Constructor: Zhou Zhang
Relative problem: Straightforward
THEME: DUCK, DUCK, GOOSE (51A: Fowl play? … or phrases that may observe the begins of 20-, 32- and 42-Throughout) — SITTING duck, LUCKY duck, SILLY goose …
Theme solutions:
- SITTING PRETTY (20A: Comfortably well-off)
- LUCKY CHARMS (32A: Cereal with “marbits” and a leprechaun mascot)
- SILLY STRING (42A: Toy that comes out of a twig can)
Phrase of the Day: marbits (see 32A) —
Marbit refers to a little bit of dried marshmallow that’s usually pressed into a colourful form and included in some sweetened breakfast cereals. (merriam-webster.com)
• • •
Easy, easy, efficient, with a bit little bit of wordplay ([Fowl play?…]) on the revealer clue. Good. The themers are fascinating in their very own proper, and there are a number of longer Downs that add colour to the grid. The fill is fairly clear. So yeah, a really strong Monday. Not a lot to say in regards to the theme besides that once I consider the animal that’s colloquially fortunate, it is a canine, not a duck. Fortunate canine. That’s the phrase I do know finest. Varied predictive searches actually favor “fortunate canine” to “LUCKY DUCK.” Let’s strive DuckDuckGo, only for aptness’s sake:
And now Google
So there is a predictive search desire for “canine,” however not a lot of 1. I’ve actually heard “fortunate duck,” and its foreign money is attested in every single place, so there is not any precise downside right here. Curiously, each LUCKY DOG and LUCKY DUCK are manufacturers of beer …
… though there are such a lot of beers on the planet now that most likely any random phrase has a beer named after it — like: Unhappy Clown. Is there a Unhappy Clown beer? … [googles hopefully] … ha ha, no, however my search did lead me to a fairly humorous Schlitz advert:
Essentially the most annoying factor in regards to the puzzle was the horrific phrase “marbits,” which I’ve by no means heard of in my life, regardless of understanding about LUCKY CHARMS for my complete life. When did folks begin calling the marshmallows “marbits.” It is an unfathomably terrible title. Even the makers of this puzzle could not deliver themselves to make use of it with out placing it into citation marks (even if it is in Webster’s, at the least on-line). “Marbits” feels like a pores and skin illness, or a type of burrowing rodent. [Cereal with a leprechaun mascot] would’ve labored simply fantastic, however no, you’ve got gotta throw “marbits” at me. “Marbits” (sarcastically) doesn’t go my private breakfast check.
[Why are the mascots of kids’ cereals so often (well, at least twice) antagonists? I mean, Tony the Tiger is a coked-up people pleaser who’s happy to push Frosted Flakes on anyone who’ll listen (yeah, “they’re grrrreat,” Tony, we get it), but Lucky here tries to thwart the kids’ pursuit of their morning sugar high, and the Trix Rabbit … well, he’s not really trying to deprive the kids, he just keeps committing fraud in order to get Trix because he’s jonesing so hard, but then the kids thwart him by discovering he’s a rabbit and lecturing him about species-appropriate behavior. I want a mascot that puts these damn kids in their place. “You’re gonna eat your mush and like it, you obnoxious brats!”]
Fixing this one Downs-only resulted in two downside sections, the primary rather more critical than the second. Up prime, I fully whiffed on all the quick Downs from 5 to eight. No thought the place the canine was purported to be napping (5D: Canine-napping spot? = CRATE), thought [Muggy] was MOIST (!), had “C’MON” for 7D: “Let’s do it!” (“I’M IN!“), and had each PINE and ACHE earlier than LONG (8D: Yearn (for)). That is numerous whiffing. And but, since I had the SIT- and managed to work out the -ETTY, I used to be capable of infer the whole lot of the phrase SITTING PRETTY, and that gave me the letters I wanted to get HUMID and LONG and the remainder of them. The second, much less powerful bother spot was within the south, the place I had CACTI earlier than AGAVE (48D: Desert plant with many makes use of), and did not know if it was purported to be ZONK or CONK at 54D: Go to sleep, with “out” (CONK). I additionally discovered “ASK MOM” very arduous to parse (45D: Dad’s noncommittal response to a child’s request). I assume referring the questioner to a different individual is noncommittal, however I actually needed one thing equal to “perhaps.” However once more, having the ability to infer the lengthy reply (the revealer) made all the issues down there disappear.
Bullet factors:
- 33D: Alvin and his again up singers (CHIPMUNKS) — I am culling my LP assortment and one of many data that is going is Christmas with the CHIPMUNKS. It is an appealingly kitschy piece of music historical past, however I am unable to think about voluntarily listening to that a lot chipmunk voice. Novelty wears off actual fast. The one CHIPMUNKS Christmas tune I do know nicely and the one one I care to know (sorry to start out taking part in Christmas music earlier than Thanksgiving … I am often fairly strict about this):
- 9D: Casually discuss one’s connections to celebrities (DROP NAMES) — this jogs my memory of the time that Anne Hatha- … sorry, I imply: that is undoubtedly an actual phrase and but has been supplanted, largely (at the least in my vocabulary), by the verb “namedrop.”
- 3D: Flabbergasted (GOBSMACKED) — the large winner of the day. Such a pleasure to get this in my NW nook versus the dense assortment of rubbish I have been getting of late. The grid sometimes will get a bit thick with repeaters (that OER ETNA ENNUI ERS patch, e.g.), however principally it holds up very nicely. No wincing in the present day. And GOBSMACKED—mwah!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Assist this weblog ❤️:
=============================
✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️
=============================
📘 My different weblog 📘:
