Bygone Acura / WED 4-13-11 / 1987 duet Eric Clapton Tina Turner / Humanoid race in Avatar / McSorley's order / Cultural phenomenon 60s

Constructor: Elizabeth C. Gorski

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: INTEGRA (36A: Bygone Acura that's involved in a crackup at 17-, 23-, 45- and 55-Across) — phrases containing anagrams of INTEGRA

• RED GRANITE (17A: Wisconsin's state rock)
  
• TANGIER, MOROCCO (23A: City on the Strait of Gibraltar) [uh ... STRAIT is in the grid (5D) ... unusual oversight]
  
• TEARING US APART (45A: 1987 duet by Eric Clapton and Tina Turner)
  
• "YOU INGRATE!" (55A: Rebuke to a thankless wretch)
  

Word of the Day: P.W. BOTHA (22D: 1980s South African president) —

Pieter Willem Botha (12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006), commonly known as "P. W." and Die Groot Krokodil (Afrikaans for "The Big Crocodile"), was the prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive state president from 1984 to 1989. // Botha was a long-time leader of South Africa's National Party and an advocate of the apartheid system although, while in power, he did make concessions towards human rights. He was also a staunch opponent of Communism. // Early in 1998, when Botha refused to testify at the Mandela government's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he was supported by the right-wing Conservative Party in his refusal but was fined and given a suspended jail sentence later that year. (wikipedia)

• • •

Whoa, this one slapped me around quite badly. First, every single theme answer was either strange or unknown to me. All of them. I'm not sure I knew TANGIER was in MOROCCO. I've certainly never heard of RED GRANITE or this alleged Tina Turner / Eric Clapton duet, "TEARING US APART" ("The song did not crack the US Hot 100"—wikipedia). And I don't think I've heard anyone say "YOU INGRATE!" ... well, ever. Maybe in a 19th century novel. But they all seem like valid answers and they certainly fulfill the theme, which is clever. Long Downs in NW and SE were surprisingly hard to come up with—again, as with theme answers, this was true for All of them. In fact, there was a brief period of time where I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get the NW at all. COHOS plural? (1A: Pacific salmon) Not clear from clue. OPART? (14A: Cultural phenomenon of the '60s) Again, not at All clear from clue. STRAIT? (5D: Naval route) I thought SEAWAY. COROT? (1D: "Woman With a Pearl" painter) He painted that? DODO could've been DOLT (28A: Nitwit), GOO is not a word I'd use to describe melted ice cream (not even close), ORG could've been COM, EDU, etc. (4D: Modern address ending) Seriously, very rough for me. Other parts I breezed through, but that corner, and to a lesser extent the SE corner (PRIORATES?? PEA SALADS??) (33D: Monastic offices + 32D: Vegan side dishes) made this one a tough Wednesday for me. Sassy and skillful enough for me to find it ultimately enjoyable, once I got over my annoyance at the significant slow-down.



Had MAXIM for AXIOM (7D: Truism) and MAY BE for ARE SO (43A: You ___ right!"). Otherwise, everything besides NW/SE corners went down without much of a fight. Really liked the clue on DEAR SANTA (39A: Line that goes to the North Pole?). In fact, besides REPR. (25D: Second ed.), I really liked most of the fill in this puzzle, even the short stuff. Very bouncy stuff (BOING!) even in the tight corners.



Bullets:

• 35A: McSorley's order (ALE) — got this right away, but don't really know what McSorley's is (I'm assuming it's a pub...). McSorley's Old Ale House is, apparently, "the oldest 'Irish' tavern in New York City [...] it was one of the last of the 'Men Only' pubs, only admitting women after legally being forced to do so in 1970" (wikipedia)
• 57A: Ink-colored, in Shakespeare (EBON) — "Rouse up revenge from EBON den with fell Alecto's snake" (Henry IV 2, V.v)
• 37D: Humanoid race in "Avatar" (NAVI) — never seen the movie, but NAVI will always remind me of Angela (aka Puzzle Girl)'s son, who wore his NAVI costume to the National Mall for the "Rally to Restore Sanity" this past October. He was not the most absurd-looking person there. Hell, he's not even the most absurd-looking person in this picture.

• 10D: 1984 best-selling business autobiography ("IACOCCA") — now *that* would be a good name for a city in MOROCCO. IACOCCA, MOROCCO! Just saying it makes me want to go to there.
  
• 45D: Formerly much-ballyhooed fitness program (TAE BO) — that's a mouthful of weird syllables for a simple TAE BO clue. "Formerly much-ballyhooed" is not a descriptor you see every day.

Whoops, I finished with an error. I assume that the actual quote is not "Unto us A SIN is given"...
Oh well. I'll get 'em next week.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Summer Triangle star / WED 4-6-11 / Stereotypical glass fillers / Yellowstone foragers / Carrier renamed in 1997

Constructor: Gareth Bain

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: DOUBLE HEADERS (34A: Once-common baseball events and a hint to 16-, 24-, 46- and 57-Across) — theme answers are two-word phrases where both words can precede "HEAD" in familiar phrases.


Word of the Day: ALMA, MI (18A: Michigan college town) —

Alma is the largest city in Gratiot County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,275 at the 2000 census. It was incorporated as the Village of Alma in 1872 and became a city in 1905. // Alma's claims to fame include the annual Highland Festival which brings members of Scottish clans and interested onlookers together for a weekend of Highland dancing, bagpipes, kilts, and camaraderie. The Highland Festival is held each year over Memorial Day weekend. Alma College, a small liberal-arts institution of approximately 1,300 students, is located in town and focuses on multidisciplinary learning in a residential setting. (wikipedia)

• • •

A familiar theme type. There are approximately one billion words that can precede HEAD in familiar phrases, so options here were probably plentiful, allowing for two-word theme answers that are completely natural and unforced. Not a very exciting or interesting or funny theme. Just ... a theme. Fine. OK. Sadly, there's not a lot of interesting fill outside the theme, so the whole thing ends up feeling a little flat. Very choppy grid with lots of short fill and a bit more crosswordese than I normally want to see. Check out xwordese xorner down there in the SW, with AROD over REUP over ASTI ... and ELIOT and USAIR (49D: Carrier renamed in 1997) and SSRS just across the way. Not sure why four cheater squares were needed to make the grid work, but there they are (see FAQ for def. of "cheater squares"). There's really not a lot to say about this one. The theme is what it is. The fill is ordinary at best. The end.



Found the cluing off in a couple of places. DENTURES are [Stereotypical glass fillers]? "Stereotypical?" "Oh, you know how DENTURES are, always ... being in glasses..." They're often found in glasses, or often depicted in glasses, but "stereotypical" just feels like the wrong word. I get that you were going for misdirection on this clue, but "stereotypical" is taking it a bit far. And "Beat it!" for "GO HOME!"? If I tell you to beat it, I am not telling you where to go, I'm just telling you to get away from here. There is nothing, zero, in "beat it" that suggests "home." I have a giant "NO" written next to that clue.



Puzzle went down pretty easily, though I certainly screwed up in a number of places, starting with (shocker!) GO HOME, which I had as GO AWAY. I then had EVADED for ELUDED (3D: Got away from), and, later, SEEP IN for SOAK IN (39A: Absorb thoroughly).

Theme answers:

• 16A: Thor, for one (THUNDER GOD)
  
• 24A: Ones often marrying in a hurry (WAR BRIDES) — why? I didn't know haste was involved. Is it because the men are being shipped back home? The wikipedia page on war brides doesn't mention haste as a factor.
  
• 46A: Calypso instrument (STEEL DRUM)
  
• 57A: It's undeliverable (DEAD LETTER) — I had never heard this term until R.E.M. released an album in the late '80s called "Dead Letter Office.

Bullets:

• 14A: Language that gave us "kiwi" (MAORI) — my non-war bride is a "kiwi," so no problem here.
  
• 4D: Summer Triangle star (DENEB) — Never heard of "Summer Triangle," but learned DENEB from crosswords a few years back, so at least the answer was familiar once I saw it. If you've never heard of DENEB, it really looks nuts.
  
• 10D: Yellowstone forager (MULE DEER) — do they look like mules? Hmm, wiki says they get their name from their large, mule-like ears. Huh. Interesting.
  
• 48A: Walks like a tosspot (REELS) — "Walks like a tosspot" being the far less successful SIDE B of "Walk Like an Egyptian"

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Dolly matchmaker / WED 3-30-11 / Foreman portrayer House / Illness caused eating Cheetos / Newspapers read by royalty

Constructor: Erik Wennstrom

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: RED-SHIFTED (47A: Lie light from stars moving away from us ... or like the answer to this puzzle's starred clues?) — familiar two-word phrases where first word is a color that is re-colored by the addition of red, i.e. BLUEPRINT becomes BLUE+red PRINT, or PURPLEPRINT


Word of the Day: Atacama (69A: Like the Atacama=SERE) —

The Atacama Desert is one of the few deserts on Earth that does not receive any rain. It is a plateau in South America, covering a 600-mile (1,000 km) strip of land on the Pacific coast of South America, west of the Andes mountains. The Atacama desert is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world, due to the rain shadow on the leeward side of the Chilean Coast Range, as well as a coastal inversion layer created by the cold offshore Humboldt Current. The Atacama occupies 40,600 square miles (105,000 km²) in northern Chile, composed mostly of salt basins (salares), sand, and felsic lava flows towards the Andes. (wikipedia)

• • •

The theme and much of the fill here was simply way, way outside my wheelhouse. Never heard of ... ugh, so much of this stuff. Never seen or heard the phrase RED-SHIFTED before, first of all. Never. And since I didn't know if 30D: ___-Grain cereal bars was NUTRA or NUTRI, and since "SHAFTED" seemed (possibly) related to light, I was kind of screwed there for a bit. The theme phrases just did not feel natural or funny or ... anything. PINK WASHED? (29A: *Like a baby girls' laundry?) I got that and thought "I don't get it." Had PURPLE and wrote in PURPLE PROSE. It really seemed to fit the clue (11D: *Newspapers read by royalty?=>PURPLE PRINT). And then ORANGE FEVER—that just killed me. First, I misread "Cheetos" as "Cheerios" in the clue (25D: *Illness caused by eating Cheetos?), so I was never going to get ORANGE, though Cheerios box is yellow, so ... thought that was related somehow. But that whole section was brutal to me. Didn't see how [Done for] = GONE. If you're done for, you're a goner, but the clue/answer pair here didn't work for me. Never heard of Atacama (or I have and just couldn't place it), and even if I had, it would've taken some time/thought to get SERE. Never heard of Dolly LEVI (apparently the protagonist of "Hello, Dolly"!?!?) (60A: Dolly the matchmaker). Nooooo idea what kind of "Vista" AMER. could be a part of. Apparently Vista is an acronym (lack of capital letters notwithstanding—what the hell!?), standing for "Volunteers in Service to AMERica." Pfft. OK. Painful all around. Theme concept seems interesting, actually, but with the revealer meaning nothing to me, with the theme answers being not really funny or clever, and with so many answers bafflingly clued, I didn't enjoy the puzzle at all. I mean, even DVORAK flummoxed me (23A: Typewriter keyboard format). I know one keyboard. QWERTY. Just not my day, I guess.


Started out pretty easy as I moved diagonally through the grid, but the theme stuff just didn't make any sense to me for the longest time. Also, let me tell you that when you are looking at an answer that reads ---TNT, you are bound to doubt the accuracy of your answers. MUSTN'T, ugh. Clue did nothing for me, yet again (a theme!) (52A: "___ touch!"). I only hope that others liked this more than I did. My distaste is much more a matter of, well, taste than it is a matter of truly poor construction.

Bullets:

• 22A: Foreman portrayer on "House" (EPPS) — "How am I supposed to know the characters on ... oh, right, that's the one with Omar EPPS. Nevermind." He's the ESAI Morales of the 21st century (which will probably be news to ESAI himself, who is still working, as far as I know).
  
• 43A: Often-mocked cars of the past (YUGOS) — another clue that took me way too long to solve. My mocked car list had one model on it: EDSEL.
  
• 51A: Opportunities for discussion (FORA) — another toughie. Unusual plural.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

ANNOUNCEMENT:

West-coasters should consider coming out and supporting the Crosswords L.A. Tournament on Sunday, May 1, 2011, at Loyola-Marymount University. It's a charity tournament that benefits "Reading to Kids." This year the tournament will feature all original puzzles commissioned specifically for the tournament by some amazing constructors (I know—I've seen/tested the puzzles). You can compete as an individual or as part of a pair, and those who would rather not compete can register as a spectator. But really, you should compete. Don't worry if you don't think of yourself as "competitive." Most people will be there to have fun, solve good puzzles, and socialize. The vibe is very laid-back (it's practically on the beach, after all). For more information, and to register, go here. Better yet, go here, to the "Frequently Asked Questions" page. Very thorough. And spread the word.

Bandmate of Johnny Rotten / WED 3-23-11 / Ancient land in modern Jordan / Onetime exam in British schools / Home to Da Vinci's L'Ultima Cena

Constructor: Will Nediger

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium


THEME: JULIUS CAESAR (54A: Speaker of the Latin quote hidden in the answers to the starred clues ... and the English language-quote hidden in the answers to the double-starred clues) — "VENI VIDI VICI" and "THE DIE IS CAST," respectively

Word of the Day: AKIO Morita (57D: Sony co-founder Morita) —

Akio Morita KBE (盛田 昭夫 Morita Akio, January 26, 1921, Tokoname, Aichi – October 3, 1999, Tokyo) was a Japanese businessman and co-founder of Sony Corporation along with Masaru Ibuka. (wikipedia)

• • •

Solved on paper, in preparation for my run at next year's B Finals (ACPT 2012) (all puzzles are done on paper at the ACPT). I tend to solve on-screen because it's so much more convenient, but the mechanics of on-paper solving are completely different, and something I need to get much more used to. I learned to solve crosswords on paper, but that was long before I got very good, and well before I'd even heard of software that allowed for on-screen solving. At any rate, I'm moving back to paper for my NYT-solving now, for the most part, which means having to get used to a whole new set of difficulty norms (on-paper times are inevitably slower). This is all to say that I don't really know how difficult this was. I had moments of sputtering, but overall it felt very doable—perhaps even a bit moreso than an average Wednesday. Hardest part was figuring out the second part of the theme, i.e. seeing THE DIE IS CAST "hidden" in the answers to those four double-starred clues (I'd have been more impressed with a hidden ALEA IACTA EST). I'm ambivalent about the theme—the double-star, double-language aspect is interesting, but those words aren't exactly hard to "hide," and the quotes are unrelated, and only one of the "hidden" words actually touches more than one word in its answer. So ... I'm on the fence. Neither up nor down for me. I came, I saw, I shrugged.

Theme answers:

• EVENINGDRESS VIVIDIMAGE SIDVICIOUS (Soiree attire / Indelible picture in the mind / Bandmate of Johnny Rotten)
  
• THEIR ADIEU VISIT CASTE ("His/her" alternative / Parting word / Sojourn / Social grouping)
  

Pencil-solving allows me to see quite vividly where I struggled. I rarely take the time to erase, choosing instead to scrawl new letters on top of old, leaving a strange palimpsest for the judges/computers to interpret (no problems so far). Today, the place de resistance was the NE, where failure to come up with the RX-8 carmaker (HONDA? ACURA? No, MAZDA) and failure to guess quickly what followed EVENING (DRESS, it turns out), meant that that corner gave me minor fits. I think I got TEES (12D: Concert souvenirs), and then DRESS, and then tried HONDA, and when that didn't work, MAZDA, and it went down from there. Tournament experience has taught me that in speed-solving, you are in your own world where time runs differently—what feels like epic struggle might only be 10-15 seconds. I thought I was really getting beaten up by Puzzle 5 as I was solving it at the tourney ... but I ended up with the 11th best score on that puzzle (out of 650 or so solvers). Of course on the easiest puzzle (Puzzle 1), I got so caught up in speed that I left a square blank—a horribly costly error (I'd have been close to the Top 20 overall if I'd simply filled that stupid little square in—it's not like the cross was tough; I just missed it).

Two other hiccups today: LIMO for SEMI (7D: Hard-to-park vehicle) and E'ER for O'ER (63D: Poetic contraction). Otherwise, pretty smooth sailing.

Bullets:

• 34A: Onetime exam in British schools (O LEVEL) — did not know the O LEVELs were "onetime." I've seen A LEVEL and O LEVEL several times in recent puzzles, after (or so it seems) never having seen them before. Weird.
  
• 50A: Ancient land in modern Jordan (EDOM) — one of many four-letter Mediterraneanish geographical clues I can't keep straight. See also ELEA, which I also confuse with ALEA, which, given today's theme, is interestingly coincidental.
  
• 11D: y= 3x + 5 representation, e.g. (LINE) — true enough, though I couldn't see it. Technically, y = x is a LINE, right?
  
• 23D: Home to da Vinci's "L'Ultima Cena" (MILANO) — I was just wondering what it was about this clue that indicated the Italian spelling, when I realized that the "L'Ultima Cena" is Italian for "The Last Supper." Aha.
  
• 33D: Danish city where Hans Christian Andersen was born (ODENSE) — vaguely rings a bell. Got most if not all of it from crosses.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Marco Island locale / WED 3-16-11 / What's in carrots not celery / Morlocks victims / Modern screening device / Meal with Four Questions

Constructor: Alan Arbesfeld

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: FULL-COUNT PITCH (59A: With 61-Across, follower of the five starred clues) — Starred clues are "three BALLs and two STRIKEs," which, in baseball, is known as a FULL COUNT. What "follows" a 3-2 count? A FULL-COUNT PITCH, though ... I don't know what part of this puzzle represents the "pitch," exactly


Word of the Day: EILAT (51D: Israeli seaport) —

Eilat [...] is Israel's southernmost city, a busy port as well as a popular resort, located at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on the Gulf of Eilat (or Gulf of Aqaba). Home to 46,600 people, the city is part of the Southern Negev Desert, at the southern end of the Arava. The city is adjacent to the Egyptian village of Taba to the south, the Jordanian port city of Aqaba to the east, and within sight of Saudi Arabia to the south-east, across the gulf. Eilat's arid desert climate is moderated by proximity to a warm sea. Temperatures often exceed 40 °C (104 °F) in summer, and 21 °C (70 °F) in winter, while water temperatures range between 20 and 26 °C (68 and 79 °F). The city's beaches, nightlife and desert landscapes make it a popular destination for domestic and international tourism. (wikipedia)

• • •

There's a good idea here somewhere, but I don't quite understand how the theme revealer makes sense. Something "follows" the "starred clues"? In theory, or in actuality? I'm guessing the former, since the clues themselves can't be the "PITCH," and I don't see a "PITCH" anywhere else. Also, FULL-COUNT PITCH only works if it's imagined as a "follower" of the starred clues *taken as a set*, which is not clear from the wording of the clue. Add in the odd visual placement of the revealer (PITCH behind, i.e. to the left of, FULL-COUNT), and the whole "reveal" moment feels clunky as all-get-out. But it's always possible there's some brilliance I just don't see. Puzzle felt super-easy except for the far south (the CURIAE section), which took probably a third of my total time. I've seen CURIAE before, but couldn't dredge it up. Ditto EILAT. Took me a while to deduce COMEDIENNE—always tricky to figure out the answers in these reverse-clue-type theme answers (i.e. where the clue is the answer and the answer is the clue). "Answers" never quite feel natural (e.g. BOWLER'S ... COUP? OK. Not a phrase that trips off the tongue, but accurate enough). Not much else to say... no great answers. Not much dreck. Just a theme that feels wonky to me.

Theme answers:

• 17A: *Ball (GREAT TIME)
  
• 24A: *Strike (WORK STOPPAGE)
  
• 29A: *Ball (LAVISH PARTY)
  
• 40A: *Strike (BOWLER'S COUP)
  
• 46A: *Ball (TV COMEDIENNE)
  

Bullets:

• 26A: What's in carrots but not celery? (HARD C) — old trick, though I considered other letters before realizing it was the first one.
  
• 62A: Marco Island locale: Abbr. (FLA) — All the answers I didn't know were in one place: CURIAE, EILAT, FLA, DUFFY (this last one was particularly confusing, since Julia is also the name of a *character* in "Designing Women": Julia Sugarbaker, played by the late, great Dixie Carter (49D: Julia of "Designing Women")).
  
• 47D: Modern screening device (V-CHIP) — I've never seen one of these in action, so the answer rarely occurs to me right away.
  
• 66A: Meal with the Four Questions (SEDER) — I've been to precisely one SEDER, 22 years ago. Memorable enough for me to get this with only the slightest hesitation.

Going to trying to sleep now, though the news out of Japan is going to make that slightly difficult, I fear.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Role in Bizet's Pearl Fishers / WED 3-9-11 / Massey of old movies / Selective high-school org. / Hall-of-Fame hoopster Dan

Constructor: Peter A. Collins

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: TAILING OFF (59A: Waning ... or a hint to what is found by circling all the Ts in the completed puzzle) — circles spell out and form the outline of a KITE; circling the Ts in the grid provides the KITE's "tail"...


Word of the Day: Dan ISSEL (39D: Hall-of-Fame hoopster Dan) —

Daniel (Dan) Paul Issel (born October 25, 1948 in Batavia, Illinois) is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player and coach. [...] Issel accumulated over 27,000 points in his combined ABA and NBA career. At the time of his retirement the only professional basketball players to have scored more points than Issel were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Julius Erving. He currently ranks #8 on the all time combined ABA/NBA scoring list.

• • •

Circles! Four of them. Well, nine if you actually circle the Ts ... which are "OFF" how? I didn't quite see how TAILING OFF was a "hint." I mean, I get the TAIL part, but the "OFF," not so much. Is the expression "TAILING OFF" related to a kite's tail? I thought, briefly, that the "OFF" was related to the fact that the *circles* had been left "OFF." Whatever, the reveal works well enough, I suppose. Not a very satisfying puzzle for me, but after yesterday's, it looks almost solid. Biggest issue was the center, where I took a long, long time to drop the "G" from "BLOWING" to get "BLOWIN IN THE WIND" (38A: Bob Dylan song ... or a hint to the object found by connecting the four circled letters in a diamond). I thought briefly that it was "BLOWING 'N THE WIND." Downs in there weren't immediately clear to me either—I'm talking about DRIEST (Least sweet, as wine) and HYATTS (25D: Some hotels), and especially NHS (36D: Selective high-school org.), which I only just now figured out—it must stand for National Honor Society. I have never seen that abbrev. in a puzzle. Ever. Appears to be a first-ever NYT appearance. Sometimes "fresh" is terrible. Rest of puzzle is mediocre, but nothing's terribly objectionable. Maybe a few too many crosswordy names like LEILA (26A: Role in Bizet's Pearl Fishers) and ILONA and HEDDA and NALA and RAE and SELA, and weird geographical partials like YORBA and ILE DE.

FLYING HIGH (17A: On cloud nine) has got "CLOUD NINE" stuck in my head, which is not so terrible.


The album "KITE" (1987) by the late, great Kirsty MacColl, is one of my favorite albums of all time. Should be much, much better known. Wall-to-wall awesome.


Not much else to say. Moving on.

Bullets:

• 21A: Commercially prized ducks (EIDERS) — I had no idea. I didn't know the down was rare enough to be "prized."
  
• 51A: Discontinued Chevrolet model (COBALT) — so COBALT goes the way of the ALERO ... I don't expect its afterlife to be as pronounced.
  
• 4D: Anti-honking ordinance, e.g. (NOISE LAW) — just had exchange with another puzzle blogger who didn't like this one. Seemed fine to me, but that may just be because the last two mornings, our (uh ... let's say "OCD") neighbor has been up before 5am, snow-BLOWING. The best part was when I looked outside and the snow blower was idling (loudly) while he cleared off his car. Nuts. So nuts that we don't even get mad anymore. His need to CONTROL his ENVIRONMENT is like a disease. Oh, and he Hates us, but that's another story. Anyway, we're pretty sure that running your snow BLOWer before 5am is against local NOISE LAWs, but we weren't about to call Code on him (as he has on us, multiple times, for stuff like ... chipped paint near a side attic window that No One but he can see; but, as I say, that's another story...).
  
• 52D: Letter before Peter in an old phonetic alphabet (OBOE) — alphabet used by U.S. forces in WWII, apparently. In "Peter and the Wolf," the OBOE is ... the duck, right? Yes! Memory!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Swiss who pioneered in graph theory / WED 3-2-11 / Only patron on "Cheers" to appear in all 275 episodes / Bxe5 or 0-0-0 in chess

Constructor: David Poole

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: Movie "taglines" — plays on words make for alleged movie taglines ... [honestly, I don't get it]


Word of the Day: AARON Rodgers (21A: Super Bowl XLV M.V.P. Rodgers) —

Aaron Charles Rodgers (born December 2, 1983) is an American football quarterback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Rodgers was selected in the first round (24th overall) of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Packers. Rodgers played college football while attending the University of California, Berkeley, where he set several California Golden Bears records, including lowest interception rate at 1.43%. // Professionally, Rodgers is the NFL's all-time career leader in passer rating during both the regular season (98.4), and in the post-season (112.6) – among passers with at least 1,500 and 150 pass attempts respectively. He also owns the league's lowest career pass interception percentage for quarterbacks during the regular season (1.99%) (wikipedia)

• • •

I'm waiting on an email from a friend, hoping she'll be able to explain this theme to me. So ... theme answers are alleged movie taglines, which are actually puns made out of ... let's see, a movie title, a Shakespeare play, an actual tagline, and a play/movie title. How is this coherent? On an individual basis, any one of the theme answers might be deemed cute (ICY DEAD PEOPLE is particularly nice), but I'm just missing how this one holds together conceptually. Also, the non-theme fill is dry as a bone. Monday-easy, with just about zero answers of interest. Just didn't work for me, Dawg (sorry, just finished watching "American Idol," the first night of which was pretty damn terrible—with a couple of notable exceptions).

Theme answers:

• 17A: "Taxi Driver" tagline? (A FARE TO REMEMBER)
  
• 25A: "Back to the Future" tagline? (A COMEDY OF ERAS) [wince]
  
• 42A: "Titanic" tagline? (ICY DEAD PEOPLE) — morbid, but great
  
• 56A: "Return of the Jedi" tagline? (LUKE BACK IN ANGER)
  

I learned a couple of interesting bits of trivia today: that NORM was in every episode of "Cheers" (1A: Only patron on "Cheers" to appear in all 275 episodes) and that the HUMMER was discontinued (10D: G.M. brand discontinued in 2010). Beyond that, honestly, I don't have anything to say. Oh, I didn't see the clue til just now, but I'd never heard of the Aramco oil company (in clue for SAUDI). Maybe I'll remember that. Probably not. Oh, last thing: the clue on EULER is the most incoherent-sounding clue I've ever seen. [Swiss who pioneered in graph theory]??? First of all, though correct, "Swiss" for a Swiss person always sounds horribly wrong to me. Second, can you pioneer "in" something? Or is it "in graph" theory? I tripped on EULER once years ago, and I've had him in my back pocket ever since. Today was no different—brain saw "Swiss" and "[something math]" and I had the "EU-" so ... bam.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Baseballer turned spy Berg / WED 2-23-11 / 1945 flag-raising site / * button Facebook icon / 1974 title role Dustin Hoffman / Gonzalez affair 2000

Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: OUTSIDE CHANCE (54A: Remote possibility ... or a hint to 20-, 29- and 44-Across) — word CHANCE can be spelled by combining the first and last sets of letters in each theme answer


Word of the Day: Yawl (58A: Yawl's pair=>MASTS) —

A yawl (from Dutch Jol) is a two-masted sailing craft similar to a sloop or cutter but with an additional mast (mizzenmast or mizzen mast) located well aft of the main mast, often right on the transom, specifically, aft of the rudderpost. (A vessel with the mizzenmast located forward of the rudderpost is called a ketch. See further discussion below.) A mizzen sail (smaller than the mainsail) is hoisted on the mizzen mast. (wikipedia)

• • •

Fell asleep very early last night, so only getting to the puzzle now (7:13am). Still, my streak of having a post up every day by 9am (4+ years, I think) continues unabated...

This puzzle is just fine, but felt more like a Tuesday (both in terms of concept and difficulty). I like puzzles that take a familiar phrase and then use it as a play on words to develop a puzzle theme. The reimagined phrase often leads to some of the most interesting and inventive puzzles / answers. I've seen this type many times before (the small word on the "outside" of long theme answers), and while CHURCH OF FRANCE (44A: Group overseeing Notre Dame Cathedral) does nothing for me, the other theme answers are interesting. Clue on CHAINLINK FENCE is well phrased (29A: Barrier with a diamond pattern)—accurate without being obvious. Got "CHANTILLY LACE" instantly (20A: Big Bopper hit), despite its being well out of my pop culture sweet spot ... or maybe that's inaccurate. I always think of my pop culture sweet spot as 1976-91, but during a couple of those years (late high school), I listened to nothing but oldies, Motown, and classic rock (refusing to listen (much) to contemporary pop radio was as "rebellious" as I would ever be as a teen). Plus, I remember my dad occasionally doing a ridiculous imitation of the "Hello Baaaaaby" intro to this song.

[What is she Saying to him on the other end of that line!?]
Not much to slow me down today. Took me a few crosses to remember the late TONY SNOW (8D: Press secretary under George W. Bush). Full name! Very nice. Took me even longer (strangely) to get CANDLE (47D: Thing to snuff), as I discarded WICK as a possibility and moved on to snuff-as-tobacco. "I'M OFF" required some crosses (31D: "Bye for now!"), but virtually everything else fell right into place. Having dogs and a cat may have helped a little with both LEASH LAW (40D: Ordinance aimed at pet owners) and CAT SIT (45D: Watch a kitty) (the former a necessary nuisance, the latter an act performed by many different friends over the years). My favorite clue, by virtue of its being fresh and contemporary, is the one for LIKE (22D: __ button (Facebook icon)).

Bullets:

• 15A: 1945 flag-raising site, briefly (IWO) — easy enough. I've never heard it shortened to just IWO, but then I wasn't alive when people would have been discussing it a lot more often than they do today. See also ETO.
  
• 34A: Baseballer turned spy Berg (MOE) — yeah, he probably should have been my "Word of the Day"; if I've heard of him, it was in a crossword puzzle, and I promptly forgot him. Here's a tidbit from wikipedia:

A graduate of Princeton University and Columbia Law School, Berg spoke several languages and regularly read 10 newspapers a day. His reputation was fueled by his successful appearances as a contestant on the radio quiz show Information, Please! in which he answered questions about the derivation of words and names from Greek and Latin, historical events in Europe and the Far East, and ongoing international conferences.

• 53D: 1974 title role for Dustin Hoffman (LENNY) — in which he played Comedian LENNY Bruce. Never seen it. For future reference — perhaps — LENNY is also the constant companion of CARL on "The Simpsons"

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Physics Nobelist Victor who discovered cosmic radiation / WED 2-16-11 / Anoint with sacred oil old-style / Georgia's capital in slang

Constructor: Michael Barnhart

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: 21 — five theme answers have "21" (or "twenty-one") somewhere in their clues...


Word of the Day: Victor HESS (10A: Physics Nobelist Victor who discovered cosmic radiation) —

Victor Francis Hess (24 June 1883 – 17 December 1964) was an Austrian-American physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics, who discovered cosmic rays. [...] Between 1911 and 1913, Hess undertook the work that won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1936. For many years, scientists had been puzzled by the levels of ionizing radiation measured in the atmosphere. The assumption at the time was that the radiation would decrease as the distance from the earth, the source of the radiation, increased. The electroscopes previously used gave an approximate measurement of the radiation, but indicated that higher in the atmosphere the level of radiation may actually be more than that on the ground. Hess approached this mystery first by greatly increasing the precision of the measuring equipment, and then by personally taking the equipment aloft in a balloon. He systematically measured the radiation at altitudes up to 5.3 km during 1911-12. The daring flights were made both at day and during the night, at significant risk to himself. // The result of Hess's meticulous work was published in the Proceedings of the Viennese Academy of Sciences, and showed the level of radiation decreased up to an altitude of about 1 km, but above that the level increased considerably, with the radiation detected at 5 km about twice that at sea level. His conclusion was that there was radiation penetrating the atmosphere from outer space, and his discovery was confirmed by Robert Andrews Millikan in 1925, who gave the radiation the name "cosmic rays". Hess's discovery opened the door to many new discoveries in nuclear physics.

• • •

There's a certain looseness and kookiness to this puzzle that I admire, but the theme is pretty inconsistent (e.g. 2100 ≠ 21, "twenty-ones" = godawful plural, "JUMP STREET" = a partial...), and the fill in the big corners is particularly cruddy. I'm not sure why there wasn't another black square in the NW (and thus in the SE). This puzzle has only 72 words? Why not go to more words and make the fill (much) better? As it is, there's this very choppy, short-worded center-grid and then these giant corners, which, inevitably, show signs of significant stress. Right off the bat we have to choke on "old-style" ANELE, plus the plural name RENES, the awkward possessive ARTHUR'S, and the crosswordesey ESME. Things are actually worse in the SE, where not only do I have to suffer ADALE :( over RELED :( :( :(, but I also have to pretend that EROTICAL is a word ... and not even an "old-style" word. Just a word. And with the "OTIC" part crossing -OTIC? It's all a bit too much to ask. In the easier-to-fill, NE and SW, the constructor went with cheater squares to ease the burden, and the results are, not surprisingly, much cleaner. All in all, an entertaining wreck, but still a wreck. Moral: don't try to impress anyone with your low word count if you can't fill the puzzle well.

Theme answers:

• 17A: "Twenty-One" (TV GAME SHOW)
  
• 24A: 2100 (NINE O'CLOCK)
  
• 35A: 21 (DRINKING AGE)
  
• 51A: "21 ___" ("JUMP STREET")
  
• 59A: Twenty-ones (BLACKJACKS)
  

Toughest section for me was the NE, where I had no idea who HESS was, and couldn't get GILA or ELINOR with significant crossage. Thank god I knew the title "Quantum of SOLACE" (due to its being an answer in a puzzle before the film ever came out, causing me to grouse, causing me to remember the title). Forgot stupid UDAY's name, so that caused a bit of slowness in the NW. Never heard of MORO, but, thankfully, never even saw the clue (that SE was the easiest part of the puzzle for me, by far.

Bullets:

• 20A: First American magazine to excerpt "Moby-Dick" (HARPER'S) — I didn't know this, though was able to guess it off the "H." "Moby-Dick" is next on my reading list; I'll get to it whenever I finally finish the 1000+-page tome that is "The Count of Monte Cristo" (so good I don't want it to end).
  
• 30A: In no other place (HERE) — this seems all kinds of wrong. First, there's no reason this clue couldn't fit THERE. Second, something could be HERE *and* in other places at the same time. Oxygen, for instance. Or maybe I want a fence post placed HERE ... and there and there and there and there etc.
  
• 50A: Georgia's capital, in slang (A-TOWN) — hurray for inventive cluing. So much better than a ["Coming to ___ near you!"] or the like. Just glad I didn't have to see AHOLE two days in a row.
  
• 55A: 1950s tennis champion Gibson (ALTHEA) — a gimme for me, but I was surprised last time she showed up how many people hadn't heard of her, so maybe I'm just a bigger tennis fan than I thought.
  
• 7D: Parliament residue (ASH) — Parliament being a brand of cigarette. Nice misdirection. Ooh, I just noticed the other parliament clue, 15A: Where the Stoerting parliament sits (OSLO).
  
• 36D: Steve ___, 1990s teammate of Michael Jordan (KERR) — must have been at least somewhat tough for the sports-challenged among you, esp. considering KERR crosses another sports answer at the "E": LEN Dawson (40A: Hall-of-Fame QB Dawson). Ooh, just noticed the other Michael Jordan clue, 38D: Product pitched by Michael Jordan (GATORADE).
  
• 44D: Watchmaker with the first U.S. TV commercial, 1941 (BULOVA) — trivia! Interesting. But who had TVs in 1941?!
  
• 49D: The Stylistics' "___ By Golly, Wow" (BETCHA) — cute, but really Really would've preferred a Palin quote here.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Physical feature Britain's Lord Nelson / WED 2-9-11 / 1930s org with blue eagle logo / Richard nominated seven Oscars / Distant relative of Monterey

Constructor: Victor Barocas

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: SKIPJACK (46A: Certain tuna ... or what this puzzle's 10 starred clues do) — clues are missing "Jack"


Word of the Day: Natter[jack] (12D: *Natter, e.g.=>TOAD) —

The Natterjack Toad (Epidalea calamita, formerly Bufo calamita) is a toad native to sandy and heathland areas of Northern Europe. Adults are 60 – 70 mm in length and are distinguished from the common toad by a yellow line down the middle of the back. They have relatively short legs, and this gives them a distinctive gait, contrasting with the hopping movement of many other toad species. // Natterjacks have a very loud and distinctive mating call, amplified by the single vocal sack found under the chin of the male animal. (wikipedia)

• • •

This puzzle has an astounding number of theme answers, and a pretty decent basic concept. Unfortunately, I really disliked two of the theme answers, as well as much of the fill, and so did not find the overall experience enjoyable. I actually dislike three theme answers, but I dislike TOAD only because I've never ever heard of a "natterjack," and it doesn't seem right to make my ignorance the basis of a gripe. But FLAT TIRE and CAPITAL J, while nice-looking grid entries, have jarringly inconsistent clues. The "jack" in every other instance is part of a compound word or phrase, which means that the clue has a certain cleverness about its misdirection, a certain "aha" factor when you see what role "jack" played in the whole thing. But having the "jack" be free-standing, just ... missing? That sucks. Where are the clues related to hijack, carjack, lumberjack, applejack, jack rabbit, jackpot, jackhammer, etc.? So many other "jack" words or phrases, and we get [Start of the name]? Boooo. What's worse, the fill all around CAPITAL J is the worst fill in the grid: random phrase ONE ARM (9D: Physical feature of Britain's Lord Nelson), crosswordese BRAE, partial IS NO, absurd ONE B, and above all the horrific ACNED, which is infamous (to me) for being the word Raymond Chandler singled out in his explanation of why Ross Macdonald was not (not yet, not then) a very good writer:

   [H]ere is a man who wants the public for the mystery story in its
primitive violence and also wants it to be clear that he,
individually, is a highly literate and sophisticated character. A
car is "acned with rust", not spotted [...] "The seconds piled up
precariously like a tower of poker chips", etc. The simile that does
not quite come off because it doesn't understand what the purpose of
the simile is [...] When you say "spotted with rust" (or pitted, and
I'd almost but not quite go for"pimpled") you convey at once a
simple visual image. But when you say "acned with rust" the
attention  of the reader is instantly jerked away from the thing
described to the pose of the writer. This is of course a very simple
example of the stylistic misuse of language, and I think that
certain writers are under a compulsion to write in recherche phrases
as a compensation for a lack of some kind of natural animal emotion.
They feel nothing, they are literary eunuchs, and therefore
they fall back on an oblique terminology to prove their
distinction. (letter to James Sandoe, April 14, 1949)

So much of the rest of the grid was quite lovely. [Palace-related] is a weak and unnecessarily oblique clue for ROYAL, but other than that, I don't have many (non-theme-related) complaints. HALF DEAD is a very nice entry (23A: How a hangover sufferer might feel).

Theme answers:

• 16A: *Cracker feature (TOY SURPRISE)
• 33A: *Union, e.g. (FLAG)
  
• 40A: *It's bad when it knifes (SEMI)
  
• 56A: *Flap (GRIDDLECAKE)
  
• 10D: *Daniel's home (TENNESSEE)
  
• 12D: *Natter, e.g. (TOAD)
  
• 22D: *Start of the name (CAPITAL J) — last reason to dislike this one: we already have "the name" JACK in one of the other clues (10D)
  
• 24D: *Necessitator (FLAT TIRE) — last reason to dislike this one: "Necessitator!?"
  
• 32D: *Black (TWENTY-ONE)
  
• 51D: *Distant relative of Monterey (BRIE) — or EDAM, I suppose. Nice to have flexibility with a lot of these answers...

Started with a miscue: HUGH for CARY (1A: Grant for a movie?). That is a Not Great "?"-clue, as its trick is transparent and the phrase "Grant for a movie" doesn't really play on words very well. I had no idea Richard BURTON was Oscar-nominated so many times (14A: Richard nominated for seven Oscars). I can't name anything he was in except "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Not sure which org. NRA is supposed to be today (18A: 1930s org. with a blue eagle logo). Aha, National Recovery Administration. All that alphabet soup stuff, except TVA and WPA, eludes me. SIMPSON was right up my alley (27A: Springfield family name), but when was the last time TAE BO was "much-advertised" (41A: Much-advertised exercise program)? I haven't seen Billy Blanks in an ad for what seems like a decade. I'm sure he's still out there, but I don't see him. E*TRADE was a welcome gimme (60A: Nasdaq company with an asterisk in its name), though I always want that asterisk to have its own square ... that would be an interesting puzzle. It could cross *NSYNC.

I thought the bad thing to be over was a BARREL :(

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]