Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Abruzzi bell town

Constructor: Kelsey Blakley

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: ONE TWO THREE FOUR (39A: Start of a count ... or the letter frequencies in 17-, 30-, 46- and 64 Across) — each theme answer contains four letters, which appear 1, 2, 3, and 4 times in the answer, respectively; e.g. BEER BREWER has one W, two Bs, three Rs, and four Es

Word of the Day: OWLERY (36D: Hogwarts roost) — The Owlery is a room on the top of Hogwarts Castle's West Tower, where the school owls and the owls belonging to students live during the school year. (Harry Potter wiki)

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ADD-ON!? (1A: New wing)!?! Man, I slapped ANNEX down with dead certainty, and then APBS went in (1D: Police dept. notices), and then ... but ... 2D: Crowd in Cologne has to be DREI (German for "three" — "Three's a Crowd!") ... but ANNEX says 2-Down starts with an "N" ... so ... no ANNEX? Cruel. I would have slapped an "e.g." on the clue for ADD-ON, as ADD-ON is super general where [New wing] is not. Bah. Next I hit OMRI (4D: Katz of "Dallas"). Whoa. Total WTF answer for me. But then I got the @#$! out of the NW and the rest of the puzzle just went up in flames. I tore through it with almost no hesitation even though I didn't fully grasp the theme until I was done. Put down LOOT for GEMS (61D: Treasure chest treasure), but that was my only post-NW slip-up. In retrospect, I really like the theme. Seems original, and the resulting theme answers are interesting. TO THE TEETH is flat-out great. So thumbs up. Puzzle did not BLO (38A: Slo-_____ fuse).

Theme answers:

17A: User of barley malt (beer brewer)
30A: Emphatic boast of responsibility ("I did indeed!")
46A: One way to be armed (to the teeth)
64A: "And away go troubles ..." company (Roto Rooter)

Ironically, I was totally stumped by a poetry clue and a comics clue (irony = I teach both subjects). 26D: "Punkin" cover made absolute zero sense to me. I thought maybe "Punkin" was a song and somebody covered it ... but then that song would be called "Punkin," presumably, so that couldn't be right. Is there some cutesy way to refer to the top of a jack-o-lantern? [Nice tie-in, btw: 47D: Like a jack-o'-lantern => HOLLOW] No. I got the answer, FROST, from crosses without any problem. Then when the puzzle was done, I googled [punkin cover] ... didn't see anything. Googled [punkin frost]. Bam! Cloying, sentimental, 19th-century dreck (actually 1911, but there's really nothing 20th-century about it)

"When the Frost is on the Punkin" by James Whitcomb Riley

WHEN the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then the time a feller is a-feelin' at his best, 5
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here— 10
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossoms on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock— 15
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries—kindo' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill; 20
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover overhead!—
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps 25
Is poured around the cellar-floor in red and yaller heaps;
And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With theyr mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and sausage too!...
I don't know how to tell it—but ef such a thing could be
As the angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me— 30
I'd want to 'commodate 'em—all the whole-indurin' flock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

As far as comics (and continuing with the vaguely spherical theme set in motion by the Punkin / Jack o' Lantern), there was ORB, a villain I'd never heard of (51A: Marvel Comics villain with an eyeball-like helmet). Had to look him up once I was done. Apparently he lost his face in a hideous biking accident (while trying to run his opponent off the road during a race). He was later supplied with some supernatural helmet that looked like a giant eye, with which he did EVIL things (23A: Straight from hell).

Bullets:

45A: "Amazing" debunker of the paranormal (Randi) — Surprisingly (given the "i"-spelling of RANDI), not a girl.
63A: _____ Jannings, Best Actor of 1928 (Emil) — learned from xwords. Standard fare. Very much worth having in your arsenal as a gimme.
10D: Musketeer's need (ramrod) — It's a rod that rams. Nice, straightforward word. Great word.
12D: Phoenix landing site, 2008 (Mars) — Dumbledore has a phoenix named Fawkes. Moving on...

18D: Raga player Shankar (Ravi) — like EMIL Jannings, crossword gold.
60D: Abruzzi bell town (Atri) — more gold. Learned it from xwords. From the poem "The Bell of ATRI" by Longfellow. Not to be confused with Hersey's "Bell for ADANO" or the mythical king of the Huns ATLI.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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