Naturalist John / TUE 3-29-11 / Barrel supports / Early Indian invader / Feminizing suffix / Protagonists in Star Wars / PC screen type

Constructor: Peter A. Collins

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: ELIZABETH / TAYLOR (55A: With 17-Across, late Hollywood star)—several different roles and movie titles populate the grid

Word of the Day: METAZOAN (37D: Multicellular animal) —

(zoology) The multicellular animals that make up the major portion of the animal kingdom; cells are organized in layers or groups as specialized tissues or organ systems. (answers.com)

• • •

Not great as tribute puzzles go. This one feels hastily thrown together, with roles and partial titles and titles all cobbled together into a dense but arbitrary arrangement. "THE SANDPIPER?!" What the heck is that. It's certainly not a definitive Liz Taylor role, that's for sure. SUMMER feels like a pretty weak way to get a symmetrical answer for TAYLOR (it's also a bit weird to have her name divided up the way it is, with last name coming first ...). The best part about the grid was the numeral "8" in "BUTTERFIELD 8" / 8 TIMES. Otherwise, straightforward and kind of dull. Weak in theme answers as well as overall fill (though ACUTE PAIN next to WOMANIZE is nice, especially in a grid with this kind of theme density).

Theme answers:

• 4D: 1944 title role for 55-/17-Across (VELVET)
  
• 21A: 1963 title role for 55-/17-Across (CLEOPATRA)
  
• 27A: 1965 film starring 55-/17-Across (THE SANDPIPER)
  
• 45A: 1960 film for which 55-/17-Across won a Best Actress Oscar (BUTTERFIELD 8)
  
• 49D: How often 55-/17-Across was married (8 TIMES)
  
• 61A: "Suddenly, Last ___" (1959 film starring 55-/17-Across) ("SUMMER")

Bullets:

• 3D: Early Indian invader (ARYAN) — baffled by this one, which made the NW a bit harder than normal (esp. true give the intersecting theme answers—difficult to pick up if you don't know the theme yet).
  
• 29D: Feminizing suffix (-ENNE) — hate this clue, generally. First, I know it'll be a suffix (suboptimal fill). Second, it could be at least four different things. No way to know except from crosses.
  
• 47D: Protagonists in "Star Wars" (REBELS) — hmmm. I guess so, though "protagonists" doesn't sit quite right with me. HAN Solo is a protagonist. REBELS are a group he generally belongs to (by the end). Don't think of the collective as "protagonists."
  

That's all for today.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Silents actor Novarro / WED 12-1-10 / Celtic sea god / Hall-of-Famer Walter Dodger manager for 23 years / Shaded passageway / Sheik's mount

Constructor: Caleb Madison

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: WOODY / ALLEN (1A: With 66-Across, subject of this puzzle, born 12/1/1935) — nine WOODY ALLEN movies clued only by their years of release


Word of the Day: Walter ALSTON (8D: Hall-of-Famer Walter who was a Dodger manager for 23 years) —

Walter Emmons Alston (December 1, 1911 – October 1, 1984), nicknamed "Smokey," was an American baseball player and manager. He was born in Venice, Ohio but grew up in Darrtown. He is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he lettered three years in both basketball and baseball and is a member of the University's Hall of Fame. He maintained his residence in Oxford and died there in 1984 at the age of 72.

• • •

What a weird solving experience. Strangely, the theme was completely beside the point for me. I mean, once I got it, I knew all the movies, so no problem at all. No tricks, no whistles, no bells. The problem for me was Everything Else. The cluing felt hard all over and I struggled a lot more than I usually do on a Wednesday. First of all it took me a while to pick up WOODY, since 1D: Something played out in a theater (WAR) and 3D: Geometric suffix (-OID) [frowny face] were big ????s to me, as was YEOMEN at first (5D: Palace workers), so I just had -O-D-. It dawned on me who it was only after seeing (with several crosses) that 34A: ... 0f 1971 must be ... BANANAS, thus the theme must be WOODY and the years must be movies. OK.

Thought my struggle was over, but no. ELYSIAN? Ouch. I know ELYSIUM. Forgot it had an adjectival form. ALSTON? Double ouch (turns out I didn't know him back in 2008, either, which is the last time he showed up) (8D: Hall-of-Famer Walter who was a Dodger manager for 23 years). No idea what an ION exchange is. BTWELVE took forever to see (27D: Vitamin involved in cell metabolism). Trying to get CLASSA from bottom up (12D: Top-level)? Not easy. Didn't get ANO even after I had it filled in (it's AÑO—man I hate that as a crossword word). ALIGNED is not a word I think of when I think of [Neatened]. PERGOLA (52A: Shaded passageway)!? FEBRILITY!? Great words, I'm not complaining—they were just tough to come up with. Only real complaint is SW corner (which I got rather easily)—looks like a junk heap. AAAMAP is pretty made-up. NONONO is ... just 3 NOs, and ANEAR? A-NO! So strange to struggle (somewhat) in a puzzle where I knew every theme answer, and one of the answers (29A) is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Theme answers:

• 9A: With 64-Across, 1-/66-Across movie of 2005 (MATCH / POINT)
  
• 17A: ... of 1987 (RADIO DAYS)
  
• 22A: ... of 1990 (ALICE)
  
• 29A: ... of 1979 (MANHATTAN)

• 34A: ... of 1971 (BANANAS)
  
• 36A: ... of 1973 (SLEEPER)
  
• 43A: ... of 1977 (ANNIE HALL)
  
• 50A: ... of 1983 (ZELIG)
  
• 57A: ... of 1978 (INTERIORS)
  

Bullets:

• 28A: Silents actor Novarro (RAMON) — again, NO idea.
  
• 22D: Sheik's mount (ARAB) — mind would *not* let go of camel. Would. Not. Let. Go.
  
• 24D: One-named 1970s-'80s supermodel (IMAN) — This, I knew, though for some reason I wrote in ELLE at first (even though ELLE McPherson clearly has Two Names).
  
• 47D: Hank with voices on "The Simpsons" (AZARIA) — This, too, I knew. He's won four Emmys, three of them for voice-over work on "The Simpsons"

• 54D: Celtic sea god (LER) — the only part of OOXTEPLERNON I ever want to see in a puzzle is "NON."
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]