Elements of Style updater / TUE 5-11-10 / Hapless Corleone / 1889 statehood achievers / Frenzied place rock club / Super slangily

Constructor: Keith Talon

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: MARTINI (37A: Cocktail called "the elixir of quietude" by 4-Down (i.e. E.B. WHITE)) — theme answers are ways one might order one's martini, clued jokingly, via plays on words, as the martini orders of various famous people


Word of the Day: EMAC (42A: Apple originally marketed to schools) —

The eMac, short for education Mac, was a Macintosh desktop computer made by Apple Inc. It was originally aimed at the education market, then available as a cheaper mass market option over Apple's second generation iMac. The eMac design closely resembled first-generation iMacs. It sports a PowerPC G4 processor significantly faster than the older iMac's G3 processor, and a larger 17" flat display. // The eMac was discontinued by Apple on July 5, 2006 and replaced with a cheaper, low-end iMac that, like the eMac, was originally sold exclusively to educational institutions, but later released to the general public in September 2006.

• • •

A snazzy grid and fantastic theme, though far more suited to a Wednesday than a Tuesday in terms of its fill and cluing. The middle of the grid is horrendously ugly. Why in the world do you go with EMAC — something I didn't know existed til this very second — instead of, either, IMAC / MILT, or, say EMMA (then change FOOL to POOL)? Yikes almighty, EMAC!? The answer that CAME back! (that's what I'll say if I ever see it again). But enough about that massive flaw — let's look at the rest. Very bouncy and fresh all around, though the "Q" seems pretty gratuitous: if you have to go to QUOITS for your "Q," is it really worth it (49A: Ringtoss game)? But QUOITS was (I feel) recently in the puzzle, if not the NYT, then some other one, so no trouble there, but lots of trouble all over the place just getting the answers to fall in Tuesday fashion (i.e. easily). I liked the challenge. Take out EMAC, and I'd have Loved this puzzle.



Theme answers:

• 20A: Tiger and Elin Woods's 37-Across order? (ON THE ROCKS) — this feels a little mean
  
• 11D: O. Henry's 37-Across order? (WITH A TWIST) — because of his ironing
  
• 53A: Paula Abdul's 37-Across order? (STRAIGHT UP) — HA ha. Great. I miss Paula on "Idol." Ellen is far too ... coherent. And Kara ... don't get me started.
  
• 29D: Popeye's 37-Across order? (EXTRA OLIVE) — the second theme answer I got, before I knew the theme ... I thought puzzle was going to be something about missing "VIRGIN"s or something ...
• 4D: "The Elements of Style" updater (E.B. WHITE) — no idea he held forth on MARTINIs. My respect for him continues to grow.

Will makes a nice little self-referential gesture in today's cluing — which you won't notice at all unless you saw last night's episode of "How I Met Your Mother," in which Will had a substantial part. At a posh party, Will confirms for the show's (super-excited and geeked-out) main character and his friends that ULEE (today's 18A: Beekeeper played by Peter Fonda) is indeed in the grid so often, as the character has always told his (uninterested) friends, "because of all the vowels." Will also sings barbershop and has a conversation with Arianna Huffington and Peter Bogdanovich, and at one point runs off in search of a MINI QUICHE. All very cute.

Bullets:

• 27A: It might start "E FP TOZ LPED" (EYE TEST)— very nice clue
  
• 44A: Figure of Greek myth with a statue at Rockefeller Center (ATLAS) — somehow I went with ERATO at first :(
  
• 46A: 1889 statehood achievers, with "the" (DAKOTAS) — weird. Got it without too much trouble, but ... they achieved statehood as North and South Dakota, not as the DAKOTAS, so clue feels slightly odd.
  
• 65A: The hapless Corleone (FREDO) — Clue made me laugh. Also, I had FRODO.
  
• 67A: "Peter Pan" fairy, for short (TINK) — Should have gotten this right away, as I remember the "Think TINK" merch from the last time I was at Disney World. Instead, I wanted her to be T-BELL or some such street-sounding name.
  
• 13D: Some turns and boxing punches (LEFTS) — makes complete sense in retrospect, but mid-solve, clue read like gibberish.
  
• 22D: Wise old Athenian (SOLON) — was he not always wise, i.e. wise before he was old. I didn't know age was part of his schtick.
  
• 26D: City known as Colombia's sports capital (CALI) — and not, as you suspected, its drug capital.
  
• 28D: "Car Talk" dubbed it "the worst car of the millennium" (YUGO) — "She'll go 300 hectares on a single tank of kerosene ... put it in 'H'!"
  
• 43D: Frenzied place at a rock club (MOSH PIT) — do these still exist. Like PHAT (23A: Super, slangily), this feels dated already.
  
• 46D: Cisco Kid's horse (DIABLO) — no idea. Got it off DIA-. "Oh DIABLO Canyon 2, why can't you be more like DIABLO Canyon 1?!"
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

R.I.P. legendary sci-fi/fantasy artist Frank Frazetta and legendary singer/actress (and crossword stalwart) LENA Horne

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]