1998 Hanks/Ryan rom-com / MON 12-6-21 / Follower of open and pigeon / Peas to some classroom pranksters / Something waved at concerts prior to the age of cellphones / Semihard Dutch cheese

Constructor: Emily Rourke

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "YOU'VE GOT MAIL" (55A: 1998 Hanks/Ryan rom-com ... or a hint to the starts of 20-, 34- and 41-Across) — first words are all things that might come in the mail:

Word of the Day: LETTER PRESS (34A) —

Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing. Using a printing press, the process allows many copies to be produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper. A worker composes and locks movable type into the "bed" or "chase" of a press, inks it, and presses paper against it to transfer the ink from the type, which creates an impression on the paper. // In practice, letterpress also includes other forms of relief printing with printing presses, such as wood engravings, photo-etched zinc "cuts" (plates), and linoleum blocks, which can be used alongside metal type, or wood type in a single operation, as well as stereotypes and electrotypes of type and blocks. With certain letterpress units, it is also possible to join movable type with slugs cast using hot metal typesetting. In theory, anything that is "type high" and so forms a layer exactly 0.918 in. thick between the bed and the paper can be printed using letterpress.  // Letterpress printing was the normal form of printing text from its invention by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century to the 19th century and remained in wide use for books and other uses until the second half of the 20th century. Letterpress printing remained the primary means of printing and distributing information until the 20th century, when offset printing was developed, which largely supplanted its role in printing books and newspapers. More recently, letterpress printing has seen a revival in an artisanal form. (wikipedia)

Theme answers:

• BILL OF RIGHTS (20A: Early addendum to the Constitution)
• LETTERPRESS (34A: Gutenberg invention)
• PACKAGE DEAL (41A: Sauna plus massage at a spa, perhaps)

• • •

I've got nothing against Hanks/Ryan, but do yourself a favor and watch The Shop Around the Corner, which is not only the best Christmas movie, but one of the best movies ever made. From scene one, the storytelling, acting, character development ... it's stupid how perfect it is. I watch it over and over this time of year, just to admire the craftsmanship and laugh and feel the love vibes. Ernst Lubitsch! THE LUBITSCH TOUCH is 16 letters long, but there's an answer I would mind seeing a grid go oversized for. Or maybe there's a way to use it on a Sunday. Good stuff. Lubitsch is my No. 1 ERNST, followed by ... I guess Max ERNST. Surrealism is fun. My point is, watch The Shop Around the Corner. And if you need more Christmas fare, move on to Christmas in Connecticut, and if you're still yearning for yule, try Holiday Affair, and then if you're bummed out by all the black & white, watch The Ref (the best Christmas movie shot in color). OK, back to the puzzle. The theme is just fine. Aces. Bills and letters and packages do indeed come in the mail (esp., if you are lucky, this time of year), and here they are all found inside answers where they are clued differently from their mail meaning. The bill in the BILL OF RIGHTS is a non-mail bill, the LETTER in LETTERPRESS, same, and so forth. The one briefly toughish part, for me, was LETTERPRESS, since I really wanted Gutenberg to have invented the PRINTING PRESS, because he did invent the PRINTING PRESS, in 1440—LETTERPRESS was the technique (movable type, in a bed, impressed on paper), PRINTING PRESS was the machine. But since I got the front end first, from crosses, I wrote in LETTERPRESS pretty readily and then was happy to find out it was right.

[Christine Baranski!! Mwah!!]

 

There was one downside, and a big one, to this puzzle, which is a couple of Wince Words. Long ones that just genuinely made me cringe and stop to take screenshots. Here's Wince Word One:

And here's Wince Word Two:

In both cases, I thought "ew, that can't be right, not on a Monday!?" and then slowly felt myself sink as all the crosses checked out. No one uses these adjectives. They just don't. They are arcane and odd and ... like, not *hard* to get, but just not in-the-language. I'm trying to imagine using SORORAL instead of "sisterly." And NATANT instead of "floating." Oof. It's all very olde-tymey professorial, and it's no fun at all. There's no reason an easy Monday grid should be gunked up by this stuff. Let the fill be plain and let the theme shine and there you are, a wonderful Monday. But NATANT SORORAL FARE is literally no one's idea of a good time. You'd have to tear those sections out and redo them, but it would be worth it. I don't understand why certain words don't set off red lights / alarm bells in constructors' / editors' heads. Maybe you let yourself get away with one of these fussy rarely-used adjectives, but definitely not both.

Ran up against yet another kealoa* today when I had the "V" at 52D: Give the slip (EVADE) and wrote in AVOID. That clue can actually kealoa in two different directions: if I'd had the "E" I would've probably written in ELUDE. As for the rest of the fill ... SAFE SPACE is a nice newish answer. SMOLDER is always hot. The rest is just fine. Somewhat better than MEH. That's all. Good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

*short common fill that you know but can't write in because Even With Certain Letters In Place it could be one of two (or more) options. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum.

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