Centrist in British politics, informally / THU 1-25-24 / Cautionary store sign from an alcohol retailer / Chewy, meaty dog treat / Ice cream brand in West Coast supermarkets

Constructor: Sam Ezersky

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: Mercury is in ... — things that Mercury is in (or might be in):

Theme answers:

• GLASS THERMOMETER (17A: Mercury is in this) (the element Mercury)
• RETROGRADE (26A: Mercury might be in this) (the planet Mercury)
• WNBA FINALS (45A: The Mercury might be in this) (The Phoenix Mercury)
• "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY" (58A: Mercury was in this) (Freddie Mercury)

Word of the Day: Wilfred OWEN (61A: English poet Wilfred ___) —

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced by his mentor Siegfried Sassoon and stood in contrast to the public perception of war at the time and to the confidently patriotic verse written by earlier war poets such as Rupert Brooke. Among his best-known works – most of which were published posthumously – are "Dulce et Decorum est", "Insensibility", "Anthem for Doomed Youth", "Futility", "Spring Offensive" and "Strange Meeting". Owen was killed in action on 4 November 1918, a week before the war's end, at the age of 25. (wikipedia)

• • •

A Tuesday-type theme but with Thursday-type clues (attempts at trickiness all over). Still, the whole thing played well on the easy side, except (for me) one properly Thursday patch—the southeast. Would've been much easier if I had solved the southwest first. Then I could've plowed "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY" and WNBA FINALS right across the grid, and those would've given me the traction I needed to whiz through the SE. But as it was, I didn't have those last two themers, and trying to parse them, esp. from the back end, was a little miserable. That "BAF" in WNBA FINALS really had me thinking something was wrong. Also, I had "RATS!" for "NUTS!" (47D: "Phooey!"), forgot that LARB was a Thai menu word (a Lao chopped meat salad) (57D: ___ gai (Thai dish)); had VEE for HEE (60D: "Tee" follower); and just couldn't get LIBDEM at all until I got a few crosses (49D: Centrist in British politics, informally). Miserable enough paying attention to U.S. politics right now, the last thing I wanna do is throw Britain on top of things (I do like that this puzzle has LABOUR ARTY sitting there, one answer atop the other, in the west ("What happened to your party, mate? You lose something? A "P" maybe")). [Square] for DWEEB kept up the toughness down in that neck of the woods. Had no idea (or forgot) that CURIE was a unit of any kind (54A: Unit of radioactivity). So yeah, all the difficulty, for me, was condensed into that quadrant of the grid. The theme was a cinch, and any other trouble elsewhere in the grid was momentary.

The theme is cute, even if not quite Thursday-worthy. Must've been a EUREKA moment when the constructor realized that GLASS THERMOMETER and "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY" were both exactly 16 letters (as good a reason to expand the grid as I can think of—two theme elements need the room). There wasn't too much that was exciting in this grid, but also not too much that just WON'T DO (I like WON'T DO, btw). Things started out in very crosswordesey fashion, with me seeing right through the Greek-letter ruse at 1A: Three-point letter you won't find in Scrabble? (PSI), and then following it up with a visit to Crossworld's favorite inn, the IMARET (3D: Turkish inn). Struggled a bit to get PIG EAR (not something I ever gave me dogs) (1D: Chewy, meaty dog treat), and laughed a bit at "ATTA way!" (4D: "___ way!" ("Nice job!"), which caused some consternation when it appeared as a full seven-letter answer a few days back (I'm always gonna prefer the Indian flour for this answer—ATTA boy/girl/way feels partial, olden, flat) (oh, also, I laughed at ATACOST, which is not a good answer, but gets a lot more entertaining if you read it as someone cheering on COST: "ATTA COST! Way to go ... cost!"). ARE OUT was a tremendous "ugh" for me, especially since I really wanted the much better, much more vibrant RUN OUT (52A: Have no more in stock). That drop from RUN to mere ARE is steep and jarring. The clue on NOT NEW also made that answer feel disappointing. Like, yes, [Used] is NOT NEW when talking about books, cars, etc., but as a standalone phrase, NOT NEW works better as something like [Familiar] or even [Unoriginal]. Balked at WECARD, since I mostly see WEID, but WECARD definitely exists, so OK (45D: Cautionary store sign from an alcohol retailer) (sidenote: I cannot believe WEID hasn't found its way into the crossword yet—a new, completely real four-letter answer!? Come on! What are you all waiting for?). 

Obviously hesitated at GMEN/TMEN (9D: Some Feds). Took a few moments to get my brain to connect chips and cookies to TECH (9A: Chips, cookies, etc.). Was surprised to see the full AÇAI BOWL yet again—this makes two appearances already this year (which, in case you're counting, is two more appearances than solo women constructors have made. That's AÇAI BOWL(S): 2, solo women?: ... NAH)*. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

*Counting solo constructors as 1 and co-constructors as a 1/2, the M/W split this year is currently a stunning 23/2

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