Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: "BODY ENHANCEMENT" — familiar phrases have (circled) letter added, creating wacky answers, clued "?"-style; circled letters are implanted in each familiar phrase, *and* spell out IMPLANTS, *and*, when connected, form the unmistakable profile of a (fake?) boob. Just connect the circles in a gently flowing line. It's there. I think. And yet ... it's a bit imprecise ...
[Update: I just got a tweet from ... someone who would know ... and she said: "@rexparker [...] There is no picture. I repeat, no picture." And yet I've drawn a very convincing picture with my circles. Interesting. Roughly half my friends do Not see it / buy it. Other half do. Best comment was from a well-known constructor: "It looks more like what you think it looks like than last week's looked like an ice cream soda."]
Word of the Day: GAUSS (61D: See 88-Across [10,000 61-Down]) —
The gauss, abbreviated as G, is the cgs unit of measurement of a magnetic field B (which is also known as the "magnetic flux density", or the "magnetic induction"), named after the German mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss. One gauss is defined as one maxwell per square centimeter; it equals 1×10−4 tesla.
• • •
Is the NYT trying to save ink by getting rid of constructor middle initials. Peter A. Collins was Peter Collins earlier this week, and now David J. Kahn is simply David Kahn? Odd. Anyway, Ben Pall is a teenager, if memory serves, so a puzzle about boobs is perhaps not so shocking. It's an odd theme, not very complicated or dense, but oddly effective. I didn't think much of it all until I read the circles and drew a naked lady on my puzzle (best "you have to draw on your damned puzzle to figure out what it's all about"-type puzzle Ever). That drawing almost makes up for the avalanche of unpleasant, OOXTEPLERNON*-pleasing short fill I had to HEC through. I mean hack. Hack through. HEC NOI UTILS SASES BAHS ERI DEMIT ITE REE DAH STER SNEE ISI OCTA, to name a gigantic handful. But a boob in profile is a boob in profile, so +1.Theme answers:
22A: What a poltergeist investigator does? (COUNTS NOISES)- 30A: What the tired waiter provided? (LIMP SERVICE) — that clue could've gone in a Completely different direction.
- 40A: Fruit for lagomorphs? (RABBIT PEARS)
- 56A: Disorderly poultry workers? (CHICKEN FLINGERS) — I've seen too much footage of poultry "farms" to give this the smile it probably deserves.
- 75A: Attempts to climb a mountain range? (TAKES ON THE CHAIN)
- 90A: Sad sports headline in a Providence paper? (BROWN BEATEN)
- 116A: Churchgoers, sometimes? (PSALM READERS)
Cluing felt slightly more difficult than normal, though this was offset by the relatively straightforward theme. Never spell ANTIETAM right (I always go "-TEM") (24A: 1862 invasion battle site). Thought "Mount" in 25A: Mount for the god Neptune (SEA HORSE) was referring to a mountain. I'm a casual but regular ESPN viewer, so SAL Paolantonio was a cinch ... except for the part where I wanted his name to be SAO (45D: Paolantonio of ESPN). Couldn't remember Ron KOVIC at all and had to rely almost entirely on crosses (58D: "Born on the Fourth of July" hero Ron). Went looking for all the usual playwrights with 71D: "The Balcony" playwright and found none. Don't think I knew Jean GENET was a playwright. Not sure I've ever read anything by him, now that I think of it. My favorite clue of the day was 74D: Stale Italian bread? (LIRA). Should've doubled down and gone with [Stale French bread?] for ECU.Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*For definition of OOXTEPLERNON, see FAQ (above).
P.S. Anyone who wants to get creative and draw on his/her puzzle is heartily encouraged to send pictures to me at rexparker at mac dot com.
GALLERY:
Image 1: From Jim P. who adds, understatedly: "Doesn't quite work"
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