Small anatomical opening as in bone / SUN 9-13-20 / Ground-dwelling songbird / Stark who was crowned king in Game of Thrones finale / Japanese city where Lexus is headquartered

in MaryEllen Uthlaut published on September 13, 2020 leave a reply

Constructor: MaryEllen Uthlaut

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (not sure why, just slow, ~12min ... maybe the drink?)

THEME: "Final Offer" — the final "ER" is taken "OFF" of familiar phrases, creating wacky phrases, blah blah blah:

Theme answers:

HAPPILY EVER AFT (23A: Always glad to be seated in the back of the boat?)
ABSOLUTE POW (28A: Perfectly placed "Batman" punch?)
RECYCLING CENT (50A: Penny going through the wash once again?)
AMEN, BROTH (56A: Soup served at the church social?)
BRAIN TEAS (77A: Afternoon gatherings of Mensa?) (ugh, Mensa, stop promoting that crap as shorthand for "intelligence")
CELLPHONE NUMB (85A: Having no feeling in one's texting hand?)
RELIEF PITCH (103A: Ad for heartburn medication?)
NO LAUGHING, MATT (15A: "Quit your snickering, Damon!"?)

Word of the Day: FENESTRA (93A: Small anatomical opening, as in a bone) —

n. pl. fe·nes·trae (-trē′)
1. Anatomy A small anatomical opening, as in a bone. [emph. mine] :( :( :(
2. An opening in a bone made by surgical fenestration.
3. Zoology A transparent spot or marking, as on the wing of a moth or butterfly.

• • •

This was pretty gruesome. Felt like a throwback puzzle. Very 1990s. It's just ... a variation on the remove-a-letter theme. The oldest theme type in the book, and one to which we have not been subjected in what feels like (merciful) eons. Somehow manages to combine monotonous and predictable with difficult, as some of these theme phrases were weirdly hard to dredge up from the wacky "?" clues. the BROTH part of AMEN, BROTH(ER). The BRAIN part of BRAIN TEAS(ER). I kept getting stuck wondering what the hell the base phrase could be. And never, not once, did I feel rewarded or happy when I finally got the answer. "NO LAUGHING, MATT!" is probably the best of the lot, and if they'd all been that good ... maybe. But they weren't, not even close, so this one was just shrug after eye roll after shrug. Further, there is zero interest in the non-theme fill. In fact, there are hardly any non-theme answers longer than seven letters. There's just nothing to sink your teeth into, nothing to enjoy. And you absolutely blow one of your few longer answers on the rank obscurity FENESTRA!?!?! I just don't understand the mindset here.

I'm looking around for things to admire and just not finding very many. I guess the fill could've been worse. It's reasonably solid. But it's just fill. Space filler. Not weak, exactly, but not wowing anyone either. The only things I have to remark on today are trouble spots / wrong answers. Not sure I knew CALICO was a fabric (26A: Printed cotton fabric). I know it only as a cat (26A: Printed cotton fabric). Had to guess most of PHENOL (33D: Caustic compound). Wanted CRUSTY and (especially) CRABBY before CRANKY (60D: Irascible). Holy moly I could not get to the very very general REGION from the weirdly oddly specific 59D: Map section. I will never understand why the puzzle thinks everyone watches "GOT" or why anyone thinks it's better to clue BRAN as a "GOT" character than as the ordinary English word that it is. Ugh. ANONYM is [frowny face]. How is a DOG like a canary? I honestly don't know, and was totally baffled by that clue / answer (82D: Animal for which the Canary Islands are named). Here's wikipedia on the subject:

The name Islas Canarias is likely derived from the Latin name Canariae Insulae, meaning "Islands of the Dogs", a name that was evidently generalized from the ancient name of one of these islands, Canaria – presumably Gran Canaria. According to the historian Pliny the Elder, the island Canaria contained "vast multitudes of dogs of very large size".

I think that's all I have the energy for today. I wish the puzzle could find some happy medium between the wildly ambitious but kinda solver-hating Sunday puzzle of last week with the very clear but very dull puzzle of this week. All with a sprinkling of sparkle. That would be cool. Take care.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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