Semiaquatic amphibian / THU 9-11-25 / Minuscule, in cutesy lingo / Longtime portrayer of TV's Captain Pierce / "I Am ___," onetime reality TV spinoff / Material with a coarse weave / Nursery rhyme character known as Lille Trille in Denmark / City with a view of Mount Vesuvius / City WNW of Tulsa / Noncombat region, in brief / Archangel in "Paradise Lost"

Constructor: Gia Bosko

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: DOUBLE-HEADERS (36A: Back-to-back sporting events ... with a hint to the answers to the italicized clues) — two-part phrases where the only difference between the two halves is the first letter ("header"); rather than appearing in full, these answers appear at half length, with the first square containing *both* of the first letters of each half (e.g. RAZZLE-DAZZLE appears as [R/D]AZZLE, with the "R" and the "D" in the same square)—to make sense of them, you have to read the answer once with the first first letter in place, and then again with the second first letter in place. The letters in those "double-header" squares function simply as successive letters in the crosses (e.g. the "[R/D]" from [R/D]AZZLE is just "-RD" in BARD):

Theme answers:

• [W/T]ALKIE (15A: Hand-held communication device) 
• NE[WT] (1D: Semiaquatic amphibian)
• [T/W]EENSY (7A: Minuscule, in cutesy lingo) 
• [TW]EED (7D: Material with a coarse weave)
• [H/D]UMPTY (59A: Nursery rhyme character known as Lille Trille in Denmark)
• WAS[H D]AY (46D: Time for a trip to the laundromat)
• [R/D]AZZLE ( 64A: Flashiness)
• BA[RD] (55D: Medieval entertainer)

Word of the Day: "I Am CAIT" (51A: "I Am ___," onetime reality TV spinoff) —

I Am Cait is an American television documentary series which chronicles the life of Caitlyn Jenner after her gender transition. The eight-part one-hour documentary series debuted on July 26, 2015, on the E! network. The series focuses on the "new normal" for Jenner, exploring changes to her relationships with her family and friends. The show additionally explores how Jenner adjusts to what she sees as her job as a role model for the transgender community.

In its first season, critical reception of I Am Cait was generally positive. Critics particularly praised the series' approach to the social issues of the transgender community and its influence on the way Americans see and understand transgender people in general. The show's informative and serious tone was also noted, and how it differed from Keeping Up with the Kardashians, a reality series that Jenner has starred in together with her family. In October, the show was renewed for a second season, which premiered on March 6, 2016.

On August 16, 2016, E! cancelled the series after two seasons, due to low ratings. (wikipedia)

• • •

Me, at some point, solving this puzzle: "What ... is WEN TAPE!?"

It's weird how my brain has no trouble accepting GO APE as a phrase (a phrase I only ever hear or see in crosswords, but a familiar phrase nonetheless), but put in the past tense and my brain rejects it like a foreign body. My brain also wanted to reject NEED A NAP, which has serious EAT A SANDWICH energy, but since I often NEED A NAP after I EAT A SANDWICH (if it's large enough), the answer accidentally amused me, despite being somewhat intolerable, and I'll take amusement in any form I can get it. Weird that all the answers that made me wince and cringe and cock my head were in the NE quadrant. SUM TO, yeesh (23A: Total). Is that the same as "add up to?" Or "come to?" I have never used the word "SUM" as a verb in my life, except the verb phrase "SUM UP," which deals with words, not numbers. And what part of the NASTY HABITS clue suggested "NASTY" (as opposed to merely "bad") (16D: Vices that are best abandoned)!? Aren't all "vices" best abandoned? "Here's a vice you should keep!" is not a phrase that makes much sense. I needed a nastier clue there, since "bad habits" is the (much) more common phrase. Would've helped! Outside that NE quadrant, though, I didn't have any problems with the way this thing was filled or clued. In fact, I didn't encounter any difficulty at all. Had no idea that "I Am CAIT" ever existed (couldn't even remember which Kardashian CAIT was until I looked her up and realized / remembered that she was a Jenner, whom I know better as CAITlyn). But you expect a proper noun problem or two most days, and CAIT's crosses were all fair. 

What about the theme? I probably should've led with that. It's great, but since it caused no trouble at all, and was almost completely transparent from the beginning, it wasn't at the front of my brain when I finished. WEN TAPE was. But I did enjoy the theme—clever, and neatly executed. I especially like the way the rebus squares are handled, with the letters forming the front ends of either half of the themers, while being merely successive letters in the crosses. WALKIE-TALKIE, one way, NEWT the other. And we've got a revealer worthy of the name, a revealer that does its damned job. Remember earlier in the week when the revealer was just ... VOWEL??? That has no juice, no energy, no nothing. But DOUBLE-HEADERS is both a colorful answer in its own right, and, when interpreted a different (non-sports) way, explains precisely what's going on with the theme. Thematically, conceptually, and execution-wise, this puzzle really sticks the landing. 

As I say, the theme was clear almost from the jump. 1D: Semiaquatic amphibian is gonna make most brains go "NEWT! Oh, damn, it doesn't fit." Or maybe, if you have a particularly crossword-scarred brain, you wrote in EFT. I hope not, but if you did, I understand, and sympathize. I was lucky enough to get 1A: City with a view of Mount Vesuvius (NAPLES), but only by completely misremembering where NAPLES is and confusing Vesuvius with ETNA! Double screw-up got me to Exactly The Right Answer! Accidental genius, woo hoo! Anyway, that "N" from NAPLES made me think "oh, it is NEWT and some rebus-y thing is afoot." Bingo. Shortly thereafter: 

From there, it was downhill. Just a matter of finding the rebus squares, which the puzzle made Very Easy by italicizing all the theme clues. A ruthless, old-school Thursday might not have been so kind. Another kindness, of sorts: all the themers are symmetrical. While I like and appreciate symmetry, when it comes to rebus puzzles, I actually kind of prefer scattershot answers. Having everything flagged by italics and in perfect symmetrical order takes some much-needed difficulty out of the solve. Give me more of a challenge! Don't tell me where all the hard parts are. Let me stumble my way to revelation! The one thing the puzzle didn't flag, and that wasn't always obvious, was the theme-affected Down answers (e.g. NEWT). So with NEWT and TWEED I had moments of "huh?" and/or "what?" I need more of these moments on a Thursday! But again, I really think this theme is aces. The puzzle's got the difficulty turned to like "3" and I want it up around "8," but the quality of the theme itself is beyond reproach, imho.

Lightning round:

• 18A: Longtime portrayer of TV's Captain Pierce (ALDA) — from M*A*S*H. I just saw a clip of Bill Hader doing Alan ALDA. Let's see if I can find it... yes, here we go:

• 50A: Video surveillance letters (CCTV) — "CC" = "close-circuit," though I always think it's "close-captioned" ("close-captioning" is a different phenomenon entirely; the "CC" abbr. and the television-relatedness is what confuses me):

• 5D: City WNW of Tulsa (ENID) — The unofficial capital of Crossworld. I really should make a pilgrimage there at some point.
• 9D: H (ETA) — that's what a Greek letter ETA looks like in capital form: "H"

• 57D: Noncombat region, in brief (DMZ) — Demilitarized Zone. I know this term exclusively from the Vietnam War, I think.
• 44D: Ready for an emergency, say (ON CALL) — had some trouble parsing this despite the fact that I had a father (radiologist) who was frequently ON CALL. He had a beeper. Remember beepers. Good times.
• 24D: Archangel in "Paradise Lost" (URIEL) — I teach this poem and still waffle on the damned archangel name, as ARIEL is also an angel in Paradise Lost!!! (just not an ... arch one)

That's it. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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