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David P. Williams’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Floating Upstream”—Jim P’s evaluation

The revealer is RISING TIDE (49a, [Reportedly, it lifts all boats, as evidenced by the starred answers]). The remainder of the themers are comprised of two entries: the primary Across entry, and a Down entry whose letters are used going upward as a part of the Across entry. The Down entries themselves are all sorts of boats.

Wall St Journal crossword resolution · “Floating Upstream” · David P. Williams · Thu., 12.1.22

• 19a. [*One liable to erupt] ACTIV(E VOL)CANO with 9d [Type of boat for sweethearts] LOVE.
• 24a. [*Endeavor that can lead to swimming with the fishes] (DEEP S)EA DIVING with 13d [Type of boat for smugglers] SPEED.
• 41a. [*Grounds keeper] COFFE(E FIL)TER with 33d [Type of boat for survivors] LIFE.

There’s quite a bit occurring right here, so it took a while to type it out. And I’m unsure I’m on board (haha) with what’s occurring right here conceptually. Does studying the letters of a ship upwards imply the boat is “lifted”? Wouldn’t it make extra sense if the boat kind itself went upward (e.g. if 13d was DEEPS as an alternative of SPEED)?

Another of my issues is that I’m turned off by clues of the kind [Type of ___]. Is LIFE actually a kind of boat for survivors? “Hello, excuse me sir, what is LOVE?” “Oh, it’s a type of boat for sweethearts.” Bzzt! No, it simply doesn’t work. What’s flawed with every boat being clued with a easy  [___ boat]?

Those nits apart, I used to be in a position to look previous them, and I actually did get pleasure from sussing out this theme.

And there’s loads to love within the fill as effectively: TIE CLIPS, CRIMINAL, “HONESTLY…,” “I SAID SO,” INFIDELS, CAT TOY, SAMURAI, IRON AGE, and PALERMO. That SE nook with EXHIBIT, LIBRARY, and STOOGE is kind of good.

I additionally get pleasure from seeing IT ME [Recognition of oneself, modernly]. I can’t think about this phrase having long-lasting endurance, so let’s simply get pleasure from it whereas it’s right here. On the opposite hand, I may do with out pretentious SOLI [Divas’ pieces].

Clues of observe:

• 17a. [Severely censures]. REVILES. Today I realized the which means of this phrase. I had thought it merely meant to hate or abhor.
• 21a. [Setting for NY Yankees double-headers]. EDT. Why double-headers, precisely? Are these solely performed within the summertime when there’s extra mild?
• 1d. [Floats through town?]. PARADE. Nice clue.
• 43d. [Foe of the Jedi]. EMPIRE. Hmm. I’d argue the foe of the Jedi are the Sith. The EMPIRE is the foe of the Rebellion.

Nice puzzle, although not with out situation. 3.5 stars.

Alex Eaton Salners’s Fireball Crossword, “Down-Shifting” – Jenni’s write-up

Well, that is what I get for complaining that the final Fireball was too straightforward. I struggled with this one for fairly some time even after I understood the theme – or a minimum of thought I did. I discovered what I wanted to do to get the theme solutions. I opened the reply sheet Peter sends out as a result of I figured his grid could be simpler to see than mine. That’s once I realized I missed a complete dimension to the theme.

First the gimmick: every theme reply is lacking some letters. We have to have a look at the row beneath to search out them.

Fireball puzzle, 11/30/2022, Alex Eaton-Salners, “Down-Shifting,” resolution grid

• 16a [It might be full of crap] is POOPER SCOOPER.
• 32a [Jeep alternatives] are RANGE ROVERS.
• 45a [About to be called, perhaps] is NEXT IN LINE.
• 58a [Hall of Fame pitcher with a record six consecutive shutouts] is DON DRYSDALE.
• 74a [Was dead to the world] is SLEPT LIKE A LOG.

I believed that was fairly cool and I seen that the dropped letters have been all the identical in every entry and completely different from all the opposite entries. I didn’t discover that the dropped letters are P R N D L – the gears on a automotive. Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, Low. I favored the theme earlier than I knew that and I prefer it much more now. Really effectively finished.

The fill was difficult in a great way. [Solo player] for FORD (Harrison, taking part in Han). OBIE clued as a rap artist moderately than a theater award. [Completely] for CLEAN. A worthy battle.

A number of different issues:

• [Pitch] for TAR is a type of completely truthful and difficult clues as a result of there are such a lot of doable definitions.
• 41a [Cultural icon?] is PETRI. I hadn’t utterly sussed the theme but and this one left me scratching my head till I considered the dish. Duh.
• 46a [Number on some faces] is I I I I. Thanks to Alex and Peter for not making me do Roman numeral math – which I suppose they couldn’t have anyway as a result of that’s not the way in which Roman numerals write the quantity 4.
• 64a [Circular medium] is a DVD. My husband figured that one out. I used to be stumped.
• 57d [Performer noted for their gag reflex?] are STOOGES. I actually needed it to be SWORD SWALLOWERS which I suppose is sort of the other.

What I didn’t know earlier than I did this puzzle: oh, so many issues. Never heard of RHEA Seehorn. Did not know that GAS–X has a competitor referred to as Wind-eze. I’ve definitely heard of DON DRYSDALE however didn’t know concerning the shutout report. I’ve additionally heard about Chekhov’s writing recommendation, quoted as “One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn’t going to go off. It’s wrong to make promises you don’t mean to keep.” I didn’t know that his play IVANOV concludes with a gunshot (by no means heard of the play, to be sincere). And LEAL is totally new to me. Dictionary.com confirms that it means devoted and that it’s Scottish. Also archaic. The crossings have been eminently truthful, for which I’m grateful.