Constructor: Dan Schoenholz

Relative issue: Easy-Medium (“Medium” due virtually totally to ECHINODERM)

THEME: Abbrs. “hidden” inside phrases with which they’re roughly synonymous — theme solutions are phrases that comprise synonymous initialisms (inside circled squares):

Theme solutions:

• “IF I’M BEING HONEST…” (17A: “Truthfully…”)
• RESERVE ONE’S SPOT (36A: Secure a seat on the desk, say)
• “… AND MAKE IT SNAPPY” (54A: “Hurry up!”)

Word of the Day: ECHINODERM (9D: Starfish or sea urchin, in a biology textual content) —

An echinoderm () is any member of the phylumEchinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (often five-point) radial symmetry, and embrace starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand {dollars}, and sea cucumbers in addition to the sea lilies […] Adult echinoderms are discovered on the ocean mattress at each ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone. The phylum comprises about 7,000 dwelling species, making it the second-largest grouping of deuterostomes, after the chordates. Echinoderms are the biggest totally marine phylum. The first definitive echinoderms appeared close to the beginning of the Cambrian. (wikipedia)

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This is a type of intelligent concepts that does not come off fairly as properly on the web page. Non-consecutive circled squares have at all times been one of the vital unappealing crossword tropes for me, and so the idea and execution should be actually good for me to beat that preliminary aversion. Here, the potential theme set appears very, very slender, and on condition that restriction, I’ve to say the theme set works very properly. All these initialisms are very shut matches for the solutions they seem inside. Of course some folks (approach far more than I’d have thought, primarily based on a current Twitter ballot I noticed) consider that the “H” in IMHO truly *means* “HONEST,” and if that had been the case, then the preliminary “H” could be duping a phrase within the reply, and that might be a flaw. But since, as I believe this puzzle definitively establishes, the “H” emphatically stands for “HUMBLE,” the theme reply works simply nice. Still, RESERVE ONE’S SPOT was an ungainly, disagreeable, not-really-gridworthy reply to have to write down in. The 15 that has ONE’S in it was, for a time, a sort of crossword cliché (A LOT ON ONE’S PLATE being a solution you’ll see … properly, greater than as soon as is the purpose). RESERVE ONE’S SPOT is sort of unimaginable as a standalone reply in, say, a themeless crossword, and it isn’t any extra interesting in a thematic context. It’s extra explicable, it is right here for a motive, however you need to have a very forgiving coronary heart to let RESERVE ONE’S SPOT get a move. RESERVE A SPOT virtually looks like a standalone factor. The ONE’S actually brings it down in some way. The “AND” a part of “AND MAKE IT SNAPPY” additionally appears a bit contrived, however should you consider “ASAP” as one thing you’ve got tacked on to the top of a requirement, the “AND” bit, i.e. beginning with a conjunction, makes whole sense. “Come get me, ASAP!” “Come get me, AND MAKE IT SNAPPY!” Sure. Just nice. Technically you possibly can’ve pulled off the ASAP embedding with out the AND (there’s an “A” in MAKE), however you then’ve acquired symmetry issues. Plus the “AND” simply makes it extra … enjoyable, in some way. More colloquialish. So conceptually, that is very cool. I simply did not care in any respect for that center themer.

The fill was a little bit heavy on some crosswordesey names like MRT and MORT Sahl and ALEK Wek and AHAB and B’NAI B’rith, after which ASP EPEE EERIER OLEO … there’s extra of that brief repeater gunk than I’d’ve appreciated to see, particularly in a grid that is not thematically dense. I appreciated LAID EYES ON and GIGGED and (weirdly) BOYO, however HOVERBIKES in some way left me chilly. I ought to prefer it, nevertheless it felt like pressured whimsy to me. Strange how some solutions simply rub you incorrect. Rubbing me actually incorrect at the moment was HIPPY-DIPPY—actually not into these insulting phrases. We’re making enjoyable of individuals’s ears yesterday, we’re insulting their alleged “New Agey”-ness at the moment. Bah. The clue on GO BALD can also be sort of insulting. Like, Mr. Clean? Did he GO BALD? Is that a part of his again story? Are there photos of a lushly maned Mr. Clean someplace? Also, his pate appears to be like shiny in a approach that implies craft, care, and polish. If he had like a receding hairline or a bald patch on the again, then yeah, OK, I may possibly agree that he had “gone bald,” however he would not, so he is in no way an acceptable instance for GO BALD. [Lose hair] or [Emulate old tires] or one thing like that works higher (and appears much less “tee hee” / jokey as properly). You’ve already acquired one (balding?) “MR.” within the grid (MR. T!), do you actually need one other? Also, nonetheless not into SOT. Never gonna be into SOT. Not into making folks with alcohol use dysfunction into figures of derision. SOT is crosswordese—that ought to be sufficient of a motive to attempt to not use it any extra. On the opposite hand, I’d use BARFLY, however I’d clue it because the film of the identical title, and anyway, BARFLY sounds whimsical and never essentially unhealthy. Whereas SOT … it is exhausting to decorate that one up. Anyway, no excuse for ALEK OLEO SOT all hanging out in a single teeny tiny nook. Grid ought to be (Mr.) cleaner, for positive.