Yiddish writer Sholem / MON 12-6-10 / Funnywoman Boosler / Zoot-suiter's Got it / Rorem who composed opera Our Town / WW II correspondent Pyle

Constructor: Richard Chisholm

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: SHH (51D: Library admonition) (x2) — 6 theme answers are two-word phrases where both words start with "SH-"


Word of the Day: NED Rorem (5D: Rorem who composed the opera "Our Town") —

Ned Rorem (born October 23, 1923) is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist. He is best known and most praised for his song settings. (wikipedia)

• • •

Pretty thin. Theme density is great, but when the theme's not that interesting, then you've just got dense uninterestingness. I tore through this like it wasn't there, which it almost isn't The theme is bland and the short fill is pretty weak (ESE, SSE, EWES, REA, ANERA, AMA, OTO, etc.). The bright spots are the long Downs (SMART MONEY, "TELL ME MORE...") — wonderful, vivid colloquialisms (11D: Wagers from those in the know + 28D: "Go on ...") — and the weird central Across (PART III), which I should hate but don't (39A: Last installment of "The Godfather"). Simplicity and triteness of the short stuff made this puzzle very easy to tear through — get an Across at the top of a section and just drop the Downs into place, bam bam bam. That's how I started — CAJUN (1A: Native Louisianan) + every one of its Down crosses in rapid succession — and some version of that method worked several other times throughout the grid. Feels like a grid that was made without the aid of software — fill is old-feeling, and there's an over-reliance on Es and Rs and Ss and other common letters. That lone "Z" really stands out against the sea of 1-pt Scrabble tiles. I made my first puzzles without the aid of software, and it was tough, and the fill just wasn't as interesting as it might have been if a computer had helped me see other possibilities. Most constructors now use some version of Crossword Compiler (or, for Macs, Crossfire); software can't give you good ideas, but it can help you make your good ideas into really good puzzles.

Theme answers:

• 18A: In good order (SHIP SHAPE)
  
• 23A: Annie Oakley, for one (SHARP SHOOTER)
  
• 30A: Combat stress (SHELL SHOCK)
  
• 44A: Pull a bed prank (SHORT SHEET)
  
• 49A: Wool gatherer (SHEEP SHEARER) — really wish this answer had been HARRY SHEARER [Voice of Mr. Burns, and many other characters, on "The Simpsons"], but obviously that would have been a theme-breaker.
  

• 61A: Bootblack's service (SHOE SHINE)
  

Bullets:

• 48A: Funnywoman Boosler (ELAYNE) — an oddly common six-letter answer. That weird "Y" placement gets her a lot of action.
  
• 7D: Zoot-suiter's "Got it!" ("I'M HEP") — this raises the question: what's the difference between zoot-suiter slang and beatnik slang?

[*People* magazine!? Version I know has *Playboy* — funnier]

• 43D: One on the Statue o Liberty is almost three feet long (TOE) — man, that is one big TOE.
  
• 53D: W.W. II correspondent Pyle (ERNIE) — really famous war correspondent who died in combat in 1945. His writings appeared in hundreds of newspapers nationwide.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Group with 1951 hit Tell Me Why / TUE 11-23-10 / Broadway singer/actress Verdon / Upscale London district / Indy quick-change artists

Constructor: Richard Chisholm

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: POKER HAND (65A: What the answer to each starred clue is) — POKER HANDs are clued in punny / wacky ways ... actually, no, one is clued that way, the others are clued literally, just not in reference to POKER ...


Word of the Day: MAYFAIR (38D: Upscale London district) —

Mayfair is an area of central London, England, within the City of Westminster. // Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today (from 1686 until it was banned in that location in 1764). Until 1686, the May Fair was held in Haymarket, and after 1764, it moved to Fair Field in Bow because the well-to-do residents of the area felt the fair 'lowered the tone' of the neighbourhood. [...] The district is now mainly commercial, with many offices in converted houses and new buildings, including major corporate headquarters, a concentration of hedge funds,real estate businesses and many different embassy offices, namely the U.S.'s large office taking up all the west side of of Grosvenor Square. Rents are among the highest in London and the world. There remains a substantial quantity of residential property as well as some exclusive shopping and London's largest concentration of luxury hotels and many restaurants. Buildings in Mayfair include the United States embassy in Grosvenor Square, the Royal Academy of Arts, The Handel House Museum, the Grosvenor House Hotel, Claridge's and The Dorchester. // The renown and prestige of Mayfair has grown in the popular mind due to its designation as the most expensive property on the British Monopoly set. (wikipedia)

• • •

Write-up will be delayed 'til late morning, EST. Feel free to comment on the puzzle now, if you like.

~RP

OK, I'm back from early a.m. appt. No time to write last night, no time to write this a.m., hence the (highly unusual) delay. I didn't really have much (nice) to say about this puzzle anyway, so no real loss (to you, to me, to the world at large). HOW ELSE? (18D: "Do you have a better idea?") bugged me so much that I sort of gave up on the puzzle halfway through. Fill is generally ordinary to trite. Never heard of the FOUR ACES, so that was weird. SMEARY is (as commenters have said) less than desirable. IRED always sucks. I always admire dense themes, esp. with intersecting theme answers, but did Not like the clue on ROYAL FLUSH (*Sound from a palace bathroom?) — they should all be punny or all not be punny. The other clues are simply literal, so ... boo. Best part about the puzzle is bonus theme answer "IT'S A DEAL" (56A: "Agreed!").

Theme answers:

• 17A: *What SRO indicates (FULL HOUSE)
  
• 27A: *The Magi, e.g. (THREE KINGS)
  
• 50A: *Sound from a palace bathroom? (ROYAL FLUSH)
  
• 10D: *Group with the 1951 hit "Tell Me Why," with "The" (FOUR ACES)
  
• 40D: *Makeup of a double date (TWO PAIRS)
  

See you tomorrow,

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Collins on Op-Ed page / MON 8-30-10 / Video game maker owns Seattle Mariners / Actress/director May / 1960s world chess champion Mikhail *

Constructor: Richard Chisholm

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: TWO HANDS (59A: Things a clock has ... or, literally, what 17-, 25-, 35- and 50-Across are) — theme answers are two-word phrases where both words can precede HAND in a familiar phrase or word


Word of the Day: GAIL Collins (39D: Collins on the Op-Ed page) —

Gail Gleason Collins (born November 25, 1945) is an American journalist, op-ed columnist and author, most recognized for her work with the New York Times. Joining the Times in 1995 as a member of the editorial board, from 2001 to 2007 she served as the paper's Editorial Page Editor – the first woman to attain that position. Collins presently authors a semi-weekly op-ed column for the Times, published Thursdays and Saturdays. (wikipedia)

• • •

This one was not terribly exciting. First, TWO HANDS ... is not really a zippy phrase. At all. The best revealers can stand alone — phrases that have been adapted in some surprising way. Today, TWO HANDS—and the clue isn't accurate: "literally?" OFF is not "literally" a HAND. STAGE is not "literally" a HAND. They aren't even *types* of hands. They are *only* words that can *precede* hand in a familiar word/phrase (actually, HAND can come before or after OFF). Bigger problem, though: the theme answers just ... lie there. They are adequate as phrases go, and certainly fulfill their duty, but there is zero wow factor. In cases like this, it is crucial for the overall fill to be smooth, if not brilliant. Today, neither. So much tired short stuff. I mean, we start with two abbrevs. (PJS, SFPD) and end up getting a bunch more, including the dire TREAS. (51D: Club finance officer: Abbr.). Then there's the dreaded E-CASH (32D: Online money) crossing odd partial A SORE, the now "facetious" (read: mildly racist) "AH SO" crossing foreign UNIS on top of foreign ESTO. That SW corner is a mess—is that really the best fill that could go in that chunk of space. In addition to TREAS, there's the lowly TSETSE and the loathsome INANER. AGLARE's clue made both me and wife go "???" (45D: Blazing). Plus the unlovely AGAS up top there. It all feels just a little ... lazy. Once we get to 6+ letters, things perk up a bit (love FISHEYE, for example; 26D: Kind of lens with a wide angle). But [deep breath] WOOER CPO ENIAC APER ETH OTOS AGAS ILIE SITU SROS TAL NIA SOL etc. just dominate the grid to too great an extent today, smothering the interesting but not terribly lively theme.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Where Claudius is during Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy (OFF STAGE)
  
• 25A: Any time now (BEFORE LONG)
  
• 35A: Extra plateful (SECOND HELPING)
  
• 50A: Position for Babe Ruth (RIGHT FIELD)
  

Interesting set of people in the grid today. Never heard of GAIL Collins. This pretty much tells you that I subscribe to the NYT puzzle, but not the dead-tree paper itself. I'm vaguely aware of a host of names from the NYT Op-Ed page. Hers is not one of them. Not complaining at all, just noting that sometimes, even on Mondays, the puzzle can introduce you to something new. I always forget which spelling of ELAINE (12D: Actress/director May) goes with which ELAYNE (May vs. Boosler), so I had to double-check that cross. I know Mikhail TAL (53A: 1960s chess champion Mikhail ___) only from crosswords, and even then, only barely. Still, he's likely the most famous TAL in existence, though I know one-hit wonder TAL Bachmann better:



Bullets:

• 38D: Video game maker that owns the Seattle Mariners (NINTENDO) — weird to think of an owner as non-human. Surely there is a human being who functions in that role. Or maybe not. Maybe that's why the Mariners are perennial superunderachievers (Free Ichiro!)
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]