Ancient Greek poet sometimes called Tenth Muse / SUN 4-5-20 / Nickname for Ernie Banks / Second-most common Vietnamese surname / Cartomancer's deck / Undergo rapprochement / Ugly ones sometimes come out in December / Canonized fifth-century pope called Great / Coverings on ancient Roman statuary / Gas-relieving brand

Constructor: Jim Peredo

Relative difficulty: Easy (8:47)

THEME: "Double Talk" — common expressions that are clued via plays on words (i.e. "double talk"), where the second word in the clue is a word meaning (vaguely) "expression" and the first word is a thing that the "expression" is about sorta like if the clue was [Double talk] and the answer was some expression *about* double-ness or two-ness, like IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO or TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE or THINK TWICE or, I don't know, something better than those:

Theme answers:

• GO AHEAD WITHOUT ME (22A: Run-on sentence?) (i.e. a sentence about running on) (the expression is really "run along," not "run on," but no reason we can't give some leeway here)
• THE AYES HAVE IT (36A: Passing comment?) (i.e. a quote about passing ... a bill)
• I WANT TO BE ALONE (44A: Single quote?) (i.e. a quote about being single)
• TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY (66A: Just saying?) (i.e. a saying about being just)
• HOW NOW BROWN COW? (87A: Stock phrase?) (i.e. a phrase about stock)
• COGITO ERGO SUM (94A: Self expression?) (i.e. an expression about one's self)
• AGE IS JUST A NUMBER (115A: Old saw?) (i.e. a saw about being old) 

Word of the Day: ANAIS Mitchell (121A: ___ Mitchell, creator of the Tony-winning musical "Hadestown") —

Anaïs Mitchell (/əˈneɪ.ɪs/; born March 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and playwright. Mitchell has released seven albums, including Hadestown (2010), Young Man in America (2012), and Child Ballads (2013).

She developed her album Hadestown into a stage musical (together with director Rachel Chavkin), which received its US debut at New York Theatre Workshop in summer 2016, and its Canadian debut at the Citadel Theatre, Edmonton the following year. The show opened at London's National Theatre in November 2018 and then on Broadway on April 17, 2019 at the Walter Kerr Theatre. The Broadway production of Hadestown won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Musical. Mitchell received the Tony Award for Best Original Score; she was also nominated for Best Book of a Musical. (wikipedia)

• • •

You can tell that this whole staying-home thing is starting to get to me because I have gotten uncharacteristically crafty. For instance, today I made a face mask out of an old crossword tournament t-shirt. Here's a picture, in which I look like the world's nerdiest stagecoach robber.

As for the puzzle—Finished this one superfast and sincerely had no idea what the theme was, even after I was done. Had to go back and see the cluing pattern. It's fine. Average. Very tame. Very forgettable. Not genuinely funny, more ... interesting. Like a joke you have to explain to someone and then they "get" it but not really. Not in that aha rush kind of way that you're supposed to get the theme. No click or bang or anything. It's like when the pilot suddenly announces your ETA after you haven't been paying attention for a while—it's interesting information, perhaps slightly surprising (you were really into the third season of "Gilmore Girls" and lost track of time), but, you know, it didn't make you laugh or think or anything. It's just ... information that allows you to orient yourself somewhat. And it's Exactly that dry. I do like the ailments section of the grid, i.e. the far east, where BODY ODOR and SCIATICA are doing a little DOSIDO of sadness. Oh, and I liked the clue on SWEATERS (39D: Ugly ones sometimes come out in December). But most of the grid is pretty much just paint, drying. Nothing horrible, really, just absolutely average fill, as far as the eye can see (oh, except STLEOI, which is, in fact, horrible) (16D: Canonized fifth-century pope called "the Great").


There weren't many trouble spots. I didn't know that NEWTS "scurried," but now I do, I guess (7D: Scurriers near streams). Needed most every cross to get COIL, largely because "spring" has so many different possible meanings (20A: Spring feature). I spelled CUTIE thusly, instead of the way the grid wanted (i.e. CUTEY) (20D: Adorable one). NO SOAP is a SNERD-era expression, but I got it easily because I've been doing crosswords forever and it's a phrase I've come to expect from crosswords (and literally only crosswords) (105A: "Outta luck!"). Not sure how I can be such a big NO DICE! fan and such a non-NO SOAP! fan, but here we are. EAT LUNCH is up there with the dumbest longest answers I've seen. I typically use EAT A SANDWICH as the (made-up, never actually seen) paradigmatic "green paint" phrase (that is, a phrase you might say in conversation but that is not nearly strong enough to stand alone as a crossword answer). EAT LUNCH comes damn close to EAT A SANDWICH perfection. "Perfection." WEAR SHOES ... that is an equivalent phrase. STACK PLATES. PET ONE'S CAT. All of these every bit as "good" as EAT LUNCH. ESAI ESAI had a farm, EIEIO! And on that farm he had an ... EGRET! OK, I clearly have nothing left to say about this puzzle.


My grandmother, Inez Alcorn, died on Friday morning, one month shy of her 100th birthday. She was the first person I ever saw solve a crossword, and I don't know if that had anything to do with my future obsession, but the fact that I remember *that* and can hardly remember any other detail about my life pre- let's say 2012 suggests that the moment made a big impression. She was a formidable woman who led an extraordinary life, which you can read about here (in the colorful obituary written by my aunt Nancy). Anyway, her death was not exactly unexpected, but it's sad nonetheless, especially since social distancing kept her isolated in her final days, and keeps her family from coming together now. Thanks to all of you who saw my Twitter and Facebook posts about her and expressed condolences. I'm very grateful. Here's a picture of me with grandma at her 90th birthday party (May, 2010).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. thanks to Rachel Fabi for filling in for me yesterday
P.P.S. [Busy Bee] is SAM (43A) because (I assume) SAM (as in "Samantha") Bee is a late-night talk show host ("Full Frontal" on TBS), and that keeps her ... busy? It's a well-meaning clue but it's going to confuse a bunch of people.

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