French president's palace / MON 1-15-18 / Cruet filler at Italian restaurant

Constructor: Agnes Davidson and Zhouqin Burnikel

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "FREE AT LAST" (61A: Final words of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech ... or a hint to the endings of 17-, 24-, 39- and 49-Across) — "last" words of all the theme answers can also be verbs meaning "Free":

Theme answers:

• NEW RELEASE (17A: Singer's latest)
• TAX EXEMPT (24A: Like religious institutions vis-à-vis the I.R.S.)
• "THE COAST IS CLEAR" (39A: "We can go safely now")
• "BEG PARDON?" (49A: "Excuse me?")

Word of the Day: COSPLAYS (40D: Dresses up for a comic con, say) —

cos·play

ˈkäzˌplā,ˈkäsˌplā/

noun

1. 1. 

   the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book, or video game, especially one from the Japanese genres of manga and anime.

verb

1. 1. 

   engage in cosplay. (google)

• • •

Thank God Almighty! A good puzzle! It's a holiday puzzle appearing *on* the actual holiday (holiday-adjacent holiday puzzles are always disappointing), and it manages to be appropriate to the day while still being playful and entertaining (instead of pious or somber). It was also easy as heck, so everyone will be feeling quite triumphant today. Fun for all! Nothing much here to irk or gall. From a constructing perspective, I'm wondering why *two* cheater squares were needed in the NW (and SE) corner (these are the black squares under 1D: SIN and after 1A: STP, as well as the corresponding black squares in the SE—black squares that do not add to the word count; they're generally used only to make a grid easier to fill). The grid doesn't seem that demanding ... theme's not that dense. But no big deal. I'll take a clean grid, however you get there, over an unclean one any day.


Not that many hesitations today. Briefly thought maybe 7D: Shout at Fenway Park was BOSOX instead of "GO SOX!" I don't really think about umbrella parts that much, so I was slightly more hesitant on RIB than I should've been, despite the fact that it's the word my brain threw up first. Took me a while to get GALLS (51D: Vexes) because my brain (stupid brain!) doesn't think "gall" and "vex" are synonyms. I associate the former with anger and the latter with frustration, which, I know, is splitting hairs, but that's what the brain does, what can I tell you? I hit that vacuum cleaner clue and thought "Ooh, you know this!" then with through ORACH and ORKIN and DYSON and the rest of my Rolodex of 5-letter things that start with "O" *or* are vacuum-related. Then I just got it from crosses. Yes, I've heard of ORECK, no, I would never have gotten it today without help. Also had BED for SPA (69A: Resting place?). Bed is more of a non-"?" answer. And thus ends my litany of trouble spots.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Superman's birth name / MON 4-3-17 / __ Philippe (Swiss watchmaker) / __-CIO / "That sounds good - NOT!" / Cheri formerly of S.N.L.

I thought about doing an April Fools thing and saying that I was quitting Rex's blog, but then I decided that that would be too sad and also April Fools was two days ago. So instead I'm just gonna say happy first Monday of the month, it's an Annabel guest blog day again!!

Constructors: AGNES DAVIDSON and ZHOUQIN BURNIKEL

Relative difficulty: HARD

THEME: BALLPARK FIGURES — Theme answers are two words; the second word is a person that can be found at a baseball game.

Theme answers:

• BEER BATTER (17A: Coating for fish that you might think would make you tipsy)
• PUMPKIN COACH (24A: Cinderella's carriage)
• BALLPARK FIGURES (39A: Rough estimates...or, what the ends of 17-, 24-, 52- and 65-Across are?)
• WATER PITCHER (52A: Waiter's refilling aid)
• CEILING FAN (65A: Overhead cooler)

Word of the Day: AFL (___-CIO) —

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is a national trade union center and the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of fifty-six national and international unions,^[3]together representing more than 12 million active and retired workers.^[1] The AFL–CIO engages in substantial political spending and activism.^[3]

The AFL–CIO was formed in 1955 when the AFL and the CIO merged after a long estrangement. Membership in the union peaked in 1979, when the AFL–CIO had nearly twenty million members.^[4] From 1955 until 2005, the AFL–CIO's member unions represented nearly all unionized workers in the United States. Several large unions split away from AFL–CIO and formed the rival Change to Win Federation in 2005, although a number of those unions have since re-affiliated. The largest union currently in the AFL–CIO is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), with approximately 1.4 million members.^[5]

(Wikipedia) 

• • •

 Man, I don't know what it was about this puzzle, but I got stuck for ages! There wasn't even a particular corner that did it, there were just rough spots all over the puzzle. I'd never heard of RHEAS before, I had HON for BAE, and I even forgot Superman's first name. (I had CLARK instead of KAL-EL! I'm such a fake nerd.) Even SAP gave me a hard time, maybe because it was right on top of YAP so I kept thinking of that. Nothing to SOB about though; it's nice to be a little challenged on a Monday :)

The theme was cute, if a little predictable  - I figured it was something to do with baseball as soon as I saw BEER BATTER. Do you ever think about how weird it is that we're so obsessed with baseball in the US but everyone else is obsessed with soccer? Or maybe it's weird that we're obsessed with football but everyone else is obsessed with soccer. I dunno. The point is, baseball and football are weird sports, but they're fun to have watch parties for.

Bullets:

• ALEVE (47A: Popular pain reliever) — Anyone else find this namedrop a little out of place? I dunno, maybe I'm just bitter because I guessed ADVIL and probably messed up that whole corner for a while.
• AFLAC (37D: Quacky insurance giant) — I was about to post a video of the Aflac commercial, but I feel like I JUST did a few months ago. Deja vu or overused clue? *shrugs*  
• PEARS (26D: Fruits that are a little grittier than apples) — Ex-CUSE me??? First of all, there are plenty of pears that are fresh and crisp, golden pears in particular. Second of all, there are plenty of apples that are gritty as heck and really gross. I think the duo of constructors owes pears an apology, because they're my favorite fruit. (Well, second favorite; the best one is kiwi.)
• SLOTHS (13D: Tree huggers?) — This one tripped me up, but it was worth it in the end because sloths are cute.

Signed, Annabel Thompson, tired college student.

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