Ruler deposed 1979 / TUE 5-10-11 / Trackers Prizms once / Hoops play maker / Entertainment at many Cuban wedding / Indoor outdoor war game

Constructor: Alan Arbesfeld

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium


THEME: BALL to BALL — a word circle, where two-word theme answers begin with the word that the preceding theme answer ended with, creating a loop

Word of the Day: "L'IDÉE Fixe" (43A: Magritte's "___ Fixe") —

[Year: 1928 // Medium: Oil on canvas // Museum: Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin]

• • •

Nice, tight, unassuming theme. I sort of like that POINT and PAINT are both in the word chain, but their physical similarities are utterly coincidental to the theme. My first thought on finishing was "POINT above, PAINT below ... what?" Then I saw the light. A few small weak spots here and there. Not a fan of BAAED in general, especially when crossing something as ughy as PEDE (hands up for PEDI! Yeah, your hand is up). Crossing partials IGET and WEARE also not ideal. ONLOW is not great, and even less great crossing -ENNE. And L'IDÉE is probably the ickiest answer of the day. And yet ... yet! Really liked the long and mid-range Downs, especially TEAM USA (10D: Olympics squad in red, white and blue) and GOTCHA. A solid effort overall.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Paper Mate product (BALL POINT) — I can't imagine hearing the product described as BALL POINT, unless someone died or choked in the middle of saying the actual product name: BALL POINT pen.
  
• 25A: Hoops play maker (POINT GUARD)
  
• 31A: Junkyard's security, maybe (GUARD DOG)
  
• 45A: Place for one in disfavor, so to speak (DOG HOUSE)
  
• 51A: Sherwin-Williams offering (HOUSE PAINT)
  
• 63A: Indoor or outdoor war game (PAINT BALL)
  

Bullets:

• 24A: Ruler deposed in 1979 (SHAH) — one of my first political memories was the taking of American hostages in Iran following the Islamic Revolution. Don't remember learning anything about the SHAH, but you couldn't get away from Ayatollah Khomeni's face in 1980. Also everywhere in 1980:

• 30A: Trackers and Prizms, once (GEOS) — Trackers and Prizms, still, I'm pretty sure. Just because GEO went out of business doesn't mean those cars don't exist any more (however much their owners wish that were true).
  
• 66A: Yoga position (LOTUS) — would've wanted ASANA if I hadn't had crosses already in place. Done yoga for years and have never once been asked to sit in LOTUS.
  

In the shameless self-promotion department—in case you missed it yesterday (I added it to the post mid-day), there's a radio story about this blog and crossword blogs in general that came out yesterday. Not sure when / where / if it aired, but you can hear it all here. If you've got a spare 12 minutes after that, be sure to check out the bonus audio of me solving and commenting on a Newsday puzzle in real time. Completely improvised—I had no idea I'd be asked to do any such thing. That puzzle ended up being by the great Doug Peterson, who, coincidentally, co-constructed today's LAT puzzle along with my good friend and frequent fill-in Puzzle Girl. So check out the radio spot, do Doug and PG's puzzle (.pdf), and ... have a good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]