Early chewing gum ingredient / THU 6-23-22 / South Asian informally / Ancient dweller of Central Asia and Eastern Europe / Street food favorites topped with tzatziki / Supplier of iron carrots in old cartoons / Sprites but not Pepsis / Adam's apple locale

Constructor: Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: OXYGENATION (34A: Photosynthetic process "inflating" 16-, 24-, 46- and 56-Across) — just add oxygen (O
2) (i.e. two "O"s) to the clued answer to get the answer in the grid ... which is just ... an unclued answer:

Theme answers:

• CANOODLES (candles + O
  2) (16A: Mood setters for a romantic dinner) 
• BOO RADLEY (Bradley + O
  2) (24A: Actor Cooper) 
• TATTOOERS (tatters + O
  2) (46A: Torn and ragged clothing)
• PATOOTIES (patties + O
  2) (56A: Quarter-pound things at McDonald's) 

Word of the Day: BOO RADLEY (see 24A) —

In the classic American novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Boo Radley(whose first name is actually Arthur) doesn’t leave his house or talk to anyone, which leads the children in the novel’s setting (Maycomb, Alabama) to wildly speculate about what he looks and acts like. According to main character Scout Finch’s brother, Jem, Boo Radley is more than six-feet tall with yellow teeth, a scar across his entire face, and blood-stained hands from eating raw cats.

In the reality of the story, Boo Radley is a kind but mentally underdeveloped recluse who stays inside after an accident in his childhood. He secretly leaves the Finch siblings little gifts in a tree outside as a friendly, social gesture and becomes a hero who saves them from an attack at the end of the book. Scout walks Boo Radley home after his heroics and begins to see the world from his perspective, learning her father’s lesson that you can never understand someone before “trying on his skin.”

Harper Lee apparently based the character of Boo Radley on a real family who lived in a boarded-up house down the street from her during her childhood. (dictionary.com)

• • •

I had somewhat high hopes for this one after I got CANOODLES. I thought it was really impressive the way the clue managed to get the base word (candles) and the oxygenated word (CANOODLES) to relate to one another (via the idea of a romantic dinner). Canoodling by candlelight! Nice. But the next themer I got was TATTOOERS, and the connection there between the base word and the oxygenated word was a lot less obvious. "I guess tattoo artists ... sometimes wear ripped ... shirts? Or jeans? ... maybe?" And then later: "Did Bradley Cooper .... play BOO RADLEY ... in a movie I don't know about? Or on Broadway?"). But then the dream of a connection between base word and oxygenated fell apart completely at PATOOTIES (unless, of course, you think that McDonald's hamburgers taste like ass, in which case, bull's eye!) (so weird that "patootie" can mean both "sweetheart" and "buttocks" ... English, what a language!). The most remarkable thing about this puzzle is that it's the second Thursday in a row where "patooties" have been involved (last week was the whole "-tooties" = two "T"s thing). I wouldn't want to guess at what the odds of such a hebdomadal coincidence are, but I'd say fairly slim. (Sorry, I just learned the word "hebdomadal" this week, while looking up "hebetude," so I'm trying it out on you all, thank you for your patience). 

The puzzle had a slightly older feel today, in terms of its (pop) culture center of gravity (this is not a bad thing, just a thing). Putting "My Friend FLICKA" directly over BOO RADLEY definitely shoots you back to the mid-20th century for sure (though yes, Mockingbird is allegedly "timeless," blah blah blah). I think of Captain Marvel as very mid-century as well, though of course s/he's still around, appearing in a movie as recently as ... I dunno, recently (2019, actually). It's more than a little confusing to me, still, that Captain Marvel is the name of a character in both the Marvel *and* the DC Comics universe. In the DC universe he's maybe better known as "Shazam!," which is the name of the recent movie about him, which, like Marvel's movie Captain Marvel, also came out in 2019, dear lord, make the superhero movie conveyor belt stop, the culture is choking on these things. Make superheroes unpopular (i.e. genuinely nerdy) again! Speaking of (still more) superheroes, I briefly made Aquaman the king of the ATLANTIC (15D: Where Aquaman reigns as king). I don't know if that's better or worse than being the king of ATLANTIS. Probably more boring. And polluted. Less glamorous. You'd have to deal with the royalty from all the other oceans, which is probably a drag. So much sea ego, so many border disputes.

No real tricky spots today, just a few typical Thursday stumbles here and there. I made Captain Marvel an ALIEN at first (22A: Captain Marvel, for one). Completely blanked on AMY TAN (37A: Author of "The Bonesetter's Daughter," 2001). I was thinking of ... gah, what's her name ... the other "Bone" novel ... Keri Hulme ... Bone People, is that something? ... yes! NZ / Maori author Keri Hulme won the Booker for her 1984 novel The Bone People. Add that to your late-week KERI cluing options, constructors (it's OK, KERI Russell, you can still have M-Th). 

Needed most of the crosses to get COGS (53D: Peons, metaphorically) (I think of "Peons" as already a metaphor, these days). I spelled HERESAY thusly, yikes (40D: Grist for the rumor mill). When your HEARSAY is also contrary to orthodox religious teachings: HERESAY! Two texting initialisms (BRB, IMO) is one texting initialism too many, IMO. One per puzzle, please. There are LIMITS! I really liked the clue on ATTIRE (41D: It may get worn out). Coulda stopped that clue at "worn" but the "out" really takes the misdirection to a new and more vivid level (you're not wearing it out through constant use, your wearing it ... out, like on a date, perhaps to a fancy dinner complete with candles and canoodling, who knows!?). Hope your Thursday, like every day, is happy and full of oxygen. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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