Paintings outside mainstream per Jean Dubuffet / THU 5-14-15 / Noted Italian chocolatier / Hindrances for competitive swimmer /
Constructor: Kameron Austin Collins
Relative difficulty: Medium (except I failed, but … if you aren't stupid like me, Medium)
THEME: BURST OUT / LAUGHING (30A: With 37-Across, lose it … or what 12 answers in this puzzle appear to do) — "HA" must be imagined "bursting out" of the sides of the grid, i.e. some words (symmetrically arranged throughout the grid) are missing a final "-HA" or an opening "-HA"
Theme answers:
- HALFMAST
- YOU BETCHA
- HANGER
- BERTHA
- HAIRY LEGS
- WAUKESHA
- HASSLE
- HAVE WE MET?
- HALCYON
- "TABITHA"
- APOCRYPHA
- YAMAHA
Ferrero SpA (Italian pronunciation: (ferˈrɛːro)) is an Italian manufacturer of branded chocolateand confectionery products and is the biggest chocolate producer in the world. It was founded in 1946 in Alba, Piedmont, Italy by Pietro Ferrero, a confectioner and small-time pastry maker who laid the groundwork for the Nutella and famously added hazelnut to save money on chocolate. The company saw a period of tremendous growth and success under Pietro's son Michele Ferrero, who in turn handed over the daily operations to his sons. His son Pietro (the founder's grandson), who oversaw global business, died on April 18, 2011, in a cycling accident in South Africa at the age of 47. Reputation Institute's 2009 survey ranks Ferrero as the most reputable company in the world. Ferrero SpA is a private company owned by the Ferrero family and has been described as "one of the world's most secretive firms". The Ferrero Group worldwide – now headed by CEO Giovanni Ferrero – includes 38 trading companies, 18 factories, approximately 21,500 employees and produces around 365,000 tonnes of Nutella each year. Ferrero International SA's headquarters is in Luxembourg. Its German factory is the largest of all and Pasquale Giorgio is its current CEO. (wikipedia) • • •
I love chocolate. I buy ridiculous amounts of ridiculously expensive chocolate (mostly special-order from Taza, but also from the supermarket—TCHO and Theo are favorites). So it is semi-hilarious to me that I have not really heard of the company wikipedia calls "the biggest chocolate producer in the world." The name FERRERO … I feel like I've seen it, maybe, on foil-wrapped something something-or-other, in the faux-fancy chocolate section of Wegman's (i.e. where the Lindt is). Maybe. But honestly, I just don't know the name. Throw in the fact that BARETTA looks and feels totally right to me, and you arrive at my failure: FERRARO / BARETTA. I looked the puzzle up and down for my error. Really thought it would have something to do with the WAUKES(HA) (?) / NYE (!?!?) crossing, or maybe one of the letters in ART BRUT (!?!?) (15D: Paintings outside the mainstream, per Jean Dubuffet), but no. I just got totally blind-sided by an A-for-E mistake in two crossing proper nouns. Sigh. Not fun. Weird that I imagined my mistake was at one "E" crossing of two proper nouns I wasn't sure of, when it was really at another. Ah well, it's always the last place you look.
(Ahhh … the show was called "BARETTA" … no wonder I was confused. I feel less bad now.)
I have mixed, but mostly positive, feelings about this puzzle. I got the basic conceit very early and easily. Here is where I got it:
I have mixed, but mostly positive, feelings about this puzzle. I got the basic conceit very early and easily. Here is where I got it:
It was (HA)NGER that tipped me. (HA)LFMAST and (HA)SSLE became obvious immediately thereafter. So … HAs. But the rest of the puzzle was just more HAs, so … no variety, and no real theme *content*, but still, it was fun hunting the HAs (though, since they were symmetrical, they weren't that hard to find … or half of them weren't, anyway). The revealer was really nice. A real phrase that brings the whole puzzle together via clever wordplay. Good job there.
Puzzle did make me feel stupid, though. Aside from not knowing FERRERO/BERETTA, I had never heard of ART BRUT (needed every cross and still wasn't sure …) and I still, as of right now, have no idea what the clue to NOUNS means (32D: All but the fifth and sixth words in "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo"). Hmm, it's this thing: "a grammatical sentence in American English, used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated linguistic constructs" (wikipedia). Which I couldn't make sense of even when it was translated for me. Turns out that I, a reasonably normal human being, would've put a "that" in there to start the restrictive clause, i.e. Buffalo buffalo (that) Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. Doesn't really matter here. I've just never heard of this alleged sentence. Lost on me. Sad face. So, yeah. Harrumph. Mr. Collins (today's constructor) is getting his Ph.D. from Princeton; I feel like this puzzle put me in my non-Ivy place.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
(Follow Rex Parker on Facebook and Twitter)
More posts from
