Big name in dry-erase markers / MON 3-20-23 / Peeper that makes no sound / What the fish said when it swam into a concrete wall, per an old joke / Quintessential Route 66 lodging / Vegan version of a classic brunch dish / Euphemism for an expletive with the / Citrusy cocktail garnish

Constructor: Adam Vincent

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: DINE AND DASH (55A: Not pay for a meal at a restaurant ... or a hint to each half of 16-, 19-, 34- and 50-Across) — familiar foodstuffs (i.e. things you might DINE on) where the last word can also be a synonym for DASH:

Theme answers:

• BANANA SPLIT (16A: Ice cream dessert served in a boat)
• TOFU SCRAMBLE (19A: Vegan version of a classic brunch dish)
• LEMON PEEL (34A: Citrusy cocktail garnish)
• CINNAMON ROLL (50A: Sweet spiral pastry topped with icing)

Word of the Day: ESPO (27D: Bruins legend Phil, to fans) —

Philip Anthony Esposito OC (/ˌɛspəˈziːtoʊ/ ESP-ə-ZEE-toh, Italian: [eˈspɔːzito]; born February 20, 1942) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, coach and executive, and current broadcaster for the Tampa Bay Lightning. A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, he played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers, winning two Stanley Cups with Boston. // He is considered one of the greatest players of all time, and is the older brother of fellow Hall-of-Famer Tony Esposito, a goaltender. He became the first player to score more than 100 points in a season, with 126 in 1968-69, a feat he would later achieve a further 5 times, also becoming the first player to score 50 goals in a season 5 times in a row, including the then record of 76 goals in 1970-71 to go with the then record 152 points the same year. Altogether, he won the Art Ross Trophy as the leading point scorer five times, lead the league in goals six times, was voted the MVP by winning the Hart Trophy twice, and was named as a first team All-Star centre six times. (wikipedia)

• • •

"Kinda ... clever? Yeah, I think that's kinda clever." That was my first reaction upon going back over the puzzle and discovering what the hell was going on with the theme. I don't know that alllll of those second words are really truly synonymous with DASH, but, you know, ballpark. And the fact that you can get so many (interesting) answers to follow this "food + 'dash' synonym" pattern ... I dunno, I think that's a pretty good hook. Monday puzzles have been on fire lately, relative to other days of the week. Simple, clever, clean. It's not easy to do, actually, but the Mondays have definitely been delivering the goods in March so far. By the way, happy first day of spring. Or is that tomorrow? I know new seasons always start on the 20th or 21st of whatever month seasons start in. Anyway, it's close, so ... happy spring, whether it's officially begun or not. Back to the question of DASH. If you DINE AND DASH, you definitely SPLIT (w/o paying the check, don't do this unless you are somehow also tipping generously, which would make the whole endeavor weirdly purposeless). I can see how "mad SCRAMBLE" and "mad DASH" are kinda the same, though "SCRAMBLE" really implies a level of disorganization that "DASH" does not (necessarily). You "PEEL out" more than you (simply) "PEEL," but yes, that means to depart quickly, okay. "ROLL" is maybe the weakest synonym of the bunch. It just means "go" or "leave," and has none of the urgency or implied speed that "DASH" does. But again, I can accept this as a loose grouping because the theme brings with it an entirely different grouping (the foods). If the entire theme were just "synonyms for DASH" I'd be lukewarm or worse on this thing. But the added element of the foods makes it special. You wouldn't really "DINE" on a LEMON PEEL, but again, the doubleness of the theme makes a certain amount of looseness tolerable. Good good.

GAS UP, READ UP, man the puzzle loves its UP answers. I noticed the UPs today more than I normally might have because, as usual, I solved the Monday puzzle Downs-only, and so saw both UP answers but only half of all answers, making the UP answers seem, uh, more dense than they really were. The grid is nice and clean, with no "yeesh, what?" moments whatsoever. Predictably, the NE and SW corners were the hardest from a Downs-only perspective, but I didn't get truly hung up with either. I had to abandon the NE corner at first, when DARLING (11D: "Honey" or "sugar" alternative) and APLENTY (12D: Galore) wouldn't come (I had only the "L" and the "E" in place, respectively); but once I worked out the center of the grid, I put MESS TENT in, and that gave me the letters I needed to see DARLING and APLENTY, no problem. The SW was easier, as TRACHEA came immediately (36D: Windpipe), and then REPARTEE was undeniable, and with the obvious RE- from what would eventually turn out to be REDIALS, I got TREE and EPONYMS, and once CINNAMON ROLL went in, REDIALS shortly followed. I had ENGULF before ENFOLD (35D: Surround completely), which was my one and only wrong answer and hangup, but with DINEAN- in place, it had to be DINE AND DASH, so out with ENGULF, in with ENFOLD, and then a short dash to the end. OBOISTS was easy to get from just the front end, F-WORD same, and that was that. 

Solving Downs-only spared me from being confused by some of the Acrosses, like EXPO (61A: Big name in dry-erase markers). That's probably the brand that is in my backpack *right now* and yet I can't say I've ever noticed the brand name ... [checks backpack] ... yup, here they are:

Weird how you can have something in front of your nose all the time and never actually *notice* it. I am grateful to have missed the corny fish joke ("DAM!") (40A: What the fish said when it swam into a concrete wall, per an old joke). When I looked just now to see what the answer to that clue was, I thought that answer was "I'M DOWN" and thought "... where's the joke? Somebody help the fish! He's down!" I kinda love that "DAM!" is right above "F-WORD," which is probably what the fish would actually say. But again, no joke there. Oh, forgot, I wrote in TERRE before MONDE (26D: World, in French). So, along with ENGULF, that's one more Downs-only mistake I made. TERRE is earth (and Earth), so ... close, but wrong. If I could change one thing about this grid, it would be to make it so ESPO and EXPO were not both in attendance. Which is to say, I would shoot ESPO into the sun (27D: Bruins legend Phil, to fans). It's the crosswordesiest thing in the grid (I know, I know, he's a legend, but I grow weary). And yet, with a tight, smart theme and an overwhelmingly polished grid, I can't be sincerely mad. Hope you also had a good (if brief time). See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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