Harriet's hubby on old TV / MON 7-18-22 / Shape of an intellectual's head it's said / Modern convenience at many movie theaters / Messy slapstick reactions / Nickname for Louise

Constructor: Phoebe Gordon

Relative difficulty: Medium (possibly on the tougher side of Monday, solely because of the "?" theme clues) (if your time was slower than usual, that's probably because the grid is oversized (16x15))

THEME: [preposition] [plural noun] AND [other plural noun] — idiomatic phrases that follow precisely that grammatical pattern, clued both literally and wackily ("?"-style), as if they related to a field implied by the plural nouns:

Theme answers:

• AT SIXES AND SEVENS (17A: In a state of confusion, as in math class?)
• BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS (40A: Very rapidly, as in a ballet studio?)
• ON PINS AND NEEDLES (63A: In suspense, as in a tailor shop?)

Word of the Day: "OZZIE and Harriet" (67A: Harriet's hubby on old TV) —

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952 to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it continued its success, initially running simultaneously on radio and TV. In terms of seasons, it was the longest running live-action sitcom in US television history until It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia surpassed it on December 1, 2021 (though it still retains the record in terms of total episodes produced: 435). The series starred the entertainment duo of Ozzie Nelson and his wife, singer Harriet Nelson, and their sons, David and Ricky. Don DeFore had a recurring role as the Nelsons' neighbor "Thorny". (wikipedia)

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Full disclosure: this is the debut puzzle from the daughter of someone I know and like—longtime constructor and editor Peter Gordon. I would not have discovered this before solving, but I accidentally looked at Twitter, and Peter was, understandably, bragging about it, which is adorable. Anyway, even if I'd hated this thing, I wouldn't have said so, or wouldn't have put it in such harsh terms. Luckily, I didn't hate it at all. It's a perfectly delightful little Monday ... although "little" is literally incorrect, in that the grid is actually an oversized 16x15! I mean "little" only in the sense that the theme is not particularly dense or complicated—fairly normal for a Monday puzzle. But it does have this sort of ... extra quality, where it's got both literal *and* wacky clues to it, and it's the wackiness that both adds to and complicates things a bit. "?" clues will tend to throw you into figurative thinking (or overthinking) mode, and that happened to me today, a little bit, even though the literal, normal clue is Right There (in the first, precomma portion of the clue). The postcomma part involves both reading more and (inevitably) thinking more, and so thematically this felt somewhat tougher than a typical Monday. More Tuesdayish. But because the literal clue is right there, we aren't talking about too much added difficulty. The postcomma part of the clue appears to exist largely to give a stronger impression of thematic consistency than the puzzle would have without it. "Please imagine this wacky non-literal context implied by the words in the answer" is a nice way to add to the otherwise merely grammatical / syntactical parallels among the theme answers. It's a great find, this set of three themers—all following precisely the same phrasing pattern, all 16 letters long. The rest of the grid is right over the plate. Nothing showy, nothing horrific. Lots of crosswordese, but the type that you can abide just fine, not the type to make you wince and roll your eyes and wonder what the hell. Plus you get (step one: take drink from) CUP HOLDER and (step two, pick up drink, *sip*, hear something funny, and  ...) SPITTAKES in the bargain. Oh, and "LADY BIRD" and STARGAZE to boot. A lovely quartet of long Downs. It's a neat and polished Monday. Kind of textbook (in the best sense of the word). A promising debut.

Hmm, what else? Well, I would like to quash the crooked letter fetish, for sure (two sets of double-Zs!), but since nothing at all is sacrificed in the pursuit of said letters, I cannot be justifiably mad. Get all your Js and Zs and Qs on, by all means, as long as doing so does not lead to my also seeing adjacent Garbage. Hard to call anything in the vicinity of RAZZ or OZZIE "Garbage." The only answer I really hate in this puzzle is NHLER (49A: Jet or Shark, in sports lingo). See also NLER, ALER, NBAER and ... is MLBER a thing? Oof, I hope not. MLSER? WNBAER? I mean, where does it end? It's possible that NHLER is the most common of all these forced initial-based -ER terms. I dunno. I just know they all look and feel kinda awful. But again, it's one word, whatever, no biggie. I had no trouble with anything in the grid, though I weirdly blanked at S---- for 48D: Part of an act (SCENE). I say "weirdly" because I teach plays with acts and SCENEs on a regular basis. I think my brain just wanted something like SKIT (too short) or SKETCH (too long). Oh, and I not surprisingly took longer on the "?" clue for LIDS than on any of the other clues (69A: Jar heads?). I think I like the wordplay-ness better if you make "Jarhead" one word, as you would when referring to a Marine. I mean, if that's the term you're punning on (and it is) why not just put them together. The "?" tells me that you are ****ing around, so it's fine. OK, that's enough for today. Hope this was a nice cool-down from yesterday's tire fire / barn burner (depending on your perspective). See you Tuesday. And congrats, Phoebe.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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