Engage in gasconade or fanfaronade / THU 11-4-21 / Only Monopoly railroad whose name doesn't contain "Railroad" / Make quickly as a pot of coffee / Puppy pickup place / Malicious group of computers / Outdated charging device? / Ermine in the summer

Constructor: David Steinberg

Relative difficulty: Medium (some struggle to get the theme, then not much struggle thereafter)

THEME: SPLIT ENDS (62A: Hairy problem? ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme) — the "ends" of four longer answers "split"—that is, they are doubly clued and fork off (!) into two directions at either end; so you've essentially got two answers that share their central letters, and that differ only on the ends (first and last letters). The forked letters share the same square in the Downs:

Theme answers:  

S       E (17A: Only Monopoly railroad whose name doesn't contain "Railroad")

 HORTLIN

C       G (17A: Laughing gleefully)

S       N (11D: Web master?)

 PIDERMA

E       L (11D: Of the outer skin layer)

A     A (40A: Setting for "The Sound of Music")

 USTRI

B     P (40A: Greyhound journey)

G       T (34D: Expensive bar)

 OLDINGO

H       N (34D: Not letting go)

Word of the Day: Mothers of Invention (52D: Mothers of Invention musician => ZAPPA) —

The Mothers of Invention were an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows.

Originally an R&B band called the Soul Giants, the band's first lineup included Ray Collins, David Coronado, Ray Hunt, Roy Estrada and Jimmy Carl Black. Frank Zappa was asked to take over as the guitarist following a fight between Collins and Coronado, the band's original saxophonist/leader. Zappa insisted that they perform his original material, and on Mother's Day in 1965, changed their name to the Mothers. Record executives demanded that the name be changed, and so "out of necessity," Zappa later said, "we became the Mothers of Invention." (wikipedia)

• • •

David Steinberg is the editor of the widely syndicated Universal Crossword. Under his leadership, that puzzle has gone from a "no thanks" to a very tight, professional, respectable daily. If this puzzle is his audition to take over the big chair at the NYTXW, then, kid, you're hired. Constructing is very different from editing, true, but David can do both really well, and this puzzle gives you some sense of his sensibility: cleverness, playfulness, thoughtfulness, polish. You've got a highly original and somewhat architecturally complex theme that plays out just as a Thursday should—head-scratching at first, then EUREKA!, and then the joy of discovering how the theme plays out in whatever theme answers you have left to uncover. All the while, the fill never buckles. Everything is smooth and gettable without ever getting DULL. Lots of unexpected and bright little answers keep popping up, so you aren't just drowned in a deluge or crosswordese and repeaters. The slanginess of OLD ME! The hard-to-parse weirdness of "NCIS: LA." The OOZE-ing CHURROS of Frank ZAPPA! JENGA! HUBBLE! OH DEAR! The puzzle stays interesting even in the non-showcase parts. This puzzle is a technical accomplishment that is *also* a joy to solve. David should be on the short list when the time comes to replace the current editor. I know, that time is never coming, but it should, it really should, sooner than later.

I had trouble with the theme at first because while I got GA(SC)AP easily enough, I wrote in only the railroad end of the answer: -HORT LINE. This gave me ORE- at the front of OR(EG)ON (seemed reasonable enough, except I didn't know what the theme concept was yet—I just knew there were double letters in some of the boxes, for the Down crosses, and so with OREGON I thought the double letter box was (GO) (the second square in GOUGED), not (EG). Eventually, I just skipped down to the revealer to see if I could figure out the theme concept before moving on, and after a little finagling, I got SPLIT ENDS to come into view, and after that, I remembered that the theme answers were *doubly* clued, which is to say I saw CHORTLING, which made me realize my OREGON two-letter square was misplaced. After that, I had absolutely no trouble with this one. Difficulty dropped to Easy immediately. Doubly-clued themers were now doubly easy to get. Loved swooshing around the grid picking up all the theme squares. Felt like playing a video game (stand-up arcade games from the '80s, like Pac-Man, I mean—I have no idea what "gaming" is like after ~1996). In short, this was a very good time.

Five things:

• 24A: Philadelphia's  ___ Center for the Performing Arts (MANN) — I know it's good to have MANNs in the puzzle other than Aimee but the trouble is I don't actually want MANNs in the puzzle other than Aimee. I guess I would accept either of the film directors—Anthony MANN ("T-Man," 1947), or Michael MANN ("Thief," 1981). I have nothing against this performing arts center. I just like Aimee (and crime movies) is all.

• 42A: France's ___ de Loire (VAL) — pretty sure I wrote in ILE here, then got the "A" and wanted EAU (!?). This "___ de something" answer pairs nicely with the "something de ___" answer at 13D: Fleur de ___ (fancy salt) (SEL)
• 63D: Edge (LIP) / 65A: "1917," e.g. (EPIC) — I had RIM / ARIA. Double-wrong! Epically wrong! Managed to work my way out of it pretty easily, though, thank god.
• 41A: Toothpaste tube letters (A.D.A.) — got the "A," wrote in AIM (a brand of toothpaste)
• 61D: Prefix with label (ECO-) — me: "no idea, so ... I'll try ECO- ... no idea what ECOlabel is, but ... well whaddya know: bingo!"

Going to go [Make quickly, as a pot of coffee] some coffee now. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

P.S. [Outdated charging device?] is a truly outstanding clue for LANCE. 

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