Constructor: David J. Kahn
Relative difficulty: wide variation: Medium-Challenging (4:14) for me, but it's very early and I've literally never seen any version of the movie in question. Possibly easier for you.
THEME: THE LION KING (23D: Discney movie released in June 1994) — roughly 25th anniversary of this movie's release. A mid-grid CIRCLE OF LIFE(i.e. L, I, F, E, arranged in a kind of circular pattern) gives the puzzle added thematic interest :
Other theme answers:
- "HAKUNA MATATA" (56A: Song from 23-Down)
- NO WORRIES (16A: 56-Across, roughly translated)
- PRIDE ROCK (61A: 23-Down setting)
- JULIE TAYMOR (10D: Director of 23-Down on Broadway)
- NALA (1A: Simba's mate in 23-Down)
- SCAR (70A: 23-Down villain)
Word of the Day: LEONA Lewis(37D: British singer Lewis with the 2008 #1 album spirit) —
Leona Louise Lewis(born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress, model and activist. She was born and raised in theLondon Borough of Islingtonin London, where she attended theBRIT Schoolfor Performing Arts and Technology. Lewis achieved national recognition when she won thethird seriesofThe X Factorin 2006, winning a£1 million recording contract withSimon Cowell's record label,Syco Music. Her winner's single, a cover ofKelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This", peaked at number one for four weeks on theUK Singles Chartand it broke a world record for reaching 50,000 digital downloads within 30 minutes. In February 2007, Lewis signed a five-album contract in the United States withClive Davis's record label,J Records.
Lewis's success continued with the release of her debut album,Spirit, in 2007; it was certified 10× platinum in the United Kingdom and becamethe fourth best-selling album of the 2000s. It is one of thebest-selling albums in UK chart history.In the US, Lewis became the first UK solo artist to debut at number one with a debut album, withSpirit.The lead single, "Bleeding Love", spent seven weeks at number one in the UK where it became thebest-selling single of 2007. She achieved international recognition with the album in 2008 when it topped charts around the world.Spirithas sold more than eight million copies worldwide, and "Bleeding Love" peaked at number one in over 30 countries, including the USBillboardHot 100, becoming the best-selling single of 2008.
(this is one of worst wikipedia pages I've ever read, in that its intro is exceedingly long and feels like it was written entirely by a promoter or agent)(186 footnotes? Really?)(wikipedia)
• • •
Lots going on here. This is a theme that will make it very easy (or easyish) for hardcore fans of the franchise and less so for people who don't care. That's how pop culture / proper nouns generally work: gimmes or mysteries. Actually, for me—a person who has never seen "THE LION KING" in any incarnation and is not about to start this weekend (when a new "live-action" (?) version will open in theaters and break all kinds of records and I will continue not to be interested)—the answers were not mysteries, for the most part, since that movie saturated the culture when it came out, via music, and has continued to do, so via crosswords. The one thing I had trouble with was PRIDE ROCK (had no idea it had a name—sidenote: happy PRIDE Month everybody!) and then the spelling of JULIE TAYMOR's last name (thanks a lot, Jeffrey TAMBOR). Tried to parse "NO WORRIES" before I had other themers and couldn't shake idea that the answer was NOW OR ___ ("... Now Or ... Then?"). The construction is pretty intricate—the theme is dense, with intersecting long themers, and a visual theme element in the middle of the grid. Consequently (I mean, probably consequently) the fill is Less Than Great in places (see stuff like OTIC, KER, EYER, and esp. IS FOR (!!), which slowed me down badly). But given the pressure put on the grid by the themers, the fill is honestly reasonably clean. If it weren't a Very dense theme, I would Not be saying this. Anyway, this one was not for me, but it was maybe for you, so happy Tuesday, however you feel.
I loved "The Little Mermaid" and "Beauty and the Beast" but when "The Lion King" came out in 1994, I was deep into grad school and less aware of / interested in Disney movies. Plus, it looked somber and dull and platitudinous. Monarchy, shmonarchy. Patrimony, shmatrimony. Also, the music, wow. Just ... horrendous. Nadir Elton John. "CIRCLE OF LIFE" makes me want to murder things, ironically. I guess I just don't like patriarchal morality tales with heavy-handed self-important preachy songs. Just me. I also thought SCAR had to be SKAR because why would you just use the word SCAR when you could change it to something cool like SKAR, but thankfully I knew it was ORC, not ORK (thanks, D&D), so I survived. Center section up to the ISFOR section was the toughest part for me. Though FAVA or SOYA, not LIMA (35D: Bean type). Also thought RERUN, not REAIR (40A: Show again). OFFER was weirdly hard for me, given the clue (20D: Job seeker's success). Too long to get FRAT (30A: Greek group that's not in Greece) (I was looking for a group of things, plural, not one thing that is itself a group). Those are all my ILLS. Good day.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
