Heavy and Clumsy / FRI 9-13-13 /Ikura or Tobiko / Dark side / Old-fashioned respirator

Constructor: Patrick Berry

Relative difficulty: Medium

Word of the Day: LANOLIN (Stuff used to soften baseball mitts)

For breastfeeding mothers. Soothes and protect[s] dry, cracked skin. Breastfeeding cream is hypoallergenic and completely natural. It is recommended for the treatment of sore nipples. (cvs.com)

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Or, rather, in this clue's context, it's an agent for breaking in one's baseball glove, lubricating the tense virgin leather so it can drape more intimately about the flesh of the hand. But whether applied to mitts or tits, lanolin is a wax secreted by sheep and found in their coats.

Hi, this is Ben Tausig, guest-blogging for Rex, who tonight is watching the worst movie ever made. You might know me as editor of the famous American Values Club xword (formerly in The Onion), a weekly indie puzzle available here. Sometimes I write puzzles, too. Hi.

But not this one. Today's crossword, a 66-word affair, was constructed by the estimable Patrick Berry, who as ever puts on a clinic in puzzle making. (Patrick is estimable like Rafael Nadal; that is, he's really a legend but we soft-pedal because he's active). Speaking of oiled, rippling Spanish athletes' torsos (we were, weren't we?), the torso of this grid is a muscular semi-stack of seven entries, including 29A: RUMORHASIT, 40A: COINPURSES, and 34: LANDLINES (clued elegantly as "Cell alternatives"), with the awkwardly adjectival 35A: FOURLETTER the only sign of flab. And through that dense set runs a 15D: METEORITE and an 24D: IRONLUNG, the latter of which was my favorite entry in the puzzle and among the quickest long pieces to fall. The clue for 21D: TARTNESS, "Crab apple's quality," evoked Edna Crabapple, a literary name in the classic tradition that it took me years to grasp.

From a construction standpoint, the middle was almost certainly the most difficult section for Berry to fill. That region and its tributaries comprise roughly two-thirds of the grid's total mass. With wide-mouthed entries to the northeast and southwest, there's nowhere to hide when you're working a chunk like this. The northwest and southeast, on the other hand, are relatively enclosed, but no less pristine for being so. Speaking of the southeast, not to brag or anything, but I'm a big Greek salad guy, and 37D: OREGANO ("Greek salad ingredient") was a pleasant "a ha" moment after running through the more substantial ingredients mentally--feta, cucumber, black olives, iceberg lettuce, red onion, tomato. I once made a crossword that was also a recipe, and I think it was one of my worst.

Here's fattoush, which is sort of similar to a Greek salad, from Yotam Ottolenghi:

As an editor accustomed to quick turnarounds, it was moderately disappointing to see a clue for 53A: NOTREDAME set in 1935, when just the other night my wife and I (U-M alums both) watched the Wolverines roll over the Irish for the final time at the Big House; Notre Dame is sorta-joining the ACC, which constrains their schedule and means no more annual game against my alma mater--the end of a very long rivalry. There's topical gold in those hills. I likewise wanted 5D: PRIDE to say something about Anderson Cooper or the demise of DOMA; alas.

But a Berry puzzle doesn't much need glitter. The open spaces (and what they're filled with) shine plenty bright.

Bullets:

• 51D: LAO — Lao is one of my favorite scripts. I can read it, sort of; the below says "Lao alphabet."
  
  
  
• 12D: LAVORIS —Absolutely no idea what this is, but presumably it's real and refreshing.
• 23A: GLUTEI — As in, the plural of gluteus. I'd personally be concerned that the unfamiliar plural wouldn't bear the load of a ? clue, but such is Friday. "Muscles in twerking" would also suffice. There's also "What bums sit on," if it's not too insensitive.
• 14A: LASERBEAM — Great answer with a stretchy clue in "Reading light for an audiobook?" I was gearing up for an incredible payoff when I first read the clue, expecting a reference to some kind of book with content that would make for a short (and thus light) audiobook. A picture book or something? None came.

L'shana tova, friends. 

Signed, Ben Tausig, cutpurse of Crossworld.