George who was first president of A.F.L.-C.I.O. / MON 5-10-10 / 2006 boorish film character from Kzakhstan /

Constructor: Randy Sowell

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: SIT (53D: Use the start of 17- or 50-Across or 11- or 25-Down?) — fronts of theme answers are objects on which one might SIT

Word of the Day: SMAZE (34D: Some air pollution) —

noun

A thick, heavy atmospheric condition offering reduced visibility because of the presence of suspended particles: brume, fog, haze, mist, murk. Seeclear/unclear. (answers.com)

• • •

Lousy Smarch weather! It snowed here yesterday. Snow. On Mother's Day. In Binghamton, NY. Freaky. No SMAZE, though. What The Hell?! I lived in southern California for years and I've never, ever heard of SMAZE. That is the looniest Monday word of the year, possibly of my entire blogging career. I kept googling SMAZE to see if I could find a real website where someone used it, in a sentence, unironically (band names and typos don't count). No luck. Isn't HAZE a good enough, vague enough word. Who thought, "here's a word we need... SMAZE!" In other answers I'd never heard of: George MEANY! No idea (6D: George who was the first president of the A.F.L. - C.I.O.). Got him from crosses OK, and unlike SMAZE, he appears to be real.



This theme is a sleeper, and not the good kid (like the Woody Allen movie of the same name, or the little movie that could, like "Breaking Away" or "Saw V"). I mean the 'zzzzz' kind. You can, indeed, SIT on those items. But two of the SITting places are literal — a BENCH WARMER actually sits on the bench, a COUCH POTATO actually sits (or lies) on the couch. But the STOOL PIGEON does not sit on the stool, and while a CHAIRPERSON may sit to chair a meeting, the CHAIR is metaphorical. This makes the latter two theme answers much, much better than the first two. Places to SIT used in non-SITting contexts. Mainly, though, the theme is just boring. The rest of the fill is pretty solid, though. No real complaints other than the big one you heard up front.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Second- or third-string player (BENCH WARMER)
  
• 11D: Boob tube lover (COUCH POTATO)
  
• 25D: Police informant (STOOL PIGEON)
  
• 50A: Presider at a meeting (CHAIRPERSON)
  

Here are the parts that made me hesitate at least a little (after SMAZE and MEANY). TIE .... what? CLIP? TAC(K)? I'm out of ideas. Got CLASP from crosses (9D: Man's jewelry item). Wrote in AEONS for MOONS (24D: Time periods lasting about 29 1/2 days). Clearly didn't read the clue too well on that one. Then there was NET, with a clue so awkwardly cross-referenced that I didn't even bother trying to piece it together — again, all from crosses (55D: What 51-Down connects to, with "the").

Bullets:

• 15A: Suffer ignominious defeat, in slang (EAT IT) — also a great parody song by Weird Al Yankovic

• 41A: One-horse town (PODUNK) — never get tired of this word. Seen it several times lately, always makes me happy.
  
• 54D: Suffix with schozz (-OLA) — this sounds like something somebody on "Happy Days" would have said, probably when talking about Al.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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