Longtime media columnist David / SUN 8-2-20 / Bird also known as little auk / Longtime Yankees first baseman Mark / Hedge fund titan nicknamed Palindrome / Gish novelist of Resisters Typical American / Mixed Marriage playwright st john greer / Mythical creature on old Bhtanese stamps

Constructor: David Levinson Wilk

Relative difficulty: Average

THEME: "Puzzlin'" — familiar phrases with -ING words in them are reclued as if the "G" were the first letter in the next word in the phrase and the -ING word were changed to a slangy "-IN'" ending:

Theme answers:

• STANDIN' GROOM ONLY (23A: Nobody but the guy gettin' married on his feet?)
• EVERLASTIN' GLOVE (38A: Winter item you'll be wearin' for years?)
• FALLIN' GRAIN (58A: Danger when walkin' in a silo?)
• PARKIN' GRAMP (69A: Drivin' around the lot with pop-pop?)
• QUALIFYIN' ROUND (87A: Sayin' "Look, here's the thing about dry land ..."?)
• FEAR OF MISSIN' GOUT (102A: What was causin' the doctor to check for joint pain?)

Word of the Day: ANN MEYERS (56D: Basketball Hall-of-Famer who was the first woman to sign an N.B.A. contract) —

Ann Meyers Drysdale (born Ann Elizabeth Meyers; March 26, 1955) is an American former basketball player and sportscaster. She was a standout player in high school, college, the Olympic Games, international tournaments, and the professional levels.

Meyers was the first player to be part of the U.S. national team while still in high school. She was the first woman to be signed to a four-year athletic scholarship for college, at UCLA.^[1] She was also the second woman to sign a contract with a National Basketball Association team, the Indiana Pacers (1979). Her USA World Champion team member Lusia "Lucy" Harris-Stewart was the first woman to sign with an NBA team in 1977, the New Orleans Jazz. (wikipedia)

• • •

I don't even know what to say. I don't understand who this puzzle is for. It feels like it's for 1996 or maybe 1985. The theme ... the "jokes" all seems so forced and corny. I mean, the clue on QUALIFYIN' GROUND, for instance, doesn't even make any real sense. "Dry land"? That is your GROUND? And you are imagining someone ... adding some kind of information about "dry land" ... as a form of qualification? It's just so head-shakingly sad, all of this. I'm all for simple and cute, but if this is simple (and I guess it is), the results were repeatedly groany, and not in a "good one!" kind of way. Also the puzzle is really hurt by its low word count. It wants to look impressive by having these big banks of long answers, but they are really costly. NERD ALERT and maybe PHONE SEX are the only answers that seem really nice. Meanwhile, in the "costly" department, we have primo junk like IIN (!?!?) and GOI and ENTO and ASET and AFOE (!?!?!?) and these names, my god, so many names that are clearly only here because they have so many favorable (i.e. RLSTNE) letters in them: ERVINE CABELLO ANNMEYERS NEY MEADE (really, *two* crosswordese military leaders?). GRAMP is not a thing (it's GRAMPS or GRAMPA). OUCHIES is 6000% not a thing. ENNUIS absolutely cannot be pluralized in any reasonable context, my goodness, come on (78D: Ho-hum feelings). Deep mothball smell coming off of this one. I don't know why making a delightful, joyful, or even just light and airy Sunday puzzle is so, so hard. NESPRESSO!? Nespress-no. AALARGE (?), USEALOT (!?!?!). It was a groan-out-loud solve, for sure. ENDE (ugh) of story.


I finished with an error that I absolutely could not find. This is because I had LIE IN instead of LIE ON (40D: Treat as a bed), because I lie in bed, not on bed, and also because ERIS is a goddess so I didn't really think twice about that answer. Now, if I'd read the clue closely ... it would've been a good idea to think twice about it, since the clue was actually asking for a *god* (52A: God who becomes a goddess when an "r" is removed) (EROS). I never bother with those "remove this letter and carry the eight to get another thing!"-type clues. It's a crossword, not a child's rebus puzzle in Highlights magazine. Just clue the answer. Sigh. Anyway, that's all clearly my fault, but since LIE IN is a very plausible answer, and ERIS is in the god/goddess family, you can see (I hope) how finding that particular mistake was well-nigh impossible. Do people call cop cars / squad cars / police cars "RADIO CARS" anymore??? (46A: Receiver of an all-points bulletin). Again, I wonder about what year this puzzle was made in / intended for. The name-y-ness of the puzzle was a little extreme. Count them. There are a lot, and especially a lot up top. TEIXEIRA JEN ERVINE CABELLO SNERT MEADE SHARPTON NEY are all very densely packed in that N/NE section. See also CARR JAYNE CAAN ANNMEYERS NESPRESSO, wow. Names always feel good when you know them and terrible when you don't. Name-dense puzzles are thus dangerous. Not sure EVITE and EBOOK belong in the same grid if you can avoid it. You can leave me the SQUISHY ZEBRAFISH and honestly take most of the rest of this and dispose of it. I just don't understand how this concept qualifies as acceptable fare for the "best puzzle in the country."


So Lollapuzzoola, one of the two crossword tournaments I think are worth going to, would normally be happening in NYC this month, but ... well, you know. Look around at the hellscape that your putrid national leadership hath wrought. Good news, though—the tournament is still happening, entirely on-line, in just under 2 weeks (Saturday, Aug. 15)! Here's organizer Brian Cimmet to tell you all about it:

It’s almost time for the greatest crossword tournament ever held on a Saturday in August – Lollapuzzoola 13 is taking place virtually on Saturday, August 15! There will be five tournament puzzles, extra (optional) games peppered throughout the event, and two skill divisions in which to vie for championship bragging rights. Visit http://bemoresmarter.com/lollapuzzoola for more information and to sign up today!

I expect they're going to break "attendance" records since everyone has equal access to the tourney, wherever they live, and people are understandably desperate for human community of a fun-loving nature. Anyway, you should do this. The in-person version of the tourney is always delightful, and I can't imagine the on-line version would be anything less.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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1966 Michael Caine title role / TUE 12-17-19 / One-named singer who once led the Sugarcubes / Fifth-century barbarians / 1813 battle site in war of 1812

Constructor: David Levinson Wilk

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (I think ... I solved it on clipboard while watching basketball, so I don't really know, but it felt like it would've taken me a little longer than a typical Tuesday at full speed)

THEME: word-LESS clues: — themers are phrases following the model ___-LESS ___; clues represent the answers literally, by removing from the clue all letters in the word that precedes -LESS in the answer. Thus:

Theme answers:

• ODORLESS GASS (17A: _xygen _iflu__ide) (because "oxygen difluoride" is a gas, so without the letters o, d, o, r, it's an ODORLESS GAS)
• TIRELESS WORKER (22A: _ax_ d_iv_r)
• HEADLESS CHICKEN (36A: R_od_ Isl_n_ Red)
• FEARLESS LEADER (46A: _ranklin D_l_no _ossevelt)
• HAIRLESS DOG (54A: __rr_e_) 

Word of the Day: harrier (the seemingly ironically-named HAIRLESS DOG) —

The Harrier is a medium-sized  dog breed of the  hound class, used for hunting hares by trailing them. It resembles an English Foxhound but is smaller, though not as small as a Beagle. (wikipedia)

• • •

"But ... but ... I haz hair. My
coat is ruff!"

Ok so the first thing we should clear up is that the theme clues are actually frequently wrong if taken at the level of word meaning. That is, Oxygen difluoride not only has an odor, that odor is described on its wikipedia page as "peculiar, foul." A harrier is not, in fact, a hairless dog. Rhode Island Reds do, mostly, have heads, I'm sure. You can make your own call on the accuracy of the taxi drive and FDR answers. This isn't a fault of the theme. The theme works *solely* at the letter-level. Although ... now that I think about it, you can make a very good case that taxi drivers are, in fact, pretty tireless workers, and FDR was not just arguably fearless, he was the guy who delivered the Most Famous Quote Ever ever about the importance of being fearless: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." I think this gets to why I found the theme concept, in theory, kind of cute, but in practice, kind of clunky. The theme set felt very loose and arbitrary. Two of the answers seem apt descriptions of their clues, while three are demonstrably false. I dunno. It's fine. I did not hate this, by any means. It just feels a bit (ironically?) shaggy. But as I say, the concept is cute enough to carry it, and the fill, while in no way exciting, is not egregious. So this gets a passing grade from me.


But about that fill. Here's the thing. Sigh. OK, so this would've worked far, far better, I think, and been cleaner and more enjoyable, with four themers instead of five. Why? Well, five puts a lot of structural demands on the grid, and the way *this* grid has handled that burden is by going to a high (max) word count, which is *fine*, except in this case what that means is that ~95% of the non-theme fill is 3, 4, or 5 letters long. There are just four answers that are 6 letters long, and There Are No Answer Longer Than That. It is very hard, if not impossible, to create a grid with any life or personality or zazz or spark or whatever, when you're stuck with all short stuff. At that point, you're mostly just trying to be Not Terrible (and I think this puzzle succeeds at that). But if your highlights (outside the theme) are RASSLE GRAPES HALVES and BADASS, then I submit to you that you have exactly one actual highlight (BADASS), and even that is rather tame. It's not like this grid needed five themers. Seems like the kind of theme that could've run to a dozen. How many -LESS things are there in the world? A bunch, I'm guessing. And by a bunch I mean a ton, a lot, a slew, etc. The point is, the theme set was never ever going to be tight, so opting for four (rather than 5) themers and making a somewhat cleaner, someone snappier grid seems like it might've been the better option. Just a thought.


No real trouble today. Just CHART for GRAPH (1A: Boardroom easel display), and then real problems (still) getting WASH from 26D: Load of laundry—"laundry" and "WASH" feel like the equivalents, so having "Load" as your clue feels awkward. I forgot MSN existed at all, let alone as a [Browser option]. People (still) use that? Anyway, these were just minor stumbling blocks. Mostly it felt like an ordinary Tuesday in terms of difficulty.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Stand-up chain started in Los Angeles / SUN 2-4-18 / Condition for filmdom's Rain Man / Brass instrument with mellow sound / Novo Ogaryovo is official one of Russian president

Constructor: David Levinson Wilk

Relative difficulty: Very Easy

THEME: "Cracking Wise" — answers all relate to comedy AND the "Y"s in the answers are "cracked" to become "V" and "I" in the crosses:

Theme answers:

• THAT'S HYSTERICAL (23A: "Stop! You're killing me!") / VINE
• FUNNY OR DIE (31A: Internet home to "Between Two Ferns") / AVIAS
• DRY SENSE OF HUMOR (50A: A person skilled at deadpan has one) / ELVIS
• EVERYBODY'S A COMEDIAN (67A: Unimpressed response to someone's one-liner) / AVIS + OVID
• THE LAUGH FACTORY (86A: Stand-up chain started in Los Angeles) / E-VITE
• YO MAMA JOKE (100A: It might involve someone being "so poor" or "so old") / VICTOR
• I WAS ONLY KIDDING (115A: "Jeez ... lighten up!") / DEVISE 

Word of the Day: DEREK Walcott (78D:___ Walcott, Nobel Prize-winning poet) —

Sir Derek Alton Walcott, KCSL, OBE, OCC (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was Professor of Poetry at the University of Essex from 2010 to 2013. His works include the Homeric epic poem Omeros (1990), which many critics view "as Walcott's major achievement." In addition to winning the Nobel Prize, Walcott received many literary awards over the course of his career, including an Obie Award in 1971 for his play Dream on Monkey Mountain, a MacArthur Foundation "genius" award, a Royal Society of Literature Award, the Queen's Medal for Poetry, the inaugural OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature,^[3] the 2011 T. S. Eliot Prize for his book of poetry White Egrets and the Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry Lifetime Recognition Award in 2015. (wikipedia)

• • •

I imagine this puzzle will have some fans today, both because the theme has a cleverness about it and because it was super duper easy, so people will feel warmly disposed toward it. I would also have enjoyed the puzzle, I think, if it had a. been smaller (say, a W or a Th) and b. had cleaner fill (there's just too much NEROS ISE RICAN ACARD-type stuff). If the title had been a revealer in a smaller puzzle with clean fill, I would be singing its praises. But the theme wore thin for me—felt like being bludgeoned by the same concept over and over and over—and there wasn't enough about the fill to compensate for the bludgeoning. I like that the "cracking wise" concept related not just to the cracking of the letter "Y" into two letters (in the Downs) but also to the comedy theme throughout. It felt a teeny bit like cheating when non-comedy words, like "factory" or "Yo" or "only," were the ones with the "Y" that was cracked, but you gotta do what you gotta do, especially on a Sunday when you've got a Gigantic grid to fill. I want to acknowledge, and praise, the fact that there are no uncracked "Y"s in the entire grid. That would've bummed me out.


Since the puzzle was so easy, I didn't see the comedy theme at all until very late. Got the "Y" gag at "YNE" (24D: Poison ivy, e.g.) (me: "YNE ... wtf is YNE? That's not a word, f---! Check cross ... check cross, yep ... check cross ... they're all correct. YNE!" I was "Y"-ning. Then I saw the VINE, and it opened up my eyes, I saw the VINE. And so the rest of the puzzle was just a sprint with a few "Y" / "VI" booby traps thrown in. But because I didn't see the comedy theme, I had real trouble imagining what the hell kind of FACTORY it could be. My knowledge of FACTORY chains ends at THE CHEESECAKE. But all I had to do was run the short Downs—LIRE / ADO / USO—and THE LAUGH came into view. PIA was scary because even though all the crosses checked, it felt wrong. But it worked. No bumps, no bruises. Too many plural names (AARONS, RENES, NEROS) and too many A-something partials (ACARD, AHERO), and even though there's only one -STER, that's really one too many. I think Sundays are just hard to do well all the way through. If everything's not perfect, there's just ... more. More answers, more space, more room to screw things up. This one just went on too long and wasn't quite strong enough. A smaller version might've worked fine. Here, I got tired. OK, bye.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. gah, I *knew* I'd seen the "VI"-for-"Y" gimmick before, but didn't bother to go hunting. Luckily my friend Erin did, and it was the NYT itself that ran the puzzle ... and just two years ago (second time in recent days that the NYT has recycled a puzzle concept less than 2 years old ...). Here's that grid, from the Thursday, Sep. 29, 2016 puzzle (as you can see there's a "DD"-for-"B" thing going on too...):

Puzzle by Jonathan Kaye
Screenshot from crosswordfiend.com

P.S. Hey, SYNDICATED SOLVERS: Peter Gordon's weekly Fireball Newsflash Crossword kickstarter for 2018-19 ends today (Sunday, February 11, 2018), so get in on that and keep your xword skills and current events trivia Up To Date throughout the year.

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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2014 Jennifer Lawrence Bradley Cooper film / TUE 12-15-15 / Monomaniacal mariner / Nickname on 1960s-80s Red Sox / 1980 one-woman comedy produced by Lorne Michaels

Constructor: David Levinson Wilk

Relative difficulty: Medium (maybe slightly tougher than normal)

THEME: BOBS UP AND DOWN (15D: Moves like a buoy in the ocean ... or a hint to this circled parts of this puzzle?) — the last names of famous BOBS run UP AND (then) DOWN (and then UP AND (then) DOWN again) in circled squares inside the theme answers:

Theme answers:

• PRINCESS OF WALES (3D: Elton John's dedicatee for "Candle in the Wind 1997")
• CANDYLAND (4D: Classic board game with a Peppermint Forest)
• "GILDA LIVE" (35D: 1980 one-woman comedy produced by Lorne Michaels)
• SMOOTH OPERATORS (10D: Don Juan types)

Word of the Day: "SERENA" (23D: 2014 Jennifer Lawrence / Bradley Cooper film) —

Serena is a 2014 American–French drama film based on the 2008 novel of the same name by American author Ron Rash. Directed by Susanne Bier, the film stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper as newlyweds running a timber business in 1930s North Carolina. [...] The film earned £95,000 ($153,310) on its opening weekend in the United Kingdom, debuting at No. 19 at the UK box office. In its second week, the film dropped to finish 34th, grossing £11,645 from 37 screens. The movie ended its run with a total gross of $320,907 (£200,557) // The film made $1 million on video on demand in the United States before its theatrical release. The movie opened in 59 screens across the United States on March 20, 2015, and earned $100,090 for a 30th-place finish. As of November 9, 2014, the film had a theatrical domestic gross of $100,090 and an international theatrical gross of $3,723,317 for a worldwide total of $3,823,407. // In The Irish Times, Donald Clark praised the cinematography as " exquisite," but suggested that Lawrence's performance was "genuinely poor." He concluded, "Nobody is likely to see the [film]." (wikipedia)

• • •

 
SPECIAL MESSAGE for SYNDICATED solvers for the week of January 17-January 24, 2016 

Hello, syndicated (i.e. 1-to-5-week-behind) solvers! Somehow, it is January again, which means it's time for my once-a-year pitch for financial contributions to the blog. The idea is very simple: if you read the blog regularly (or even semi-regularly), please consider what it's worth to you on an annual basis and give accordingly. In making this pitch, I'm pledging that the blog will continue to be here for you to read / enjoy / grimace at for at least another calendar year. This year is special, as it will mark the 10th anniversary of Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle, and despite my not-infrequent grumblings about less-than-stellar puzzles, I've actually never been so excited to be thinking and writing about crosswords. I have no way of knowing what's coming from the NYT, but the broader world of crosswords looks very bright, and that is sustaining. Whatever happens, this blog will remain an outpost of the Old Internet: no ads, no corporate sponsorship, no whistles and bells. Just the singular, personal voice of someone talking passionately about a topic he loves. As I have said in years past, I know that some people are opposed to paying for what they can get for free, and still others really don't have money to spare. Both kinds of people are welcome to continue reading my blog, with my compliments. It will always be free. I have no interest in cordoning it off, nor do I have any interest in taking advertising. I value my independence too much. Anyway, if you are so moved, there is a Paypal button in the sidebar, and a mailing address here:

Rex Parker
℅ Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton NY 13905

And here: I'll stick a PayPal button in here for the mobile users.

There. Hope that helps.

For people who send me actual, honest-to-god (i.e. "snail") mail (I love snail mail!), this year my thank-you cards are "Sibley Backyard Birding Postcards"—each card a different watercolor illustration by ornithologist David Sibley. You could get a Black PHOEBE. A California TOWHEE. Or maybe even a picture of some fabled SCARLET TANAGERS (15). Or give via PayPal and get a thank-you email. That's cool too. Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just say NO CARD.  As I say in every thank-you card (and email), I'm so grateful for your readership and support. So thanks, not A TAD, but A TON (partial fill! coming in useful!). Now on to the puzzle …

• • •

I'm sure things are happening in this grid that are interesting, but there is only one thing I want to talk about, and that is the cluing of SERENA (23D: 2014 Jennifer Lawrence / Bradley Cooper film). I'm sorry, correction: "SERENA." This is possibly the stupidest, most ridiculous, most inexplicable and ill-advised clue in the history of cluing. So ... let me get this straight. On a Tuesday (a Tuesday!) you have SERENA in your grid and instead of using The Greatest Female Tennis Player of All Time, The Only Truly Puzzle-Worthy SERENA There Is*, you decide you are, instead, perhaps in a bid to be bold and outrageous, perhaps in a deeply misguided fit of hipness-aspiration, perhaps perhaps perhaps, going to clue "SERENA" by way of a movie that not literally but almost literally no one saw. Because? Because it starred Bradley Cooper (ooh) and Jennifer Lawrence (aah)?! No. No no no. Again, this is a Tuesday puzzle we're talking about. Actually, I don't think that matters—this clue would be crap on any day of the week. In what universe does this ridiculous non-movie movie clue bring pleasure or recognition or Anything to Anybody except righteous anger that we are being force-fed the most bottom-of-the-barrel junk by pretty movie stars while the truly deserving champion sits there overlooked? "The film had a theatrical domestic gross of $100,090." Just chew on that sentence for a second. Now chew on SERENA Williams' 21 Grand Slam singles titles. And this on a day when actual, presumably sentient, human beings (plural) are "upset" that Sports Illustrated's Sportsperson of the Year Award went to SERENA Williams and not ... a horse. A *&%^ing horse who doesn't know how to spell its own *&%^ing name. This disrespect ... This is not new.  Read "Citizen" by Claudia Rankine. As for the rest of this puzzle ... I don't even remember or care right now.


Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*I might also accept Samantha's cousin SERENA from "Bewitched" ... but not on a Tuesday.


P.S. the male-dominated audience of sports talk radio has spoken on this matter (Thank god!). Serena's not just behind the horse—she's not even on the leaderboard.

[screenshot from this morning's "Mike & Mike" show on ESPN2]

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Pachacuti's people / WED 4-2-14 / Actress Dash of Clueless / Jewelry designer Peretti / So-called potted physician / Challenger's announcement at pickup game / Singer Smith of punk music / Beast in documentary Blackfish

Constructor: David Levinson Wilk

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: that's out of — wacky ("?"-style) clues are not wacky at all, but literal; while it appears that the phrase "out of" in the clues starts an idiomatic phrase, it's really a cue for you to make the answer (clued by the first part of the clue) OUT OF the words that follow, i.e. anagram the phrase following "out of" to get an answer to the first part of the clue. [Breathe] Thus:

Theme answers:

• 17A: Weapon part that's out of this world? = weapon part that is made out of the letters in "this world" = SWORD HILT
• 11D: Drenched gangsters who are out of the woods? (SHOOT DEW)
• 41A: Attack on a Mideast land that's out of thin air? ("HI, TRAIN!")
• 40D: Military laundry that's out of harm's way? (WARY HAMS)
• 66A: Fisherman's feat that's out of character? (RACE CHART)

Word of the Day: ECOTONE (10D: Environmental transition area) —

An ecotone is a transition area between two biomes. It is where two communities meet and integrate. It may be narrow or wide, and it may be local (the zone between a field and forest) or regional (the transition between forest and grassland ecosystems). An ecotone may appear on the ground as a gradual blending of the two communities across a broad area, or it may manifest itself as a sharp boundary line.

The word ecotone was coined from a combination of eco(logy) plus -tone, from the Greek tonos or tension – in other words, a place where ecologies are in tension. (wikipedia)

• • •

Was worried I'd forgotten how to not like a puzzle, but it's like falling off a bike or log or one of those: no sweat. Cute idea (literalizing idioms that begin "out of…"),  but the answers are nonsense. IRAN HIT is nonsense. WET HOODS is nonsense. There was no joy in getting these. There was especially no joy because I had no idea what was going on until I was finished. My "aha" moment was more of a "hmmm maybe if I could go back in time and somehow know this *while* solving I might've felt differently about this puzzle but I really doubt it" moment. The grid looks great, otherwise (except for that MCLI / ITA / AGR part). ECOTONE's a crutch, but I GOT NEXT is killer, and who doesn't love ARMPIT? Sexy.


"NOW A TRY A IT ON!" — things a horrible caricature of an Italian tailor might say!?

I had S-A and -UR for a long time (i.e. seconds, but still). Lichtenstein's locale is, undoubtedly, EURope, and yet somehow that feels a bit like having the clue [Kentucky's locale] for NORTH AMERICA. But SEAs have "swells" so I figured it out. I like the groupings of people in the NW and SE corners. LESTER Holt and STACEY Dash are an unlikely double date—romantic comedy waiting  to happen—and I love the image of sad Kirk COBAIN and sad DOOBIE Brothers sadly standing on the street, staring at DISCOS that won't let them in because they aren't dressed right. It's possible Men AT WORK are there too.

[Sax-o-ma-phone!]
Many thanks to Matt, Ben, Angela, Doug, The Klein Sisters, and Andy for keeping things going while I was gone. I'm most grateful. Now to sleep, which I haven't done in … let's see, today, then 16 hours transit time from CA including red-eye flight, then yesterday, carry the one … [falls asleep calculating]

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Faerie Queene woman / THU 5-23-13 / Green of TV's Robot Chicken / Company with Running Man logo / Setting of Camus's Stranger / Bluffer's giveaway / Fleming of Spellbound / Sculpture Kryptos sits outside its hdqrs / Me say this word in 1957 hit

Constructor: David Levinson Wilk

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (Easy for me, but times at NYT suggest not That easy)

THEME: REN ROA ZIE REA DOS — not really: theme is actually a riddle / play on words

18A: With 50-Across, how one can tell that this puzzle was up all night waiting to be solved? (IT HAS CIRCLES / UNDER ITS EYES) ... thus, there are circles under the letter string "EYE" throughout the grid.

Word of the Day: Carol HEISS (44D: Five-time world figure skating champion Carol) —

Carol Elizabeth Heiss Jenkins (born January 20, 1940 in New York City) is an American figure skater and former actress. She is the 1960 Olympic Champion in Ladies Singles, 1956 Olympic silver medalist and five-time World Champion (1956–1960). (wikipedia)

• • •

I solved this puzzle as soon as it came out, at 10pm, so it wasn't "up all night waiting to be solved" at all.

Like yesterday's puzzle, this puzzle's theme answers are almost too easy to solve. With the first few letters of the "answer" in place (in the NW), I got the whole thing. Then the only thing that was left to do was figure out what other layer there would be to the theme? What do the circles spell out? What does the central Across answer have to do with the theme? Turns out the answers are "nothing" and "it has EYE in it," respectively. My fellow blogger tells me that the Internet Anagram Server's first offering, if you plug in all the circled letters, is A DREARIER SNOOZE, but I'd rate this puzzle somewhat higher than that.


Unlike yesterday's puzzle, however, this one is solidly filled. I do tend to dislike exclamations like YECH and YEOW, since the spelling always feels improvised and arbitrary, and -ULE and ESTH. are gross, but most of the rest of it is OK. Wait, no—I take that back. AMORY WTF!? (63A: ___ Blaine, protagonist of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "This Side of Paradise") I would accept AMORY if the letters in the circles did anything besides sit there—that is, if it mattered what letters were in those circles. But it doesn't. Does it? So ... AMORY seems perverse. There's a certain quirky imagination at work in this puzzle, and I like that. The joke is corny and the puzzle was too easy, but I appreciate the attempt at originality here.


Finished this one in just a few seconds over 5, which is (once again) about a minute to 90 seconds faster than my typical time for this day of the week. I attribute this speed almost entirely to the easily graspable theme, though the fill was all right over the plate, for the most part. I only struggled slightly, in weird places, with stuff like LBJ and VOLLEYERS and HEISS (44D: Five-time world figure skating champion Carol). Had some good guesses along the way. Got ISBN off the "S", ESTH. off the "H", etc. I knew who Stephanie MEYER and MIMI Rogers and SETH Green (6A: Green of TV's "Robot Chicken") and Ned YOST were—I suppose if you didn't, this could've played much harder. But I didn't know AMORY or IRENA (13A: "The Faerie Queene" woman) or HEISS and still didn't get held up. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Bacteriologist Paul who coined word Chemotherapy / THU 2-7-13 / Regular in Judd Apatow comedies / Flanders Kelly / Tinseltown terrier / William Steig book on which hit 2001 film was based

Constructor: David Levinson Wilk

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging 

THEME: H & R BLOCK (67A: Subject of the Final Jeopardy! question that knocked out Ken Jennings after a record 74 wins ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme) — an "HR" rebus, with six "HR" squares (and an ampersand [!] for good measure)

Word of the Day: Paul E[HR]LICH (64A: Bacteriologist Paul who coined the word "chemotherapy") —

Paul Ehrlich (help·info) (born 14 March 1854 in Strehlen near Breslau – died 20 August 1915 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe) was a German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology, and chemotherapy. He invented the precursor technique to Gram staining bacteria, and the methods he developed for staining tissue made it possible to distinguish between different type of blood cells, which led to the capability to diagnose numerous blood diseases. His laboratory discoveredArsphenamine (Salvarsan), the first effective medicinal treatment for syphilis, thereby initiating and also naming the concept of chemotherapy. Ehrlich popularized the concept of a “magic bullet”. He also made a decisive contribution to the development of an antiserum to combat diphtheria and conceived a methodology for standardizing therapeuticserums. In 1908 he received a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions to immunology.(wikipedia)

• • •

From now until May, Thursday write-ups will tend to be fairly brief, as I have a very early morning and thus need to get to bed reasonably early quickly if I'm going to both get up on time and be useful to anyone. I rather liked this puzzle. The "&" acted (oddly) like an exclamation point, punctuating an already unusual puzzle with the unusual inclusion of a non-letter square. You almost never see such a thing. In fact, I can remember only one time where "&" was in a puzzle, and it was in a tournament context, not in the NYT proper. I'm sure it's been done before in the NYT, but ... I can't recall when. Anyway, nice touch. I really really don't like the clue on H&R BLOCK at all. There's something winky and insidery and elitist-seeming about it. Who follows Ken Jennings (a smart, funny guy, from what I can tell from Twitter and other venues) so slavishly that they know this absurd bit of trivia? Don't answer, as maybe it's you, but ... this is not a thing one should be expected to know. It's absurd. On the other hand, by the time I got to the clue, I knew the theme, and so when HUMAN RESOURCES didn't fit, H&R BLOCK was the next logical choice, so belonging to the KJ fan club ended up not being necessary to solve this baby. Now, if you had No idea there was a rebus involved, then it *might* have been nice to have the revealer be a little more ... gettable by the average human being. My time was pretty normal for a Thursday rebus puzzle, which is to say somewhat above average, but not inordinately so.


As is typical for me with rebuses, I had a slow start. Just a couple of answers in the NW and little else. Ironically, SETH ROGEN was the first face that popped into my mind at 17A: Regular in Judd Apatow comedies, but he didn't fit, so I ditched it. Had TEENAGER in there at one point (thinking of the legendary "Freaks & Geeks" rather than any of Apatow's movies). Anyway, even after I got the theme, I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to get into that corner. How am I supposed to know the [State that is home to the Natl. Teachers Hall of Fame]?! (it's KAN). But ASHRAM saved me—and got me to see SETH ROGEN. First picked up the theme at SLEIGH RIDE. After that, none of the "HR" squares presented much trouble. GEHRIG and SHREK (58D: William Steig book on which a hit 2001 film was based) and NEPHROLOGIST and NEHRU (11D: Prime minister who gave his name to an article of clothing) were all gimmes.

Bullets:

• 34A: Tinseltown terrier (ASTA) — sightings of this dog have declined quite a bit—or so it seems—since I started blogging (over six years ago). This is a good thing.
• 41A: Home of the Azadi Tower (TEHRAN) — Just a note to say: AZADI! That's some nice Fri/Sat fill.
• 60A: "Little" name in 1960s pop (EVA) — I think I learned about her name from crosswords, though I certainly knew her music well before that.

• 5D: Props used in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (NOOSES) — answers here seemed theoretically infinite. First thought: SERAPES (PONCHOS?). 
• 57D: Flanders and Kelly (NEDS) — an ultra-religious toon and an Australian outlaw. Nice pairing.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Funky Cold Medina rapper Tone / WED 7-18-12 / Wife of Augustus / Doughboy's headgear / Gershon of Showgirls

Constructor: David Levinson Wilk

Relative difficulty: Wednesdayish

THEME: Same-Sex Marriage — Men are brought together in gridly matrimony.

Word of the Day: PETRICHOR (Not actually in the puzzle, but it's awesome) —

Petrichor is the scent of rain on dry earth. The word is constructed from Greek, petra, meaning stone + ichor, the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology. The term was coined in 1964 by two Australian researchers, Bear and Thomas, for an article in the journal Nature. In the article, the authors describe how the smell derives from an oil exuded by certain plants during dry periods, whereupon it is absorbed by clay-based soils and rocks. During rain, the oil is released into the air along with another compound, geosmin, producing the distinctive scent. (Wikipedia)

• • •

Greetings, Rextarians. The smarter half of DougKat is in the house, bringing you your daily dose of blog. Fun puzzle today. Let's get to it.

Theme answers:

• 16A: 1864's March to the Sea? (SHERMAN MANEUVER)
• 22A: Something once consulted before plugging in headphones? (WALKMAN MANUAL)
• 37A: Wearing togas and saying "Ave," e.g.? (ROMAN MANNERISMS)
• 47A: The Marshall plan, e.g.? (TRUMAN MANDATE)
• 57A: Hot-button issue hinted at by 16-, 22-, 37- and 47-Across? (SAME-SEX MARRIAGE)

First off, I've got a confession to make. I'm a peeker. Before I start a puzzle, I always take a peek at the last theme entry to see if it provides a hint about the theme. So I had SAME-SEX MARRIAGE filled in before any of the others. I know I shouldn't peek, because it ruins the "aha moment," but I can't help myself! When I was a kid, I used to secretly slice open the wrapping on all my Christmas presents and look at them. So I had no surprises on Christmas morning. In fact, I peeked at everybody's presents. Jeez, kinda sad, isn't it?

My favorite entry/clue was ROMAN MANNERISMS. It was goofy enough to tickle my funny bone. I thought TRUMAN MANDATE was a little boring, until I realized that a MAN DATE could eventually lead to a SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. Gives that entry a little more oomph. And here's one for the ladies: The champion calf roper always used a FIRST-CLASS LASSO.

Bullets:

• 8D: Tennis's Ivanovic (ANA) — Looks like she's getting married at 45 Down. Congratulations!
• 10A: "Funky Cold Medina" rapper Tone ___ (LOC) — I just noticed all the names in the upper right corner. Some of you may have gotten all Naticked up. I know Tone Lōc, but he's not exactly in the rap pantheon. If you're a little older than me or a little younger than me, he might not be on your radar at all. I guess I'm in the Tone Lōc sweet spot.
• 12D: Psychologist Jung (CARL) — Uh oh, I know people are going to put KARL here and get Tone Lōk for 10A. Actually Tone Lōk looks cooler and more rappy than Tone Lōc, so I wouldn't even count that as an error.
• 45A: Words after count or clue (MEIN) — I know a place in Chinatown that has great clue mein.

• 31D / 33D: Actress Thurman / Actress Rigg who played the only Bond girl to wed 007 (UMA / DIANA) — This reminds me of the time I put UMA into a puzzle with the clue [She played Emma in "The Avengers"]. Man, I got so many angry comments on that clue. Diana Rigg has some hardcore fans. To make it up to them, I've included this sexy photo from "The Avengers." Enjoy!
• 51D: Author depicted next to a steamboat on a 2011 stamp (TWAIN) — The post office loses billions of dollars a year, right? I've got a genius idea to get them back in the black. Why not sell ad space on postage stamps? I'm sure Coke or Disney or Nike or somebody would pay to have their logos and products plastered on postage stamps. Believe me, if there were official "The Dark Knight Rises" postage stamps, I'd be in line at the post office everyday.

Signed, Doug, Factotum of CrossWorld

P.S. [from Rex]: Hey everyone. Hope you're enjoying the hard work of my substitutes while I'm in New Zealand. I'll be back on the job a week from today. In the meantime, please enjoy this article I wrote for Rock Cellar Magazine about crosswords, music, and an assortment of new books from some the best independent constructors in the business: "A Crossword Puzzle Revolution? Indie Puzzle-Makers and the Music that Moves Them" (Rock Cellar Magazine, July '12). If you enjoy it, please tell a friend. Or Friend. Or "Friend." Or many friends. Thanks to all my stand-ins, and I'll see you next week—RP

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