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Wanna Hang?

by kenny

What a lovely crossword. I was originally planning on spicing up the daily a bit with a variety sudoku (spoilers for an upcoming review), but this crossword was just so good that I had to show it instead.

I can't help but list a few things that make this crossword great. The cluing is spot-on, the fill is solid, and the theme is both funny and evocative. On top of that, the theme takes up four downs in a 12x12 grid. That's just impressive.

The theme itself is hinted by IMDOWN, following LETSDOIT, COUNTMEIN, and IDLOVETO, all positive responses to the question posed by the title: "wanna hang?" This is the kind of funny, well-executed theme that makes me wish I had the idea first. Then again, even if I did have the idea first I would've butchered the implementation, especially on such a small grid. Kenny is demonstrating a high level of constructing prowess here by making it seem effortless.

I love that the full-length across PLAYEDITCOOL just hangs out in the bottom of the grid, what a casual flex. Didn't I already say I'm impressed?

There are some great clues in this grid as well. "'Hey SIRI!' (annoying thing to yell in an Apple store)" is a definite highlight. I remember when the Xbox Kinect came out and folks were telling stories of turning off consoles by shouting "Xbox off!" over voice chat. Good times.

"Not today, SATAN!" is a new one for me. Apparently it's a term popularized by RuPaul's Drag Race, whose YouTube clip sits at 1.1 million views.

I'm sitting here gushing about this grid, do I have anything negative to say? No, not really. I guess I could nitpick that "bean" is a weird metaphor for head ("Toppings for French beans?", BERETS). I also misspelled myself into a corner with "Run ____ of (conflict with)", which I filled as AMUCK. Turns out the real spelling is "run amok", which an astute reader can recognize doesn't fit. Woops.

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