Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
THEME: Jay-Z — Familiar phrases have "J" sounds turned to "Z" sounds, creating wacky phrases, which are clued "?"-style
Word of the Day: TICO (64A: New Zealand : Kiwi :: Costa Rica : ___) —
Tico is a colloquial term for a native of Costa Rica. The plural form is ticos. // Costa Ricans are usually referred to as ticos by themselves and persons of other Spanish-speaking countries, instead of using the more-formal costarricense. Some dictionaries show the formal name as costarriquenses. (wikipedia)
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I really, really wish JAY-Z had been in this puzzle. With all those Zs floating around, you'd think you could make it work. But no big deal, this was still an entertaining puzzle, and a nice counterpoint to yesterday's gimmick puzzle. The theme here is not earth-shattering—it's a simple sound-switch. But the theme answers are at least moderately funny, and the fill—with the exception of TICO and VESTEE (40D: Decorative neckline insert), which I can only imagine are here because Joon got understandably enamored of WEEZER (56A: Band with three self-titled albums (1994, 2001 and 2008) and OZZIE (52D: Smith in Cooperstown)—is solid and smooth throughout, with some very nice little moments. I particularly liked the epic column formed by OSTRACIZE (11D: Freeze out) and TIMEZONE (10D: China has only one), and I don't know why, but MAIN ST. somehow struck me as clever (34A: Sign in the middle of town). I enjoyed uncovering it, at any rate. Some of the cluing was slippery, which I suppose it had to be to get this one up to a Thursday level of difficulty. Had the most trouble with 57D: Head of cabbage?: Abbr. (CFO), which I got entirely from crosses. Dawned on me only later that "cabbage" = slang for "money," and CFO = "Chief Financial Officer," so ... tada. Couldn't make heads or tails of 37A: Selma Lagerlöf's "The Wonderful Adventures of ___" ("NILS"). No idea who she is or what this is. None. Seems she was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1909). That's a much tougher clue for NILS than [Guitarist Lofgren], for sure. But even the occasional stumper of a clue didn't cause much slowness today—finished in well under 6 minutes; not a record Thursday for me, but well below average.Theme answers:
- 17A: Greek god of fake tans? (ORANGE ZEUS)
- 24A: "Galifianakis wants you to call him back?" ("PHONE ZACH")
38A: Madhouse at a G.O.P. convention? (CONSERVATIVE ZOO) — I was surprised by this answer, though I'm not sure why. A "conservative Jew" is certainly a thing. I've seen sensitivity from some of my readers when the word JEW appears, in just about any context. But this answer is innocuous, I think. Nothing like, say, JEWFRO (which I also think is innocuous, but which was not seen that way by many that one time it appeared in the NYT puzzle).- 48A: Informal erotic reading? (BLUE 'ZINES) — I don't think of "formality" as the issue where 'ZINES are concerned. 'ZINES are cheaply and independently produced, but the writing / content can be any quality whatsoever. Anyway, what is "formal" erotic reading? "Black Tie Swingers!"?
- 59A: Famous Amos, e.g. (COOKIE CZAR) — "CZAR" appears to be making a comeback. Seems like it had been a while since I'd seen it, and now twice this week.
Is TINA Brown on a quest to edit every magazine in existence? Is Dog Fancy next? Today's clue has her with Newsweek/The Daily Beast. Wasn't she at The New Yorker at one point? And maybe Vanity Fair? I did not know that Newsweek and The Daily Beast were merging to form The Newsweek Daily Beast Company (a terrrrrrible name—I suggest "NewsBeast"). Interesting. I'd forgotten about CHLOE because I stopped watching "24" many years ago, but I always really liked her character (26D: Tech-savvy "24" woman). My very good friend in high school—a girl I'd known since 2nd grade, and on whom I had a crush for the better part of freshman and sophomore years—grew up to marry a professional DOBRO player (28A: Twangy-sounding guitar). He seems to be exceedingly successful. I haven't seen or heard from her in ages. Why am I telling you all this!?Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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