Wednesday, March 20, 2024
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Constructor: Jennifer Nutt

Relative problem: Medium (regular Monday)

THEME: GIFT (38D: Something that may be wrapped with the begins of 17-, 24-, 40-, 51- and 64-Across) — belongings you use to wrap items:

Theme solutions:

  • TAPE DELAY (17A: Built in lag time to permit bleeping throughout a dwell broadcast)
  • SCISSORS KICK (24A: Part of a swimmer’s sidestroke)
  • BOX SEAT (40A: Good vantage level at an opera home or stadium)
  • PAPER TRAINED (51A: Like a pet who’s realized the place to “go”) (“citation marks?” “actually?”)
  • BOW STRING (64A: Archer’s arrow launcher)

Word of the Day: ROLF (46A: Massage deeply) —

Rolfing () is a type of different drugs initially developed by Ida Rolf (1896–1979) as Structural Integration. Rolfing is marketed with unproven claims of assorted well being advantages. It relies on Rolf’s concepts about how the human physique’s “power discipline” can profit when aligned with the Earth’s gravitational discipline.

Rolfing is often delivered as a collection of ten hands-on bodily manipulation periods generally referred to as “the recipe”. Practitioners mix superficial and deep handbook remedy with motion prompts. The course of is typically painful. The security of Rolfing has not been confirmed.

The ideas of Rolfing contradict established medical data, and there’s no good proof Rolfing is efficient for the remedy of any well being situation. It is acknowledged as a pseudoscience and has been characterised as quackery. (wikipedia) 

• • •

This was fairly lackluster, as seasonal themes go. The idea is OK, but it surely’s principally only a ho-hum first-words puzzle—an especially well-established theme sort. Nothing concerning the theme execution right here is especially hanging or inventive or memorable. It’s dense, I’ll give it that. And it has an especially oddly positioned revealer, with GIFT jammed all the way in which over there to the proper. The puzzle would’ve been improved no less than barely if the symmetrical reply (on this case, MALI) had additionally been a part of the theme. You might’ve gone with XMAS / GIFT—I do know we like to remain inclusive and never default to Christianity, that is advantageous, however from a strictly crossword standpoint, XMAS / GIFT beats plain previous GIFT. Some individuals get offended by the abbr. XMAS, although, do you know this? I did *not* know this … till I had a reader or two yelling at me just a few years again after I used the abbr. casually in certainly one of my write-ups and so they took it as, I dunno, some type of blasphemy or anti-Christian assertion. Bizarre. As for the theme solutions themselves, they’re OK. The two extra … uncommon ones have been additionally those I obtained tripped up on, for very totally different causes. I assumed the swim kick was a SCISSOR (no remaining “S”) KICK, so as soon as I obtained SCISSOR, and even after I obtained SCISSOR S-, I did not know what I might probably be coping with. I needed to soar up into that NE nook and work it from the within out. The different themer that gave me bother was PAPER TRAINED, which … er … I’m type of grimacing proper now, making an attempt to consider the best way to categorical my varied distastes right here. First, I like to consider urination and defecation as little as potential when I’m fixing a crossword, so there’s that, however no matter, I can deal. Bigger subject for me was having no thought PAPER TRAINED was actually a factor you probably did. Why are you doing this? I’ve HOUSE TRAINED (the One True Answer For This Clue) a pet and never as soon as ever did we practice her to go (versus “go”) on paper, yikes. We went straight to coaching her to go outdoors, no half measures. Maybe condo dwellers educate their canine to go indoors? I’m not aware of this. I’ve (vaguely) heard of paper coaching, however … oof, I thought-about POTTY earlier than PAPER. Needed a lot of the PAPER crosses to get it. Luckily, these have been simply obtained.

The fill was not unhealthy, simply drab. ASA ITWAS ENIAC ORANG LEI LUAU ASSN AMOR and so forth. The reply ROLF all the time makes me chortle, in that I all the time knew it as a slang phrase for “barf” and anyway ROLF isn’t [Massage deeply], it’s proprietary pseudoscientific gobbledygook (see “Word of the Day” entry, above). Isn’t ROLF the canine on “The Muppet Show”? Oh, darn, he is ROWLF (put *that* in your puzzle and smoke it!). Anyway, ROLF is foolish, which is healthier than unhealthy and/or boring, I suppose. Hey, what (the hell) is the distinction between SEAR and CHAR (23A: Scorch)!?!? Definition of “SEAR” that I’m studying proper now says it means burn or scorch the floor of (one thing) with a sudden, intense warmth” (google). That [Scorch] works for each phrases is … complicated, not least as a result of they each finish in -AR (making that pair a tough kealoa*) (comfortable kealoas* solely have one letter in frequent … I’m making these items up as I’m going alongside, you perceive …). Hope the remainder of your day is good, or no less than not EXECRABLE. Do not have A FOUL day, is what I’m saying. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

*kealoa = quick, frequent reply you can’t simply fill in shortly as a result of two or extra solutions are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the basic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See additionally, e.g. [Heaps] ATON/ALOT, [“Git!”] “SHOO”/”SCAT,” and so forth.

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]



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