Site of 1789 rebellion / SAT 12-6-14 / Bygone Asian dynast / Certain street dancer in slang / Four-time Pro Bowler Michael / Bygone bomber whose name is call in bingo / Director Justin of Fast Furious franchise

Constructor: Josh Knapp

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium to Medium

THEME: awesomeness

Word of the Day: HMS BOUNTY (1A: Site of a 1789 rebellion) —

HMS Bounty, also known as HM Armed Vessel Bounty, was a small merchant vessel purchased by the Royal Navy for a botanical mission. The ship, under the command of William Bligh, was sent to the Pacific Ocean to acquire breadfruit plants and transport them to British possessions in the West Indies. That mission was never completed, due to a mutiny led by the acting Master, Fletcher Christian. This was the famous Mutiny on the Bounty. (wikipedia)

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I've gotten into this weird habit of late. I fall asleep early (like 9 or 10pm), then wake up a couple hours later, then solve / blog, then (eventually) sleep some more. It's pretty great. I remember reading some years ago about "second sleep"—that pre-modern sleep patterns were likely to feature a middle-of-the-night waking period. And I remember thinking, "that sounds cool." And it is. I mean, I still have that semi-sh***y "just woke up from a nap" feeling for a while, *right* before I solve the damned puzzle, so it's not all bourbon and chocolate, but I'm pretty in to the overall rhythm of the sleep-solve-write-read-sleep thing. Why am I telling you this? I don't know, but I loved this damned puzzle. I mean, Loved it. Frame it and hang it, because you're just not going to see much better than this. So clean, so current, so smartly clued. Time and again I had that great "Huh? … what the hell? … damn … OH!" feeling when solving a clue. I got through it in reasonable time, but the whole time I had that exhilarating/nauseating feeling I used to get when I'd break through to a new level of Donkey Kong and stuff would just be coming at you so fast and you feel like you're barely holding it together but you're somehow not dying! Yee haw. I don't think there's a bad answer in the grid. Not one. SO-SO POPO! Even the tiny stuff is making me smile.

[22A: Dimwitted title character of a 2001 comedy]

HA ha, I only just now got the clue at 51A: Number one number two (ADAMS). It was bugging me that I couldn't parse the clue correctly. "I know ADAM was the 'number one' man, but how do you get from there to plural ADAMS?" A: You don't. It's John ADAMS, the first ("Number one") vice president ("number two") of the U.S. Oh, HANDM—that is almost an answer I don't like, but only because it's really H&M (the way BTEN is B-10). But I've been kind of nostalgic for ampersandwiches lately. Feels like they don't come around much any more. So here's to you, HANDM. If HANDM is the worst a puzzle HANDs you, you're in good shape. I will say, though, that I'd've changed MENNEN to TENNER (10-pound note), just to get rid of HAND so close to HANDM. Picky, yes, but … well, you read this blog, so you can't be surprised.

I realized mid-solve that the puzzle was something special (which doesn't happen often—usually I'm just on GO!). Threw KIM JONG-IL across, thought "damn, that's good," then allowed myself a moment's reflection on everything I'd solved to that point: all real answers, no crap anywhere, a banks of long Downs (UNFAZED NEOCONS TWO-TONE) that's amazing in its own right, even though it's masquerading as a mere passageway from one section of the grid to another. And somehow the puzzle managed to finish (SE corner) on a high note. Oohed and aaahed (!) at every long Across as it came into view down there. It's very clear that high word--count themelesses that have been polished within an inch of their lives are the puzzles most likely to hit my happy zone. All killer, no filler, I AVER.

[TWO TONE]

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld