Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Classic marketing tagline

Constructor: Brendan Emmett Quigley

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: Diamonds! — a diamond rebus puzzle, with five diamonds scattered throughout the grid

Word of the Day: WHELK (65A: Marine snail) — n.
Any of various large, mostly edible marine snails of the family Buccinidae, having a pointed, spiral shell, especially Buccinum undatum, which is commonly eaten in Europe.

[Middle English welke, whelke, from Old English weoloc.]

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When I saw Brendan's name on the by-line and the slightly funky-looking grid (those are some weirdly-shaped black chunks in the W and E), I braced myself for something barbaric. Instead I got a pretty straightforward rebus puzzle. After a bit of flailing around in the NW, I uncovered the first diamond, and then went looking for a heart, a spade, and a club. But I quickly turned up another diamond in the NE, and then I knew that there would be no more big surprises (probably). The middle answer provides a nice title for the whole puzzle (A DIAMOND is Forever) with the diamond square giving its puzzle a distinctive, quirky asymmetry (other diamond squares have rotational symmetry). I feel like I've seen a diamond rebus before, but maybe I've seen the card suit rebus, or a baseball diamond-related puzzle (or two). This is a super-solid and enjoyable, but the truth is that Brendan is giving away better (more daring, exciting, adventurous) stuff than this 3x/week at his personal website. His NYT stuff, while still good-to-excellent, is starting to feel conservative by comparison.

Theme answers:

DIAMOND Jim Brady — 1A: Tycoon who was reputedly the first person in New York City to own an automobile
DIAMOND ring — 1D: Union symbol?

DIAMOND Head — 10A: Hawaiian landmark
DIAMONDbacks — 10D: Chase Field team

"A DIAMOND is Forever" — 36A: Classic marketing tagline
DIAMOND Lil — 37D: Mae West role

Black DIAMOND — 44D: Symbol for a difficult ski run
Neil DIAMOND — 67A: "Heartlight" singer, 1982

Hope DIAMOND — 54D: Subject of a renowned curse
Baseball DIAMOND — 68A: Home setting

Had a slow start and slow finish on this one, but otherwise (once I attained knowledge of the theme), the puzzle actually felt pretty easy. I had to dredge WHELK from my brain, which was difficult because A. I had no idea who this non-architect PEI guy was (60D: "Dictionary of Linguistics" linguist) and B. I had crossed my crosswordese and written in ARN (son of Prince Valiant) for AWN (58D: Plant bristle), thus taking away the "W" that whould have helped whith WHELK.

I did not know DIRT could be pluralized (52D: Grimes).

Thought both RECTO (32A: Chapter's starting point, usually) and TORIC (20A: Like some fancy soap bubbles) had tough clues on them today. TORIC bubbles!?!? What kind of space-age bubble bath produces TORIC bubbles?? I think I would get out of a bath that was giving off bubbles shaped like miniature inner tubes. RECTO is a technical book term referring to the side of the page that's on the RIGHT when you're reading (opp. side is VERSO).

This felt like a very witchy puzzle, what with the witch MELTED up top (4D: Like the Wicked Witch of the West at the end of "The Wizard of Oz" — first answer in the grid), and the "curse" of the HOPE [DIAMOND] and a HEX in the NE (11D: Whammy), and SPELLS in the SW (50A: Kisses may break them). Also a little known fact that the full title of R. KELLY's most famous song was "I Believe I Can Fly (Like a Witch)." (24A: Singer with the 2002 hit"Ignition")

Bullets:

22A: "Corydon" author (Gide) — yikes. The title looked somewhat familiar, but needed that "D" to bump that four-letter author name from my brain to the page.
13D: Airport code of the world's busiest airport (ATL) — I've probably said this before, but "world's busiest!?" I had no idea.
27D: Jason who starred in TV's "My Name Is Earl" (Lee) — did that show get canceled? I watched only the first few eps and then lost track.
36D: His first opera was "Rosamund" (Arne) — off the "A," with no knowledge of said opera. Composer, four letters, starts "A" — only once choice. ARNE is the oldest of old skool crosswordese.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

P.S. HELLO FROM THE FUTURE (12/17/09, today, real today) — please enjoy a free puzzle by Patrick Blindauer and me, in honor of today's very special TV anniversary... get it here. Thank You. We now return you to the past ...

P.P.S. For those who missed it on Tuesday, here's the special "40th Birthday" puzzle by Eric Berlin, commissioned by me to celebrate my 40th birthday month — but the puzzle has nothing to do with me. It celebrates another, far more noteworthy 40th birthday. Get the AcrossLite (.puz) version of the puzzle at Amy Reynaldo's crosswordfiend.com site, HERE. Otherwise, just click "Print" below and enjoy.

How the Neighborhood Has Changed