As an abbreviation for MAJOR, I would be OK with that. The constructor point out that he could have turned the puzzle into a pangram, but he would have had to have the entry MAJ which he didn't like. This sounds more severe than I want it to. So why would the Times not want to run a puzzle that a lot of people will like? Sometimes supporting compromise is a good thing. And I suspect a lot of basketball fans solving this puzzle will like the theme. I'm not a basketball fan, so the theme left me could,but the redefinitions were for the most part cute which saved the puzzle for me. Just not Virgilian (and thus, dead to me). But ALECTO is the spelling in the wikipedia entry, so it's legit. Mind are sad wars, angers and deceits, and guilty crimes. Of the Fatal Furies, from the infernal shadows: in whose When she had spoken these words, fearsome, she sought the earth:Īnd summoned Allecto, the grief-bringer, from the house Iraeque insidiaeque et crimina noxia cordi. Infernisque ciet tenebris, cui tristia bella Luctificam Allecto dirarum ab sede dearum Haec ubi dicta dedit, terras horrenda petivit ALECTO is spelled with two "L"s in the translations of "The Aeneid" that I know of, so that answer was not easy for me. Puzzle was mostly easy, but then (?) for FOP crossing (?) for EXPEND caused me to just stare at a single blank square for a while. I guess I just don't understand the taste that's driving this puzzle, or the rationale for much of what's happening with the theme or fill. GIMBAL has never appeared in the NYT before. All I know is that BAIZE is desperation fill, and there was absolutely no need for desperation here. So I have no idea what kind of cluing thinking was going on there. And yet this decision still makes no sense, as you could easily change NRA to IRA or SRA or TRA, keeping MAIZE and getting rid of MANS. Because no constructor in their right mind is knowingly, voluntarily going with BAIZE over MAIZE. That thing was obviously MAIZE, and then someone caught the MANS dupe at 63D: "Jeez!" ( OH, MAN). I mean, that answer hasn't been in any NYT puzzle in 13 years. Gonna take a wild guess here and say there is No Way that BAIZE was originally in this puzzle ( 12D: Card table cloth). Also, the clue BALL HANDLER was just disturbing to me-no need to go to a clue that asserts / reinforces male dominance like that when there are other ways to get a wacky funny loony "?" clue out of that particular word pairing. I mean your clues should be outlandish, brazen, hilarious. If you're going to do this kind of theme, where *everything* is in the clues, then you should go for broke, pull out all the stops, and other clichés of similar meaning. ![]() The clues aren't even that entertaining, honestly. Conceptually, this seems far beneath what the self-styled "best puzzle in the world" oughta be offering in its marquee puzzle. The theme is dense, as it often is when the puzzle is trying to make up for the theme's weakness. In fact, I'm 83% certain I've seen precisely such a puzzle before. You could do one of these with tennis and even keep the puzzle title. All the "entertainment" is in the cluing, so the whole thing feels cheap. ![]() I wish the NYT would discontinue this type of theme.
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