Sunday, August 18, 2024 | (2024)

LATtk (Gareth)

NYT13:27 (Nate)

WaPo7:38 (Matt G)

Rebecca Goldstein and Will Nediger’s New York Times crossword, “For Your Amusem*nt” — Nate’s write-up

You know when you see either of these constructor bylines, it’s going to be a solid puzzle. But seeing them together? Epic!

4D: DROP TOWER [Amusem*nt park attraction depicted to the right of this answer]
– Indeed, in STOW (7D) going down into ERROLL (37D), we see a TOWER dropping through a black square barrier.

25A: BUMPER CARS [Amusem*nt park attraction depicted above and below this answer]
– Nearby, we see three CARs – in OSCAR(21A), RACE (22A), and RACY (26D) – about to bump into each other.

65A: ROLLER COASTER [Amusem*nt park attraction depicted weaving through this answer]
– Through the center section of the puzzle (starting and ending at the end Rs in the theme answer), we indeed see a ROLLER COASTER artfully rising and falling through circled squares.

111A: WATER SLIDE [Amusem*nt park attraction depicted above this answer]
– Going diagonally down through five circled squares above this theme entry, we indeed have a WATER slide.

79D: WHAC-A-MOLE [Amusem*nt park attraction depicted in and around this answer]
– Hilariously, in nearby down entries – BISMOL (94D), TRAM (107D), NEMO (109D), and WHAC-A-MOLE (79D) itself – we indeed see MOLEs in various states of popping up from the bottom of the grid.

For me, this was a joyful solve. It felt like it replicated the feeling of wandering around a theme park, bumping into fun attractions as you go. The executions of the attractions themselves felt really successful, and the WHAC-A-MOLE execution in particular was a fun surprise that made me laugh.

It’s pretty impressive to fit all the theme entries and attractions into the same puzzle without too much sacrifice on the other grid entries. Sure, there was a SOU here and an ENE there, but I felt that the constructors made up for it with fun bonus entries like CHEST HAIR, HATERADE, BURN SAGE, and HAPPY NEW YEAR. There were some really clever clues, too, like [Quick second?] for ASST at 15A and [Sour grapes drink?] for HATERADE at 89A. There was a lot of constructor personality that shined through in this puzzle, which I really enjoy.

All in all, a super fun solve for me. What did you think? Are there any other attractions you could have imagined being represented in a puzzle like this? Let us know what you think in the comments – and have a lovely weekend!

Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post crossword, “Ring Tones” — Matt’s write-up

A note accompanying this puzzles shares that today is Evan’s 12th wedding anniversary with his wife, Vicki. Congrats to them!

I may be more aware of their anniversary than anyone’s other than my own, because it so often falls near Lollapuzzoola, and I end up chatting with Evan while Vicki is halfway out the door trying to get him to a dinner reservation. I won’t be at the tournament this year, but if you’re going next weekend, I hope you have a great time.

In this puzzle, theme entries are a variety of music-minded things; some songs and some not, each with a single letter circled. Two central revealers bring it together.

• 23a [*Show featuring judges and numbers] AMERICAN IDOL
• 31a [*Lyric from a Ray Parker Jr. song about “bustin'” scary spirits] I AINT FRAID OF NO GHOST
• 51a [*Boz Scaggs song with the lyric “One more job oughta get it”] LIDO SHUFFLE
• 58a [*Actress who sang “Ah, Paris!” in the 1971 production of “Follies”] FIFI DORSAY
• 62d [Marriage ceremony words that are hidden in each starred answer] I DO
• 66a [Event where one may hear the song colloquially known as “Here Comes the Bride,” the melody of which is shown in the circled notes when played in F major] WEDDING
• 81a [*Iggy Azalea song with a music video featuring a spider] BLACK WIDOW
• 90a [*Wind instruments often made from eucalyptus wood] DIDGERIDOOS
• 103a [*1970 King Crimson album whose title might make you imagine a sea god making waves] IN THE WAKE OF POSEIDON
• 118a [*Handel opera whose title means “The Faithful Shepherd”] IL PASTOR FIDO

I didn’t see the revealer or notice the I DO aspect of the theme until compiling this writeup, when the entry lit up on the WaPo applet. I hope solvers see it, because without it the theme entries felt arbitrary and a bit tough, and the Wagner melody thin. But seeing now that it’s eight music-related entries with IDO has me really appreciating the constraint.

Notes:

• 1a [Wrestle a Bear to the ground, say] TACKLE. Even with ‘Bear’ capitalized, I couldn’t unravel this until I had all the crossings. It’s TACKLE as in a football play involving a member of the Chicago Bears.
• 60a [Ward of “Batman”] BURT. The Adam West Batman is well before my time. I did multiple crossing checks to confirm it wasn’t crosswordese standby Sela Ward.
• 86a [“The ___ Cracks the Liberty Bell” (episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”)] GANG. Every (I think) episode of IASIP is titled in “The Gang…” format.
• 11d [Mixtures at some bars] SALADS. I had to unravel some crossings with a mistaken SALSAS here for a bit
• 83d [Settle a dispute] ARBITRATE. I didn’t necessarily doubt this one, but I think “arbitration” and “arbitrator” are much more common.

Daniel Hrynick’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Doing the Splits”—Jim’s review

Circled squares spell out synonyms of the revealer UP AND LEFT (past tense) (125a, [Skedaddled … and directions for reading the circled letters]). In addition, said circled squares should be read from the bottom right upwards and leftwards.

The synonymous circled words and phrases are STORMED OFF, FLEW THE COOP, GOT OUT OF DODGE, HIT THE ROAD, and BAILED. Clues for these entries are found at the top-most Across square:

• 18a. [*Wows / Sick of the Seattle winter, the WNBA team …] FLOORS / STORMED OFF
• 25a. [*Nosh / Sick of the beat-up Caravan, the family …] EAT / GOT OUT OF DODGE
• 58a. [*Reject / Sick of a long shift, the street sweeper …] DENY / HIT THE ROAD
• 61a. [*Pretend / Sick of being pigeonholed, the bird keeper …] PLAY / FLEW THE COOP
• 96a. [*Banned insecticide (Abbr.) / Sick of the sinking ship, the captain …] DDT / BAILED

I solved most of the grid without paying attention to the theme once I realized the first part of each themed clue satisfied the pertinent Across entry. Upon hitting the revealer, I went back and made sense of the circled squares. However, I still nearly failed in that SW corner. Some opaque cluing and proper names nearly did me in.

The long fill is strong and some interesting cluing kept me on my toes. 3.5 stars.