Daughter of rocker Kurt Courtney Love —SUN 6-13-10— Greedy race in Star Trek universe / Longtime Yes drummer / Half of old Latin aphorism

Constructor: Francis Heaney

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: FLAG DAY — select answers have country names embedded in them; those country names are turned into the three colors of their flags, with the colors presented rebus-style, in three successive squares (i.e. one color in each square)

[Just click on the grid: you can read my handwriting *just* fine...]

Word of the Day: AGAMAS (24A: Brilliantly colored lizards) —

An agama is any one of the various small, long-tailed, insect-eating lizards of the genus Agama. The agamid genus is composed of at least 37 species across Africa, where they are the most common lizard. They can be found in many sizes, from 12.5 to 30 cm (5 in. to 1 ft.) in length and a wide variety of colours. One of the best known species is the Agama agama), widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. For Eurasian agamas, see the genus Laudakia. // Agamas originally lived in forest and bush across Africa, but have since adapted to live in villages and compounds where their habitat has been cleared. They live inside the thatch of huts and other small spaces, emerging only to feed. If caught out in the open, agamas are able to run quickly on their hind legs to reach shelter. The desert agama can still be found in the dry areas of North Africa. Despite their name, they avoid bare sand. (wikipedia)

• • •

Did this one on paper, sitting in Barnes & Noble cafe. Wife is still toiling away on it. I believe this to be the hardest NYT Sunday puzzle I've ever done. That could be an exaggeration, but I can't think of one that ever took me this long, and left me with So Many words / phrases I did not know or had barely heard of. At first ... well, at first I was just annoyed at the NW corner and the fact that I couldn't get any of the Downs. Then, a bit later, once I remembered FRANCES BEAN and got the theme trick, I thought I was going to have to remember all the flag colors *from memory* — now that definitely *would have* been the hardest Sunday puzzle I'd ever done. I had run into Romania without ever realizing it had anything to do with the theme, but then I hit IRELAND (whose flag I'd already discovered) and I realized that (mercifully) all the flag colors were in the clues themselves. It was just (just!) a matter of finding out where the embedded countries were. The hardest for me (by far) was MINI(MALI)STS, probably because I found MALI soooooo late in the game. Also, because I had written in MINIMALSTS, thinking it was a non-theme answer and neglecting to note the *missing &$^#ing "I"*. Also, ELECTRUM? Never heard of it (60A: Alloy of gold and silver). Other answers that were only vaguely familiar or utterly mysterious:

• FERENGI (119A: Greedy race in the "Star Trek" universe) — to be honest, I *have* heard of them, but only barely, and couldn't pick them out of a line-up (that might be a lie ... I have a hazy picture). At any rate, that answer seems hard and I needed many crosses.
• SCRIBER (93D: Wood-marking tool) — uh ... no. I was looking for SCORER then SCRAPER then ... Pff, I dunno. Just waited for every cross.
• OHMAGE (108A: Amount of electrical resistance) — OK, that one's at least inferrable, in that I know OHM. And WATTAGE / CARNAGE / BONDAGE ... I know -AGE words.
• AGAMAS (24A: Brilliantly colored lizards) — no idea.
• ALAN [WHITE] (16D: Longtime Yes drummer) — Yes? No.
• SCARNE (31D: Card game expert John) — probably seen it in a puzzle before, but had no recollection.
  
• WEST [ORANGE] (17D: New Jersey community next to Montclair) — I'm sure this means something to locals, but it's just a random place name to me. I must have heard of it sometime, because I got it, and like FERENGI, it rings a faint bell.
• Colin KAPP (104A: British science fiction author Colin ___) — again, no. No way. Honestly, it's a phenomenally good thing that I know what a .PDF is (105D: Sharable PC file), or I might have been screwed with KAPP *and* FERENGI.
• SENNA (91D: Medicinal plant) — I D[RED]GEd this up from somewhere (107D: Bring (up) from the past), but I couldn't define it for you. Or pick it out of a line-up of ... plants.
  

Overall, this was memorable and entertaining, and gave me a workout like few other Sundays have (frankly, I often find Sundays more chore than joy — the theme has to be Stunning, or I just get bored). It also gave me a new word for "tough but ultimately doable" => HEWABLE (62A: Within a lumberjack's ability to cut down). Some good should come of that word.

Theme answers:

• 22A: Daughter of rocker Kurt and Courtney Love (FRANCES BEAN COBAIN =>[BLUE][WHITE][RED]S BEAN COBAIN)
  
• 36A: Buy real estate (ACQUIRE LAND => ACQU [GREEN][WHITE][ORANGE])
  
• 51A: Composer Philip Glass and others (MINIMALISTS => MINI[GREEN][YELLOW][RED]STS)
  
• 80A: Not troubled by (SANGUINE ABOUT => SAN[RED][YELLOW][GREEN]BOUT)
  
• 98A: Lighting enthusiasts? (PYROMANIACS => PY[BLUE][YELLOW][RED]CS)
  
• 110A: Modern school keepsakes (DIGITAL YEARBOOKS => DIG[GREEN][WHITE][RED]EARBOOKS)
  

All of the puzzle's flagged countries appear as answers, clued via the colors in their flags (thank goodness).

Bullets:

• 13A: Show whose title was seen on a license plate ("L.A. LAW") — New York State just got new plates (navy/orange) and it made me recall all the different colors CA plates had been when I lived there. After Blue with Yellow lettering came a white one with a sun on it. Then a white one with cursive "California" ... I think "L.A. LAW" was sun-era. Let's see... yep, I think that's a sun on there.
• 29A: Mixed-ancestry Latin Americans (MESTIZOS) — this strikes me as a tough word. I know it from some ethnic/feminist/lordknowswhat studies class I had at some point in college or grad school.
  
• 59A: Horror director Roth (ELI) — this answer has a very large number of potential clues, many of them quite current (the quarterback, the director, the Denzel Washington movie, etc.)
  
• 73A: Half of an old Latin aphorism (ARS LONGA) — ... VITA BREVIS. I love this clue/answer. It's daring.
  
• 82A: Singer Lisa and newspaper publisher William (LOEBS) — also Harvard UP editions of classical Latin and Greek texts.
  
• 1D: 1959 #1 hit for the Fleetwoods ("MR. [BLUE]") — I know this song. Feels like I know it from a David Lynch film. Nope, I'm confusing it with the song "Blue Velvet," clearly.

63D: Drugstore eponym (WAL[GREEN]) — was looking for DUANE or READE.

OK, I'm done.

Now your Tweets of the Week — puzzle chatter from the Twitterverse:

• @corcoran Left my paper in the cafe but tore out the Times crossword page .. Just realised it has the 'men seeking men' dating page on the back. Hah.
• @plannerben Is dragging the Saturday xword off to Jersey, where I will dismember it. That's what Jersey is for, after all.
• @PhilofProverbs Y r these kids still n school? They're just vwatching movies & doing crossword puzzles
• @ohhleary MBTA conductor: "Do crosswords, you can learn a new word. You can't learn new numbers in Sudoku, and if you do, you're not doing it right."
• @simonpegg Dear The Guardian newspaper, please consider creating an app archiving all your quick crosswords. That would be primo fun times!
• @mikejoosse If I see one more crossword using OLEO as an answer, I'm going to lose it.
• @MaisieCouchant I was young, once. Now I'm sitting with the f***ing Prospect crossword drinking tea, watching the drizzle & thinking about buying an oven.
• @donnf @nathanhurst they stuck with that stupid UFS crossword?!? even @michigandaily springs for LAT. 2 pages of puzzles, nothing good BAH @detnews
• @stagemc feeling deflated after a stupid confrontation with a student. Of course it was my fault you didn't pay attention in class, crossword boy #fb
• @RobinHood89 It's cheating I know, but on a scale of 1-10 how bad is it to use Google to help you complete a crossword? (1 being God & 10 being Hitler)
• @smlear2 Dear Honolulu Advertiser, You will be missed even though I could never do your crosswords. Sincerly, Stephen
• @xbicoastalkidx "Pei phone" is the worst pun I've yet to see in a crossword.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]