2010 chart-topper for Ke$ha / SUN 4-10-11 / Italian sportswear name / Dammed river in North Carolina / Burial site early Scottish kings

Constructor: Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "All-Pro" — "FOR" is added (as a prefix) to words in familiar phrases, creating wacky phrases, which are clued wackily ("?"-style)


Word of the Day: ELLESSE (70A: Italian sportswear name) —

Ellesse is a sports apparel company founded in Italy in 1959. // Ellesse was founded by Leonardo Servadio in Perugia in 1959. The name Ellesse derives from the initials of Servadio's name, "L.S." // Ellesse grew in popularity during the 1970s as a producer of skiwear such as quilted jackets and ski pants. In 1979, Ellesse's Jet Pant, a ski pant featuring padded knees and a wide lower leg to fit around a ski boot, was included in an event at the Pompidou Centre in Paris celebrating Italian design. // Another sport with which Ellesse has been closely associated since its early years is tennis. The Ellesse logo references the form of a tennis ball with the shape of the tips of a pair of skis. (wikipedia)

• • •

Well, the theme is a dud, but if you can get past that, there's some pretty nice stuff in this puzzle. Started out really kind of liking the puzzle, with the cool and pop-culturey MCFLY (1D: "Back to the Future" family name) and "TIK-TOK" (12D: 2010 chart-topper for Ke$ha), the lovely LORGNETTE (26A: Operagoer's accessory), and the threat that someone might BACKSTAB ARISTIDE (timely, given that he has recently returned to Haiti from exile in South Africa) (7A: Betray, in a way + 21A: Haiti's first democratically elected president). But then there was FORGO COLD TURKEY. I was looking for the complexity, the trick, the ... Sunday Something that was holding this baby together. But one more theme answer in, and I realized that it's just FOR. Added FOR-s. And a bunch of barely sensible wacky answers. MONDO letdown (87A: Extremely, in 1970s slang). But the non-theme stuff continued not to disappoint, for the most part. I actually found this puzzle on the tough side for a Sunday, though I thought that might end up being offset by the pretty easy theme (hence the mere "Medium" rating).



Theme answers:

• 23A: Skip Thanksgiving leftovers? (FORGO COLD TURKEY)
  
• 30A: Say "No," "Never" and "Uh-uh"? (DO ONE'S FORBIDDING)
  
• 47A: Plea for immediate absolution? (FORGIVE US THIS DAY)
  
• 63A: Like food that's acceptable to cattle? (FORAGE APPROPRIATE)
  
• 79A: Memorable theatrical performance? (PLAY HARD TO FORGET)
  
• 93A: Abstain happily? (GRIN AND FORBEAR IT)
  
• 108A: Is well-endowed? (CARRIES A FORTUNE)
  

OK, so there was a significant BLOC of crosswordese, but at least it was pretty well spread out. ELON ELEE ELIO, as a trio, almost overcome the ugliness they possess individually (5D: Southern university that shares its name with a biblical judge + 34A: Mrs. Robert ___ (Mary Custis) + 37A: Chacon of the 1960s Mets). In other E-word news, I once again confused EBOLA and EBOLI (17D: Place in a Carlo Levi memoir), and I completely blanked on ELLESSE, despite that name's being very familiar from my tennis-playing days in the 80s. I associate that brand with Chris Evert more than anyone else. Vintage tennis returned again with Guillermo VILAS (48D: Tennis's 1977 U.S. Open champ), whom I always used to confuse with VITAS Gerulitis. Let's see, what else? There was some random French I didn't know (PIAF), the return of a name I used to not know but now know (STANS), a South Pacific place that I know about only because I nearly put it in a grid once but ultimately couldn't go through with it because it was so godawful (LAE), an arcane word I've heard of but couldn't have defined for you (BELAY; 33D: Ignore, imperatively) ... but in the end it was all redeemed and then some by BOBO (39D: Mr. Burns's teddy bear on "The Simpsons"). That bear has an entire episode dedicated to it—an amazing, extended "Citizen Kane" parody (with BOBO as "Rosebud"). Genius.

Apropos of nothing, I am listening to metal while I write, and it is strangely energizing without being lyrically distracting. I eschewed metal for the longest time because it sounded like something that only the scariest of white people listen to (and something that a guy who uses words like "eschew" would not listen to), but I'm coming around... well, a little. I mean, I discovered the band (Red Fang) via NPR (which I do *not* eschew), so how scary can it be?

Bullets:

• 25A: Early spring bloomers (CROCI) — I actually used this word in conversation today. They're coming up in our front yard.

• 28A: Longfellow's words before "O Ship of State!" ("SAIL ON") — I like this song.

• 75A: Burial site of early Scottish kings (IONA) — ugh, IONE fail! Speaking of Scottish, though: my man James HOGG! I read "The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner" for three (3!) different classes when I studied in Edinburgh in '89 (4D: Scottish poet James Known as "The Ettrick Shepherd").
  
• 113A: Dammed river in North Carolina (PEE DEE) — strangely, a gimme. I mean, I didn't know it know it, but it's the first thing I thought of—crosswordy river in the Carolinas (often used as a non-urine clue for PEE).
• 115A: Region conquered by Philip II of Macedon (THESSALY) — wonder if the region is as pretty as it sounds. I've never been.
  
• 7D: Sled dog with a statue in New York's Central Park (BALTO) — are there other Central Parks we might confuse with New York's? Seems a weird qualifier, esp. for the *NYT* puzzle.
  
• 72D: "___ dignus" (Latin motto) ("ESTO") — the language has a motto? Whose motto? Just ... *a* motto? No matter how many times I look at this clue, no matter what I do, even now, I see only "dingus."
  
• 84D: Bear vis-à-vis the woods, e.g. (DENIZEN) — surely Paula and/or Will knew that SHITTER fits perfectly. Nice work. [Slow clap]
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]