Coins that pay for passage over River Styx / SUN 12-11-16 / Skimobile informally / Purported rural shenanigan / Quaff in Middle-Earth / Nickname Game of thrones dwarf

Constructor: Tom McCoy

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "Retronyms" — theme answers are ... retronyms (you'd think you could've tried a little harder with the title, there...)

Theme answers:

• BRITISH ENGLISH (21A: Dialect that was called 22-Across before the age of colonialism)
• SNAIL MAIL (33A: System that was called 34-Across before the Internet)
• REAL NUMBER (35A: Concept that was called 36-Across before research into the square root of negatives)
• BLACK LICORICE (52A: Food that was called 53-Across before Twizzlers and the like)
• FLATHEAD SCREW (78A: Fastener that was called 80-Across before a rounded design was implemented)
• SILENT FILM (96A: Entertainment category that was called 97-Across before talkies)
• PAPER COPY (98A: Object that was called 100-Across before electronic documents)
• ORGANIC FARMING (109A: Activity that was called 111-Across before pesticides)

Word of the Day: AREPAS (29D: South American corn cakes) —

Arepa (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈɾepa]) is a type of food made of ground maize dough or cooked flour prominent in the cuisines of Colombia and Venezuela. [...] The arepa is a flat, round, unleavened patty of soaked, ground kernels of maize, or—more frequently nowadays—maize meal or maize flour that can be grilled, baked, fried, boiled or steamed. The characteristics vary by color, flavor, size, and the food with which it may be stuffed, depending on the region. It can be topped or filled with meat, eggs, tomatoes, salad, cheese, shrimp, or fish depending on the meal. (wikipedia)

• • •

Easiest Sunday puzzle I've ever done. Nearly broke 8 minutes, which I have only ever done on like a Newsday or Globe Sunday (i.e. much less thornier brands). I don't really understand why this puzzle exists. The title tells you what the theme answers will be, and then there you are. The one tricky thing, from a construction standpoint, is you've gotta make sure you have a Down answers beginning at the front of the second word in every themer, so that the theme clues make sense when they refer to an "Across" answer where the number is not in its usual flush-left position. But that's the only thing separating this puzzle from one that is titled, say, "Big Cats," where the answers are JAGUAR, PUMA, etc. That is ... there's nothing to it. In fact, I started solving without looking at the title, and about midway I thought, "So these are just ... what's that word ... oh, yeah, retronyms." And then I looked at the title: "Retronyms." And I thought "you must be joking..."


There are four "IT"s in this puzzle, as well as one 'TIS—in a puzzle that already contains ITIS. So ... that happened. AREPAS are tasty, so I enjoyed thinking about them. Surprised they don't appear in crosswords more often, what with their savory taste and appealing letter combinations. Today's great crosswordese-retrieval triumph was reading 40A: Coins that pay for passage over the River Styx and, off the "O," putting OBOLS right in. Today's snags—such as they were—came in the NE, where TOA (not TOE?) (28A: ___ point) crossed ALGAL (17D: ___ bloom (result of fertilizer pollution)), and then again at NO ONE'S down below—came at that answer from the back end and needed every cross to understand what the hell was going on (116A: Not belonging to anybody). Oh, rounding the corner out of the N and into the NE was also mildly rough (!) because I had the UN- but not the HANDS of UNHANDS (12D: Releases, dramatically). That clue is vaguely phrased, both pre- and post-comma, so ... I circled back around and approached from underneath. There really isn't anything to say about this puzzle. The title tells you the theme. The theme answers are as promised. The end.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. [They go about two feet] is a great clue for SOCKS (42D)

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