Far Out, Man

Welcome to another Friday! I hope you’re closing out the summer in style this long weekend. Or maybe you’re already back to school, in which case, I hope you closed out summer in style last weekend. I know technically summer extends to September 21, but I think we all know that the first day of school is the real beginning of fall.

This week’s puzzle is a fun little romp - I hope you enjoy!

Discussion (and spoilers!) below the break.

Play

Far Out, Man by Brandon Cathcart

Discussion

This puzzle is another one that had been sitting in my notes app for a few months now. I liked “That’s deep” and that “deep” could mean different things or feel different based on context - the final part is always figuring out how to turn that into a satisfying theme reveal.

We were light on music references today, but luckily in DUOS we find Simon & Garfunkel, a band I keep saying I should listen to more but haven’t yet. The harmonies!

Today’s Theme

Today we have 5 starred clues, with a revealer in 20-Across:

["Dude, your thought is so, like, highly profound," and an important addition to the answers to the starred clues]

The answer to 20-Across is THAT’S DEEP, which, when applied to the answers to the starred clues, make them make more sense!

[* What women usually put on when imitating a man] is a (DEEP) VOICE

[* Big inhale] is a (DEEP) BREATH

[* Song only familiar to superfans] is a (DEEP) CUT

[* Far away from Earth] is (DEEP) SPACE

and [* Adults need one to two hours of it per night] is (DEEP) SLEEP

Behind the Clues

13A. You may have seen the clue [Lauder of cosmetics] come up in previous YEGwords or in other crosswords in your life. I’m not a cosmetics guy, but I’ve memorized that it’s ESTEE Lauder, a person with a lot of Es in their name, making it a useful word for crossword constructors.

27A. [My response to "How's your self-control around chips?"] is definitely IT’S BAD. There’s a reason we implemented “Chips Friday” in our house - we get one day per week to pig out. Otherwise (with some exceptions, of course), chips are to be locked away, lest I accidentally eat them all.

35A. There was a bit of debate and Google-searching when writing the clue [Seeker's call in a pool game]. The original wording was [Seeker in a pool game], as I believed the person calling MARCO to be Marco himself for some reason - calling his own name out into the void. I couldn’t find a good consensus on which player(s) were Marco, if any, so I changed it to reference the call instead.

2D. Accidental invention stories are plentiful - I’m sure inventing the thing you want to invent is hard enough, so sometimes taking an accidental outcome is the best path forward. [Universal office supply accidentally invented at 3M] is a POST-IT note, which was born during a pursuit for an incredibly strong adhesive. Instead, they got the opposite, and aren’t we glad they didn’t just chuck it in the bin?

16D. I do like to include modern slang in these puzzles from time to time to keep things feeling fresh. [True to your own beliefs, in modern lingo] is BASED, which I had heard people saying for a long time before I actually understood what it meant. The hardest part of new lingo is usually figuring out whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing to be - turns out BASED is good 👍

29D. [Wing___ (bird measurement and chill board game)] is WingSPAN, which is the most important board game to own if you’re a bird person. You can try to collect birds to win, or you can collect ones that you like the best and just vibe.

I hope you enjoyed this puzzle!

Until next week,

Brandon

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