It uses clicks in lieu of paddles / THU 7-6-17 / Sports category prefix / Unsuccessful draft picks in sports lingo

Constructor: Erik Agard

Relative difficulty: Challenging (Easy, except for one little part, which was a Disaster)

THEME: Killing two BIRDS with one STONE (I think) —two Across themers contain the names of two BIRDS, and those answers are crossed by two other themers, each of which contains one STONE:

Theme answers:

• MARTIN LAWRENCE (16A: Will Smith's co-star in 1995's "Bad Boys")
• SONY XPERIA (5D: Line of Japanese smartphones)
• STEPHEN HAWKING (55A: Physicist who won a 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom)
• BAMBOO PALM (27D: Tropical houseplant) 

Word of the Day: BAMBOO PALM (27D: Tropical houseplant) —

Chamaedorea (from Ancient Greek χαμαί (chamai), meaning 'on the ground', and δωρεά (dorea), meaning 'gift', in reference to easily reached fruits, or the plants' low-growing nature) is a genus of 107 species of palms, native to subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas. They are small palms, growing to 0.3–6 m (1 ft 0 in–19 ft 8 in) tall with slender, cane-like stems, growing in the understory in rainforests, and often spreading by means of underground runners, forming clonal colonies. The leaves are pinnate (rarely entire), with one to numerous leaflets. The flowers are produced in inflorescences; they are dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. The fruit is an orange or red drupe 0.5–2 cm diameter. Perhaps the best-known species is Chamaedorea elegans (neanthe bella palm or parlour palm) from Mexico and Guatemala. It is popular as a houseplant, particularly in Victorian houses. Another well-known species is Chamaedorea seifrizii, the bamboo palm or reed palm. (wikipedia)

• • •

I don't know why you're throwing gemstones at chickens, but ... knock yourself out, I guess.

Well this one had so much promise, but ended up being a disaster. A disaster in that I failed to finish it correctly (first time that's happened in years) and a disaster in that I think it's poorly constructed, despite some obvious merits. Let's start with the primary problem, which is that the phrasing on the revealers makes no sense. None. Zero. I only know one expression involving two birds and one stone, and that's the concept of "killing two birds with one stone." When I got to BIRDS, at first, I thought for sure the expression in question was going to be "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." But then there was the STONE part, and I was like "Oh ... OK." But back to the phrasing on BIRDS and STONE. [There are two, as the expression goes ...]. What? The expression is not "There are two BIRDS ..." The existence of the birds has nothing to do with the expression. Same with [There's one, as the expression goes ...]. That Is Not How 'The Expression Goes." It doesn't go ... that way. If you let the revealer clues tell it, the expression is "There are two BIRDS and also there is a STONE." What fresh hell? So (ARGH and SIGH) here's this amazing concept of a STONE going right through (Bam!) each of the two-bird answers. But the revealer phrasing utterly tramples on the "expression." Stunning that the most important clue(s) got so badly botched.


Then there's the problem that is primarily mine, but also (if Twitter is any indication) not entirely mine, which is the perfect *&^%storm of tough & trick & brand name cluing in the dead center of the grid. I've never heard of the SONY XPERIA. Never. Not once. Everything below SONY, I got from crosses, and at the very end, everything south of the X was suspect. This is because I (like many) plunked RIB down for 31D: Chest protector (BIB). Had I not fallen in the trap, I would've guessed EBAY at 30A: It uses clicks in lieu of paddles and boom, done. If EBAY had been clued in a way that computed At All, I might've adjusted, noticed the RIB/BIB mix-up, and boom, done. But as it was, I was so fixated on XPERIA and how I had no faith in any of it, and I was so completely baffled by where clicks and paddles could be equivalent, that there was no hope. Or, rather, I didn't wait for hope. After I ran the alphabet where I wanted the "E" in XPERIA to go (where, in fact, it did go), and nothing came of it, I just gave up. More patience might've brought the RIB/BIB thing to my attention, but at that point I didn't care. XPERIA really ruined it for me. If you didn't fall in the RIB/BIB trap, or if you knew XPERIA, or if the EBAY clue was somehow transparent to you, then you probably won't appreciate any of this. But the idea that a brand name (ugh, niche proper nouns—you have to be careful) abutted a deliberate trap, and both ran through a Saturday+ clue for EBAY!? Yeah, I was done. Not done in a fun way like "Oh, man, ya got me. Nice one." But done like "Well, that was dickish. Goodbye."

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. RUM RAISIN is not now and has never been "popular" (1D: Popular ice cream flavor)

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