Constructor: Norm Guggenbiller
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: "Overheard in New England" — common phrases are reimagined as phrases where "R"s (following "A"s) (except in one case, for some reason) are dropped, creating new, wacky phrases, clued "?"-style
Theme answers:- 24A: A "Star Trek" officer and a physician are going to board a plane? (SPOCKS WILL FLY)
- 36A: Atlantic fishery officers? (COD COUNTERS)
- 59A: Work agreeably in a greenhouse? (POT ON GOOD TERMS)
- 76A: "Happy Birthday" on a cake, e.g.? (GOBBLED MESSAGE)
- 95A: Sexy operators? (HOT SURGEONS)
- 112A: Where frogs shop? (HOPPER'S BAZAAR)
Word of the Day: Hannah HÖCH (
29A: German Dadaist Hannah) —
Hannah Höch (German: [hœç]; November 1, 1889 – May 31, 1978) was a German Dada artist. She is best known for her work of the Weimar period, when she was one of the originators of photomontage. (wikipedia)
• • •
I liked virtually none of this. First, right off the bat, looking at the title, I'm thinking "Oh great, another speech parody puzzle. This should be wacky." I sort of remember how it is that New Englanders are supposed to talk, so this should be no problem, I thought. But the phrases in the theme answers are so preposterous and convoluted that I don't get Any for what seems like a very long time. Meanwhile, cluing is off and fill is boring and I'm having a very hard time caring. No one would ever use
ENCASES for [
Boxes up]. There are many, many [
Non-Eur. U.S. ally]s.
ESTS are not "probably" close. They're attempts to get close. There's a difference. I finished the puzzle somewhere near
ESTS and honestly didn't even know what it was an abbreviation of for several seconds. The frame of reference for this puzzle is decidedly old. The clues seemed pulled of some secret Maleskan file, from
SAL Bando to Blue Moon
ODOM to the clue on
THA (
89D: Fourth Arabic letter). Really? Not sure there is anything from this century in the puzzle. Oooooh, the "John Carter" /
MARS clue. Dat
DERE was Fresh!
Joyless. I don't have much to say. Fill is not good, though I've seen much worse. Theme is a bit stale. Cluing is often off and old all over. But all that is a matter of (admittedly strong) opinion. What *isn't* opinion is what a colossal Failure
HOPPER'S BAZAAR is as an answer in this puzzle. This puzzle should've been sent back with a little note saying "you've got a consistency problem there in your last theme answer. See how you've got an 'AR' in there that you haven't changed ... yeah, that's weird. That would not be 'Overheard in New England'—either both "R"s would be dropped or neither would. That answer turns your puzzle into a lie. So please come up with a new theme answer. Thanks." But no. "Close enough! Run it!"
I'll give this puzzle
BUG ZAPPER. That, I'll give it.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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