Dinosaur whose name means swift seizer / MON 4-4-22 / Handy Andy by another name / One-named singer called Queen of Pop / Loops into an online convo

Constructor: Derek J. Angell

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: it's just ... dinosaur names (!?) — well-known dinosaur names, clued by what their names mean (in Greek, presumably):

Theme answers:

• VELOCIRAPTOR (20A: Dinosaur whose name means "swift seizer")
• PTERODACTYL (36A: Dinosaur whose name means "winged finger")
• TRICERATOPS (42A: Dinosaur whose name means "three-horned face")
• BRONTOSAURUS (58A: Dinosaur whose name means "thunder lizard")

Word of the Day: BRONTOSAURUS (58A) —

Brontosaurus (/ˌbrɒntəˈsɔːrəs/; meaning "thunder lizard" from Greekβροντή, brontē "thunder" and σαῦρος, sauros "lizard") is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs. Although the type species, B. excelsus, had long been considered a species of the closely related Apatosaurus and therefore invalid, researchers proposed in 2015 that Brontosaurus is a genus separate from Apatosaurus and that it contains three species: B. excelsus, B. yahnahpin, and B. parvus. (wikipedia)

• • •

But why, though? Seriously, why? All dinosaurs have names that mean ... something. That's how the Greek naming process works, as I understand it. They aren't out here naming new dinosaurs "Jeff" or something. Greek names, meaning ... stuff. Things. How is this a coherent theme? Yes, these are the best known dinosaurs. And yes, there's no repetition of name parts (no other -sauruses, for instance). But ... so? I genuinely don't understand how this amounts to a coherent NYTXW-level theme, for a Monday or any day. And the fill isn't even strong, which is kind of unforgivable with a theme that is both flimsy *and* not particularly dense. Just four themers—you should be able to populate your grid with answers better than the wearisomely common APBIO, EDIE, PRNDL, ECIGS, ADAGE, SELA, OCD, etc. The last two weeks have featured several puzzles like this—puzzles with themes that were not so much Bad as Insufficient. Just not clever enough or wordplayish enough or anything enough for the puzzle that has touted itself as the best puzzle in the world. This is a placeholder. Running-on-fumes stuff. Baffling.

Weird to see ODOR clued as a specifically bad smell (10D: Bad smell). ODOR = smell. "Bad" is just, like, your opinion, man. I wrote in SERBS instead of SLAVS, as I (too) frequently do (1D: Many Balkan inhabitants). Aren't SERBS "Balkan inhabitants"!? [checks anxiously ...] phew, yes, Serbia is indeed a Balkan state, so my initial answer, while wrong, was not Wrong wrong. When you are forbidden from tipping your hat, you are in a NO DOFF zone (4D: Fall asleep on the couch, perhaps). I just read the BRONTOSAURUS entry in my "Webster's Word Histories" book last week and thought I'd remembered reading that BRONTOSAURUS had been found to be a species of APATOSAURUS after all and thus invalid. But my "Webster's Word Histories" is from 1989 and it seems that in the intervening years BRONTOSAURUS has had its separate genus status restored. I am the farthest thing from a paleontologist, I'm just reading "Webster's Word Histories" and also the wikipedia entry for BRONTOSAURS (see above). 

I solved this one's Downs first, then Acrosses, just 'cause I was bored, and there were a bunch of Downs I couldn't get at first glance. NOTOK (25D: Unacceptable) and "TRYME!" (26D: "I might, if you're willing to ask") wouldn't come without help, and same with EYEROLL (43D: Reaction of silent but obvious disapproval) and DAUBED (50D: Applied, as foundation or powder). Most other answers came pretty quickly, though. I spelled SUSIE with a "Z" at first (SUZIE), just as I spelled "SPYS" with a "Z" at first in Sunday's puzzle ("SPYZ"). I will probably continue to make both mistakes for the rest of my life. Some things you just have to accept about yourself. Good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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