Weezer's music genre / TUE 11-30-10 / Toper slangily / Toper's back-pocket item / Climate-change protocol city / Corleone who broke Michael's heart

Constructor: Kristian House

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: OPTS OUT — theme answers begin with OPTS and every possible anagram of OPTS


Word of the Day: DIPSO (26D: Toper, slangily) —

n. Slang, pl., -sos.
A person who has a compulsion to drink alcohol; a dipsomaniac.

• • •

Didn't care much for this one, mainly because the theme answers just aren't that interesting. I run through these anagrams in my head virtually every day as I depart the woods where I walk my dogs. For some reason, in that context, the little STOP sign at the exit of the parking lot really stands out, and I often think of all the words that can be made out of it. Never thought to make a theme out of them. Here's the one thing I really, truly don't understand: POTS OF MONEY? That's your theme answer for POTS? I've never heard that expression in my life. Is it even an expression? Wow, I see that it is an idiom. It's perhaps the stupidest idiom I've seen in a good long while. It appears to mean LOTS of money. But instead of LOTS, you get ... POTS. This theme answers clearly should have been POTS AND PANS. The fill seemed mostly OK, though there were a few weak spots (SSTAR x/w EER? ([Astronomical red giant] + [Suffix with slogan]) FUM?). No trouble SPOTs for me except at 51D: Wrap around, where I wanted many different answers before I finally settled on ENFOLD (ENROBE ... ENCASE ...)

I think my favorite part of the grid is ROSSINI (46D: "William Tell" composer) alongside VIOLIN (50D: Isaac Stern's instrument). I also like the ridiculous orgy of "toper" clues — FLASK (4D: Toper's back-pocket item), DIPSO, and BARTAB (9D: Toper's expense). As with much boozing slang, I learned TOPER from xwords.

Theme answers:

• 20A: Is ranked #1 (TOPS THE LIST)
  
• 30A: Sign on a construction fence (POST NO BILLS)
  
• 39A: Brief visit along the way (STOP OFF)
  
• 42A: Declines to participate (OPTS OUT)
  
• 48A: Dry cleaner's fluid (SPOT REMOVER)
  
• 59A: Megabucks (POTS OF MONEY)
  

Bullets:

• 5A: Yankees' "$275 million man," informally (A-ROD) — I used to hate him a lot more than I do now. Back when he slapped at Bronson Arroyo, or when Varitek hit him in the face. Good times. Mostly I just try not think about him now. No one can say he's not a great player.
  
• 24A: Climate-change protocol city (KYOTO) — "The most notable non-party to the Protocol is the United States..." (wikipedia)
  
• 2D: Folkie who sang of Alice (ARLO) — Really dislike the word "Folkie," though I'm sure it was common, once. Still, it sounds like a derogatory word. Like "Commie" or "Bushie."
  
• 43D: Rhythmic humming sound (THRUM) — what a cool word. I never see or hear it, but it's at least vaguely familiar. The word even sounds like what it means. Rhythmic + Hum = THRUM. Cool.
  
• 40D: Corleone who broke Michael's heart (FREDO) — "Godfather II"

• 10D: Weezer's music genre (EMO) — Me: "That's not right." Googled [weezer emo]. Top results are mostly denials that the band is EMO. Which means clearly it's out there as an idea, but I have one of their albums, and EMO doesn't fit. But acc. to wikipedia: "A cornerstone of mid-1990s emo was Weezer's 1996 album Pinkerton." Seems their music changed to a more power-pop sound around 2000, which is roughly when this song's from:
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]