King or queen / TUES 6-30-20 / Talking horse of old TV / Not sit idly by / Scenic views

Hello, everyone! It's Clare for the last Tuesday of June. I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe (and wearing masks!!), as COVID cases are spiking again. I've been pretty much just staying in my little bubble while finding ways to occupy my time, including... crossword puzzles!

Constructor: Zachary David Levy

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: JUSTICE GINSBURG (54A: Subject of this puzzle, who once said "Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you") — Each theme answer relates in some way to the life of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Theme answers:

• ON THE BASIS OF SEX (17A: 2018 biopic about 54-Across)
• FLATBUSH (22A: Brooklyn neighborhood where 54-Across grew up)
• THE NOTORIOUS RBG (34A: Tongue-in-cheek nickname for 54-Across)
• COLUMBIA (47A: Law school where 54-Across finished at the top of the class)

Word of the Day: ABSCAM (42D: Sting that was the inspiration for the 2013 film "American Hustle") —

Abscam (sometimes written ABSCAM) was a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members of the United States Congress, among others. The two-year investigation initially targeted trafficking in stolen property and corruption of prominent businessmen, but later evolved into a public corruption investigation.. "Abscam" was the FBI codename for the operation, which law enforcement authorities said was a contraction of "Arab scam". (Wiki)

• • •

I think this was my favorite Tuesday puzzle I've done a write-up on in a while, largely because I enjoyed the theme, and the construction of the puzzle was pretty good. I was really happy to see RBG in this puzzle, as I'm bit in love with her — as both a general fan of her and her life and as a law student who really admires her opinions. The theme is also quite timely, as the Supreme Court has been issuing a lot of opinions lately, including a decision on an abortion case on Monday, and RBG is known for her stance on women's rights (which is essentially the whole plot of ON THE BASIS OF SEX).

While I got the theme pretty quickly, I did pause for a bit at the revealer because I wanted to make "Ruth Bader Ginsburg" fit at 54A instead of JUSTICE GINSBURG. Once I got the "j" in JAR at 54D, though. it became pretty obvious to me what 54A was. It also took me a little time to get FLATBUSH (22A), which is just an area I've never heard of before. On another note, I really liked the fact that the first answer in the puzzle was PREAMBLE, dealing with the Constitution, which ties into a puzzle about RBG very well.

I also liked the structure of the puzzle a fair amount — many long acrosses that led to some more interesting, longer answers. While that structure did lend itself to a lot of three-letter downs, I think the constructor kept the clues/answers pretty varied. Sure, there were some crossword-ese words like ODE, USE, TAD, and TSP, but I found the puzzle to be overall pretty surprising and not as much of a "typical Tuesday."

I did get stuck in a few places, which moved this puzzle more toward a medium Tuesday rather than an easy Tuesday. I've never heard of HILO (35D: Biggest city on the island of Hawaii); I tried to make "Oahu" or really anything else fit there. I also hadn't heard of TRAC (34D: Gillette brand name) and tried to put "Atra" there instead, as that's more of a typical answer in a crossword puzzle. So, having HILO, TRAC, and then ALIF (41A: Start of the Arabic alphabet) made that section challenging for me. I also really wanted to put slightly wrong answers in a lot of places — I wanted "macro" or "micro" for 32A instead of SOCIO economics; I wanted 61A: What to do "and weep," in an expression to be "read it" and not READ EM. I originally put "boast" instead of BOOST at 23D: Help by speaking well of.

There was some added flavor in the puzzle with a couple of clues in particular. I got a little chuckle out of 33D: Places dogs go at cookouts as BUNS. And, while it took me seemingly forever to get 62A, as my mind went to royalty, chess, playing cards, etc. before realizing it was talking about a  MATTRESS, I enjoyed it.

I did have a few nits with the puzzle. Having Netanyahu (6D as BIBI), who's facing criminal charges, in the puzzle wouldn't be something I'd do. I though ICE at 37D: Word repeated in __  or no __? was pretty cheap — so many words could have fit in there. Calling it a "pod" of whales is much more common (as far as I know) than referring to a group of whales as a GAM.

Misc.:

• I don't think my dad and sister (who have both worked at newspapers) would appreciate me referring to a newspaper as a RAG (44A)!
• I'd bet that the southwest corner caused some stumbles among people — you've got ABSCAM (42A), which is older; there's SIA (56D), which skews younger; and then there's ASIANA (59A), which isn't even South Korea's largest airline — it's number 2, so unless you're a massive airline enthusiast, you might struggle a bit.
• PROSIT (1D): I've heard a lot of toasts before, including prost, but I've never heard of this one; do people actually say that?
• Congrats to the constructor Zachary David Levy for a super strong debut! He says that this puzzle is dedicated not only to RBG but also to his wife, who happened to cross paths with RBG as an 11-year-old immigrant from Ukraine and is now a successful oncologist. Here's a link to his amazing dedication for this puzzle.

Stay safe, everyone!

Signed, The Notorious CMC

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