Joe Rodini’s New York Times puzzle – Sophia’s write-up

New York Times, 10 24 2022, By Joe Rodini

Theme Answers:

• 20a [Spanish painter of “The Third of May 1808”] – FRANCISCO GOYA
• 36a [Mexican muralist twice married to Frida Kahlo] – DIEGO RIVERA
• 43a [Chilean American actor of “The Mandalorian” and “Narcos”] – PEDRO PASCAL
• 57a [Puerto Rican singer with more than 50 albums, including “Feliz Navidad”] – JOSE FELICIANO

And as “revealers”:

• 1a [French for “without”] – SANS
• 70a [After 1-Across, what the first names at 20-, 36-, 43- and 57-Across all are?] – SANS

So, in a nutshell, every theme reply first title can observe the phrase SAN within the title of a well-known place: San FRANCISCO, San DIEGO, San PEDRO, and San JOSE. I’m not precisely positive what the purpose of getting two SANS revealers had been? It looks as if the reveal clue could possibly be one thing like [French for “without”… or what could precede the first names of the other theme answers]. I spent some time making an attempt to determine if the double SANS really added one other layer, and actually I’m nonetheless unsure. Let me know within the feedback if I’m lacking something.

I feel how tough this may play for people will rely on their data of the 4 males within the theme solutions. I knew all however JOSE FELICIANO, however my non-crossword buddy sitting subsequent to me whereas I solved knew him instantly, so I feel that one’s only a private blind spot for me. It’s at all times tough to do a Monday puzzle primarily based round correct names, however these ones span a fairly huge swath of popular culture, which helps with that problem (though after FRANCISCO GOYA and DIEGO RIVERA I did assume we had been heading in the direction of an artwork theme).

I don’t have too many feedback on the remainder of the puzzle. The clue [Question that might have a ring to it?] for PROPOSAL was cute. I wrote in 67a [Elementary building block] as “lego” earlier than ATOM. The CHOI/ODEON crossing may play a bit tough for newer to crossword of us, however there are solely so many letters that might match there. There additionally seems like there are loads of males within the puzzle, and though a few of that’s theme-related I feel the fill may have been extra balanced (the one ladies talked about are Juliet and Frida Kahlo, each of whom are solely talked about in relation to males). But general, a strong Monday puzzle with a theme I loved determining.

Congrats to Joe on an excellent NYT debut!