Constructor: Brandon Koppy
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: BEASTIE BOYS (37A: Rap group with the classic 1986 album "Licensed to Ill" ... or a description of 17-, 24-, 48- and 57-Across?) — DESCRIPTION
Theme answers:
WOLF BLITZER (17A: Longtime host of CNN's "The Situation Room")
TIGER WOODS (24A: 11-time P.G.A. Tour Player of the Year)
BEAR GRYLLS (48A: The man in "Man vs. Wild")
BUFFALO BILL (57A: Wild West showman who lent his name to an N.F.L. team) (that team, of course: the Miami Dolphins)
Word of the Day: WORD (CLUE) —
Beastie Boys were an American hip hop group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar, programming). Beastie Boys were formed out of members of experimental hardcore punk band the Young Aborigines in 1978, with Diamond as vocalist, Jeremy Shatan on bass guitar, John Berry on guitar, and Kate Schellenbach on drums. When Shatan left in 1981, Yauch replaced him on bass and the band changed their name to Beastie Boys. Berry left shortly thereafter and was replaced by Horovitz.
After achieving local success with the 1983 comedy hip hop single "Cooky Puss", Beastie Boys made a full transition to hip hop, and Schellenbach left. They toured with Madonna in 1985 and a year later released their debut album, Licensed to Ill (1986), the first rap record to top the Billboard 200 chart. Their second album, Paul's Boutique (1989), composed almost entirely of samples, was a commercial failure, but later received critical acclaim. Check Your Head (1992) and Ill Communication (1994) found mainstream success, followed by Hello Nasty (1998), To the 5 Boroughs (2004), The Mix-Up (2007), and Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (2011).
Beastie Boys have sold 20 million records in the United States and had seven platinum-selling albums from 1986 to 2004. They are the biggest-selling rap group since Billboard began recording sales in 1991. In 2012, they became the third rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the same year, Yauch died of cancer and Beastie Boys disbanded. The remaining members have released several retrospective works, including a book, a documentary, and a career-spanning compilation album. (wikipedia)
This is cute. Any puzzle that puts BEASTIE BOYS front and center is gonna get a lot of leeway with me, but this theme doesn't need leeway. It's simple, lively, and consistent, and the wordplay is kinda charming: a bunch of "boys" with "beastie" first names. Normally balk at calling grown men "boys" (outside of band name contexts) but for this one occasion, I'll happily allow it. The only themer I have mild qualms about here is BUFFALO BILL, and only because ... that's a stage name. And BILL is not his last name (whereas Blitzer, Woods, and Grylls—all last names). So old Bill there seems like a significant outlier. And yet only one of these guys was actually called his "Beastie" name at birth (Wolf). Tiger's name is Eldrick Tont Woods, and Bear was born Edward Michael. So liberties are being taken all around, and why not, who cares? It's fine. This is how we actually know all these guys, and all of their names follow a Beastie-first pattern. Done. Can you think of other BEASTIE BOYS. I got ... let's see, GOOSE GOSSAGE, there's one. And then there's MOOSE MALLOY, but that's only gonna resonate with hardcore Raymond Chandler fans ... I guess anyone named JAY or ROBIN might count, but that would feel like cheating. BUCK OWENS / HENRY / O'NEIL / ROGERS? Again, with so many options to choose from, BUCK feels weak. CAT STEVENS ... but you've already got a TIGER, so ... I guess he's out. It's not so easy to get a really unusual Beastie set, and to get them to come out all symmetrical like this—that takes some good luck (and probably diligence). Bit awkward to have another "Beastie Boy" lurking in the grid right over Bear's shoulder, though ... but there he is RATSO Rizzo, wondering why he didn't get the invite. "Hey, you guys having a meeting or party or somethin'? What gives?"
missed the whole BEAR GRYLLS phenomenon, but learned his name when Obama (!?) appeared on his show back in ... looks like 2015. Here's the episode description:
President Barack Obama and Bear Grylls explore the Alaskan wilderness, where they observe evidence of climate change, sample wild salmon and catkins tea made with water from melting glaciers; Obama discusses his official duties, parenthood and faith.
But never (ever) having seen his show, I can never really remember what he does. If you asked me even yesterday what BEAR GRYLLS is famous for, I'd've said, "Uh ... grilling?" But I knew *his name*, which was all that really mattered for the purposes of this puzzle. I was more fortunate when it came to my familiarity with the other names in this grid. ALLISON Janney is well known from "West Wing." I never saw "I, Tonya," but I have seen (many, many times) Nicole Holofcener's "Walking and Talking" (1996), and Janney has a small but memorable part as a neighbor lady in that movie. I also had no problem with St. VINCENT, a name that (as clued) is going to be the biggest proper noun stumper of the day for most people, I'm guessing. I own like five of her albums and listened to her (delightful) podcast ("Mixtape Delivery Service") for a while, so, between BEASTIE BOYS and St. VINCENT, this puzzle was really talking my (musical) language. St. VINCENT (not surprisingly), like BUFFALO BILL, a stage name. Her real name is Annie Clark. Ooh, looks like she's got a new podcast about the History of Rock ("History Listen: Rock," from Audible). Definitely gonna check that out, possibly today. I'm bizarrely happy about this discovery. Woo hoo, sometimes writing this blog pays off in unexpected ways.
The middle of this grid was the most fun for me. Something about BOGEYing into BEASTIE BOYS and St. VINCENT and then GOing VIRAL really worked for me. I also had a mini-struggle in there with RAN- at 27D: Shared with for feedback (RAN BY). Was not considering two words, and one-word possibilities were ... nil. Just when I was getting frustrated, the BEASTIE BOYS gave me the "B" and I saw that it was RAN space BY, which is just fine. I mean, not as one word, of course ("What the hell's a RANBY!?"), but as a two-word phrase, mwah, great. I laughed at TORY because it's the first thing I wrote in but I was *sure* it was wrong, since TORY is my reflexive response to "Conservative" only because I solve So Many Guardian (UK) cryptic crosswords. That puzzle has retuned my brain in weird ways. "Conservative" can signal "C" or "CON" or "TORY" or ... oh god, my brain is tripping into cryptic-solving mode, gotta stop it before it runs away from me. Anyway, surprised to see TORY be the answers, since nothing in the clue screams (or even whispers) UK. SBALOANS is an ugly longer answer, and DDAYS is never welcome in the plural, but overall the grid looks nice, I think. There were two kealoas* that I noticed today, but only SHH held me up (it hasn't been SSH since 2000, but ... you never know). As for WIENERS, well, I had the WIE- spelling already sorted before I ever looked at the clue. You can spell it WEINERS, right? Right? Martin, what do you think?
