Good or bad vacuum review / THU 6-16-22 / Eventgoers / One performing a palm print analysis / Trochee's counterpart / Facts First sloganeer / Setting for memorable cable car scene in Moonraker / Leads as a D&D campaign / Biblical patriarch with two-syllable name / That's a goldang lie! / Tree in the etymology of gin

Constructor: Parker Higgins and Ross Trudeau

Relative difficulty: Well, I thought it was Easy, but early social media response indicates otherwise, so who knows?

THEME: "That TTTTTTT Show" (i.e. "That 7 T's Show" i.e. "That '70s Show") — OK, that's not the theme, but that is an example of how this theme works: what *sounds* like an enumeration of letters (four N's, eight O's, two T's, ten D's, respectively) is represented in the grid by that Actual Number Of Letters. So:

Theme answers:

• NNNNIC SCIENTIST = "forensic scientist" (NNNNIC => "four N's" + -IC => "forensic")
• TOMOOOOOOOO = "tomatoes" (TOMOOOOOOOO =>  TOM + "eight O's" => "tomatoes")
• CUTIE PATT = "cutie patooties" (PATT => PA- + "two Ts" => "patooties")
• ADDDDDDDDDD = "attendees" (ADDDDDDDDDD => A- + "10 D's" => "attendees")

Word of the Day: "Moonraker" (54A: Setting for the memorable cable car scene in "Moonraker" => RIO) —

Moonraker is a 1979 spy-fi film, the eleventh in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Cléry, and Richard Kiel. Bond investigates the theft of a Space Shuttle, leading him to Hugo Drax, the owner of the Shuttle's manufacturing firm. Along with space scientist Dr. Holly Goodhead, Bond follows the trail from California to Venice, Rio de Janeiro, the Amazon rainforest, and finally into outer space to prevent a plot to wipe out the world population and to recreate humanity with a master race. (wikipedia)

• • •

Well I'm awake in the middle of the night because of the worst thunderstorm I've ever been in in my life. It's still happening, though the rain and lightning have abated a bit. At its worst, the sky was constant flashing, like God 's streetlights were flickering, and the lightning + thunder were pure assault. I'm awake. Wife's awake. Cats are ... god knows ... all over the house, looking at me like "Why?" So I thought I better sit down and solve the puzzle and post the blog quickly, before the power goes out. While these are perhaps not ideal conditions under which to solve a puzzle, this puzzle was So Good that conditions ceased to matter. In fact, maybe they helped. Maybe the puzzle felt even More delightful than it was because it took my mind off the menacing cacophony. Kind of impressive that the puzzle was able to do that, but the wackiness involved here is such loopy, gonzo, avant-garde, NTH-degree wackiness that I could not resist. I could only succumb to the vibe. I mean, I thought "wow, it takes a ton of courage to just go with eight damn O's in a row" ... and *then* I met the 10 T's. LOL. What a ride. And the grid shape made this solving experience extra-special. The whole thing felt alien, in the best possible way. The mirror symmetry, the stacked Acrosses up top, and especially the column of three 9s at the center bottom, all gave this a look and feel that took it way, way out of the ordinary. And yet not so far that it was undoable. It was, in fact, extremely doable, though I can see (online, already) that people are not grasping the theme concept as easily as I did, and are getting, let's say, frustrated. I completely sympathize with this feeling. And I'm very sorry you didn't grasp the concept in a more timely fashion, because it made the whole solving experience a joy.

I was on this puzzle's side from 1-Across (1A: Good or bad vacuum review? = "SUCKS!"). Yeah, I know it's kind of childish, but so am I, so there. Those four N's in the first themer came together very quickly, and the only way I could make sense of them was, it turns out, the right way. Just say the number of letters out loud! Only ... at that point, I thought it was more an equation-type dealie, where I was supposed to say 4N, i.e. "foreign." So I was trying to make the "palm print analysis" performer into some kind of "foreign" person ... I had to build the rest of that answer from back to front, and then look at it again. "What's a "foreign I.C. SCIENTIST!?" And then I saw it. Boom. Truly one of the most satisfying Aha moments of the year. What I really loved was that the next themer didn't just throw me more N's!  I wasn't paying close attention to how the theme clues were marked (with quotation marks, so you know that in order to be correct, the answer must be *spoken*). So I went into the "tomato" answer trying to make it work normally. And since I had CAN instead of MAO (45A: Repeated Warhol subject), I had trouble seeing the "O"-string clearly at first. But then the "O"s kept piling up and I thought "ah, it's tomato something!" But no, once you put in 8 O's, you're out of room. It's just "tomatoes." I can't believe someone turned "tomatoes" and "attendees" into fascinating theme answers. Highly unlikely scenario. And the two T's! So wee! So cute! You got these ostentatious letter strings on the side of the grid, and then tucked down there at the bottom, just two little T's ... inside an answer that is *about* cuteness. Ha ha, there is no part of this ridiculous theme that doesn't work. 

I had little bits of trouble here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary for a Thursday. LOL'd at the "goldang" in 9D: "That's a goldang lie!" ("AIN'T SO"). Is that how HICKS talk? (HICKS felt a little icky, in that it's got an elitist / derogatory tone to it, but that was the only part of the puzzle where my joy wobbled a little ... I guess I didn't mind "HICKS" so much because it's the name of one of my favorite TV shows ... oh wait, that's "HACKS" ... nevermind). Anyway, that "goldang" answer held me up for several goldang seconds because I couldn't figure out what kind of goldang HICKSpeak they were going for. Then I put Samantha Bee on TNT (sorry, Sam) (12D: "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee" airer) ... then I couldn't make any sense out of 8D: Something that's asked (PRICE). After the top was sorted, though, the puzzle was very much a fast ride to the finish. I somehow remembered that RAJ was a character on that show I never could stand (39D: "The Big Bang Theory" role). I never saw "Moonraker," which feels like a betrayal of my gender/age cohort, but it wasn't hard to work out RIO. 

I love that the puzzle went to D&D instead of social media for DMS (49A: Leads, as a D&D campaign). The "DM" stands for "Dungeon Master," and to DM is to play that role in the game. Retro! (although people still play D&D ... it's just that in my mind, anyone playing it is automatically transported back in time to the early '80s ... a wormhole opens up the second you start playing ... it's weird). I balked a tiny bit at BUDDY MOVIES, since "BUDDY COMEDY" feels like the more correct phrase, esp. for this clue, but sure, BUDDY MOVIES, that sounds fine (26D: "Booksmart" and "Dumb and Dumber," e.g.). Certainly not "off" enough to ruin my enjoyment of this puzzle. Wow, look at that! Done with the write-up at 5am! What a ride. And the thunderstorm has (mostly) passed. And the birds are singing their "WTF!?!"s. Cool. Good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

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