Female counselor / SUN 7-29-12 / Neighbor of Draco Hercules / Bob Marley tune made popular by Johnny Nash / 1972 Bill Withers hit / Aristotle's fifth element

Constructor: Kevin G. Der

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: "Debut Promos at the World's Fair" — imaginary (I assume) come-ons for products that were debuted at World's Fairs (with the relevant year for each product in parentheses at the end of each clue)

Word of the Day: EGERIA (100D: Female counselor) —

Egeria was a nymph attributed a legendary role in the early history of Rome as a divine consort and counselor of the Sabine second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, to whom she imparted laws and rituals pertaining to ancient Roman religion. Her name is used as an eponym for a female advisor or counselor. (wikipedia)

• • •

A cute and simple theme. Might've been cooler if the World's Fair angle had been in the grid rather than the title. Or maybe that would've been too obvious. I mean, I could tell what the gist of the theme was after I got the theme answer, and at that point I hadn't even looked at the title. I'm a little disappointed, I guess, that there was nothing to "get." It was all so straightforward—though the theme cluing does have a bit of cleverness to it at times, I found the theme answers remarkably easy to get (except WALL OUTLET ... possibly because I don't think it its being a Thing ... I mean, clearly, it is, but it's not a discrete thing ... or doesn't really exhibit its thingness unless it's attached to a WALL, which you can't really handle or ride ...). All the challenge was in the fill, where the cluing was pretty tough at times. I got hung up all over the place, though not in any kind back-breaking way. Nice, diverting work, with a theme a little too obvious and too easy to work through, but fill that provided just enough crunch to keep things interesting.

Theme answers:

• 23A: "Get an inside look at our booth" (Buffalo, 1901) (XRAY MACHINE)
• 25A: "Come by and chat at our booth" (Philadelphia, 1876) (TELEPHONE)
• 41A: "You've gotta get your hands on this" (Knoxville, 1982) (TOUCHSCREEN)
• 44A: "Puts the keys of the future at your fingertips" (Philadelphia, 1876) (TYPEWRITER)
• 59A: "Bring your dogs to our booth" (Philadelphia, 1876) (HEINZ KETCHUP) — my first answer here, because I had REV at 46D: Small energy boost?: VETERINARIAN. But I sort of assumed that was wrong and that the real answer would have to do with shoes ...
• 69A: "The fair's toughest man alive" (New York City, 1939) (HUMANOID ROBOT)

• 79A: "Get the scoop on our new hand-held offering" (ICE CREAM CONE)
• 94A: "Fairgoers may be in for a shock" (St. Louis, 1904) (WALL OUTLET)
• 97A: "Starting a giant revolution at the fairgrounds" (Chicago, 1893) (FERRIS WHEEL)
• 117A: "Getting fairgoers moving on the right track" (Paris, 1900) (ESCALATOR)
• 119A: "Now showing our big vision of the future" (Osaka, 1970) (IMAX THEATER)

So, where was the trouble? The trouble was ... well, first, having no memory at all of a movie called "SHARK TALE" (53D: 2004 Will Smith animated film). Also, not seeing (and barely seeing now) how to get from 52A: Ones with natural curls? to ASPS. Also, having no idea that EWW was a "word" (I had EEK). Also, OSMIUM? EGERIA? EINER? All over my head. (114A: Densest natural element / Female counselor / 9D: Mussorgski's "Bilder ___ Ausstellung") I'm sure I've seen them all before (I *know* I've seen stupid horrible EGERIA), but that didn't matter. Total blanks. Designer Pucci? I know Gucci. Not Pucci. Certainly not EMILIO. I figured a Met someone? would be an OPERA STAR, not just a stupid GOER. A "someone" should be noteworthy, not just any schmo with a ticket. That mistake cost me. I also had CAFE for CHEZ (42D: Part of many a bistro name), EARTH for ETHER (57D: Aristotle's "fifth element"), and ON CALL for ON SALE (71D: Ready to move). And the aforementioned REV for RAH (46D: Small energy boost?). Otherwiiiiiiiise—no problems!

Bullets:

• 30A: Early 20th-century modernist (MAN RAY) — Kept wanting MANET or MONET to fit, despite the fact that they are neither of the things mentioned in the clue.
• 83A: Bob Marley tune made popular by Johnny Nash ("STIR IT UP") — ON CALL screw-up kept this hidden for a while, despite the fact that I could hear the song, faintly, in the back of my head, somewhere ...
• 125A: Source of the Hulk's power (RAGE) — most parodied superhero on the internet. Lots of Twitter versions of Hulk. Just like there are lots of Tumblr versions of Ryan Gosling.
• 127A: "Shepherd Moons" Grammy winner (ENYA) — New Agey title, Grammy-winner, 4 letters. Next!
• 36D: Neighbor of Draco and Hercules (LYRA) — oh, these are constellations, right? I just (literally, as I was typing out the clue) got that. Before that: "What does Malfoy have to do with Hercules, and who's this LYRA person?"
• 96D: 1972 Bill Withers hit ("USE ME") — easily my favorite bit of musical crosswordese. It comes up a lot. Seriously, you should commit it to memory now, as it will come back. ENESCO will also come back. But he won't be as groovy.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Lollapuzzolola 5, NYC's most lovable crossword tournament, is this Saturday. If you have ever been even slightly curious about tournaments but aren't sure you're "good enough" or whatever, this is the one to go to. It's somehow both a serious tournament with great puzzles *and* a not-at-all serious tournament with scores of other lovely crossword enthusiasts like yourself. I've met some of the Nicest People In The World at this tournament. You should go! And if you can't physically be there, there's a "Compete From Home" option. Details here.

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