Classical Music

By wazup on September 16, 2023 Comments Closed / 63 views

Jill Rafaloff and Michelle Sontarp cross a mixtape with a Greek chorus to epic effect.

SUNDAY PUZZLE — Jill Rafaloff and Michelle Sontarp, both New Yorkers, met when they joined the same law firm more than 30 years ago. They have been friends ever since. Ms. Rafaloff has been solving crosswords since college; Ms. Sontarp for six years or so.

This is their New York Times debut. Their inspiration for the puzzle was 34-Across, which is lovely, but 84-Across is the entry that’s burrowed so far into my brain that its chorus is the first thing that comes to mind in response to anything anyone has said to me in the last three days.

Today’s Theme

There are seven entries in the theme set, at 24-, 34-, 52-, 66-, 84-, 95- and 114-Across. Each corresponding clue, all of which are italicized, has a reference to a character in Greek mythology, as well as a mention of a different music group, in parentheses. Note the title of the puzzle — “Classical Music” — and your ears may well prick up because what we have here is a game of “Name that tune (that has a punny relationship to a figure from antiquity).”

Take 24-Across, “Supplication to Ares (Plastic Ono Band).” Your task is to: a) remember what Ares was known for, and b) connect that to a song from the Plastic Ono Band, which was an experimental (or imaginary) supergroup that consisted of John Lennon, Yoko Ono and anyone who sang, banged a tambourine or even clapped to one of the band’s tunes — including you, should you choose.

Ares? He was the god of war, or the “spirit of battle,” and embodied the grisly aspects of brutal conflict. A modern supplication, then, would be GIVE PEACE A CHANCE.

34-Across — “Warning to Icarus (The Beatles)” — uses another, slightly more famous supergroup for its riff. The clue’s Greek mythological figure was famous for soaring a bit too high on wings made of wax, to a disastrous end. (I got a kick out of the dissonance here; the story of Icarus is so chaotic, but the entry’s song is so lyrical and gentle.)

52-Across is “Request to Prometheus (The Doors).” Hopefully you have an idea of what Prometheus, a Titan and “supreme trickster,” was known for.

66-Across, “Comment to Aphrodite (Roy Orbison),” combines one of the best-known Greek goddesses with an irrefutably classic love song.

I giggled when I got this, and I guess I’ll be humming it forever. 84-Across, “Criticism of Narcissus (Carly Simon),” solves to a song that affectionately chides a self-centered lover. When it was released in 1972 and flew up the charts, speculation about who that lover might be included Michael Crichton, Cat Stevens and John Travolta.

95-Across, “Entreaty to Hades (Electric Light Orchestra),” is also quite funny. I can picture some old rockers singing the song in the entry to Charon on the banks of the river Styx.

Finally, at 114-Across, it’s one of those suspects of self-absorption from the Carly Simon song (his inclusion surprised me, actually). “Congratulations to Eos (Cat Stevens)” includes a reference to the mother of the winds, and the “rosy-fingered” personification of the dawn.

Tricky Clues

60A. Attention, Rosies: “One with a fasten-ating job?” is a pun clue for a RIVETER.

80A. I love my veggies and I loved this clue, a “Vegetable that looks like a portmanteau of two other vegetables (but isn’t!).” Trying to come up with the answer stopped me in my tracks for a moment. Kohlrabi? Broccolini? Nope! Parsley + turnip = PARSNIP (which has no relation to a turnip, by the way).

106A. This is so clever! “Camp production” isn’t a children’s summertime dramatization of, say, Thanksgiving; it’s another kitschy creation, a B MOVIE.

14D. “Orders,” as a clue, can send you into several directions. In this case it means directions, given at someone’s BEHEST.

62D. This clue, “What a cordwainer makes,” contains a term I can’t recall ever seeing before. I filled in the entry — SHOES — using crossing letters and learned that “cordwainer” derives from French and is related to “cordovan,” a type of leather that is difficult to work with, and denotes a craftsperson more skilled than a cobbler.

Constructor Notes

We hope solvers enjoy this puzzle as much as we do. We are longtime friends, having both worked at the same New York City law firm straight out of law school (over 30 years ago), and are two of a group of six friends who all started there together. Coincidentally, we discovered that our fathers also worked together many, many years ago.

During Covid lockdowns, we (like everyone else) decided to try our hands at constructing a puzzle. Instead of going for a weekday 15×15 for our first foray, we went for the gusto and started constructing Sundays. It took us a lot of tries over a three-year period, but we are here!

We both love music, so we wanted to do something with songs. The idea for our puzzle morphed quite a bit, as it was originally a “gift of song” to various well-known people (e.g. Led Zeppelin’s gift to St. Peter? STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN). However, once we came up with 34-Across, we knew exactly where we wanted to go with the theme. 22-Across (non-theme) is for Michelle’s son Marty, who loves the Muppets.