Home Puzzles Younger Salmon / SUN 8-7-22 / The entire package deal, colloquially / Just like the Xbox One X vis-à-vis the Xbox One / Nigerian metropolis of three.5+ million / Jazz singer born Eunice Kathleen Waymon / Crystal-clear

Younger Salmon / SUN 8-7-22 / The entire package deal, colloquially / Just like the Xbox One X vis-à-vis the Xbox One / Nigerian metropolis of three.5+ million / Jazz singer born Eunice Kathleen Waymon / Crystal-clear

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Younger Salmon / SUN 8-7-22 / The entire package deal, colloquially / Just like the Xbox One X vis-à-vis the Xbox One / Nigerian metropolis of three.5+ million / Jazz singer born Eunice Kathleen Waymon / Crystal-clear

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Constructor: TINA LABADIE

Relative issue: EASY-MEDIUM (I think about this can differ broadly as we speak, based mostly in your correct noun information)


THEME: LETTERPLAY — Theme solutions function a number of letters or repeating patterns of letters which are cross-referenced as “hints” in different clues within the grid.

Theme solutions:

  • AT AN ANGLE (25A: Not true?)
    • TRIPLE A (68A: Prime credit standing … or a touch to 25-Throughout)
  • UNIQUE USER (27A: Customer to a web site, in analytics lingo)
    • DOUBLE U (71A: twenty third in a collection … or a touch to 27-Throughout)
  • SAM ADAMS (42A: Beer named for a founding father)
    • TWO AM (52A: D.S.T. beginning time … or a touch to 42-Throughout)
  • HUSH HUSH (97A: Secretive)
    • FOUR H (90A: Membership for farm children … or a touch to 97-Throughout)
  • VOODOO DOLL (115A: Spelling assist?)
    • FIVE-O (89A: Cops … or a touch to 115-Throughout)
  • OIN OIN ONE (118A: Baseball announcer’s name on a house run. As in “Going, Going, Gone,” as a result of…)
    • ZERO G (54A: Weightlessness … or a touch to 118-Throughout).

Phrase of the Day: SMOLT (100D: Younger Salmon) —

Smolt might seek advice from:

  • juvenile salmon, having reached the stage of maturity, that is able to migrate to sea for the primary time.
  • Smolt (Linux), a challenge aimed toward {hardware} data assortment

• • •

Good day as soon as once more! It is Eli Selzer, filling in for Rex as he holidays (checks Twitter) in my residence city! Excited to be tackling a Sunday, although I used to be a bit of nervous as a result of Friday and Saturday knocked me out this week. I loved each puzzles and am a fan of all of the constructors, and I am not even positive they have been really HARD, however my occasions have been nicely above common on each. Seems I needn’t have apprehensive; this one performed decidedly simpler for me.

It appears like that is the NYT debut for Tina Labadie, so congratulations! I do not acknowledge the title from every other shops, however it’s all the time refreshing to see a non-male title on the byline (significantly, NYT, try the wonderful constructors for different puzzles and ask your self why your gender disparity remains to be so stark). Okay, rant over, on to the puzzle!

So. The theme. It is completely tremendous conceptually, however I’ve a few points. First, DOUBLE U appears ugly. Possibly it is a private factor, however I’ve by no means seen the letter W written out that approach. On high of that, the letter U seems THREE TIMES in UNIQUE USER. I suppose it signifies that the reply has two phrases that each begin with the letter U, however it significantly bumps for me. And I am undecided an analytics based mostly clue is attention-grabbing sufficient to justify the stretch.

Second, the ZERO G / OIN OIN ONE pairing simply does not match the sample. Not one of the different themers require you to take away letters or create a nonsense phrase to make them work. Possibly it was supposed to be a little bit of a “gotcha” on the final theme entry, however to me it feels much less like a trick and extra like dishonest. If there had been different patterns that labored like this (or even when ALL of them have been this fashion), I may need loved it extra. As it’s, all I can see in 118A is “Oi Noi,” making me consider Lily Sullivan’s faux Australian accent on Comedy Bang Bang. (Severely, say “Oh no” like this; it is enjoyable!)
The opposite challenge with the theme is that it is so dense the remainder of the puzzle by no means actually goes wherever. I am actually struggling to search out fill that stands out to me. There’s lots of historical past/geography TRIVIA (125A: “Jeopardy!” fodder) that wasn’t actually in my wheelhouse: IBADAN, SAUD, SIDRA. Nothing that slowed me down, simply not issues that got here to thoughts readily. That plural ETNAS is not doing the puzzle any favors, and I doubt many individuals are enthusiastic about LIMPID. I’ve positively had lag on video calls, however I do not know that I’ve ever seen it known as TIME LAG. I can discover the clued definition for STOW IT (although it is not one I’ve ever used), however Google strongly favors storage choices for the phrase. 

All proper, I do not need this to be an excessive amount of of a downer; let’s discover some positives!

Bullets:

  • 7D: The “you” of the music lyric “I am begging of you, please do not take my man”(JOLENE) — Like I would like an excuse to take heed to Jolene.

  • 3D: Jazz singer born Eunice Kathleen Waymon (NINA SIMONE) — See Jolene remark above.

  • 80D: The artwork of music? (ALBUM COVER) — I just like the clue, however the reply is so generic that every one I can consider is that this:

  • 104D: Hit 1979 musical wherein a personality’s mistress is among the major roles (EVITA) — I am undecided I might name Peron’s Mistress a MAIN character, however she’s definitely featured. Anyway, I am a musical theater man, and I like Evita.
  • Talking of TRIVIA and its clue, I lately auditioned for Jeopardy (once more) and am again within the contestant pool for the fifth time. Possibly they’re going to really name this time? Fingers crossed!

All proper, it is 100 levels outdoors and I would like a(nother) cocktail. Due to Rex for letting me sub in, and because of all the opposite bloggers participating. Enjoyable as all the time, and I am going to see you all subsequent time!

Signed Eli Selzer, False Dauphin of Crossworld

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