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

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