Actress Blake / MON 11-5-12 / Jedi's furry friend / Bedazzled actor Moore / Hitchcock thriller set in California

Constructor: Andrea Carla Michaels

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: TRIO (66A: Threesome ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme) — theme answers are two members of a famous TRIO (third member is in the clue)

Word of the Day: AMANDA Blake (5D: Actress Blake) —

Amanda Blake (February 20, 1929 – August 16, 1989) was an American actress best known for the role of the red-haired saloon proprietress "Miss Kitty Russell" on the television western Gunsmoke. (wikipedia)

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I don't get this one. Or, rather, I get it, I think ... in that I see what's happening ... but I don't understand how it's a NYT-caliber theme. There's no wordplay, no cleverness, no nothing. Just ... two members of a TRIO. I don't see how the answers are even interesting. I'm clearly missing something, because 2/3 of a TRIO alone does not in any way make for good theme answers. Totally mystified by how this one cleared the bar, theme-wise. Otherwise, it's a standard Monday puzzle. No more, no less.

I didn't know AMANDA Blake until I eventually filled in the answer and some part of my brain went "that's Miss Kitty." Not that I ever watched "Gunsmoke" but somehow my brain was able to make the connection anyway. The name that pops to mind every time I see AMANDA is "Hugginkiss" (fake person Bart asks for in one of his many prank calls to Moe's). The only difficulty in this puzzle was how to spell LOUIE. That's never easy for me. LOUIS? LOOEY? Thought it was LOUIS at first 'cause I thought 40D: Kernel was GIST (it's SEED). No idea what "Bedazzled" is—weird to clue DUDLEY Moore via one of his lesser known roles (on a Monday) (46D: "Bedazzled" actor Moore). My favorite answers were "THE BIRDS" (I just watched "Psycho" on Halloween—next year I should watch "THE BIRDS"), and LSD, as clued (50A: "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" subject, supposedly). I misread the clue number on 36D: Path and wrote it in the 35D slot, which started with an "A," so I wrote in ARC instead of the correct WAY. This was as much drama as my solving experience provided today.


Theme answers:

• 20A: Wynken's fishing buddies (BLYNKEN AND NOD)
• 27A: Moe's slapstick pals (LARRY AND CURLY)
• 43A: Huey's fellow nephews (DEWEY AND LOUIE)
• 51A: Snap's cereal mates (CRACKLE AND POP)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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