Michael Schlossberg’s New York Times crossword, “Abridged Too Far” —Nate’s write-up

Happy weekend! I hope you’re nicely and, if you happen to’re fortunate sufficient to have a protracted weekend, having fun with the additional little bit of time without work. Let’s soar into this puzzle, which is the second ‘theme entry with a sub-theme entry in circles’ puzzle we’ve had lately:

01.15.23 Sunday New York Times Crossword

– 23A: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM [Play about love and heartbreak in Ancient Greece [1605, 431 B.C.]] with MEDEA spelled out in circled letters

– 37A: THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS [Timeless children’s classic about country dwellers’ friendships [1908, 1881]] with HEIDI spelled out in circled letters

– 64A: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT [Magnus opus about a man, family and the concept of free will [1866, 1965]] with DUNE spelled out in circled letters

– 76A: THE CATCHER IN THE RYE [Coming-of-age novel about a teenage boy and his isolation [1951, 1986]] with HATCHET spelled out in circled letters

– 102A: FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS [Tale about soldiers and treachery in southern Europe [1940, 1603]] with OTHELLO spelled out in circled letters

– 121A: TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT [“In a nutshell” … or an alternative title for this puzzle?]

I’ll admit that I had to take a look at the evaluation on xwordinfo to determine the theme / how the pairs of books associated to one another right here. According to that evaluation, every theme entry and its corresponding circled letters theme entry can each be described by the identical synopsis clue. I assume the thought of widespread synopses is fascinating, however lots of the sub-theme entries weren’t lengthy sufficient for me to make for a compelling “transformation,” so to talk.

The literature within the theme entries appeared to return from a comparatively slim set of “classics” typically taught in intro English lessons… however that aren’t fairly consultant of many readers. It would have been good to see a broader range of authors / characters in a contemporary puzzle. I additionally didn’t get how the revealer labored; as xwordinfo talked about, it appeared that this might have labored higher as a revealer for a puzzle the place a piece was boiled right down to certainly one of its elementary themes. For this puzzle, the themer may need been one thing as an alternative alongside the strains of TWO-FOR-ONE or the like.

What I did take pleasure in about this puzzle had been among the enjoyable clues, like these for SSN and ITT. Entries like WHEATEN and RON MIX had been rougher for me, although. The remainder of the clues appeared fairly simple, with not a lot trace of character. The xwordinfo evaluation talked about that a lot of the constructor’s authentic clues had been changed by the NYT modifying crew; I want we’d gotten to see extra of the constructor’s character in these authentic clues. Release the constructor’s minimize! 🙂