Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Hack Saws

Constructor: Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "Hack Saws" — Clues are beginnings of adages. Answers are jokes. Hack jokes.

Word of the Day: RESH (93D: Hebrew letter after koph) —

n.
The 20th letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
[Hebrew rêš, of Aramaic or Phoenician dialectal origin.] (answers.com)

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Groaners. Not a fan. You like this kind of humor or you don't. I don't. Not much else to say about the theme.

Fill was OK, though occasionally cruddy. I resent having to know every damned letter of the Hebrew alphabet. RESH? Whatever. That section (from RESH across to ENABLES) was by far the toughest part of the puzzle for me. Wanted GRUMPINESS or GROUCHINESS for GR---NESS (82D: Surly manner). No fit. The "joke" was not helping me fill in REDEFINE. At that point, I just wanted it all to be over. And soon, it was.

Theme answers:

27A: "A penny saved is ..." ("NOT ENOUGH TO RETIRE ON") — HA ha! Zing! Wait, that's not funny. It's not enough for anything.
35A: "Where there's a will, there's ..." ("GOING TO BE A RELATIVE") — that feels like an oldie. Because, of course, it is.
56A: "Where there's smoke, there's ..." ("AIR POLLUTION")
66A: "People who live in glass houses ..." ("LET IT ALL HANG OUT") — ??? I would think they would be quite careful about letting anything hang out.

80A: "He who laughs last ..." ("FINALLY GOT IT") — what about he who never laughs because it's not funny.
99A: "If at first you don't succeed ..." ("REDEFINE THE MISSION")
108A: "Don't bite the hand ..." ("THAT HASN'T BEEN WASHED") — you are biting people. Germs are the least of your problems.

NOLITA is a neighborhood I've never heard of (89A: Neighborhood east of SoHo). I guess NARITA (a well-known airport) was too much of a gimme, or else there is some kind of provincial NYC answer quota that wasn't being met until NOLITA went in. Too bad there's no such word (or knight) as SIRLOIL (51D: Prime cut). KI-MOON feels like a terrible partial, even though the hyphen clearly makes it one name unit (78D: Ban ___ (Kofi Annan's successor)). Reminded me of a question I asked my Facebook followers a couple days ago: Which is a worse partial: BOYZ II or II MEN? (A: "you can't be serious"; *or* IIMEN). Other ick = ICS ANSAE (121A: Looped handles) CIR (88A: Part of a cul-de-sac address: Abbr.) REE AIT AARE OLLAS OOP ... but given that the puzzle is Sunday-sized, there really isn't that much garbage. I just didn't enjoy the theme, and that's that.

Bullets:

19A: Formula One driver Prost (ALAIN) — There is only one good ALAIN. ALAIN Delon.

116A: Oldest von Trapp child in "The Sound of Music" (LIESL) — damn. I half-remembered this. Went with LEEZA.
123A: Sacred city of Lamaism (LHASA) — did my typical LLASA-for-LHASA screw-up. Have never seen the word "Lamaism" before.
127A: Stupid, in Sonora (TONTO) — have seen this trivia before. Forgot it.
4D: Boulevard where Fox Studios and the Los Angeles Convention Center are located (PICO) — I read this clue as having something to do with the (Red) Sox. This seems highly improbable in retrospect, but that's what happened.
17D: Port on Gulf of Guinea (LAGOS) — Nigeria. Somehow I think of Nigeria as landlocked, which it clearly isn't. It's right in Africa's armpit.
9D: Synthesizer designer Robert (MOOG) — piece of cake. Only one four-letter synthesizer designer I know.
50D: It's north of Baja, informally (CALI) — it's also in Colombia.

["She said / She liked / The ocean"]

85D: Party of the underworld (MAFIOSO) — great clue. Really wanted something with HADES in it.
114D: Nymph spurned by Narcissus (ECHO) — she of course went on to front The Bunnymen.