Reinvest some funds / MON 2-7-11 / It offers flexible support for women / Quantity picked by Peter Piper / Perpetually dirty kid in Peanuts

Constructor: Lynn Lempel

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: Morning movements (!) — theme answers begin with STIR, WAKE, ROLL OVER, STRETCH, and GET UP, respectively


Word of the Day: PECK (1A: Quantity picked by Peter Piper) —

n.

1. (Abbr. pk.)
   1. A unit of dry volume or capacity in the U.S. Customary System equal to 8 quarts or approximately 537.6 cubic inches.
   2. A unit of dry volume or capacity in the British Imperial System equal to 8 quarts or approximately 554.8 cubic inches.
2. A container holding or measuring a peck.
3. Informal. A large quantity; a lot: a peck of troubles. (answers.com)
   

• • •

I have no idea how difficult this was, as I did it on paper, on the couch, in front of the TV. I do know that I had a few write-overs (PVT for PFC, WOW for YOW, SHAPE for SOLID, etc.) and said "What?" several times. First "What?"=ROLL OVER A CD, one of the ugliest theme answers I've seen in a long time, especially on a Monday, when I expect the theme answers to be silken. About as coherent as EAT A SANDWICH. I had the entire answer in place before I knew what I was looking at. ROLLOVER ... ACcount? ACT? What the? It's godawful. Almost but not quite as bad is STRETCH BRA, which I'd never heard of. Checked with wife—also never heard of it. How is this different from the (far far far more in-the-language) SPORTS BRA? Or the (quite a bit more in-the-language) JOG BRA? I tried to find a definition of STRETCH BRA but couldn't. I assume it stretches ... ? Good theme idea, poor execution.


Theme answers:

• 18A: Cooking in a wok, e.g. (STIR-FRYING)
  
• 24A: University in Winston-Salem, N.C. (WAKE FOREST)
  
• 37A: Reinvest some funds (ROLL OVER A C.D.)
  
• 51A: It offers flexible support for women (STRETCH BRA)
  
• 58A: Pep (GET UP AND GO)
  

Not much else to say about this except that I time-traveled and put KATIE Couric on NBC (4D: Newswoman Couric) (5D: 4-Down's network), largely because of this recently viral video:



Bullets:

• 13D: Perpetually dirty kid in "Peanuts" (PIGPEN) — Comically, impossibly dirty. Would never appear in a contemporary comic; someone would have to call child protective services, stat.
  
• 27D: Dance to Donna Summer's "Last Dance," e.g. (DISCO) — do Not like "DISCO" as a verb (though it's legit ... dated legit, but legit).

• 55A: Lines scanned by a supermarket scanner, in brief (UPC) — glad I never saw this clue, as I'd surely have botched the abbreviation. UPC, CPU, PFC, CFC, CBC, LMNOP ... I can't keep these things straight.
  

Last I checked, Green Bay was up, but barely.

Have a fine Monday.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]