Inter European soccer powerhouse / THU 3-12-15 / Pearl S. Buck heroine / Ludd from whom Luddites got their name / Marvel supervi
THEME: (FIRE) IN THE HOLE (54A: Warning before a detonation … and a hint to 16 of this puzzle's answers) — "holes" (represented by 2x2 black squares in the grid) stand in for the word FIRE in all the answers to which they are adjacent:
Theme answers:
- WILD FIRE
- SPIT FIRE
- FIRE LANE
- FIRE ANTS
- FIRE LIT
- FIRE AXE
- PLAYS WITH FIRE
- GUN FIRE
- MISFIRE
- BONFIRE
- FIREMAN
- FIRE SALE
- FIRE EXIT
- OPEN FIRE
- SURE FIRE
Norman Osborn is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964) as the original and most well-known incarnation of Green Goblin. Originally an amoralindustrialist head of Oscorp and Harry Osborn's father, he took a serum which enhanced his physical abilities and intellect but also drove him to insanity. He adopted a Halloween-themed appearance, dressing in a goblin costume, riding on a bat-shaped "Goblin Glider", and using an arsenal of high-tech weapons, notably grenade-like "Pumpkin Bombs", to terrorize New York City. He is one of Spider-Man's most persistent foes and archenemies, being responsible for numerous tragedies in Spider-Man's life (such as Gwen Stacy's death and the Clone Saga). However, he has also come into conflict with other superheroes in the Marvel Universe, and was the focus of the company-wide Dark Reign storyline as the original version of Iron Patriot. Norman Osborn was played by Willem Dafoe in the 2002 film Spider-Man, and is portrayed by Chris Cooper in the 2014 film The Amazing Spider-Man 2. In 2009, Norman Osborn was also ranked as IGN's 13th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time. (wikipedia) • • •
Dense and dull. Also, those don't register as "holes" to me. Squares or boxes. The whole thing just lacked pizzazz. It's certainly well executed—very theme-dense, relatively clean. But once you get the "Fire" thing, the surrounding answers become very easy. Then there's this jarring contrast with the large, and largely theme-free, NW and SE corners. It was like solving two separate mini-puzzles, neither of which offered much in the way of excitement. Most of the resistance offered by this puzzle came early, when I couldn't get any traction in the NW (can't believe I forgot Kubrick did "LOLITA"…) (1A: 1962 Kubrick film), and then late, when I couldn't get the answers around the second "hole" to work because it never occurred to me that after the first "FIRE" block I'd see Yet Another "FIRE" block in the same puzzle. I was thinking maybe "Fire and Ice," "Fire and Rain," something. But no. Fire and Fire. In the Hole. And then ASLEW of stuff I could do without, like OLAN, ESS, YES YES, ERNE, ORS, ANODES, IOS, EBON, TUM, ASNER, STRADS, REHEARS (which, like HORSY, feels like a word that's missing an "E" …).
Favorite answer, by far, is SEMI-SOFT (38D: Like Havarti cheese). All the other long answers seem dull, which is too bad, 'cause there are a decent number of them. I also liked some of the clues, such as 57A: Goes on Safari, say for BROWSES, or … no, looks like that's the only one I really like. The rest are fine, just not clever. Again, a solid puzzle, but workmanlike, without real character or sparkle.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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