Constructor: Stella Zawistowski

Relative difficulty: Easy (solved Downs-only)

THEME: recorded music: a history  — last words of theme answers take you through a timeline of musical media, from RECORD and TAPE to CD and finally STREAMING [with corresponding timeframe in brackets at the end of each theme answer clue]:

Theme answers:

• PERMANENT RECORD (17A: Listing of disciplinary infractions [1950s to early 1980s]
• MASKING TAPE (26A: Tan adhesive [1970s to early 1990s])
• HIGH-YIELD CD (45A: Fixed-term bank offering that pays well [1990s to 2000s])
• SINGLE STREAMING (57A: Recycling option that collects paper, plastics and metals together [2010s to present])

Word of the Day: SINGLE STREAMING (57A) —

Single-stream (also known as “fully commingled” or “single-sort”) recycling refers to a system in which all paper fibers, plastics, metals, and other containers are mixed in a collection truck, instead of being sorted by the depositor into separate commodities (newspaper, paperboard, corrugated fiberboard, plastic, glass, etc.) and handled separately throughout the collection process. In single-stream, both the collection and processing systems are designed to handle this fully commingled mixture of recyclables, with materials being separated for reuse at a materials recovery facility.

The single-stream option replaces the dual-stream option, which is where people separate certain recyclable materials and place them in separate containers for collection. Typically, dual-stream has partial commingled materials such as glass, plastic and metals in one stream separated from paper products in the other stream. From an end consumer perspective, single-stream is easier to participate in. However, single-stream recycling has disadvantages, including the output of lower quality plastics and paper to recyclers. This lower quality material has to be processed more downstream. The increased flow of decreased quality recyclables from Europe and North America in part due to single-stream recycling was part of China’s motivation for launching its Operation National Sword policy. (wikipedia)

• • •

[this RECORD, by a guy with a very cool name, is streaming on YouTube]

This is a very cute theme idea that gets marred a bit in the execution. The worst marring is totally self-inflicted—that is, it’s entirely a question of the cluing, specifically those brackets at the end indicating recording medium relevance. At least I think that’s what those dates are. I don’t actually know. Because they’re not… what’s the word … accurate. I guess they’re supposed to be very broad, very general time frames in which the recording medium in question had its heyday. But … I mean, let’s start with RECORD. You’ve got [1950s to early 1980s] there in the brackets, but that’s wrong at the back end by several years, and it’s wrong at the front end by [… counts on fingers … runs out of fingers …] half a century? Something like that. RECORDs have been around since the late 19th century. I think the puzzle means specifically “LP RECORD”s, which come into prominence starting in the late ’40s, but, well, it doesn’t say “LP”; it says RECORD, so … taking the puzzle at its word, “1950s” is way, way off. Further: CDs went mainstream in the mid-80s. When I got to college in ’87, I was one of the few people on my dorm hall with a CD player, but within a year, they were Everywhere, so “1990s” is a few years late for the CD. People still bought CDs in the 2010s. And of course all of these media are still around, some of them weirdly resurgent (ask me about my growing *new* cassette collection). I don’t really truly deeply care that the brackets are off, but I do care that they’re off and I’m not sure exactly what they’re supposed to indicate. The brackety bits all feel just a little too fast and loose and … off. Slightly awonk. 

The other thing that mars the otherwise well-conceived theme is SINGLE STREAMING. This is a … terminology / phrasing issue. I solved this Downs-only and I can tell you that I just stared at SINGLE STREAMING, and then stared some more, and still had no idea what it could mean. None. I was mildly surprised when I completed the grid to find that it was all correct. SINGLE …STREAMING? So of course I then looked at the clue, and learned that it has something to do with recycling. OK, fine, but … even when I looked it up, the phrase SINGLE STREAMING did not appear to be what people were calling this particular “recycling option.” As you can see from the “Word of the Day” entry (above), seems like “single-stream” is typically an adjective used to modify “recycling.” “Single streaming” redirects to “Single-stream recycling” at wikipedia, and when I google [“single streaming”] I mainly get (musical) singles that are (musically) streaming. So I didn’t know a word, and then learned a word, but then it seems it’s not really the word that’s commonly used? Weird. “Our city has SINGLE STREAMING…” I dunno, I guess I can hear that. Maybe it’s a colloquialism that just hasn’t hit me yet. We must have SINGLE STREAMING where I live, as we definitely don’t sort our recyclables. Hmm. Anyway, the basic music medium time-lapse theme, I like a lot–it’s a solid early-week concept. And the grid is pretty clean. Except ESTAB., that’s awful in a not-terribly-demanding Monday grid (32A: Abbr. before a year on a business sign). Both otherwise, clean. The spelled-out OH EM GEE is even original and funny (41D: Texter’s astonishment, spelled cutesily). So it’s a qualified thumbs-up, I think. 

As for the specifics of the Downs-only solving experience, no real problems to speak of. Pretty straightforward. PARTIAL TO was by far (far far) the hardest answer to parse (3D: Having a liking for), but even that one just took a little extra time, a little extra pressure from surrounding fill. Slowed me, but didn’t stop my forward progress at all. I made exactly two errors, one of them entirely stupid, i.e. I had the ice cream as TOM & Jerry’s (35D: ___ & Jerry’s => BEN). Since “ice cream” is not in the clue, I don’t feel as bad as I might, but I still feel pretty bad. TOM & Jerry are an iconic duo, but the apostrophe ess should’ve told me BEN. In fact, I know that as I was writing in TOM, I was definitely thinking “ice cream,” so my brain wires just got crossed. And then TOM showed up, mockingly, just two columns over! (33D: Star of the “Mission: Impossible” films => TOM CRUISE). The other mistake I made was a little more understandable—I wrote in PILL where ITCH was supposed to go (52D: Wool sweater annoyance). I currently have a beloved sweater that is pilling in annoying ways, so … that’s where that answer came from. I hope it’s nice sweater weather where you live, and that your day is both pill-less and ITCH-less. See you tomorrow.