Manatee's order whose name comes from Greek myth / SAT 12-31-16 / Noble Italian family name shared by three popes / Preservers of plant specimens / Analogues of circuit solicitors / Cosplay fanfic are parts of it / Manhattan topper

Constructor: Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: UNOBTAINIUM (35A: Hypothetical miracle material) —

In fiction, engineering, and thought experiments, unobtainium is any fictional, extremely rare, costly, or impossible material, or (less commonly) device needed to fulfill a given design for a given application. The properties of any particular unobtainium depend on the intended use. For example, a pulley made of unobtainium might be massless and frictionless; however, if used in a nuclear rocket, unobtainium would be light, strong at high temperatures, and resistant to radiation damage. The concept of unobtainium is often applied flippantly or humorously. For instance, unobtainium is described as being stronger than helium, and lighter than air. // The word unobtainium derives humorously from unobtainable with the suffix -ium, the conventional designation for a chemical element. It pre-dates the similar-sounding IUPAC systematic element names, such as ununennium. An alternative spelling, unobtanium is sometimes used (for example, for the crypto-currency Unobtanium), based on the spelling of metals such as titanium. (wikipedia)

• • •

When you're getting your difficulty from stuff like HERBARIA (13A: Preservers of plant specimens) and SIRENIA (18A: Manatee's order, whose name comes from Greek myth) and PARADROP (52A: Delivery of supplies by air, in a way), it's time to rethink what it is you're doing. I liked the parts of this puzzle that were hard for the right reasons, but the obscurities were painful, as was VIRTU (16D: Knowledge of fine arts) and the THE of THE ANDES. And PELHAM, another proper noun nightmare (2D: The "P" of P.G. Wodehouse). I tried to read the wikipedia entry for UNOBTAINIUM beyond the first two paragraphs, but ugh, too much NERD CULTURE for me, and not the fun kind (35A: Hypothetical miracle material). The tiresome kind. The Comic Book Guy kind. Just because you have the world's biggest wordlist or whatever doesn't mean you need to use everything on it. Just go ahead and delete SIRENIA right now. No one will miss it. It is too Maleskan for this world. Kiss it goodbye.

["CATH"]

If I just ignore UNOBTAINIUM, the SW and middle were pretty decent. I must've spent a couple minutes roaming this grid before I got my first bit of traction with ACE / ANACONDA. Started in NW and got absolutely nothing. That 1A clue (1A: Join, as two pieces of metal by application of heat and pressure) is like a parody of the "as-" type clue, i.e. clues that follow the pattern [Verb, as hypothetical object of that verb]. Knowing precisely none of the proper nouns in the NW meant that there was no way I was getting in there until I managed to back ERASURE and MISCREANT in there, and even then progress was slow and iffy. I thought the director's name might be LIN, but I hated that movie so much I've tried (successfully!) to forget virtually everything about it. It wasn't terrible so much as pointless, which is actually kinda worse than terrible. Terrible is at least distinct, and possibly funny or otherwise memorable. "Star Trek Beyond" was none of these things. Nobody's really sure it actually happened. It's more theoretical than actual at this point. We assume it happened, but did it? How would you know? Seriously, it wasn't good.


Botched the Battle of Marathon answer at first, which is slightly humiliating. Wrote in SPARTANS. At least I had ... the time period and general region ... right. Ugh. Do people really know [The TV network in "Network"]? Again, PARE your wordlist maybe a little. Is UBS supposed to be a pun? You B.S.? If so, is CBS a pun? It's actually more compelling, pun-wise, than UBS. Is [Strips to pieces?] a pun on "rips to pieces"? I get that BACON BITS are "pieces" of bacon "strips," but I'm having trouble identifying the exact wordplay in the clue. MISCREANT, GO-GETTER and PRINT RUN are fun answers. None of the rest of this did much for me. Seriously, if you'd asked me before I started this puzzle, "Hey, Rex, what's HERBARIA?" I'd've said "The ... uh ... area? ... near Herb?" "Herb's in a real bad mood right now, you're gonna wanna avoid the whole HERBARIA." I'll spare you my SIRENIA musings. Hope your New Year's Eve is swell.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Richard who won Tony for playing Don Quixote / FRI 12-30-16 / Market town in Surrey / Site of Cedar Revolution / King's collaborator / Swimmer in cloudy water / Bovine product mascot

Constructor: Patrick Berry

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: Ralph ABERNATHY (9D: King's collaborator) —

Ralph David Abernathy, Sr. (March 11, 1926 – April 17, 1990) was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, a minister, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s closest friend. In 1955, he collaborated with King to create the Montgomery Improvement Association, which would lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In 1957, Abernathy co-founded, and was an executive board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Following the assassination of King, Abernathy became president of the SCLC. As president of the SCLC, he led the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C. during 1968. Abernathy also served as an advisory committee member of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE). He later returned to the ministry, and in 1989 — the year before his death — Abernathy wrote, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: An Autobiography, a controversial autobiography about his and King's involvement in the civil rights movement. (wikipedia)

• • •

MAN ALIVE this was easy. I paused to sip my chamomile tea and eat one of the oatmeal raisin cookies my daughter made for me and still came in well under 5 minutes. I made virtually no wrong moves. Everything just fell into place. Everywhere I looked, I had just the letters I needed to give me the next answer. The puzzle was annoying in this way—not enough crunch or cleverness in the clues. The only resistance the puzzle offered came from LAST NAMES—not that answer, but from the actual last names KILEY (37A: Richard who won a Tony for playing Don Quixote) (??) and, to a much lesser extent, ABERNATHY (I at least knew the latter, though the clue was sufficiently vague that it took me some time to see which "King" the clue was referring to). No bite in the clues (boo), and all significant resistance from proper nouns (boo). This thing needed better calibration all the way around. Also, KILEY is a sore thumb in this puzzle—several times more obscure than the next most obscure thing in this puzzle (except perhaps CARLA, which is at least a common name) (51A: Thomas who is known as the Queen of Memphis Soul).


I experienced some very minor resistance from both of the sweet "drink" clues. I don't get how a CREAM SODA is "soft" except insofar as it is a "soft drink," in which case that clue really really needs a "?" (1A: It's soft and sweet). And I've never ever heard of a PURPLE COW (28D: Fountain drink containing grape juice and vanilla ice cream). Black cow, yes. Brown cow, I think so. PURPLE COW, never. That "C" (from CARLA) was the last letter I filled in down there. But everything else in the SW was so easy that my fountain drink ignorance was of very little consequence. Middle section of the puzzle was definitely the thorniest, but that's only because that's where the two aforementioned problematic proper nouns (KILEY, ABERNATHY) came together. I had some trouble understanding 43D: Lots of characters? (FONTS) (one of the few truly difficult clues), but I barely remember anything else about this puzzle, so poor a fight did it put up. Guessed CHITS (1D: Vouchers) and ROMEO (2D: "O, I am fortune's fool!" speaker) bam bam, and answers started falling and never stopped. I was even able to back into sections effortlessly. Into PSYCH from the -CH, into RICKMAN from the -MAN. Both those answers blew their respective corners wide open by giving a bank of first letters for me to work with. Finished in the SE, with the "N" in CON EDISON my last letter. The grid seems quite solid (not unexpected for a Patrick Berry puzzle), but the solving experience ... barely happened.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Stepmom of Mitchell Claire on Modern Family / THU 12-29-16 / Narrow estuaries / Doughnuts in topology / Jazz with rapid chord changes / Many techno concert attendee / Adderall target briefly

Constructor: Kevan Choset

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: Prince CHARLES — All clues are "titles for this puzzle's subject," who is "spelled in order by the circled letters"

Theme answers:

• EARL OF CHESTER
• BARON OF RENFREW
• DUKE OF CORNWALL
• PRINCE OF WALES 

Word of the Day: Peter RABE (35A: Broccoli ___) —

Peter Rabe aka Peter Rabinowitsch, (1921–1990), was a German American writer who also wrote under the names Marco Malaponte and J. T. MacCargo (though not all of the latter's books were by him). Rabe was the author of over 30 books, mostly of crime fiction, published between 1955 and 1975. [...] In an essay included in the book Murder off the Rack, edited by Jon L. Breen, Donald E. Westlake opens with the line, "Peter Rabe wrote the best books with the worst titles of anybody I can think of." When Gold Medal changed the titles of Rabe's first two books from The Ticker and The Hook to Stop This Man! and Benny Muscles In, a pattern was set that would last throughout his career. (wikipedia)

• • •

What, no DUKE OF ROTHESAY (14)!? No EARL OF CARRICK (13)!? Bah and pah! [/fakeindignation]

If there's a theme out there that I could care less about, I'd like to see it. Puzzle is about as interesting as its subject (to me). A giant Who Cares? hovers over this whole endeavor. Do you know how hard it is to get CHARLES to appear in order in this guy's titles. First and last themers contain everything but the "A," so what you put in second and third slots barely matters. All that matters is symmetry. In fact, you could replace EARL OF CHESTER and BARON OF RENFREW with EARL OF CARRICK and DUKE OF ROTHESAY, respectively, and the theme would still work. And I'd still care just as little. On the fill front, it's not good. Way way way too much short, tired, old, common stuff, including crosswordesey names like TERI / POLO and Mark O'MEARA and whichever ALOU they used today. 1-Across was ENGR—the saddest opening gimme I was ever gimmen. That answer pretty much set the tone for fill quality the rest of the way.

["Nothing Compares 2 U"]

Not sure I made any wrong turns in this one. Didn't know the first two CHARLES titles at all, but they filled themselves in easily via crosses. ALECTO plays an important role in the Aeneid, which I teach frequently; I'm used to the two-L version of her name, but the "A" from TABOR was enough for me to guess her name there. Speaking of small drums, I briefly thought TABLA for 5A: Small drum. Turns out, TABLA is a *pair* of small drums. So ... I hope that tidbit solves all your future TABOR/TABLA confusions. Aeneid knowledge also came in handy for 62A: English poet laureate Nahum (TATE), as he wrote the libretto for Purcell's Dido & Aeneas (which was first performed in the late 17th century) (I'm teaching 17th-century literature in the upcoming TERM) (I should probably get on that) (Good day).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Nickname for baseball manager Terry Francona / WED 12-28-16 / Playfully obtuse, maybe / Guideline for freelancer for short / There might be spat about this

Constructor: Brendan Emmett Quigley

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: THE CARPENTERS (35A: Pop group suggested by 17-, 25-, 47- and 58-Across) — theme answers have tools related to carpentry in them:

Theme answers:

• ELIJAH WOOD (17A: Player of Frodo in "The Lord of the Rings")
• STUDS TERKEL (25A: "The Good War" Pulitzer Prize winner)
• BRAD STEVENS (47A: Boston Celtics coach beginning in 2013)
• MIKE HAMMER (58A: Detective whose first book was "I, the Jury")

Word of the Day: BRAD STEVENS (47A: Boston Celtics coach beginning in 2013) —

Bradley Kent "Brad" Stevens (born October 22, 1976) is an American professional basketball head coach for the Boston Celtics of the NBA. He was previously the head coach at Butler University in Indianapolis. A former basketball player, he grew up in Zionsville, Indiana, where he starred on the Zionsville Community High School basketball team, setting four school records. After high school, he attended DePauw University, where he played basketball and earned a degree in economics. He made the all-conference team multiple times and was a three-time Academic All-America nominee. // Stevens joined the Butler basketball program as a volunteer prior to the 2000–01 season after quitting his job at Eli Lilly and Company. He was promoted to a full-time assistant coaching position for the 2001–02 season. On April 4, 2007, he became the head coach after Todd Lickliter left to coach the Iowa Hawkeyes. In his first year, Stevens led Butler to 30 wins, becoming the third-youngest head coach in NCAA Division I history to have a 30-win season. // In 2010, his third year as head coach, Stevens broke the NCAA record for most wins in a coach's first three years, exceeding the previous record by eight. In the postseason, Stevens coached Butler to the first Final Four in school history. At 33 years old, Stevens became the second-youngest head coach to make a NCAA National Championship game, losing 61–59 to Duke. Shortly after the season ended, he signed a contract extension with Butler through the 2011–12 season. With the 2010–11 team making the Final Four, Stevens became the youngest coach to go to two Final Fours. Stevens coached the Bulldogs in their second consecutive national championship game on April 4, 2011, where the team lost to the Huskies of the University of Connecticut. (wikipedia)

• • •

At first I thought the theme was a little loose, but upon noticing that all the themers are people / names, I decided there's enough consistency to hold it all together conceptually. There's also symmetry in the placement of the carpentry-related word, i.e. 1st and 4th themers have it in the second word, 2nd and 3rd in the first. I knew all the names, so that put me on Easyish Street today. As always, with names, ignorance can have a high cost, just as knowledge can have a high pay-off, so if this played harder for you because you didn't know, say, BRAD STEVENS, I'm not surprised. STEVENS is probably the least well known of these names, at least where this crowd (i.e. you) are concerned. In today's general population, he's certainly more famous than STUDS TERKEL. Not sure how to compare his fame to that of MIKE HAMMER. HAMMER is an icon, but a bygone one; far far far far more important in his field than STEVENS is in his, but ... HAMMER doesn't get mentioned every day on ESPN these days, is what I'm saying.


The fill in this one made me laugh several times, because it seems so ... Quiglish. My favorite bit is "HOW R U?," which is the kind of answer you dial up when you are staring down a --W-U letter pattern and absolutely refuse to budge. If you were to swap out TERKEL and STEVENS, you'd have --W-A in that space, which seems at least moderately easier to fill (YOWZA?), but BEQ decided to just textspeak his way through that jam. "HOW R U?" I'm somewhere between skeptical and impressed, thanks for asking. I also liked VIKES and balked at the clue on SOO (33A: "Your point being ...?"), another "make the best of a bad situation" constructing moment. "[___ Canals]!? We don't need no stinking [___ Canals]!" (credit where credit is due: that ["Your point being ...?"] clue for SOO was (first?) used in the LAT two years ago—so it may not be completely original, but I like its colloquialism and anti-canality a lot).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

PS [There might be a spat about this] deserves applause for being the most vexing / cleverest clue in the puzzle

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Partial rainbow near horizon / TUE 12-27-16 / Controversial novel of 1955 / Devotee of eSports / Kane resident of soap TV's Pine Valley

Constructor: Herre Schouwerwou

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (high 3s)

THEME: DOUBLE TAKE (60A: Surprised reaction ... or a hint to what can preced both halves of the answers to the starred clues) — two-word themers where both parts can follow "take" in familiar phrases:

Theme answers:

• HEART SHAPE (17A: *Valentine outline)
• COVER CHARGE (24A: *Cost to enter a bar, maybe)
• DOWN HOME (32A: *Folksy)
• BACK AWAY ( 40A: *What to do when coming face to face with a bear)
• AFTER EFFECT (47A: *Delayed consequence)

Word of the Day: SUNDOG (43A: Partial rainbow near the horizon) —

Sun dogs (or sundogs), mock suns or phantom suns, meteorological name parhelia (singular parhelion), are an atmospheric phenomenon that consists of a pair of bright spots on either horizontal side on the Sun, often co-occurring with a luminous ring known as a 22° halo. // Sun dogs are a member of a large family of halos, created by light interacting with ice crystals in the atmosphere. Sun dogs typically appear as two subtly colored patches of light to the left and right of the Sun, approximately 22° distant and at the same elevation above the horizon as the Sun. They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season, but they are not always obvious or bright. Sun dogs are best seen and are most conspicuous when the Sun is close to the horizon. (wikipedia) 

• • •

One of my New Year's wishes is no more of this theme type (which we've seen recently—I expressed similar sentiments then). The word-that-can-precede/follow-both-parts type theme is hoary and results in bland-at-best, forced-and-weird-at-worst answers. The revealer is like a solution to a riddle you didn't really care about in the first place. A bajillion things can follow "take" in a familiar phrase: action, advantage, advice ... you can see I'm still pretty early in the alphabet here. There's just a bland, so-what quality to the whole endeavor that's not really worthy of NYT-caliber puzzles. The puzzle also just plays old, in general, with its LICK for [Spank] (?) and its ALINEs and EGADs and IRMAs and OGDEN NASHes. It's a phoned-in puzzle from 30 years ago, with SUPERMOM and SUNDOG its only, uh, bright spots. Not AOKAY. About as AOKAY as that spelling of AOKAY. ISAO AOKAY, OK? No. Not OK.


The thing about STEPS (54D: Staircase parts) is you can *take* them, so the puzzle is essentially flaunting the fact that the whole Take ___ concept is astonishingly loose. AMARE is really bad fill, esp. for a Tuesday (7D: Verb that's conjugated "amo, amas, amat ..."). Kind of inexcusable. I mean, AMO AMAS AMAT is time-honored garbage that I expect to see, but the Latin infinitive? AMAR'E STOUDEMIRE was a six-time NBA All-Star. I'll take him, if I have to take that answer at all, which, again, I shouldn't have to, on a Tuesday. What happened to the "K" in SMART ALEC(K) (3D: Know-it-all)? Either spelling appears to be legit, but crosswords really flog ALECK as a stand-alone, so I've grown accustomed to its face. ALEC, of course, can be and usually is clued as a man's name when it stands alone. No one ever named their kid ALECK (apologies to the few of you whose parents did, in fact, do that). Isn't an AFTER EFFECT just ... an effect? Don't effects, by definition, come "after." Had some trouble getting into that SW corner precisely because I couldn't imagine what could come before EFFECT at 47A. I have no idea who RHYS Ifans is, but if he's famous enough to be in crosswords, I'm slightly stunned we haven't seen IFANS before (67A: Actor Ifans of "The Amazing Spider-Man"). iMac, iPad, iPod, iPhone ... IFANS! It'll fit right in.


The HALF GONE clue seems both cruel and weird (38D: Suffering from senility, say). Maybe I'm just not into slangy terms for people suffering with dementia and other age-related brain problems. I've not heard the term used the way the clue indicates. I'm honestly not sure I've heard the term at all, except possibly related to drunkenness.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

PS this guy's debut puzzle a couple years back had a quote theme. The quote was by ... OGDEN NASH. 

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

TV warrior princess / MON 12-26-16 / Flexible Flyers / Scrubbed as NASA mission / Soviet premier Khruschev / Lobster diavolo / Literary critic Broyard / Theologican Reinhold who wrote Serenity Prayer

 Constructor: Jules P. Markey

Relative difficulty: Easy side of average

THEME: BOXING DAY (37A: Present time in England? ... or a hint to each set of circled squares) — December 26 is both the present time, that is, now (or tomorrow since I'm writing this on Sunday night) and a present time, according to the OED: "a holiday on which post-men, errand-boys, and servants of various kinds expect to receive a Christmas-box." Each set of circled (shaded on the iPad app) squares is shaped like a box and name-checks a certain kind of day: LEAP, ELECTION, SNOW, GAME, PATRIOTS, and HUMP.

Word of the Day: ETAPE (54D: Tour de France stage) —

L'Étape du Tour (French for 'stage of the Tour') is an organised mass participation cyclosportive event that allows amateur cyclists to race over the same route as a Tour de France stage. First held in 1993, and now organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), in conjunction with Vélo Magazine, it takes place each July, normally on a Tour rest day.
L'Étape du Tour is normally held over mountain roads in either the Pyrenees or French Alps, up climbs such as the Col du Galibier, Col d'Aubisque, Mont Ventoux or the Col du Tourmalet. Around 15,000 riders participate - many travelling from other countries to compete - and the event takes place on roads closed by the police to other traffic, with refreshment stops and medical support provided along the route. (Wikipedia)

• • •

Laura here again, guest-posting for Rex while I drink an IPA (10A: Brewpub offering, for short). I just got back from a delicious Chinese dinner, where we had some EDAMAME (1D: Sushi bar finger food). I've also heard that we have lost yet another beloved POPSTAR (66A: Bruno Mars or Freddie Mercury) -- this time 80s icon George Michael. And since tonight is the second night of Hanukkah, I've been thinking a lot about freedom and faith.

Theme answers:

• A note on PATRIOTS DAY: I'm curious as to how many solvers have ever even heard of Patriots' Day as a Thing; it's celebrated as a state holiday only in Maine, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. It is also traditionally the day when the Boston Marathon is held, hence the name of the recently released (and controversial) movie about the 2013 bombing, starring local actor Mark Wahlberg. I had never heard of Patriots' Day until I moved to New England, and given its association with the Boston Marathon, I'd say it qualifies as a Natick.

This generally felt fine, went smoothly, and I had few problems, although there were a few proper names the obscurity of which pushed the fill into weekend territory. Lots of regular denizens: NIKITA (50A: Soviet premier Khrushchev), sure; UMA (64A: Actress Thurman), always; XENA (25A: TV warrior princess), welcome back. Even NASTASE (47D: Ilie who won both the U.S. and French opens) we've seen before. But some real rarities with ANATOLE (63A: Literary critic Broyard) and NIEBUHR (45D: Theologian Reinhold who wrote the Serenity Prayer). God grant me the serenity to solve the puzzles I can solve; courage to blog about the puzzles I can't change; and the wisdom to know the difference.

Bullets:

• GET RICH (59A: Hit pay dirt) — I wanted this to be a proper name too. Some dude named Getrich. Maybe he's been nominated for Secretary of the Treasury.
• MUSERS (27A: Reflective sorts) — Needed all the crosses for this one. Wanted MIRROR or MISERS or something else. Do MUSERS reflect? on themselves? Still musing.
• SEABEES (24D: Naval engineers) — I'd vaguely heard of SEABEES, and I assumed there were engineers in the Navy, but had never made the connection. Per Wikipedia the word SEABEE is derived from the abbreviation CB, for Construction Battalion.
• EARFLAP (40D: Batting helmet part) — Is that really an EARFLAP? I think of a FLAP as something, I dunno, flappier. I'd think the ear-covering thingy on a batting helmet needs to be more substantial, if it is to do its one job of protecting the ear.

Signed, Laura Braunstein, Sorceress of CrossWorld

[Follow Laura on Twitter]

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Swedish lake that's largest in European Union / SUN 12-25-16 / Coin portraying Queen Victoria once / Stows as banner / Onetime alternative to Facebook Messenger / Soy-based frozen dessert brand / Roman emblem of power adopted by Mussolini

Constructor: Kevin G. Der

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "Married Couples" — themers are all two parts, where first and last parts are yoked (married) by a pair of letters (circled squares that represent the last two letters of the first part of the answer and the first two letters of the last part of the answer). Clues are all familiar phrases represented in the grid literally-ish:

Theme answers:

• DRAMATIC PIE(CE)NTER (22A: Play by heart?) (get it, 'cause a play is a "dramatic piece," and here it is "by" (i.e. next to ... ?) "center" (another word for "heart"))
• SYMBOL FOR AMPE(RE)GULAR (37A: A plus average?)
• ALI(AS)SSITANCE (60A: Handle with care?) 
• SERENI(TY)PHOON (75A: Calm before the storm?)
• CLUT(CH)INESE BOARD GAME (96A: Grab and go?)
• ABI(DE)CEPTIVE PITCH (116A: Stay ahead of the curve?)  

Word of the Day: FASCES (29A: Roman emblem of power adopted by Mussolini) —

Fasces (/ˈfæsiːz/, (Italian: Fasci, Latin pronunciation: [ˈfa.skeːs], a plurale tantum, from the Latin word fascis, meaning "bundle") is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. The fasces had its origin in the Etruscan civilization, and was passed on to ancient Rome, where it symbolized a magistrate's power and jurisdiction. The image has survived in the modern world as a representation of magisterial or collective power. The fasces frequently occurs as a charge in heraldry, it is present on an older design of the Mercury dime and behind the podium in the United States House of Representatives, it is used as the symbol of a number of Italian syndicalist groups, including the Unione Sindacale Italiana, and it was the origin of the name of the National Fascist Party in Italy (from which the term fascism is derived). (wikipedia)

• • •

This was not pleasant at all. It's all backwards and strange, and the title doesn't really make any sense. I finished the entire puzzle without having any clear idea what the theme was trying to do. I mean, I got the whole letter-overlap thing, and I could somewhat see how the clues were signifying the answers in the grid, but I kept waiting for some big revelation, something that made sense of the whole fussy endeavor. But it never came. Unless I'm missing something, it just never came. There is no "aha" moment, just a series of "... oh, ok"s. Conceptually, this is a constructor's idea of a good time, not a solver's. If the solver had been taken into consideration, then the snappiness would be in the grid, not in the clues. You give away the fun in the clues, and then force the solver to endure the junky nonsense that appears in the grid. It's gibberish, these answers. You can see why I kept waiting for something Bigger—the only way the pain of putting those answers makes any sense is if there's some larger payoff. What do the two parts of each answer have to do with each other? What do the circled letters have to do with each other? Do they spell something? No. You give away the punchline in the clues and then make the solver cobble together the tortured set-up. No thanks.


And why "Married Couples"? Just the overlap? The clues don't express marriage at all. [Play by heart?] expresses adjacency, but not "marriage." And [Stay ahead of the curve?]... god knows how that relates to "marriage." The whole marriage concept seems to refer solely to the fact that a "couple" of letters unite (!?) two answer parts. The solve was just a bummer on almost every level. There were some nice non-theme moments, like ESPNRADIO and TOFUTTI, but there was also AREAR *and* AROAR, FAISAL *and* FASCES, and then whatever VANERN is (34D: Swedish lake that's the largest in the European Union) (if it's so all-fire "large," why have I never seen it in puzzles—weird). I'm stopping now so I can go get my Christmas spirit back (been gorging on TCM Christmas movies all day—got "Meet Me in St. Louis" waiting on DVR. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and have a wonderful day, whoever you are.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Slacker's opposite in modern lingo / SAT 12-24-16 / Attractive young woman in rap slang / Arboreal sci-fi creature / Astronomer who coined term nova

Constructor: David Steinberg

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: CARY, NC (30D: City of 150,000+ between Raleigh and Durham) —

Cary /ˈkæri/ is the seventh largest municipality in North Carolina. Cary is in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located almost entirely in Wake County, it is the second largest municipality in that county and the third largest municipality in The Triangle after Raleigh and Durham. The town's population was 135,234 as of the 2010 census (an increase of 43.1% since 2000), making it the largest town and seventh largest municipality statewide. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the town's population to be 151,088 as of July 1, 2013. Cary is currently the second most populous incorporated town (behind only Gilbert, Arizona) in the United States. According to the US Census Bureau, Cary was the 5th fastest growing municipality in the United States between September 1, 2006, and September 1, 2007. (wikipedia)

• • •

Much more satisfying than yesterday's, partly because it was slotted on the correct day of the week (I finished this one faster), and party because it has the right balance of doability and crunch, has very little ugly nonsense fill, and lives in the 21st century. Huzzah. I imagine it is the kind of puzzle that will frustrate certain solvers because of uninferable answers beyond their ken, like, say, SHAWTY and "SEXY BACK" (well, you can probably infer the SEXY). Yet those are two isolated instances of pop culturality. Most of the rest of the grid involves common knowledge, but has clues that you have to smash with a rock for a little bit before you crack them. Also, the puzzle is peppered with toeholds, little gimmes like EWOK and QVC, that make regaining traction after wipe-out relatively easy. QVC was a lifesaver, in fact, as I had no hope on 37D: Wing covering until that "Q" slotted in and what's this? The "Q" follows the "B"? How can that ... oh, BBQ SAUCE! Woohoo etc. Anyway, the main thing is, it was Fun. The NYT has some loyalist constructors who generally know what they're doing, and Steinberg is certainly one of them.

Here's me at just under 2 min.:

You can see I jumped the gun with VJDAY, but that was easily fixed (not many words have the "J" in that penultimate position, so I discarded it quickly). The 1-Across rule of crossword easiness definitely was in play today, as you can't live around these parts (NY, just this side of PA border) without having heard a lifetime's worth of chatter about fracking. Several lifetimes' worth. SHALE was in the grid instantly. My main trouble in the NW was spelling "SHAWTY" correctly. I always thought people were saying "shorty." Maybe they are? Yes. It's a flexible, evolving term (no surprise) (here's wikipedia entry). Anyway, at least I knew enough to change my spelling to the correct variant once the crosses didn't work. After that, I didn't get into significant trouble again until the end, which for me was the NE. The EHARMONY / Y'KNOW crossing was a bit of a bear. I somehow managed to convince myself that 15D: "Like" relative was "I KNOW" (?) and I couldn't figure out how to reconcile the fact that I needed a vowel before -SSES (6D: Fixes), but a vowel before -HARM... (in the cross) seemed impossible. I must've tested "E" in my brain and then snap, bam, done.


Never heard of DEMON RUM (62A: Prohibitionists' target) or CARY (which seems hilariously obscure relative to everything else in the grid) (30D: City of 150,000+ between Raleigh and Durham). Was lucky to get handed a bunch of easy E-words to facilitate my flow through the grid. Stuff like EWOK and "ELO OLE!"* (which I own) and ECCO (43A: Danish shoe maker with more than 1,000 global stores) (which I initially misspelled as either the fashion brand or kitchenware brand, ECKO). And of course EDSEL. Good old EDSEL. Dead as a car, but reborn as a crossword savior (51A: Bomb with wheels). Whiffed on EDO today, though (26A: Japan's ___ Castle). Really beating myself up about that one ... but no matter. Fun solve, respectable time, God bless us every one. Happy Everything!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*OK so that's not technically an "E" word, since the actual title (and the answer, which you can plainly see in the grid) is "OLE ELO!" The sheer e-force of ELO made me see things. Forgive me.

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Actress Headey of Game of Thrones / FRI 12-23-16 / Rama's wife in Hinduism / Francis II dissolved it in 1806 / DeVos noted school choice advocate / Remaind stationary while facing wind in nautical lingo

Constructor: Robyn Weintraub

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: SITA (29D: Rama's wife, in Hinduism) —

Sita (also spelled Sîta, Seeta or Seetha [ˈsiː taː],  listen (help·info) meaning furrow), also known as Siya, Vaidehi, Janaki, Maithili or Bhoomija, is the central female character of the Hindu epic Ramayana and daughter of King Janaka of Videha and his wife queen Sunaina. She was the elder sister of Urmila and cousins Mandavi and Shrutakirti. She is consort of Hindu god Rama(avatar of Vishnu) and is an avatar of Lakshmi(Adi Shakti of Lord Vishnu), goddess of wealth and wife of Vishnu. She is esteemed as a paragon of spousal and feminine virtues for all Hindu women. Sita is known for her dedication, self-sacrifice, courage and purity. (wikipedia)

• • •

This was Saturday+ tough for me. Totally misplaced. Choked with ambiguous and "?" clues, and at least a couple of answers I've never seen or can't remember ever seeing. I *did* solve directly upon waking, so that no doubt added a little fog to things, but I was almost double my normal Friday time. Look at all the ambiguity in those first clues. 1A: One may hold a ship in place (what kind of "ship"?), 12A: Network initials (what kind of "network"?), 15A: Visa option (What Kind Of "Visa"!!?). There is some delightful fill in here, as well as some delightful cluing; I would've experienced that delight a little more if the delight had been *inside* the aha moments. Instead, the ahas tended to be "???," or "ugh"—the "T" in ETA, for instance (16A: It resemble an "n" when lowercase), or the "Z" in RESIZE (33A: Crop, e.g.), or RAMIE or SITA (neither of which meant a thing to me). My toeholds were hoary things like TCELL and CHITA and HRE and ODE and ACTA and ARAL ... so somehow all the decent stuff (e.g. many of the longer answers) got lost in the shuffle. Also this "Game of Thrones" obsession is getting very tiresome. Branch out. There are other shows that will make you current! Ugh.


Had COL for MST and NEAR for NIGH and EEG/EKG for IVS. Otherwise, I didn't have wrong answers so much as stare blankly. Why do I associate STARGAZER with "idle daydreamer" as opposed to actual astrononmer? Without that "Z" in RESIZE or the "T" in ETA, I couldn't make hide/hair of STARGAZER (13D: Copernicus, for one). CBATTERY just killed me—that was the one aha moment that really worked (20A: Toy car driver?). But I had to accept an answer starting CB-; once I did, the answer slapped me in the face *and* I finally got into the NE corner I was having such a horrible time working out (seriously, I had everything but the "R" and "Z" in STARGAZER and just sat there, stumped, for a while). Had ELK for RVS (7D: National park sights). Getting RVS was the most important turning point—that one little answer sent me from helpless in the NW and NE, to done, in about a minute. Figured out that the [Northeast nickname] (for what!?) had to end in STATE, and that "S" forced me to consider two-letter answers that could be pluralized as [National park sights], which gave me RVS, and that "V" sent the whole works tumbling down. Weird how one tiny answer can shift so much. And that was the issue today, really—the short stuff I rely on to get a grip just wasn't ... grippable, much of the time. I mean "nautical lingo" (LIE TO)? Ugh. Pass

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. I see we're doing more normalization of the incoming admin today. If this is the NYT's attempt to be IN THE MIDDLE (51A: Like moderates, politically), they can stuff it. I'll take BETSY Ross, thanks.

P.P.S. IN THE CENTER is the phrase you want there. In politics, it's the CENTER. IN THE MIDDLE is somewhere you sit, or somewhere you're stuck.

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One of founders of Westworld / THU 12-22-16 / International prize first awarded to Stephen Hawking in 1979 / Competitor of Sapporo / Competitor of eBay / Moon of Saturn that's French woman's name / Prepare for framing again / Region in western Germany

Constructor: Mark MacLachlan

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: (AL)UMINUM / SIDING (45A: With 42-Down, home construction material ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme) — You have to supply "AL"s to front of every Across answer that touches the west "side" of puzzle and the back of every Across answer that touches east "side" of puzzle

Word of the Day: Captain KIDD (44A: Pirate captain mentioned in Poe's "The Gold-Bug") —

Captain William Kidd (c. 22 January 1645 – 23 May 1701) was a Scottish sailor who was tried and executed for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians deem his piratical reputation unjust, as there is evidence that Kidd acted only as a privateer. Kidd's fame springs largely from the sensational circumstances of his questioning before the English Parliament and the ensuing trial. His actual depredations on the high seas, whether piratical or not, were both less destructive and less lucrative than those of many other contemporary pirates and privateers. (wikipedia)

• • •

Like many Thursday puzzles, this one was tough-going to start, but then easy after the theme concept became clear. The NW was a real bear, as, even before I had issues with the Acrosses, I had BERG for FLOE and SAAR for RUHR (2D: Region in western Germany). Also had ELLE for 13A: Women's beauty magazine ((AL)LURE). Only way I got into that NW corner at all was backwards, from the back end of (AL)OHA SHIRTS. Had -ASHIRTS and even though ALOHA SHIRTS remain a concept I have never heard of outside crosswords (I just call them "Hawaiian shirts"), I figured ALOHA was right and maybe the "AL" just went outside. The "H" gave me RUHR and all the Acrosses made sense (with the "AL") from there. After escaping from that corner, the rest of the puzzle wasn't that hard; in fact, the edges got a Lot easier. Only a few difficulty issues. Trouble with DO A DE(AL) (icky, ugly phrase) crossing REMAT (ugh). Also, I had real trouble getting from [Punk] to LOUSY (is that usage still current?). Further, the ARNOLD clue mean absolutely nothing to me (26D: One of the founders of Westworld, on HBO's "Westworld"). That clue is current, but also *hyper*-exclusionary. Maybe it was supposed to be a speed bump for people who would be speeding along after figuring out the theme.


It's a somewhat cute theme idea, though once you pick it up, there's really not a lot to it. Plus, the placement of the revealer is incredibly inelegant. It's split, and the second part runs Down ... I don't know. Seems pretty ugly. UMINUM and SIDING are both 6, you'd think they could've been brought into some kind of symmetrical relationship to each other when you were building the grid initially. So, lots of "AL"s ... including a pretty nifty front-and-back "AL" with the central answer. ALE-SELLERS seems pretty weak to me, as a stand-alone phrase (40A: Taverns and such), but that and DO A DE(AL) were the only things that made me grimace. Everything else was fairly solid. Sturdy. Adequate Thursday fare.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Heavy metal band with killer sound / WED 12-21-16 / Sports entertainment show since 1993 / Skin-care brand whose active ingredients are oat compounds / Simpson who lost crossword contest in 2008 / Faith founded in Persia

Constructor: Seth Geltman and Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: THINK BIG (61A: "Shoot for the moon!" ... or a hint to interpreting the clues to 17-, 25-, 35- and 51-Across) — clues substitute ALL CAPS for the word "Big" ... so that [HOUSE] = [Big house], etc.

Theme answers:

• 17A: HOUSE (THE CLINK) (not great, as the "THE" means the clue / answer can't be swapped out, are not equivalent)
  
• 25A: APPLE (NEW YORK CITY) (another, more minor "the" problem: New York City is *the* Big Apple, except maybe adjectivally ? or in song, perhaps?)
  
• 35A: MAC (HAMBURGER) (this one is terrible; you would never clue HAMBURGER as [Big Mac] in an actual puzzle; at best, it would be [Big Mac, e.g.]) 
• GRAN
• 51A: CHEESE (GRAND POOBAH) (works, but "Grand" means "Big," so that kind of ruins the effect...)

Word of the Day: MOLDAU (63A: European river that inspired Smetana) —

The Vltava (/vəlˈtɑːvə/; Czech pronunciation: [ˈvl̩tava] ( listen); German: Moldau, IPA: [ˈmɔldaʊ]) is the longest river within the Czech Republic, running southeast along the Bohemian Forest and then north across Bohemia, through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice and Prague, and finally merging with the Elbe at Mělník. It is commonly referred to as the Czech national river. // Vltava, also known by its German name Die Moldau (or The Moldau), was composed between 20 November and 8 December 1874 and was premiered on 4 April 1875 under Adolf Čech. It is about 13 minutes long, and is in the key of E minor. // In this piece, Smetana uses tone painting to evoke the sounds of one of Bohemia's great rivers. (wikipedia)

• • •

It's a fine idea, but it isn't executed well at all. The idea is that all-caps = "big," and that if you read the clue that way, bam, it's unlocked. Only in every case, to varying degrees, the resulting [Big ___] clue doesn't work—would not work if you simply replace the all-caps clue with Big ___. In the first case, you couldn't have THE in THE CLINK. You're in the big house, you're in the clink... you can't swap out "Big house" and THE CLINK w/o getting two "the"s. Just doesn't work. Likewise, NEW YORK CITY is *The* Big Apple. Again with the swap-out/equivalency problem. You'd never use something specific like [Big Mac] to clue just HAMBURGER (need an "e.g."). The last one, [CHEESE] for GRAND POOBAH, works best, but it's cheating, slightly, as GRAND and "Big" mean the same thing here. There are lots and lots of [Big ___] phrases in the world—you'd think there'd be enough to pull off a concept like this elegantly / accurately. DEAL => "WHO CARES!?" or SENSATION. [FOOT] => SASQUATCH. Hell, [PAPI] => DAVID ORTIZ. I mean, he's in your puzzle already, why not? (53D: David ___, longtime Red Sox slugger). Etc. Gotta be doable. Hard to see a decent theme get such a weak treatment.


Rest of the grid looks just fine. Lots of interesting answers. I thought Ms. Hemingway was MURIEL (despite "Manhattan"'s being one of my favorite movies), and I didn't check the cross thoroughly (TSU looked like ... a U. of some kind), so I had to hunt down that mistake at the end (19A: Hemingway who wrote "Out Came the Sun"). MOLDAU seems awfully obscure to me, both in general and, more importantly, for this puzzle, which generally plays within the realm of known things (63A: European river that inspired Smetana). I have heard of Smetana. That is far as my Smetana knowledge goes. The idea that I should know this river, a river that has a name that is not even its primary name (?!)—that seems odd to me.* But no DEAL, crosses worked it out. Just meant that that SW corner was the hardest by far. I also had to cross BATHOIL about five times before I saw it (1D: Aromatherapy substance). [Christian supergroup?] made me laugh as a clue for TRINITY. WWERAW is a real thing but looks hilarious / insane in the grid (49A: Sports entertainment show since 1993). I like it. I have "Rosemary's Baby" on Blu-Ray and still haven't opened / watched it (29A: She played Rosemary in "Rosemary's Baby"=> MIA). Maybe watching that will bring some holiday cheer to my life now that my fall semester is over. Seems an appropriate enough way to close out this year.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*OK, I listened to the Smetana and it has some very familiar melodies, so I clearly "know" it, but only AURICally I mean aurally.

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Bottom-feeding fish known formally as morwong / TUE 12-20-16 / Muchacho's sweetie / French royal line / Synagogue singers / Eww inducer / Cocktail usually served with orange slice cherry

Constructor: Timothy Polin

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: ON THE ROCKS (56A: How this puzzle's three drinks have been served?) — themers all have liquor names in them, then underneath those names, in circled squares each time, there are the letters ICE...

Theme answers:

• SCOTCH TAPE (17A: Clear adhesive)
• HOUSE OF BOURBON (28A: French royal line)
• TEQUILA SUNRISE (43A: Cocktail usually served with an orange slice and a cherry)

Word of the Day: SEA CARP (9D: Bottom-feeding fish known formally as the morwong) —

Morwongs (also called butterfish, fingerfins, jackassfish, snappers, and moki) are perciform fishes comprising the family Cheilodactylidae. they are found in subtropical oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. // Morwong is also used as a name for several unrelated fish found in Australian waters, such as the painted sweetlips, Diagramma pictum. (the word "carp" appears nowhere in the "morwong" wikipedia entry, just to be clear) (wikipedia)

• • •

First of all, easyish. 20 seconds or so easier than yesterday's. Second of all, fatally flawed at the thematic level. D.O.A. One of the answers is not like the others, and it's a dealbreaker. SCOTCH ... used non-alcoholically. BOURBON ... used non-alcoholically. TEQUILA ... not only used alcoholically, but clued as a damn cocktail, which totally interferes with the whole "ooh, look, it's over ICE now" thing. The ICE is supposed to pull the word out of its answer and into a liquor context. That's the magic. If the word is already in a liquor context, no magic. This is especially jarring when the other two themers are playing by the rules, doing their jobs, being good soldiers. Maybe if the clue had gone with the Gibson/Pfeiffer movie, things would've been better, but I think you just need a third themer like GIN RUMMY or the like, where the liquor word is used in a non-liquor context.


The grid, however, is really quite good. Lots of long, cool words (I'm partial to OBSEQUIOUS—as a word, not as a thing one should be). I think BLOT UP is ridiculous (you just BLOT a spill), but really even the medium-length fill in this one is solid-to-sparkly. HILLEL CANTORS NO-LOOK ... all fine. SEA CARP was by far the hardest thing to come up with (morwong!?). Good ole SNERT, faithful SNERT. Always there to help out (27D: Hägar the Horrible's dog). I keep reading MEWED as ME, WED? [Incredulous question from a bachelor?]. EPHEMERA is a really pretty word. It is late and I need to sleep now. I just had gin ON THE ROCKS and it was great. COTTON GIN! See, there's another. RUM TUM TUGGER. CATCHER IN THE RYE! PA RUM PUM PUM PUM (14) actually gives you a simple switch-out, as it's the same length as TEQUILA SUNRISE! Come on, the answers are out there!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Good think they got this in to print before the inauguration. That clue on 7D is not gonna be true for much longer.

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