Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: 7-30-12

Back by popular demand* it's Liz and Jenny. Our BFF Rex cannot tear himself away from the ping-pong on the TV, so he begged* us to substitute again. And there's nothing we would rather do than help our bestie out...we're here anytime you need us Rex! Because, you're our bestest PAL [22A-Buddy]!

Constructor: Rosemarie Dolan and Christopher Geach

Relative difficulty: As easy as beating Michael Phelps in the 400 IM in the London Olympics

Word of the Day: ASTERISK —

An asterisk (*; Late Latin: asteriscus, from Greek: ἀστερίσκος, asteriskos, "little star")^[1] is a typographical symbol or glyph. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star. The asterisk is used to call out a footnote, especially when there is only one on the page. Less commonly, multiple asterisks are used to denote different footnotes on a page (i.e., *, **, ***). Typically, an asterisk is positioned after a word or phrase and preceding its accompanying footnote.

Nope...not in the puzzle. But we didn't know how to add footnotes, so we used asterisks in our almost entirely true introduction. For example, we actually asked Rex if we could blog again today. This sounds boring and self-promoting, so, with an asterisk, we changed this to the more colorful version presented above. Enjoy!

THEME: Batman (oy-too soon!)—Theme answers all relate to Batman.

We're not a fan of the genre. We much prefer Archie Comics, especially Betty and Veronica (go team Betty!!). But we'll take George Clooney as Batman any day. Does anyone remember when he used to be on "Facts of Life" and "Roseanne"? Speaking of hot guys, OMG Ryan Lochte. Not to DIS [46A-Insult, slangily] our hometown boy, Michael Phelps, but, as soon as we laid eyes on this beautiful swimming phenom, we were all..."Michael Phelps who?" It was LUST [52A] at first sight. Hey Ryan...call us!! xoxo

While we're on the subject of the Olympics, we wished we had PONIED [5D-Paid (up)] up the dough to [53A-Schlep] LUG ourselves across the pond to go shopping at Harrods, have a spot of tea, attend a RAVE with Pippa and Harry, and maybe take-in some of the Olympics (we hear that the ping-pong is just riveting, right Rex?)

Theme answers:

17A [Alternative name for 42-down] DARK KNIGHT
33A [Alternative name for 42 down] CAPED CRUSADER
58A [Alternative name for 42-down] BRUCE WAYNE
13D [Home of 42-down] GOTHAM
42D [Comics Debut of 1939] BATMAN

As we said, we're not really a fan of Batman. There is however, a man in a cape that we're a HUGE fan of:

Speaking of Seinfeld, Liz got tripped up on [11D-Protein-rich vegetable soup]. It was just one of those times when you know the answer, but it won't get out of your head. But, the crosses were easy enough to fill this one in pretty quickly. And as for LENTIL soup? Yuck...no soup for us!