Constructor: Wealthy Katz

Relative problem: Simple-Medium

THEME: “Double Discuss” — phrases in theme clues must be learn as homophones with a view to make sense for the theme solutions:

Theme solutions:

• JUNK IN THE TRUNK (21A: However wait!) (i.e. Butt weight) (!)
• STRING BIKINI (38A: To peace!) (i.e. Two-piece)
• TUCKERED OUT (55A: Holy week) (i.e. Wholly weak)
• CORONATIONS (77A: Air rights) (i.e. Inheritor rites)
• SUPER BOWL WIN (91A: Naked toes) (i.e. [Chicago] Bear feat)
• KINDERGARTENER (112A: We received!) (i.e. Wee one)
• ROBITUSSIN (30D: Flew by) (i.e. Flu purchase)
• BEACH HOTEL (51D: See in) (i.e. Sea inn)

Phrase of the Day: KIP (112D: Foreign money unit in Laos) —

The kip (Lao: ກີບ, romanized: kib; code: LAK; signal: ₭ or ₭N; French: kip; formally: ເງີນກີບລາວ, lit. “foreign money Lao kip”) is the foreign money of Laos since 1955. Traditionally, one kip was divided into 100 att (ອັດ).

The time period derives from ກີບ kì:p, a Lao phrase that means “ingot.” (wikipedia)

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There’s one thing perversely amusing about this theme. I imply, it is foolish, sure, however there’s one thing grandly, ambitiously foolish about it. It took me an embarrassing size of time even to grasp what the theme was. Wasn’t till my third theme pick-up ([Air rights] => CORONATIONS) that I heard what I used to be supposed to listen to: specifically, the homophones occurring within the clue. Coronations contain “heirs,” regularly, in order that was what did it for me. Earlier than that, I used to be completely misplaced. I even seemed round for a revealer, to no avail. I believe the 2 first Throughout themers are literally the 2 the place the punniness is the toughest to see / hear. I do not know if that was by design or by chance. If 112A: We received! (KINDERGARTENER) had been the primary themer I encountered, I might’ve seen what was up straight away. However JUNK IN THE TRUNK was welllllllll hidden in [But wait!], as was TUCKERED OUT in [Holy week]. Simply inscrutable. However after the dime dropped at CORONATIONS, all grew to become clear and the comparatively simple puzzle bought even simpler. Do I really like this theme? That is too sturdy, by far. However I’ve positively seen cornier and extra irritating Sunday themes, and there was one thing about having to translate the homophones that was mildly entertaining. The remainder of the grid was fairly blah—there are not any lengthy solutions that are not themers, aside from a number of scattered and unlovable 8s (e.g. SKATE RAT, HD VIDEOS) (please cull your huge wordlists, individuals). And the quick stuff was typically oof-y. Three-letter overseas foreign money! Who would not love that? (A: me). A single MINUTIA! Wow, OK. We solely half of DUA Lipa, and half of a Lhasa APSO, however we get each MSN *and* AOL! And *each* Beethoven crosswordeses! (ELISE, EROICA). And as soon as once more we get AMIDALA (LA DI DA). I’m ABLUSH with no matter it’s that makes one go ABLUSH. Disgrace? Rage? VERMOUTH? That is all to say that I loved the theme antics Far more than I loved the rest about this puzzle (save VERMOUTH, I ‘m sorry VERMOUTH, I really like you, VERMOUTH).

Michel de Montaigne wrote ESSAIS. In case you’re gonna spell his title totally, all Frenched up like that, then the reply must be French. Mike Mountain wrote ESSAYS, Michel (LA DI DA) de Montaigne wrote ESSAIS. Right here look:

[roughly what I would look like if I grew a mustache and lived in the 16th c.]

Talking of AMIDALA (which I used to be … someplace again there), As soon as Once more I’ve to tug up quick at that mysterious second vowel, the place that obscure schwa-ish sound has no apparent spelling correlative. Gotta go to the crosses, however As soon as Once more, that particular cross is opaque, this time due to one of many weirder themers: ROBITUSSIN. “Flu purchase” might be the second loopiest homophone clue of the day (after [But wait!]). So I had AM-DALA for a slightly very long time. Til nearly the very finish, truly. I used to be fortunate sufficient to know Hermann HESSE (70A: “The Glass Bead Recreation” creator), so I used to be in a position to construct ROBITUSSIN from the underside up with out an excessive amount of hassle, and that is just about the place I completed. 

Hardest half for me was in all probability parsing REGIFT (26D: Commit a vacation etiquette no-no). Sincerely, I had REGI-T and assumed I had an error. Once more, as with AM-DALA, the cross on my lacking letter was no (preliminary) assist, as FRAT BRO meant nothing to me (despite the fact that I train at a college that has a lot) (50A: Basic Greek archetype?). It is not simply that the clue is a “?” clue, it is that there is nothing in it to point the slanginess. In reality, it is the alternative of slangy. So I floundered in REGIFT FRAT BRO land for a bit, however solely a bit. General, there wasn’t a lot right here to problem the solver past the essential nature of the theme itself. 

That is all for the puzzle right this moment. Just a few extra puzzle-related issues earlier than I’m going right this moment. 

• First, as I wrote earlier within the week, cryptic crossword lovers ought to rejoice on the existence of coxrathvon.com, an archive of each cryptic crossword put out by the legendary establishing workforce of Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon since they had been making them for The Atlantic within the late ’70s (!). I’ve solved a bunch of the earliest ones and they’re ridiculously entertaining (and, given their age, surprisingly doable).  
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  Second, I had the privilege final month of getting an advance copy of Anna Shechtman’s forthcoming guide, The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist Historical past of the Crossword Puzzle, and located it engrossing, informative, and (regularly) humorous as hell. It is a mixture of historical past and memoir, all about girls’s (together with the creator’s personal) relationships to crossword puzzles and crossword tradition, and slightly than being a mere cataloguing of The Unheralded Ladies Of Crossword Historical past, it is an incisive exploration of the position crosswords have performed in varied girls’s (difficult!) skilled and private lives. Crosswords develop into a framework for understanding girls’s relationships each to language and to patriarchy. There’s some actually unimaginable analysis in right here. It is not out till March 2024. However you possibly can (and will) pre-order it now.

• Someone dressed up as me for Halloween. I repeat: Someone. Dressed up. As me. For Halloween. Additionally, importantly: “Nobody bought the reference.” I’ve someway peaked and nadired concurrently. Life is lengthy, and really bizarre (thanks, Julia, for sending me the image, and inform your fiancé I am … effectively, startled, but additionally honored):

• Postcards! I’ve gotten so many prior to now couple of weeks, together with two from France (!) and two that includes Mexican film posters from the Rancho Gordo assortment (these arrived on the identical day … from two totally different individuals in numerous components of the nation???!):

 

And this is one among Kirk Douglas’s “Footprint Ceremony” at Grauman’s Chinese language Theatre (1962) 

I actually respect the additions to my postcard assortment, in addition to the sort sentiments that many of the card writers move alongside. My deal with is within the weblog sidebar. Be at liberty to ship me a postcard any time. If you’d like one in return, simply embrace your deal with. Thanks!