Lewis Rothlein’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Character Deficiencies”—Jim P’s assessment

Nicest puzzle of the week, IMO, beginning with the title which has every kind of enjoyable prospects. In this case, every theme clue is poor in that every is lacking a letter I. The revealer at 59a tells us the place to position every lacking letter: I BEFORE E [General spelling rule, and what must be imagined in the starred clues to make them accurate]. Ergo, search for the starred clues, discover the one and solely E in every clue, and put an I earlier than it to get the actual clue.

Wall St Journal crossword answer · “Character Deficiencies” · Constructor · Thu., 11.3.22

• 14a. [*Funny moves] COMEDIES. Movies.
• 19a. [*Phones on a wall] ART FORGERIES. Phonies.
• 32a. [*Many of Manhattan’s top stores] PENTHOUSES. Stories.
• 37a. [*Chefs’ location] KANSAS CITY. Chiefs‘ (soccer).
• 48a. [*Starting points for many patents] WAITING ROOMS. Patients.

In my case, I discovered myself on the remaining theme reply simply earlier than attending to the revealer. I put in TESTING ROOMS which appeared to suit the clue as acknowledged. The revealer then set me straight, and I used to be off to search out the opposite solutions.

To be truthful, the theme remains to be quite unfastened; there are a variety of potential theme clues and entries that might work. But these are all properly chosen and the faux clues are utterly believable on their very own earlier than the aha second reveals all. So it’s a winner in my e book. And the truth that there is just one E in every clue is a obligatory—however nonetheless elegant—contact.

Beyond that, the fill is kind of spectacular. Check out the NW and SE corners the place we’ve got LAUNDERS and DO NO HARM stacked between theme solutions. You nearly by no means see such lengthy fill solutions sandwiched between theme entries. Yes, it ends in ESSE, NOBU, and MRES, however these are all gettable and never past the pale, it being Thursday and all.

Elsewhere we discover OTHELLO, “SAYS YOU,” PEACOAT, ASTAIRE, RICOTTA, and ELLY MAY (I believed it was ELLY MAE). Oh, and BIG AIR, “NO NEED,” “OH YEAH?” and even ET ALIA, which is redeemed with a intelligent clue (see under). All in all, a enjoyable remedy throughout.

Clues of notice:

• 16a. [Name-dropper’s phrase?]. ET ALIA. Ha! Cute angle I hadn’t seen earlier than.
• 28a. [“Whiteboards are remarkable,” e.g.]. PUN. *groan* Dad joke alert!
• 36a. [River through Devonshire]. EXE. Yikes. Don’t assume I’ve seen this robust cluing angle. Luckily for me, I do know that Exeter is in Devonshire. What I didn’t know was that the title Exeter is just like the names Dorchester and Gloucester and that the suffix –ceaster comes from the Roman castrum that means navy camp or fort. So Exeter was the location of a Roman fort on the River EXE. I ponder if it was ever spelled Exchester and the Brits simply shortened the pronunciation and spelling.
• 58a. [Madeleine Albright in 1948, e.g.]. EMIGRE. I do know she led a outstanding life coming from war-torn Czechoslovakia at a younger age and rising to be the highest-ranking girl in American politics on the time. If you’ve learn her memoir, please share your ideas under.

Fun wordplay within the theme, enjoyable fill, and enjoyable clues. 4.25 stars.