staircase of six- and seven-letter down entries is impressive.

Clues of note:

• 9a. [Heist target, often]. SAFE. BANK seemed like the obvious entry, but it wasn’t too hard to correct this with the crossings.
• 46a. [Red October and others]. SUBS. Fictional submarine from the Tom Clancy book and film.
• 57a. [Exceptionally cruel to others]. sad*stIC. There’s an essential element to sadism (i.e. deriving pleasure from inflicting pain) that should be present in the clue.
• 97a. [Coffee entrepreneur Alfred]. According to the company’s history, Alfred PEET singlehandedly “taught the world to drink coffee.”
• 113a. [Bench sharer with Felix]. EARL. No idea what this is. Baseball?
• 38d. [“___ class is tough” (Teen Talk Barbie phrase)]. MATH. Huh. I mis-remember the phrase as “Math is hard”. Mattel later apologized for the phrase.
• 41d. [Take second, in a way]. STEAL. This one’s baseball for sure.

Good puzzle with clean fill. 3.75 stars.