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

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Virginia-born Pulitzer Prize novelist of 1942 / MON 4-19-10 / Theme song of bandleader Vincent Lopez / Greek portico / Auto financing inits

Constructor: Randy Sowell

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: "Screw Edinburgh" — Theme answers are people whose last names are European capitals, except ELLEN GLASGOW, whose last name is just a big city



Word of the Day: ELLEN GLASGOW (33A: Virginia-born Pulitzer Prize novelist of 1942) —

Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow (April 22, 1873-November 21, 1945) was a Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist. Born in Richmond, VA, she published her first novel, The Descendant, in 1897, when she was 24 years old. With this novel, Glasgow began a literary career encompassing four and a half decades that comprised 20 novels, a collection of poems, short stories, and a book of literary criticism. Her autobiography, A Woman Within, appeared posthumously in 1954. (wikipedia)

• • •

This felt way harder than the average Monday puzzle, but my final time suggests it was only slightly harder (3:37). Any time you've *never heard of* half the theme answers and still get in and out in anywhere close to your average time, you should consider yourself lucky, I guess. HAROLD ROME has a vague ring of familiarity to it, but ELLEN GLASGOW? No way. I got nothing. Picked up her last name because I saw the theme (this *rarely* happens on Mondays — using the theme to solve the puzzle ... usually just going too fast). She's out of place here, not just in terms of contemporary fame (I'm guessing ROME has some fame among Broadway aficionados), but in terms of her name not being like the others. Not a capital. This puzzle feels old-fashioned, not just in terms of its content (all people whose fame was achieved over 60 years ago), but in terms of its theme type. Last names are all cities ... yawn. This theme *has* to have been done before, somewhere, by someone, possibly (probably) in the days before databases started being kept. Fill is OK. I will remember the name ELLEN GLASGOW, so I guess that's something. Coincidence: I did this puzzle immediately after reading a review of the new biography of Muriel Spark (an actual famous writer). She was born in ... Edinburgh.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Broadway lyricist/composer who wrote "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" (HAROLD ROME)
  
• 33A: Virginia-born Pulitzer Prize novelist of 1942 (ELLEN GLASGOW)
  
• 42A: "God Bless America" composer (IRVING BERLIN)
  
• 61A: "The Call of the Wild" author (JACK LONDON)
  

You hear an ECHO when you say "Anybody home?" How big is your damned house? I don't mind a couple of partials in a 15x15 grid, but I wish they didn't both have "ON" in them (see ON OR, ON A). Oh, but I guess there are Many more partials, technically (A CASE, A LA, A TO, yeesh). I think of WOLFMAN (5D: One who changes for during a full moon) as a specific character (owned by Universal) — the general term is, of course, WEREWOLF. [Dweebs] => TWERPS doesn't quite compute for me. I'm not quite up on my bandleaders of the '20s-'30s, so "NOLA" was all from crosses (24D: Theme song of bandleader Vincent Lopez). There were also many times when I just misfired: FDIC for GMAC (10D: Auto financing inits.), MISTER for SISTER (55A: "You said it, ___!"), MYNAH for MACAW (1A: Noisy bird), and, most pathetically, ADAZE for WOOZY (7D: Mentally unclear).

Bullets:

• 29A: Gas log fuel (PROPANE) — I looked at this clue and couldn't make anything of it. It was like three random words were having a tea party. Didn't get that "gas log" was one unit.
  
• 50A: Japanese site of the 1972 Winter Olympics (SAPPORO) — Saw only the "Japanese" part of the clue and filled it in (had a few crosses in place). Thought clue might have read [Japanese beer], which is how I know SAPPORO. Oh, I also know it because of the common OBI clue [SAPPORO sash].
  
• 35D: Is low around the waist, as pants (SAGS) — didn't like this because a. the phrasing on the clue is just awkward ("Is low...?"), and b. it's not really true — "low" pants aren't even close to the waist. They're down the hips or (on some young men) even lower.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]