Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Danny J. Rooney

Constructor: Danny J. Rooney

Relative difficulty: Easy (yet again)

THEME: OO7 — wacky theme answers imitate the alleged "iconic accent" of SEAN CONNERY (changing "S" sounds to "SH" sounds) (113A: Classic 111-Across portrayer, whose iconic accent is suggested by the answers to italicized clues). There's an additional JAMES BOND element (111A: Secret agent first introduced in 1953), with MARTINI (33D: Favorite drink of 111-Across), and a bunch of circled double-"O" squares that, when connected, form the numeral "7" (thus making a "7" composed of DOUBLE "O" s or ... a DOUBLE-"O" Seven (OO7) (66D: Feature of this puzzle's circled squares that, when connected by a single line, visually represents 111-Across):

Theme anshers:

MOVE YOUR ASH (22A: "Don't flick that cigarette over here!")
WHAT A MESH (24A: "Incredible! This mosquito net didn't let in even one bug!")
GOD SHAVE THE KING (52A: "Dear Lord! His Majesty's beard is out of control!")
SHINED SHIELD DELIVERED (63A: "Just dropped off some of your newly buffed knight's protection!")
"COULD I HAVE A SHIP?" (74A: "Can you offer me anything bigger than skiffs, dinghies and pontoons?")

Word of the Day: Hero & LEANDER (91A: Hero's partner in myth)

Hero and Leander (/ˈhiːroʊ/, /liːˈændər/) is the Greek myth relating the story of Hero (Ancient Greek: Ἡρώ, Hērṓ; [hɛː.rɔ̌ː]), a priestess of Aphrodite (Venus in Roman mythology) who dwelt in a tower in Sestos on the European side of the Hellespont, and Leander (Ancient Greek: Λέανδρος, Léandros; [lé.an.dros] or Λείανδρος), a young man from Abydos on the opposite side of the strait. // Leander falls in love with Hero and swims every night across the Hellespont to spend time with her. Hero lights a lamp at the top of her tower to guide his way. Leander's soft words and charms—and his argument that Aphrodite, as the goddess of love and sex, would scorn the worship of a virgin—convince Hero, and they make love. Their secret love affair lasts through a warm summer, but when winter and its rougher weather looms, they agree to part for the season and resume in the spring. One stormy winter night, however, Leander sees the torch at the top of Hero's tower. He attempts to go to her, but halfway through his swim, a strong winter wind blows out Hero's light, and Leander loses his way and drowns. When Hero sees his dead body, she throws herself off the tower to join him in death. Their bodies wash up on shore together, locked in embrace, and are then subsequently buried in a lovers’ tomb.

• • •

Is that how he talks? I guess sho. Anyway, the sound switch yields some mildly funny wacky phrases, with the central answer being suitably flashy (double sound change!), so I liked that aspect of the theme fine. The double-"O" thing is less successful. It's harmless ... but actually, no, I'm not sure it is. I see now that early on, when I recoiled at the subpar fill (namely my OMOO / TO ERR opening), I was recoiling at subpar fill that wouldn't have been there at all if it weren't for this whole "OO" angle. No big fan of PATOOT or OOHS, either. But you gotta do what you gotta do to make your little picture come off. Seems super-awkward to have DOUBLE O as an answer all by its lonesome. I know the giant picture of a "7" is supposed to provide the "7" in JAMES BOND's code number, but the picture actually contains the whole code number within it, making DOUBLE O entirely unnecessary *except* as a means for telling people to connect those DOUBLE "O"s. Awkward to draw a diagonal line through "OO"s that are not oriented on a diagonal, but since the computer did it for me, I can't really complain. Is the "7" really a "single line"? I would've described it as two lines—a horizontal line and a diagonal line (when I write a "7", I add a little bar across the downstroke, but that's neither here nor there). Both JAMES BOND and SEAN CONNERY came as anticlimaxes—well, JAMES BOND did, for sure. I could tell by then (from MARTINI, actually) where the puzzle was going, though I didn't take the time to think about the pictorial element, so that was something of a surprise. Not particularly thrilling overall, but better than most Sundays I've done of late. Lots and lots of theme material, all of it reasonably well executed, and no real cringe in the grid. A fine NYTXW debut for this constructor.

One other nice touch: no stray (uncircled) "OO"s. In a Sunday-sized puzzle, a certain number of "OO"s are going to be naturally occurring (I have no stats on this, I'm just guessing), but not today, because it would interfere with the theme. Actually, it wouldn't interfere that much with the theme, since the relevant "OO"s are circled, but there's a certain elegance to having the only "OO"s in this puzzle be thematic. There's also a decent amount of longer non-theme fill to give the grid added color. Banks of 8s in the corners, all of them solid, and then IDEAL MATE (nice) right down the middle. "THAT'S ME!" and "SADLY, YES" and "I'M OVER IT" and "IT'LL DO" and "YOU SURE?" give the grid a chatty, colloquial tone. As for trouble spots, I don't see many. I forgot NICOL Williamson's name (despite knowing very well who he is) and tried ... maybe NILES? And NIGEL? ... before crosses led me to NICOL (Williamson who played Merlin in "Excalibur"). NICOL next to EDOM (which I initially spelled like the wax-covered cheese) was a little bit of a choke point. LEANDER is another proper noun that might've been unknown to people—I had to read Marlowe's "Hero and LEANDER" in college, in my British Literature I course, and then I went on to study medieval and early modern literature in grad school, so Hero and LEANDER are old pals of mine. Really liked the clues on both SILENCER (42A: Device for cutting bangs?) and NOSE HAIR (16D: Part of a personal air filtration system). I mean, it's a little gross to find a NOSE HAIR in your puzzle, but I thought the puzzle handled it with APLOMB, giving it a whimsical little "?" clue as a way of slightly mitigating the potential yuck factor. (In case the wordplay on the SILENCER clue wasn't clear, "bangs" are "cut" because a SILENCER muffles (or "cuts") the sound of the report (the "bang") when a gun is fired)

What else?:

1D: Win for an away team (HOME LOSS) — did not like. "For an away team," a win is a win is a win. It's never a loss. The clue tells us to see the clue from the away team's perspective, and then gives us HOME LOSS, which is something that happens to the home team. A win for an away team is a HOME LOSS for the other team. That clue isn't tricky, it's just busted.
1A: Maximum extent, in an idiom (HILT) — I like how the puzzle went for the idiom here, and then stayed idiomatic for the other (nearby) "maximum" answer: EVEREST (26A: Greatest potential accomplishment, metaphorically). Imagining these familiar terms as idioms, and then practically juxtaposing them, made them more interesting than they would likely have been otherwise.
37A: Nipsey Russell's role in 1978's "The Wiz" (TIN MAN) — ah, I forgot that was Nipsey Russell. All I remember is Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow. Ted Ross played the Cowardly Lion. He's the least famous name of the bunch, but he was a really accomplished actor who won a Tony (!) for playing the Lion in the original 1975 Broadway production. He was also a mainstay of '70s/'80s TV, and played Bitterman (Arthur's chauffeur) in Arthur (1981) (which is probably how I know him best). As for Nipsey Russell, I know him from Match Game and I don't know what else. He was just ... in the air in the '70s. Ambient celebrity. Seems like he was mostly famous for being a game show panelist, and reciting short funny poems, which (I'm told) earned him his nickname, the "poet laureate of television."

71A: Green gemstone (PERIDOT) — don't think I ever even heard of this "gemstone" until I was well into adulthood. It's the August birthstone, so nice job getting it into the puzzle just under the wire.
61A: New Zealand parrot that can solve logic puzzles (KEA) — always thrilled to see the NZ parrot, mainly because I have literally seen the New Zealand parrot (they're pretty common in parts of the South Island) and kinda love what mischievous assholes they can be. Imagine pigeons if they were very smart and prone to stealing your food, your camera, whatever.

92D: Grounder to second, often (EASY OUT) — true enough, though I semi-mindlessly typed in EASY ONE.
84D: Greaves and cuisses, but not gauntlets and helmets (LEG ARMOR) — another clue where having some background in early English literature (as well as childhood experience playing D&D) came in handy. I thought this answer might be a debut, but it's actually the fourth appearance, all of them fairly recent (Kameron Austin Collins debuted the term back in 2017)

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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