Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Herringlike catch

Constructor: Kevan Choset

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: MAJOR SCALE (30D: Theme of this puzzle) — rebus puzzle in which the notes of an ascending MAJOR SCALE ascend across the puzzle, from SW corner to NE corner, each note getting its own square: DO, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA, TI, and DO. EIGHT NOTES in all (4D: Composition of 30-Down).

Word of the Day: TRISH Regan (15A: CNBC host _____ Regan) — Trish Regan is an American broadcast journalist. She anchors CNBC's The Call, (weekdays from 11 am - Noon EST), reports for CNBC's documentary unit and provides regular reports and analysis for NBC's Nightly News^[1] and The Today Show. [...] More recently, Regan reported an in-depth hour on the underground marijuana industry which became the most watched special in CNBC's history. (wikipedia)

[Possibly the funniest promo for a news org. I've ever seen. Could she flirt with the camera any harder? Should be titled "Trish REGAN wants to f$@! you"]

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I found this Medium, but I have this strange feeling it's not going to play out that away among all solvers. Rebuses often cause solving times to skew way upwards, and this rebus was complex and took a good deal of work to ferret out. Love the rebus and the fact that the note progression actually ascends (just as the notes on a scale do) as you move from L to R across the grid. There's some ugly stuff in the grid, especially in and around the rebus letters: HOR and ALLA and NOU. And then a bunch of tedious stuff like ANOSE and AFAST and ILLAT and RLS. In fact, this puzzle illustrates rather beautifully the principle of "compromise fill." Going for the rebus (a high and worthy bar) pulls the quality of the fill down, and in this case, ALL the bad fill is right on the rebus faultline, so the connection between construction feat and fill decline is quite evident. Overall, though, the risk was worth it, I think.

Anatomy of a solution (rebus edition): Start out blazing fast in NW and remain on fire until OIL PAIN(TI)NG refuses to fit (tho' it's clearly right). OK, so we have a rebus. Ding ding ding (not DONG ... that's later). Now ... what's in the rebus? Everything after OILPA is unknown. Maybe "IN" is rebused, who knows? Moving on ... only NOT moving on because I went down what turned out to be the rebus corridor, and so Nothing was making sense (not surprisingly). Jump to W and embrace good old friend Jane EYRE (39A: Fictional governess). Work that section and then get SPA, which sends you over to 47A: Work for a certain therapist. BACK RUB fits, but you go with the more likely MASSAGE. Then nothing. Then jump to E and get ACURA and AGUA and FJORD, and from the "J" in FJORD (38A: Geographical finger) get MAJOR SCALE. Now ... back to OILPAINTING. So it's the "TI" that's rebused. Great. Where are the others? Finally figure out the DO ("D'oh!") in the far NE, and it's off to the (slowish) races from there, right back down the middle of the grid to finish in the SW.

Rebuses:

Ju DO (53D: Olympic sport since 1964) / DO yle (61A: Last name in mystery)
Je RE my Irons (53A: Voice of Scar in "The Lion King") / RE el (55D: Rod's partner)
MI tt (46A: Ball catcher) / A MI ty (43D: Friendliness)
A FA st (40A: On _____ track) / In FA ct (34D: Actually)
In SOL e (34A: Shoe part) / Ab SOL ut (24D: Smirnoff competitor)
Al LA (24A: "_____ salute!" (Italian drinking toast)) / Il LA t (19D: _____ ease)
Oil pain TI ng (18A: "Mona Lisa," e.g.) / An TI (11D: Not pro)
Wal DO (10A: "Where's _____?") / DO ng (13D: Half a ring)

Gotta move quickly — Thursdays are tight, as I teach and I have to take daughter to school.

Bullets:

5A: Player on the 1979 N.B.A. championship team, for short (Sonic) — Wanted SIKMA, but he's not "short."
15A: CNBC host _____ Regan (Trish) — along with Theodore OLSON (31A: Bush solicitor general Theodore) and AARON (48D: Claire's boy on "Lost"), one of several "WTF!?" names in this puzzle. Oh, add REESE to that pack as well (62D: Chip _____, whom many consider the greatest cash game poker player of all time). "Whom many consider...?" That is some weak weak weak-ass cluing. That's like cluing Glenn BECK as [TV pundit whom many consider a patriot and a hero]. It's true, but Come On. Give me a stat, a date, a solid fact. Something!
35A: Lago composition (agua) — lakes are made of water, yes.
36A: TV's Houston and Dillon (Matt) — it's a good lawman's name.
58A: Big-screen beekeeper (Ulee) — just added to my list of 21st Century Crosswordese (I have a list tacked to a bulletin board next to my desk).
2D: Raptor's roost (aerie) — 80% vowels! I saw a raptor yesterday. Actually, both of the past two days, coming home from woods. It was a hawk of some kind. First saw him perched on top of phone pole. Later saw him in what must have been post-kill mode — on the ground in an open field. He sort of looked up as we drove by then went back to whatever he was doing / killing.
5D: Pie-in-the-face giver or receiver (Stooge) — took a little work, but finally became obvious.
7D: Memphis locale (Nile) — it's underwater?
10A: First number in a record (wins) — wins and losses are how all kinds of records are expressed.
27D: Herringlike catch (shads) — ouch, the S, the S ... it hurts.
31D: They can be read by the illiterate (omens) — I doubt it. Reading "OMENS" has nothing to do with literacy, so boo to this clue.
47D: They're located behind the ears (manes) — take the "the" out of the clue and it gets a hell of a lot clearer.
54D: Old bridge expert Culbertson (Ely) — Crosswordese from another century.