Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Feature of Las Vegas bandit

Constructors: Peter A. Collins and Joe Krozel

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: TREE (46A: Thing depicted by this puzzle's circled letters) — circled letters contain words LIMB, TRUNK, and ROOT in their pictorially appropriate places.

Word of the Day: Iloilo (10D: Philippine seaport) —

The City of Iloilo (Filipino: Lungsod ng Iloilo, Hiligaynon: Ciudad sang Iloilo) is the capital of, but independent from, the province of Iloilo. It is the economic hub of the Western Visayas region, as well as the center of the Iloilo-Guimaras Metropolitan Area.

Iloilo was historically one of the major agricultural centers of the Philippines, exporting sugar, copra, bananas, mangoes and other natural resources during the Spanish and American colonial periods.

In the 2007 census, Iloilo City had a population of 418,710 households with a 2.0% annual growth rate. (wikipedia)

This felt like a Monday puzzle with a big, spiky ILOILO plonked down on top of it. Speaking of spiky, that is one ugly TREE. If I cover the ROOTs with my hand, the circles make a shape that looks slightly more treelike, but still — a LIMB that sticks straight up from the TRUNK? Bigger problem than the tree's ugliness was its obviousness, and its major role in tipping the whole puzzle toward the dramatically easy. As is typical with these "ooh, look at me" grids, I just started filling the puzzle as if it were any old puzzle. NW went down in a flash, I saw that the circled parts spelled LIMB, and I filled in the other circles easily from there. This made numerous answers, including my old nemesis ILOILO, really easy to see. There were practically no pockets of resistance. I felled this tree with too much ease. Two things to this puzzle's credit. First, the LIMBs and ROOTs all attach to the TRUNK of the TREE at the same letter ("B" and "R," respectively), which is a nice touch. Further, the fill is, for once, really really smooth. I say "for once" because typically, in the "ooh, look at me" grid, horrific compromises are made in the fill. Not so today, ILOILO notwithstanding. Oh, and also, LIMB TRUNK and ROOT in the central Downs all get non-tree clues, though TRUNK is way down my list of possible magician's props (31D: Magician's prop). Carrot Top prop, maybe.

Bullets:

9A: Campaign against Troy, e.g. (siege) — 10 years long, of which the Iliad covers only the tail end.
20A: Feature of a Las Vegas "bandit" (one arm) — "one-armed bandit" = slot machine.
27A: 24-line verse form (ballade) — all examples I'm looking up have more than 24 lines. The three 8-line stanzas are typically followed by an envoy of some kind (often 4 lines long). Here's Dante Gabriel Rosetti's translation of a François Villon ballade:

THE BALLAD OF DEAD LADIES.
( François Villon, 1450.)

Tell me now in what hidden way is
Lady Flora the lovely Roman?
Where's Hipparchia, and where is Thais,
Neither of them the fairer woman?
Where is Echo, beheld of no man,
Only heard on river and mere,—
She whose beauty was more than human? . . .
But where are the snows of yester-year?

Where's Héloise, the learned nun,
For whose sake Abeillard, I ween,
Lost manhood and put priesthood on?
(From Love he won such dule and teen!)
And where, I pray you, is the Queen
Who willed that Buridan should steer
Sewed in a sack's mouth down the Seine? . . .
But where are the snows of yester-year?

White Queen Blanche, like a queen of lilies,
With a voice like any mermaiden,—
Bertha Broadfoot, Beatrice, Alice,
And Ermengarde the lady of Maine,—
And that good Joan whom Englishmen
At Rouen doomed and burned her there,—
Mother of God, where are they then? . . .
But where are the snows of yester-year?

Nay, never ask this week, fair lord,
Where they are gone, nor yet this year,
Save with thus much for an overword,—
But where are the snows of yester-year?

32A: Water cannon target (rioter) — unpleasant. I was thinking the "cannon" was a toy. Way off.
39A: Kiltie's instrument (pipes) — a "kiltie" is a Scot. Got this off the "P".
47A: "Night" novelist (Wiesel) — Usually shows up in the puzzle as ELIE.
54A: Software buyer, usually (end user) — goes reasonably nicely with PC Lab (8D: Place for a programming class, perhaps).
58A: Tool at Henley (oar) — oddly, one of the few answers that I didn't fill in instantly. I watched this reality show recently called "The Girls of Hedsor Hall" and for whatever reason "Henley" was evoking only posh finishing school, not a Royal Regatta. At least I got the country right.
13D: Egg roll time (Easter) — this clue makes me laugh. "Egg roll time? Any time! They're delicious!"
35D: Daisy Mae's guy (Abner) — and again and again and again ...
45D: '63 Liz Taylor role (Cleo) — her crosswordiest role ever.
48D: Yoga instructor's direction (inhale) — this is quite true. I did this puzzle last night right after returning from a yoga class where this "direction" was used a lot.
52D: Flying Cloud automaker (REO) — three-letters, a model I've never heard of ... must be olde-timey. REO. Easy.