Sharp's counterpart / MON 8-12-19 / Image in Jurassic Park logo informally / Mountaineering spike

Constructor: Jeffrey Wechsler

Relative difficulty: Medium (2:59)

THEME: O, B — all the themers begin with the sounds of those letters being said aloud:

Theme answers:

• OBIE AWARD (17A: Theatrical honor)
• OBI-WAN KENOBI (24A: "Star Wars" role for Alec Guinness)
• OBEDIENCE SCHOOL (38A: Where education is pursued doggedly?)
• OB/GYN DOCTORS (49A: Delivery people?)
• "OH, BE QUIET!" (62A: "Hush, you!")

Word of the Day: "Blue SKIES" (22D: Irving Berlin's "Blue ___") —

"Blue Skies" is a popular song, written by Irving Berlin in 1926. // The song was composed in 1926 as a last-minute addition to the Rodgers and Hart musical Betsy. Although the show ran for 39 performances only, "Blue Skies" was an instant success, with audiences on opening night demanding 24 encores of the piece from star Belle Baker. During the final repetition, Ms. Baker forgot her lyrics, prompting Berlin to sing them from his seat in the front row.

In 1927, the music was published and Ben Selvin's recorded version was a hit. That same year, it became one of the first songs to be featured in a talkie, when Al Jolson performed it in The Jazz Singer. The song was recorded for all of the major and dime store labels of the time. Another version of the song was recorded by Benny Goodman and his Orchestra in 1935 (Victor 25136). 1946 was also a notable year for the song, with a Bing Crosby/Fred Astaire filmtaking its title along with two recorded versions by Count Basie and Benny Goodman reaching #8 and #9 on the pop charts, respectively. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye performed the song in 1954's White Christmas. Crossing genres, Willie Nelson's recording of "Blue Skies" was a #1 country music hit in 1978. It was a major western swing and country standard already in 1939, by Moon Mullican, and in 1962 by Jim Reeves.

Thelonious Monk's 1947 composition "In Walked Bud" is based on the chord changes to "Blue Skies."

"Blue Skies" is one of many popular songs whose lyrics use a "bluebird of happiness" as a symbol of cheer: "Bluebirds singing a song—Nothing but bluebirds all day long." The sunny optimism of the lyrics are undercut by the minor key giving the words an ironic feeling. (wikipedia)

• • •

Pffffffft, no, not really, no. Just a bunch of the same sounds? There's not a real progression, no climax, no revealer, the central answer has the stress on the "B" unlike all the others, OB/GYN DOCTORS is hella redundant and also said by no one. Just a big "what the hell?" sigh from me. Not sure what is ailing this paper that it can't deliver on Mondays Every Single Week. I mean, for how much they talk themselves up, they should deliver every day, but a disappointing Monday is a particularly sad sight, somehow. The fill on this one is supremely, unnecessarily mediocre and stale. AABA should not be in any puzzle unless the situation is desperate. Rhyme schemes aren't great, and this one in particular, ugh. ACTUATE is a gross word that is gross, bury it in the yard. MOPEDS just gets [Two-wheelers]?!?! Doesn't exactly conjure up MOPEDS. Motorcycles, bicycles, some luggage ... all [Two-wheelers]. At least *try* to make your clues interesting. LOWLIT ... just looks wrong to me every time I see and/or say it (5D: Darkish, as the interior of a restaurant). This puzzle has no ear at all for the English language. I mean, [Sperm targets]!? That is definitely defensible, on a literal level, but why? Why would you? ELEC ASIN EIRE ESTEE WEENY OCOME!? OCOME on! BOO! (45A: "You stink!") Be more entertaining!


I really want the clue on OBEDIENCE SCHOOL to be [Where education is doggedly pursued?] instead of [... pursued doggedly?]. My way gets eight times more google hits. Also, if you google "pursued doggedly" in quotation marks, your first hits all refer to this here puzzle, which suggests awkward phrasing. I guess from a "comedic" (cough) standpoint, maybe you want to hit that "pun" (cough) word last? But I think the "joke" (...) comes across just fine with the actually sounds-better phrasing. Do SAGAS have "chapters"? That seems like a feature of novels, to me. I guess in the metaphorical sense of "chapter," sure. Still, that was one moment that slowed me down, especially since that answer contained the mystery which-bomb-is-it!? letter (N!? H!? Nope, it's A!) (12D: Detonation of 7/16/45) (actually the H-BOMB wasn't tested (by the US) until the '50s, so I guess that possibility was out from the jump, but who's thinking in such specific terms on a Monday!? Go go go!). Oh, um, just realized that the "A" in A-BOMB, that ... that stands for ATOM, right? Or "atomic," which contains ATOM. Right? The same ATOM that is actually also in this grid?? (27D: Quark's place). Ugh, this puzzle is fired!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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