Ramsey 1970s western / TUE 12-14-10 / English king crowned 1100 / Rapper's entourage / Dairy case bar / Swabbie's handful

Constructor: Mark Feldman

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: EXERCISE ROOM (51A: Where one might 20-, 26- and 45-Across?) — phrases begin with what sounds like a kind of exercise (?) and end with a part of a room (??) ... with the possible exception of CLIMB THE WALLS, none of the theme answers can possibly be understood as an actual "EXERCISE," so ... I don't know, *you* decide what it all means.


Word of the Day: AURIST (22A: Ear doctor) —

n. (a̤"rĭst)[L. auris ear.]
One skilled in treating and curing disorders of the ear. (answers.com)

• • •

This will be short, mostly because I have very little nice to say about this one. I don't think I see how the theme ... works. Since you don't literally do any of the theme answers in an EXERCISE ROOM, I guess that simply the fact that they *sound* like EXERCISEs and involve room parts (figuratively) somehow makes it all work out. You know what else fits in EXERCISE ROOM's space? INSANE ASYLUM. Theme feels extremely convoluted and not the least bit cute to me. Throw in AURIST (yuck) and "HEC" (on a Tuesday?) (49A: "___ Ramsey" (1970s western)) and you've got a puzzle I have a hard time liking. Very easy overall, though AURIST held me up something awful. I think I tried AUTIST and AUDIST before hitting on AURIST. The [Catchall category] is usually OTHER, not OTHERS, so that was weird. Don't usually see STEROID in the singular in sports contexts (41D: Olympian's no-no), so that was interesting. Liked the contrasting intersecting answers ICES IN (46D: Strands during the winter, perhaps) and SUN STROKE. The double set of triple-7 Downs (in the north and south) is an interesting architectural feature—very unusual, as those wide-open banks are usually relegated to the corners. Otherwise, there's not much else to like here.



Theme answers:

• 20A: Make a legislative speech, e.g. (HOLD THE FLOOR)
  
• 26A: Go ballistic (HIT THE CEILING)
  
• 45A: Be stir-crazy (CLIMB THE WALLS)
  

Bullets:

• 40A: Rapper's entourage (POSSE) — Before there was "Baby Got Back," there was...

• 2D: Dairy case bar (OLEO) — does OLEO still come in "bars?" I see tubs, but the bars I see are butter. Maybe I'm not looking closely enough.
  
• 30D: Swabbie's handful (MOP) — "Swabbie." There's a word you don't see that often.
  
• 52D: More, in adspeak (XTRA) — Also a site dedicated to "Canada's gay and lesbian news," it turns out.
  
• 53D: "Letting Go" novelist Philip (ROTH) — Never heard of this title, but no matter: [Novelist Philip] alone would've got me ROTH.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

2002 Tom Hanks Paul Newman film / MON 6-14-10 / Onetime Alaska boondoggle / Oblique-angled four-sided figure / Willow whose twigs are used in basketry

Constructor: Mark Feldman

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: ROUND-TRIP TICKET (65A: Traveler's option ... or what you won't get on a 17-, 27- or 48-Across) — theme answers are all titles referring to (theoretically) one-way trips — I'm not convinced you can't come back from NOWHERE ...


Word of the Day: John NANCE Garner (35D: F.D.R. veep John ___ Garner) —

GARNER, John Nance, a Representative from Texas and a Vice President of the United States; born near Detroit, Red River County, Tex., November 22, 1868; had limited educational advantages; studied law, admitted to the bar in 1890, and commenced practice in Uvalde, Uvalde County, Tex.; judge of Uvalde County, Tex., 1893-1896; member, State house of representatives 1898-1902; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-eighth and to the fourteen succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1903-March 3, 1933); served as minority floor leader (Seventy-first Congress) and as Speaker of the House of Representatives (Seventy-second Congress); reelected to the Seventy-third Congress on November 8, 1932, and on the same day was elected Vice President of the United States on the ticket headed by Franklin D. Roosevelt; reelected Vice President in 1936 and served in that office from March 4, 1933, to January 20, 1941; retired to private life and resided in Uvalde, Tex., until his death there on November 7, 1967; interment in Uvalde Cemetery. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress)

• • •

Nice little palate cleanser after yesterday's spicy meatball. Parts of this were very easy, but there were enough little hiccups along the way to keep me at a perfectly average time (for me, on Mondays, this is somewhere in the lowish 3's). I lost precious seconds right out of the gate, as I had no idea what to do with 4D: Cutting part of a lumberjack's tool (AXHEAD). My brain kicked into crosswordese gear: ICE AXE? No. AXE ... what? Had the "E" and tried AXEEND. When that didn't work, I actually had AXEEAR (!?). Once I threw HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN across the grid, I got it just fine, but I'm telling you, when you're solving fast, seconds are precious, and that was enough to keep me from a faster-than-avg. time. Too bad, because from there on out I killed it. Slowed slightly at NANCE (which I didn't know), and got a little tentative with OTARU (though I was pretty sure it was right) (39A: Japanese port). Had the TICKET part of the the last theme answer at first and considered ELECTRONIC TICKET ... it's actually faster, for me, to fight through the crosses til a good answer becomes visible than it is for me to take the time to look at all the theme answers and figure out what the revealer might be getting at. I typically don't notice Monday themes until After I'm done. True again today. As for the theme, it's unusual and clever, though wasn't the whole point of HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN that Michael Landon *came back* and did stuff for people and gave guidance or something??? That show had all the appeal of "Touched by an Angel" (i.e. none) for me, so I don't know. Yes! He's an "angel sent down to earth" (wiki). So ... there! I prefer to remember M. Landon as all good-hearted Americans do: as Charles ("Pa") on "Little House on the Prairie."


Theme answers:

• 17A: 1980s TV series starring Michael Landon ("HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN")
  
• 27A: 2002 Tom Hanks/Paul Newman film ("ROAD TO PERDITION")
  
• 48A: Onetime Alaska boondoggle (BRIDGE TO NOWHERE)
  

Bullets:

• 38A: Organization for geniuses (MENSA) — my wife, in one of her not-so-charitable moments, exclaimed as she solved this "Why don't they ever clue this as [Organization for pretentious twits] — only the word wasn't "twits." Close. But not.
  
• 43A: Cranium contents (BRAIN) — I might have lost a few seconds here, too, thinking "contents" would clue a plural.
  
• 47A: Big Japanese computer maker: Abbr. (NEC) — there was a time when I was not familiar with this abbrev. Never like it when abbrevs. cross stuff I don't know (here, NANCE). But in the end, no problem today.
  
• 27D: Oblique-angled, four-sided figure (RHOMB) — Wife not happy here either. "Is RHOMBUS plural?" Um, no. RHOMB is just what RHOMBUS's friends call him.
• 34D: Willow whose twigs are used in basketry (OSIER) — learned early in my solving career. For no clear reason, I have an affection for it. Related (via basketry) to RAFFIA, for which I have no particular affection.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]