Vegetable whose name is Japanese big root / SAT 4-10-21 / Figure to left of Clinton in famous 1993 photo-op handshake / Classic ballad set to the tune of Londonderry Air / Cook's handle maybe / Harry and Lloyd's road trip destination in Dumb and Dumber

Constructor: Evans Clinchy

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: DINKS (28D: Little shots) —

noun

plural noun: dinks

1. a partner in a well-off working couple with no children. (google) [acronym: Dual Income, No Kids]

n. Sports

A drop shot.

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[From dink, sound of a weakly hit or dropped ball.] (thefreedictionary.com) 

• • •

First of all, DINK is a racial slur. It's one I hadn't heard of before, but when you look up definitions of words, you learn things, and some version of the following definition of DINK is in a bunch of online dictionaries:

So if you didn't know, as I didn't know, *now* you know. I think the other defs. of DINK are so much more in-the-language that it's probably OK to use ... and yet it's a rare enough word in general that I (now) wouldn't use it unless I absolutely had to. I bring it up largely because it is conspicuous today in its relative toughness, smack in the middle of the only touch section of the grid—the section that stretches, semi-predictably, from one proper noun (SANDRO) to another (TYRA). So, roughly the mideast. When a word is in the thick of a tough patch, people are gonna notice it more. The fact that it's clue [*Little* shots] as opposed to the clearer [Soft shots] makes it tougher than it might have been. Anyway, it's a word I know, but couldn't really get at, and wouldn't really miss if I never saw it again. 

So let's review the troublesome mideast. First: SANDRO (35D: Painter Botticelli). I know artists' last names, but often not their first, and such was the case here. Had -ANDRO and still wasn't confident. The cross was SOCKS, which had a "?" clue I wasn't sure about (35A: Matchmaking targets?). We've already covered the DINKS trouble. Took me a while to understand REBUS (in the sense of a picture puzzle) (26D: LE VEL, for one). In this case, the REBUS represents "split-level," a phrase that relates to the puzzle ... in no way. Bizarre. No idea about RABIN, or that the Clinton handshake was some kind of Elvis-meets-Nixon iconic photo op. Never heard of TYRA. Thought I didn't know the "Classic ballad" at 12D: Classic ballad set to the tune of "Londonderry Air" ("DANNY BOY") but that's because I had written in TARA for the actress and so had DAN NA-something. Spent half my time in this little section; the rest of the grid was *very* easy and largely unremarkable.

 

Five things:

• "MY GOD!" (25A: "Heavens to Murgatroyd!") — wow these are not equivalents, as one is a normal expression and the other is exclusively a Pink Panther expression. I had "BY GOD!" here for a short bit.

• AU JUS (27D: French menu phrase)— LOL I see now that it's the phrase that's French, not the menu, because the clue makes it sound like the phrase can be found on the menu of a fine dining establishment, whereas AU JUS can be found next to the roast beef sandwich on virtually any diner in America.
• CLOGS (44A: "Träskor" in Sweden and "geta" in Japan, to name two) — what a ridiculous, useless clue. You can write this kind of clue for any word. Any English word. And every such clue would be equally arbitrary and unmemorable. The foreign words aren't evocative of anything. There's no revelation or humor or insight. It's just two random languages. Why? Who knows!? Cluing!
• ADAGE (4D: "Opposites attract," for one) — PAULA ABDUL TRACK (15) wouldn't fit

• DECOCT (28A: Boil down) — just as I have an irrational hatred for the word SAPOR (see yesterday's write-up), so ... this word. It's ugly. I'd never use it. I see it only in crosswords. DECOCT is CONCOCT's useless cousin, coming around to borrow money and stink up the house with cigars again. I could do without him.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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