Constructor: Patrick Berry
Relative issue: An averagely difficult themeless to finish out the week
THEME: Themeless
Phrase of the Day: DEVO (15A: Jumpsuit-wearing music group) —
Devo (/ˈdiːvoʊ/, initially /diːˈvoʊ/)[8] is an American rock band that shaped in 1973, consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. Their basic line-up consisted of two units of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), together with Alan Myers. The band had a No. 14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the one "Whip It" and has maintained a cult following all through its existence.
Devo's music and stage shows mingle kitsch science fiction themes, deadpan surrealist humor and mordantly satirical social commentary. Their typically discordant pop songs function uncommon artificial instrumentation and time signatures which have confirmed influential on subsequent widespread music, significantly new wave, industrial, and alternative rock artists. Devo was additionally a pioneer of the music video, creating many memorable clips for the LaserDisc format, with "Whip It" getting heavy airplay within the early days of MTV. (Wikipedia)
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Rex continues to be sick, so that you get Laura once more. Hello! This was a pleasant themeless from Patrick Berry (in case you are in any respect desirous about how puzzles are constructed, I extremely suggest his Crossword Constructor's Handbook). Phrase of the Day DEVO is, like ASTEROID BELTS, one my favourite 33A: Rock teams which can be far out. Heaps to love on this grid, together with my neighbor BERNIE (3D: First title in 2016 presidential politics), my 90s function mannequin ELAINE (2D: Jerry's ex on TV [and for the record I would like Julia Louis-Dreyfus to play me in a movie]), and the track that might be going by means of my head for the subsequent week, SUMMERTIME BLUES (7D: 1958 hit track that begins "I am a-gonna increase a fuss, I am a-gonna increase a holler").As with many themelesses (themelessi? themelesstrixes? themelesstropodes?), the solved grid appears to be like method simpler than the fixing expertise was. All three of the center stack simply fell into place instantly: the aforementioned ASTEROID BELTS, the MAD TEA PARTY (31A: The place Alice is requested "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?" -- you would possibly recall that Andrew Kingsley used this because the seed for a riddle puzzle final fall), and QUEEN OF MEAN (36A: Sobriquet for the lady who stated "Solely the little folks pay taxes"). Within the early 90s I used to stroll to work in Manhattan, taking a shortcut by means of the Midcentury Fashionable masterpiece PanAm Constructing (I refuse to name it the MetLife Constructing), which led into the Beaux-Arts masterpiece Helmsley Constructing (née New York Central Constructing), the place there was an enormous (yuge!) portrait within the foyer of Leona Helmsley, the Queen of Imply herself (in these pre-9/11 days when you might simply stroll by means of workplace buildings with impunity). She and that period (and tax evasion) are without end linked in my thoughts with our present president. The north and south of the grid offered just a few obstacles -- I had NOAH for ESAU (8D: Biblical polygamist [though weren't they all?]), and couldn't recall the idiom IN STIR (59A: Doing time).
Bullets:
- ABASES (4A: Brings down) and ABATE (32D: Lose depth) — As my fixing buddy Austin identified, having each in the identical puzzle looks like an editorial oversight.
- UNICYCLE (22A: Take the wheel?) — Liked the clue for this; very intelligent misdirection to clue it as a verb as a substitute of a noun.
- AMITY (4D: ___ Island ("Jaws" locale)) — Had bother remembering this; I blame the dominance of the Sharknado oeuvre within the present crop of shark motion pictures.
- EEL (48A: Ocean ground burrower) — What's a grid without an EEL?
- CHARO (23D: Her albums embrace "Cuchi-Cuchi" and "Olé, Olé")
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