Givee / SUN 4-24-16 / Botnaical cover / Biscuits with no sharp edges / Cave deposits / Selfies around 2012-13

Constructor: Kathy Wienberg

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "'Tee' Time" — 'TEE' sound is added to the end of the first word in familiar phrases, creating wacky phrases, clued "?"-style

Theme answers:

• CASUALTY FRIDAY (22A: Nickname for an accident-prone L.A.P.D. sergeant?)
• PATTY DOWN (27A: Cry from an errant burger flipper?)
• PANTY HANDLER (44A: Victoria's Secret job?)
• BATTY MOBILE (66A: Gulf Coast port that's gone bonkers?)
• REALTY NUMBER (89A: Three houses flipped this week, e.g.?)
• BUSTY FARE (104A: Hooters menu?)
• SAFETY CRACKERS (114A: Biscuits with no sharp edges?)
• PETTY ROCKS (44D: Sign seen at a Heartbreakers concert?)
• JETTY LINER (40D: Protective covering for a pier?)

Word of the Day: OMAR al-Bashir (86D: Longtime Sudanese president ___ al-Bashir) —

Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (Arabic: عمر حسن أحمد البشير‎; born 1 January 1944) is the President of Sudan and the head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when, as a brigadier in the Sudanese Army, he led a group of officers in a military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi after it began negotiations with rebels in the south. Since then, he has been elected three times as President in elections that have been under scrutiny for corruption. In March 2009, al-Bashir became the first sitting president to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), for allegedly directing a campaign of mass killing, rape, and pillage against civilians in Darfur. (wikipedia)

• • •

This has been the easiest Fri-Sat-Sun stretch that I can remember. Of course, I can't actually *remember* any other Fri-Sat-Sun stretches, but I doubt I've ever had a combined time on two themelesses and a Sunday-sized puzzle come in under 21 minutes, as I have this week. 8:47 on today's puzzle, which probably a Sunday NYT record for me. I've done Sunday-sized puzzles in under 8 before, but those were Newsdays, I think. The theme here was so basic, and the overall cluing so straightforward, that once I got past 1A: Contents of some tubs, which probably threw me more than anything else in the puzzle (I wanted OLEO), I barely stopped entering letters until the end. I don't think this theme is really worthy of the NYT—not in the 21st century. It's just too vanilla, too hackneyed. It's executed well enough, but there's nothing very entertaining going on. I got a dark chuckle out of CASUALTY FRIDAY, but the rest of it was just ho-hum. Fill was also kind of, let's say, retro, with TSAR ALDA ALAR ARIL and ECRU getting the band back together, but it was all quite tolerable. Just old-fashioned and dull, despite the boobs (104A) and panties (44A).


Here are some memorable moments—there were little bits of trickery that might've caused a lot more trouble if the surrounding fill / clues had also been at all difficult. Thought the "band" in 8A: Military band (SASH) was musical. Thought 40A: Bridge (JOIN) was SPAN. I can never remember what AMPAS stands for, so ARTS was tough (71D: Part of AMPAS) (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences).  I had no idea what I was looking at at 103D: "Givee." I thought it was either some weird, possibly racist version of "gimme." Who in the world actually says "givee" to mean "one who has been given something," i.e. TAKER, even ironically? Yipes. I had trouble with but ultimately very much enjoyed the clue on TOKE (107D: It's a drag). Also had trouble with PILE, which I had as PILL, 'cause that's what some sweaters do ... and it gives the fabric a kind of NAPpy texture. It made sense in my mind. But none of these problems were really problems. No trouble. No TRAUMA. Cakewalk.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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