2014 Broadway play based on Moss Hart's autobiography / THU 1-29-15 / Onetime Road Runner rivals / Archaeological discovery of 1920s whose fossils have been missing since 1941 / TV debut of 1975 / Piece in rockhound's collection / Longtime Crosby partner

Constructor: John Farmer

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: "CUT OUT THE / MIDDLE MAN" (17A: With 58-Across, buy or sell direct … or what to do in this puzzle three times?) — three times there are black squares where you will want to put "MAN" … those black squares are situated between (i.e. in the "middle" of) two MEN … or MANs, I guess: one on top of said black squares, one on the bottom.

Theme answers:

• RAIN (20A: Best Picture between "The Last Emperor" and "Driving Miss Daisy")
• THE ICE / COMETH (34A: With 37-Across, drama set in New York's Last Chance Saloon)
• AGUA (53A: Central American capital)

Word of the Day: "ACT ONE" (3D: 2014 Broadway play based on Moss Hart's autobiography) —

Act One is a play written by James Lapine, based on Moss Hart's autobiography of the same title. The play premiered on Broadway in 2014. // Act One premiered on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center on March 20, 2014 (previews), officially on April 17, 2014. Directed by James Lapine, the cast features Santino Fontana, Tony Shalhoub (as George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart) and Andrea Martin. Martin plays three women in Moss Hart's life; Shalhoub also plays three roles: as the older Hart, Moss’s father, and George S. Kaufman. The play closed on June 15, 2014 after 67 performances and 31 previews. It was filmed to be shown on the PBS television program "Live from Lincoln Center." (wikipedia)

• • •

This is a puzzle that doesn't seem to know what either "middle" or "cut out" means. For the premise, CUT OUT THE / MIDDLE MAN, to make any sense at all, you have to imagine that there was a MAN where three black squares are, where the expected but absent MAN would have sat between one MAN (on top) and another MAN (below). So, you (solver) "cut out" a "man" that was in the "middle" of two other "men." Only I, the solver, do not do that. What *I* do is cut out MAN. I just don't enter it. Or, rather, I enter it twice, once above where it should've gone, and again below. The cut-out MAN isn't in the "middle" of anything except this ridiculously contrived, entirely theoretical "MAN" stack. "MAN is not in the "middle" of "RAIN [Man]"—it's at the end. The only place I "CUT OUT THE / MIDDLE MAN" is with "THE ICE [man] COMETH." There, MAN is in fact in the middle. Otherwise, *I* just cut out (or leave out, because I have nowhere to put it) MAN. The fact that that "MAN" (in an impossible, imaginary, non-existent grid) would have sat in the "middle" of a MAN sandwich has nothing to do with me. *I* didn't do anything to said sandwich. This puzzle is a conceptual mess with inaccurate, confusing instructions. And the fill is no good, but you knew that. Actually, it's probably NYT-average. At this point in the NYT's history, that is not a compliment.


Never heard of PEKING MAN (23A: Archaeological discovery of the 1920s whose fossils have been missing since 1941). Real familiarity outlier, given how common the other "MAN"-containing answers are. The other *huge* outlier is AGUA. You just snapped that word in two, whereas with the others, you removed the word "MAN" (also, those other two altered answers are titles of dramatic performances, making [Man]AGUA an even huger outlier: foreign, broken, not a drama. Difficulty for me came entirely from the man-sandwich angle; I could see how "MAN" was missing, but then it kept turning up. I thought we were cutting MAN, but we're not … except sometimes. Putting it all together, finally, did not make for an AHA moment. More "oh" [shrug]. Never heard of "ACT ONE" (3D: 2014 Broadway play based on Moss Hart's autobiography), though that seems like a fine clue for otherwise not great fill. Heard of GTOS, but to me Road Runner is Time Warner's high-speed internet service (33A: Onetime Road Runner rivals). I'm still not sure how 24D: Chapter seven? works for ETA. Is it that … ETA is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, and chapter is some kind of fraternity/sorority reference? I hope not, 'cause that is weak. And the expression is "Well I'LL BE a monkey's uncle" (not "I'M A") (59D). It's like … you wouldn't say "Well I'M damned." You'd say "Well I'LL BE damned." It's like that. That "I'M A" clue was the most painful thing in a largely unpleasant puzzle.


I feel like I would've felt more warmly about this puzzle if MANWICH had somehow been involved. Seems to express what's happening better than today's revealer does.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Edomite patriarch / THU 10-16-14 / Pacific Surfliner operator / Trevelyan Agent 006 in GoldenEye / Reville Hitchcock's wife collaborator / Inspiration for Johann Strauss II / Computer language named for Lord Byron's daughter / Penelope's pursuer / Goal of some industry lobbyists

Constructor: John Farmer

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: REPEAT (69A: What three-letter words do in five answers in this puzzle) —

Theme answers:

• WHOOPIE [PIE]S (18A: Cream-filled chocolate treats)
• SCARLET [LET]TER (19A: Mark of dishonor)
• PERCY BYSSHE [SHE]LLEY (39A: "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" poet)
• LANDON [DON]OVAN (57A: All-time scoring leader for the U.S. men's soccer team)
• PAPAL [PAL]ACE (62A: Official residence)

Word of the Day: LUNA (3D: "Two-horned queen not the stars," per Horace) —

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is the divine embodiment of the Moon (Latin luna; cf. English "lunar"). She is often presented as the female complement of the Sun (Sol) conceived of as a god. Luna is also sometimes represented as an aspect of the Roman triple goddess (diva triformis), along with Proserpina and Hecate. Luna is not always a distinct goddess, but sometimes rather an epithet that specializes a goddess, since both Dianaand Juno are identified as moon goddesses.

In Roman art, Luna's attributes are the crescent moon and the two-yoke chariot (biga). In the Carmen Saeculare, performed in 17 BC, Horaceinvokes her as the "two-horned queen of the stars" (siderum regina bicornis), bidding her to listen to the girls singing as Apollo listens to the boys.

Varro categorized Luna and Sol among the visible gods, as distinguished from invisible gods such as Neptune, and deified mortals such as Hercules. She was one of the deities Macrobius proposed as the secret tutelary of Rome. In Imperial cult, Sol and Luna can represent the extent of Roman rule over the world, with the aim of guaranteeing peace.

Luna's Greek counterpart was Selene. In Roman art and literature, myths of Selene are adapted under the name of Luna. The myth of Endymion, for instance, was a popular subject for Roman wall painting. (wikipedia)

• • •

The core idea has some potential, but the grid ends up with gibberish in it, and the simple fact of a repeated letter string really isn't that interesting, from a solver-enjoyment point of view. What really kills this puzzle, however, is the lame revealer. REPEAT is far too generic—totally anticlimactic. A puzzle like this really *needs* the final punch of a revealer to keep it from being merely a structural exercise. This puzzle needed a CHUCK BERRY (see yesterday's puzzle), and all it got was a REPEAT—the revealer equivalent of a sad trombone sound, or a "thud." The theme has a couple things going for it. The repeated letter strings are in face "words" in their own right, as the revealer clue says, though PIE is a bit of a fail since PIE is a part of the answer WHOOPIE [PIE]S, whereas none of the other three-letter "words" are actually parts of their answers (i.e. LET, SHE, DON, and PAL have no etymological relation to the answers they're found inside). Also, the three-letter REPEAT words all come at the beginnings of words … though where else would they come, now that I think of it? Three letters end one word and begin the next. That's the idea. The more I write about the theme, the less impressed I am, so I'll stop now.


The cultural center of gravity on this one is set back a few decades. It's pretty old school in its frame of reference, ZAC Efron notwithstanding. All this means is that I got slowed down by a slew of proper nouns that just weren't in my wheelhouse. SALEM and ALEC, primarily, but also REESE (whom I know, though not by number) and ALMA (whom I know vaguely, but whom I couldn't see because I had written in AS ONE for 5D: Collectively (IN ALL). Long Downs are very nice, most of the rest of the fill is just OK, DEREG is terrible. All IN ALL, an entirely adequate Thursday that just wasn't my thing. They can't all be my things. Wait, is there a code? … PIELETSHEDONPAL … and that anagrams to … aw, I give up.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Criminal Minds agent with I.Q. of 187 / SAT 10-12-13 / Singer of #1 single Try Again 2000 / Treaty of Sycamore Shoals negotiator 1775 / Glenda Jackson Ben Kingsley film scripted by Harold Pinter / Musical with cow that's catapulted over castle / Morsel for guppy / Word spoken 90 times in Molly Bloom's soliloquy / 1986 Indy 500 champion

Constructor: John Farmer

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none

Word of the Day: FRA Mauro (44A: Venetian mapmaker ___ Mauro) —

Fra Mauro, O.S.B. Cam., (died 1460) was a 15th-century Camaldolese monk who lived in the Republic of Venice. He was a monk of the Monastery of St. Michael, located on the island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon. It was there that he maintained a cartography workshop.

In his youth, Mauro had traveled extensively as a merchant and a soldier. He was familiar with the Middle East. He entered monastic life at a late stage in life. In the monastery, he became a mapmaker. Although he was no longer free to travel, due to his religious status, he would frequently consult with merchants of the city upon their return from overseas voyages. By 1450 he composed a great mappamundi (world map) of the Old Worldwith surprising accuracy, including extensive written comments reflecting the geographic knowledge of his time. The map is known today as the "Fra Mauro map". A critical edition of the map was edited by Piero Falchetta in 2006. (wikipedia)

• • •

Easy but not terribly enjoyable puzzle. I just don't believe in 1-Across. I don't believe it is a thing. Never heard anyone, child or adult, say it. Feels horribly made-up and stupid. So that's how I feel about that. "Criminal Minds" agent? (7D: "Criminal Minds" agent with an I.Q. of 187) How obscure a clue do you need for REID? People watch "Criminal Minds"? OK. Speaking of obscure, "TURTLE DIARY" (23D: Glenda Jackson/Ben Kingsley film scripted by Harold Pinter). You can put all the famous names you want in that clue—still won't make the movie famous. The rest of the puzzle is pretty inoffensive, but there's not much (if anything) I haven't seen before. I think I like CAMERASHY the best, largely because it was (for some reason) wickedly hard for me to parse. My last letter was that "C," which I originally had as an "N" (because of SNARF/SCARF confusion). I had been trying to think of what word ends in -RASHY (besides, say, "TRASHY"). So it was nice to get pleasantly fooled there at the end. And that "?" clue was a good one (34A: Not likely to be a "cheese" lover)—unlike 10D: Vacancy clause?, which makes no real sense for "NOBODY'S HOME" unless you put "clause" on the rack and stretch it til it screams.

Nice tricky clue on ELENA (32D: John Paul's successor)—think Supreme Court Justice, not Pope. I thought "one" in German was EINS, and it is, but apparently it's also EINE (?) (13D: One in a Kindergarten?). I don't know from German. I think I would've struggled quite a bit with this one had there not been such a huge lot of gimmes. "SPAMALOT"! YES! TED! RED ZONE! STP! SDI! GEHRY! 'STRO! (my friend Robert is the play-by-play guy for the 'STROs—have I mentioned that? I like to mention that. He's a good guy, and a crossword solver). Major mistakes of the day were AS A RULE for USUALLY (29A: In the main), S-SHAPED for F-SHAPED (39A: Like the sound holes of a cello), and ... I think that's it. I enjoyed remembering the GOATEE on Duchamp's parody of "Mona Lisa." But otherwise the enjoyment level wasn't terribly high. Just not to my taste. That SE corner looks pretty nice, though, I will say that. Proof that your stacks don't have to be exceedingly long to be entertaining.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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1913 Literature Nobelist from India / SUN 9-1-13 / 1954 film septet / Gossip well told per Elbert Hubbard / Star of 1981 Broadway revue subtitled Lady Her Music / Star of four Spike Lee films / Rapper who feuded with Ja Rule Nas / Pop/rock group with 2002 hit co-written with Mick Jagger / Acronym for hearing-impaired / Burj Khalifa locale

Constructor: John Farmer

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: "Persons of Note" — rebus puzzle where theme squares read as a number in one direction and a name in the other—number is a denomination of U.S. paper currency, and the name is the person appearing on said currency. Jokey revealer: "DON'T TAKE ANY OF / IT AT FACE VALUE" (31D:  With 33-Down, Skeptic's advice ... or a "noteworthy" hint to seven Across answers in this puzzle). Also, my wife just informed me that the black squares toward the middle of the grid form a "$"—Nice!

Theme answers:

• DENZEL (Washington / 1) SEC
• LOU (Grant / 50) CENT
• BO (Jackson) / MATCHBOX (20)
• ARETHA (Franklin) / HAIRCUT (100)
• ELMO (Lincoln) / HIGH (5)
• LINDA (Hamilton) / HANGS (10)
• GEORGE (Jefferson) / AGE (2)

Word of the Day: ELMO Lincoln (119A: First film Tarzan) —

Elmo Lincoln (February 6, 1889 – June 27, 1952) was an American film actor.

Born Otto Elmo Linkenhelt, the actor is best known in his silent movie role as the first Tarzan in 1918's Tarzan of the Apes as an adult -- (Gordon Griffith played him as a child in the same movie). He portrayed the character twice more—inThe Romance of Tarzan (also 1918) and in the 1921 serial The Adventures of Tarzan.

Following the end of the silent movie era, Elmo left Hollywood and tried his hand at mining. In the late 1930s, he returned to the film industry, most often employed as an extra. He appeared, uncredited, in two Tarzan films in the 1940s—as a circus roustabout in Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942), and as a fisherman repairing his net in Tarzan's Magic Fountain(1949).

His final work saw him also playing a brief, uncredited role in Carrie, starring Laurence Olivier. According to Tarzan of the Movies, by Gabe Essoe, Lincoln was quite proud of his work in this film, as he was an admirer of Olivier.

Lincoln died of a heart attack on June 27, 1952 at age 63. He is interred in a niche at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. (wikipedia)

• • •

This puzzle was very entertaining and hilariously difficult. I say "hilariously" both because of the enormous number of proper nouns (and other stuff) that were totally unknown to me, as well as the proper nouns (and other stuff) that I knew, but that I also knew many many many people would not know. The arrival of MTV (discovered by me in 1982) was such a momentous occasion in my life that I know the name of every band that was on heavy (or even light) rotation on the network from about 1982 to 1985. That channel introduced me to music I never would've heard of in my Top 40-dominated little (actually pretty big) town (actually city). This is all to say that I owned a HAIRCUT 100 album back in the day. Owned it. An album. I have no idea how you would know this band if you are a. an American and b. did not watch MTV in the early '80s. They did have a couple of minor hits, but ... wow. I laughed Out Loud when I wrote them in. And I thought MATCHBOX 20 (earlier in my solve) had been tough to uncover—their clue was beyond useless, but at least that group was a. very popular and b. made music in recent memory. HAIRCUT 100!? Oh, man. I would love this puzzle for that answer alone. Thankfully, there are many more reasons.

But first, here's HAIRCUT 100's big hit, "Love Plus Washington":


The gimmick here, as well as the revealer, was really wonderful. I like that the Sundays appear (lately) to be getting tougher. They've had a tendency to be kind of tedious. I mean, just fine, but long. I feel like Sundays need to be very funny/clever and/or need to have these added levels or layers to them in order for them not to feel like a slog. This puzzle had obscurities in it, yes, but I think they were all work-outable, and the puzzle had so much ridiculous weird attitude that I couldn't help but love it. I mean, I have Never heard the phrase HIT IT FAT, but how am I supposed to knock it? It's too awesomely colloquial for me to do anything but just tip my hat, hold the door, and say "after you, sir."

Here's the stuff I'd never heard of:

• HIT IT FAT (53A: Strike turf before the ball, in golf)
• AMESLAN (!?!!) (91D: Acronym for the hearing-impaired)
• ELMO LINCOLN (ha ha ha, seriously? Read the wikipedia snippet above to see how "big" he was)
• Rabindranath TAGORE (!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! x infinity) (98D: 1913 Literature nobelist from India)
• USX (84A: Steel giant, formerly)
• ZOE Kazan (4D: Actress/screenwriter Kazan)
• DUBAI (70A: Burj Khalifa locale) (to be clear, heard of DUBAI, but not "Burj Khalifa")

And the stuff I'd barely heard of:

• ARGONNE
• ERNST (2D: Bond villain ___ Stavro Blofeld)
• DOOD (1D: "I ___ it!" (Skelton catchphrase))
• GODEL (spelling = hard for me)
• OATES

I spent a lot of early energy just eating up answers where I could, with no real idea about the theme. I thought 1A Star of four Spike Lee films should be DENZEL, but he didn't fit. I thought it was DENZELL for a bit, but didn't like that at all, since nothing in the clue was cuing "first name only." Eventually I cornered that 1/Washington square, and the theme was apparent. But even then, the puzzle was still Tough. So you've got two toughness layers—picking up the theme, and then just solving the damned thing. Lots of places to get bogged down if not outright stuck. But all good fun.

Lastly, Happy Birthday to Bruce Cozadd, who turns Grant today, and whose wife is very (lovingly) persistent.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. If you've got some extra time, here's a free, very current puzzle for you from Andy Kravis, Cruciverbalist at Law—Enjoy!

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Arthur his family in Hoop Dreams / WED 2-20-13 / Repeated cry in Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop / Kazakh border lake / Classico rival / Burmese P.M.

Constructor: John Farmer

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: BOOK — circled letters in corners spell out "BOOK"; puzzle note reads: "The answer to each starred clue is a compound word or a familiar two-word phrase. A certain four-letter word (spelled out clockwise by the circled squares) [i.e. BOOK]  can follow the first half and precede the second half of each of these answers, in each case to complete another compound word or familiar two-word phrase."

Word of the Day: U NU (15A: Burmese P.M.) —

U Nu (Burmese: [...] also Thakin Nu; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995) was a leading Burmese nationalist and political figure of the 20th century. He was the first Prime Minister of Burma under the provisions of the 1947 Constitution of the Union of Burma, from 4 January 1948 to 12 June 1956, again from 28 February 1957 to 28 October 1958, and finally from 4 April 1960 to 2 March 1962.

• • •

Weird. This is one of those puzzles that seems quite competently made, but that I did not enjoy solving at all. There are a gajillion theme answers + the BOOK thing, which is impressive, from a purely architectural standpoint. Given that density, the fill is actually pretty good. But stuff like U NU (which I think was a big gimme for enthusiasts before my time, but which, thankfully, has been virtually exterminated in the Shortz era) and AGEES (?) (25D: Arthur and his family in "Hoop Dreams") and KATS and INKA and KOH (22D: ___-i-noor diamond) still hurt. Worst was SLC, which I couldn't make any sense of. I figured I had an error. I didn't know if the "capital" in the clue was maybe ... a monetary denomination? Wasn't til UTAH finally went in that I realized that I did indeed have NARCO spelled right, and that SLC was Salt Lake City. I've heard the term BLUE JACKET, but had no idea it meant simply "Sailor." So this was just ... someone else's puzzle. Maybe a much older person. Lastly, I am not a big fan of having to read a lot of $%#@ at the end to figure out what the theme is. Also, never heard of "Vanity BOOK." That must've meant something to someone at some time. Just nothing to me today.



Theme answers:

• 17A: *Approval indicators (CHECK MARKS)
• 21A: *Ban (BLACKLIST)
• 39A: *December 31 (YEAR END)
• 55A: *What a "forever" stamp lacks (FACE VALUE)
• 64A: *Union supporter? (MATCHMAKER)
• 11D: *Magazine with an annual Hollywood issue ("VANITY FAIR")
• 28D: *Sailor (BLUE JACKET)

There were some lovely and original answers and clues here and there. Loved everything about HEY HO (31A: Repeated cry in the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop"), mostly because it quite literally forced me to remember the song, tune and all. Had to sing it to myself to remember the answer. Somehow the clue on ARC also struck me as fresh (35A: Shape of the Aleutian Islands, on a map), or at least thoughtful / creative. Don't know what "judokas" are, but I know what "judo" is, so DOJOS clue was both colorful and gettable (48A: Places for judokas). Less happy with OSH, both for just ... being OSH ... and then for being clued in a cross-referenced clue (71A: City ESE of the 10-Down). Pro tip: don't tangle your crap fill up in cross-rerferences. Just makes it more annoying. Also, what the hell is up with the clue on KOBE (59A: 2007-08 N.B.A. M.V.P., to fans)? You know why "fans" call him that? 'Cause that is actually his name. KG, K-ROD, DR.K—these are what sports stars are "to fans." I'm trying to imagine "MICHAEL" or "STEVE" clued this way, and can't.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Salsa singer Cruz / 1-1-13 / Rickover known as Father of Nuclear Navy / Knit fabric in lingerie swimwear / Comment from kvetcher / Jetsam locale / Role for diminutive Verne Troyer in Austin Powers films / Dacha villa

Constructor: John Farmer

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: 150th anniversary of the signing of the EMANCIPATION / PROCLAMATION by ABRAHAM / LINCOLN, which brought about the ABOLITION / OF SLAVERY in the U.S.

Word of the Day: HYMAN Rickover (68A: Rickover known as the Father of the Nuclear Navy) —

Hyman George Rickover (January 27, 1900 – July 8, 1986) was a four-star admiral of the United States Navy who directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director of Naval Reactors. In addition, he oversaw the development of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the world's first commercial pressurized water reactor used for generating electricity.

Rickover is known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy", which as of July 2007 had produced 200 nuclear-powered submarines, and 23 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and cruisers, though many of these U.S. vessels are now decommissioned and others under construction.

On 16 November 1973 Rickover was promoted to four-star admiral after 51 years of commissioned service. With his unique personality, political connections, responsibilities, and depth of knowledge regarding naval nuclear propulsion, Rickover became the longest-serving naval officer in U.S. history with 63 years active duty.

Rickover's substantial legacy of technical achievements includes the United States Navy's continuing record of zero reactor accidents, as defined by the uncontrolled release of fission products subsequent to reactor core damage. (wikipedia)

• • •

It's an important historical date to commemorate, and the symmetry of all the answers is indeed fortuitous. Still, this was not very interesting to solve. I don't think I actually read one theme clue. They all just seemed to fill themselves in. Once you got the gist of who / what was involved, the theme became obvious and the only resistance was provided by the fill. I had trouble with the NW as I confidently wrote in BUSTY for 2D: Big-bosomed (BUXOM). If I'd bothered to check a couple of those crosses, I'd've seen the error earlier, but with easy / early-week puzzles, I'm typically flying around the grid, and sometimes overlook these matters (however briefly). Got sloppy again in the SE when I wrote in singular IOWAN where plural IOWAS belonged (53D: Early Great Plains residents). And then in the far south I had no idea about HYMAN and got a little concerned when I couldn't remember the exact name of the [Canopy tree]. Specifically, I couldn't remember the last letter: M? N? R? I wasn't 100% sure. But then I got HYMA- and figured that "N" was the only plausible answer—correct. Most everything else felt pretty easy to me, but somehow, even with the ÜBER-easy theme and a mostly piece-of-cake grid, I still ended up w/ a pretty average Tuesday time. Maybe it's all the time I took to finally get ROBINS (49A: Signs of spring) that really did me in. Who knows? Moreover, who cares?


Theme answers:

• 23A: With 51-Across, presidential order signed on January 1, 1863 (EMANCIPATION / PROCLAMATION)
• 37A: With 39-Across, signer of the 23-/51-Across (ABRAHAM / LINCOLN)
• 18A: With 61-Across, goal of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman (ABOLITION / OF SLAVERY) — ABOLITION on its own would've been a perfectly appropriate answer to this clue, but, you know, symmetry

First thought for 1A: Dacha or villa (ABODE) was HOUSE. But ARETE was a gimme (1D: Mountain ridge), and so ABODE was the obvious next choice for 1A, and I got all the Downs in order from there (except BUXOM, which I botched, as I say...). The south was a proper noun death trap—potentially. I wouldn't call any of the names—ORBACH (48D: Jerry of stage and screen), CELIA (65A: Salsa singer Cruz), HYMAN—obscure, but any time you get a cluster of non-universally-known names like that, gaps in knowledge can sneak up and bite you. I nearly got bitten by HYMAN (under the BANYAN tree, as I say...). I don't think I could pick TRICOT out of a fabric line-up (10D: Knit fabric in lingerie and swimwear), but it's got that frenchy ending like "haricots (verts)," and I'm sure I've seen it before, so I pieced it together, no problem. Misread 35D: Role for diminutive Verne Troyer in "Austin Powers" films (MINI-ME) at first and was left pondering (briefly) what short people Jules Verne ever wrote about. OY VEY! (52D: Comment from a kvetcher)


Thanks to all who read and support this blog for another enjoyable year. I'll have a big charity project to announce in the very near future. Also, I'll probably redesign the site sometime soonish—it's about time for a conceptual and stylistic makeover, frankly. But the core of what I do should, like the domestication of the dog, continue unabated.

Happy New Year,

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Heavy-metal singer Snider / THU 10-13-11 / Viking king 995-1000 / Ancient Anatolian land / Jaipur royal / Flanged fastener / Title town 1945 Pulitzer winner

Constructor: John Farmer

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: B MOVIES (45D: Appropriate title for this puzzle?) — movie titles have "B" added to beginning of one word, creating wacky titles, clued "?"-style

Word of the Day: SATINET (46D: Imitation fabric) —

n.
A thin inferior satin or an imitation satin, especially one containing cotton. (answers.com)

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/satinet#ixzz1acnfgoX9

• • •

This is just a fat (16 wide) Wednesday puzzle. Far too easy and unambitious for Thursday fare. Nontheme fill, with the exception of the creepy-sounding CATACOMB (3D: Passage of grave importance?), is painfully familiar to the point of boring. Never heard of SATINET (46D: Imitation fabric), so that gave me a little bit of trouble, and the tricksy clue on NRA (65D: Heat org.?) slowed me down a little more (I wanted NBA, for obvious reasons), but otherwise this one had no teeth, and very little in the way of interest (outside of the mildly clever theme answers).


Theme answers:

• 18A: Film about how to win a MacArthur Fellowship? ("DO THE BRIGHT THING")
• 25A: Film about a biblical serpent? ("BEAST OF EDEN")
• 38A: Film about Ali/Foreman's Rumble in the Jungle? ("BOUT OF AFRICA")
• 55A: Film in which Moe, Shemp and Curly show their flexibility? ("HOWARDS' BEND")
• 62A: Film about earworms? ("SINGIN' IN THE BRAIN")

OLAFs are never very welcome, because of the V/F issue and because who the hell can tell their OLAF/Vs apart anyway. A most unwelcome royal. Speaking of unwelcome royals: RANEE (69A: Jaipur royal) and REY. All legit answers, but all stuff we've seen a gajillion times (which, again, makes this Not a very exciting Thursday puzzle). Lots of hoary to be found everywhere you look—fill like IONIA (Ancient Anatolian land) and OLAF I and ADANO (59A: Title town in a 1945 Pulitzer winner) and T-NUT (31D: Flanged fastener). Despite the fact that DEE is not the most scintillating fill, I appreciate the clue (5D: Heavy-metal singer Snider). So much better than a letter-of-the-alphabet clue. I also like the clue on FLAB (though I'm sure I've seen in before) (40D: Undesirable roll), and the clue on YANG (which I don't think I've ever seen) (50D: Jerry who co-founded Yahoo!). 'ROIDS is also reasonably fresh (56D: Sports no-nos, informally), though I think that's also slang for hemorrhoids, so the freshness is offset somewhat by the unintentional unpleasantness.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Lead singer of Pearl Jam / TUE 5-17-11 / Greatest Show on Earth Star co-star 1952 / Online users self-image / Incendiary fuel Apocalypse Now

Constructor: John Farmer

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: Double double — celebrities (of a sort) who have the same double-letter pair in both their first and last names


Word of the Day: BETTY HUTTON (57A: "The Greatest Show on Earth" co-star, 1952) —

Betty Hutton (February 26, 1921 – March 12, 2007) was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer. [...] Hutton made 19 films from 1942 to 1952 including the hugely popular The Perils of Pauline in 1947. She was billed above Fred Astaire in the 1950 musical Let's Dance. Hutton's greatest screen triumph came in Annie Get Your Gun (1950) for MGM, which hired her to replace an exhausted Judy Garland in the role of Annie Oakley. The film, with the leading role retooled for Hutton, was a smash hit, with the biggest critical praise going to Hutton. (Her obituary in The New York Times described her as "a brassy, energetic performer with a voice that could sound like a fire alarm.") Among her lesser known roles was an unbilled cameo in Sailor Beware (1952) with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, in which she portrayed Dean's girlfriend, Hetty Button. Eventually, like Judy Garland, Hutton earned a reputation for being extremely difficult. [...] Her career as a Hollywood star ended due to a contract dispute with Paramount following the Oscar-winning The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) and Somebody Loves Me (1952), a biography of singer Blossom Seeley. The New York Times reported that the dispute resulted from her insistence that her husband at the time, Charles O'Curran, direct her next film. When the studio declined, Hutton broke her contract. Hutton's last completed film was a small one, Spring Reunion, released in 1957, a drama in which she gave an understated, sensitive performance. Unfortunately, box office receipts indicated the public didn't want to see a subdued Hutton. (wikipedia)

• • •

Had to write to a couple of friends last night to make sure I wasn't missing anything with this theme, which seems awfully flimsy. Double-double letters in the names of random entertainment figures. Maybe the "entertainment" part was supposed to make the theme cohere more, but the assortment is so ragged that it has the opposite effect, for me. This will surely take the average person longer than usual (for a Tuesday) due to the preponderance of names, at least one of which many solvers will not know. I'm guessing that the "I know EDDIE VEDDER" / "I know BETTY HUTTON" Venn diagram shows fairly slim overlap. I've never heard of Ms. HUTTON, who was famous a good thirty years before any of these (still-living) folks were. She's the thematic ODDBALL, is what I'm saying (25D: Kook). The rest of the puzzle was interesting, with a few nice moments (KEISTER, NAMEDROP) (41D: Tush / 3D: Imply ties with V.I.P.'s), an icky moment or two ("I LIKE YOU," FUISSE), and a fascinating-sounding autobiography title that I've never heard of before ("I, FIDO").


Theme answers:

• 17A: ABC late-night host (JIMMY KIMMEL)
  
• 29A: Lead singer of Pearl Jam (EDDIE VEDDER)
  
• 44A: "Walking on Broken Glass" singer (ANNIE LENNOX)
  
• 57A: "The Greatest Show on Earth" co-star, 1952 (BETTY HUTTON)
  

HUTTON-wise, I know Lauren and Timothy. That is all. Had trouble right off the bat, as I can't keep those damn -NETA guys straight, and I can't even picture Norman MINETA (1A: Norman of the Clinton and Bush cabinets). FUISSE is too foreign and too long for what is essentially a partial (66A: Pouilly-___ (wine)). I know it only because of another crossword, which I disliked much more than this one. "I LIKE YOU" is very odd as clued (2D: A few words between friends). My wife: "Maybe if you're three." Wife also could not deal with the idea of QUINCE in a marmalade (12D: Marmalade fruit). She'd never encountered a marmalade that wasn't made of citrus. Neither had I, but I'm not so refined (or British Empire-esque) food-wise. Wife would also like you to know that there is another clue for BREE (62A: One of the housewives on "Desperate Housewives") — it's the name of the horse in C.S. Lewis's "A Horse and His Boy."

Bullets:

• 27A: Western U.S. gasoline giant (ARCO) — I was surprised to see ARCO stations everywhere in CA, since I thought they were defunct. Maybe because I read this as I was trying to write a clue for ARCO recently: "On April 18, 2000, ARCO was purchased by BP America and was completely merged into BP operations; ARCO as a subsidiary no longer exists" (wikipedia). Most interesting ARCO fact, clue-wise, is that the ARCO Arena, where the Sacramento Kings play, was renamed the Power Balance Pavilion in March of this year. Good luck getting That in a puzzle).
  
• 44D: Online user's self-image (AVATAR) — like "My Cousin Vinny," this is a movie people looooove that I have no interest in seeing.
  
• 45D: Incendiary fuel in "Apocalypse Now" (NAPALM) — ... in the morning

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

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Perpetual Peace thinker / FRI 9-3-10 / Legendary Spanish bullfighter / Auto marque of 1980s-'90s / Ricky frontman for bluegrass's Kentucky Thunder

Constructor: John Farmer

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: John Lennon... — actually, none


Word of the Day: MANOLETE (61A: Legendary Spanish bullfighter) —

Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez (July 4, 1917 in Córdoba, Spain – August 28, 1947 in Linares, Spain), better known as Manolete, was a famous Spanish bullfighter. // He rose to prominence shortly after the Spanish Civil War and is considered by some to be the greatest bullfighter of all time. His style was sober and serious, with few concessions to the gallery, and he excelled at the 'suerte de matar'—the kill. Manolete's contribution to bullfighting included being able to stand very still while passing the bull close to his body and, rather than giving the passes separately, he was able to remain in one spot and link four or five consecutive passes together into compact series. He popularized a pass with the muleta called the "Manoletina," which is normally given just before entering to kill with the sword. In addition to all of the major bullrings of Spain, he had very important triumphs in Plaza Mexico. He died following a goring in the right upper leg as he killed the fifth bull of the day, the Miura bull Islero, an event that left Spain in a state of shock. // Manolete received his fatal goring in the town of Linares where he appeared alongside the up-and-coming matador Luis Miguel Dominguín, who, after Manolete's death, proclaimed himself to be number one. In response to Manolete's death, General Francisco Franco, then dictator of Spain, ordered three days of "national mourning", during which only funeral dirges were heard on the radio. (wikipedia)

• • •

An enjoyable Friday offering, closer to a normal Friday difficulty level than most of the past month's offerings (but still slightly tougher than normal for me). As is typical, I really struggled to start (in the NW) and then settled down, progressing pretty steadily through the rest of the puzzle. Was surprised at how much John LENNON seemed to be looming over the puzzle. He is the BEGETTER (19A: Sire) (with Yoko ONO — 48A: Co-producer of "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)") of SEAN LENNON (53D: With 62-Across, subject of "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)"). He also wrote "IMAGINE" (3D: "___ that!") (a UTOPIAN song) (40D: Idealist). And, of course, he was well known for throwing a mean SINKER BALL (27A: It drops on the way home — love that clue). My favorite answer of the day is probably "I DID WHAT?!" (1A: Question the morning after), though I still might prefer my first guess here: "WHO'S THAT?"

The only part of the grid that even came close to making me wince was the MANOLETE / STODGES (43D: Fuddy-duddies) cross. The former is only vaguely familiar to me, and STODGES feels odd. I was slightly concerned that the answers would be MANOLETO and STODGOS, but thankfully, no. The grid is pretty dang smooth otherwise. No idea what EXOPLANETS are (44A: Far-off discoveries in astronomy), but I can guess—the EXO- prefix was pretty inferrable. Easiest area for me was the SW, where I got all three names with no hesitation: SEAN LENNON, Hank AZARIA (60A: Voice of Moe and Apu on "The Simpsons"), and NICOLE Richie (daughter of Lionel) (58A: Paris's partner on "The Simple Life"), all very familiar to me. Second puzzle appearance in a row for Hank "Blue RAJA" AZARIA.

Embarrassed by my slow start in the NW. Had the corner cornered, boxed in by RANT (25A: Jeremiad) over SWEAR TO (31A: Avow) in the southern portion and ARSENIO (7D: Hall with a posse) in the east, but I couldn't get into the meat of the corner very easily. Those short Downs all had super-vague one-word clues: [Cut] [Pique] [Fervor]. Had SNIP and OMIT before DELE, SNIT before WHET, and ZEAL before HEAT. But the longer Downs are all things I should've known earlier, *especially* DANELAW (2D: Part of England in the time of Alfred the Great). I mean damn, if ever I'm going to break away from the rest of y'all, it should be on that answer—I know a little something about early English history and literature. I was thinking of specific kingdoms like Wessex and Mercia, completely neglecting the Whole Damn East Side of the Island, where Scandinavian invaders/immigrants (always a murky distinction in early English history) held sway for centuries. Further, I had IMAG-NE before I got that answer. I was reading it as "I'M A G..." e.g. "I'M A GONER" or the like. Bah!

Bullets:

• 20A: Ricky ___, frontman for bluegrass's Kentucky Thunder (SKAGGS) — thought this would be obscure, until I realized, no, it's the first "Ricky" that popped into my head.
  
• 22A: "Hip Hop Is Dead" rapper (NAS) — some great sampling in this one, but this version is "clean" so there's an annoying AMT (35A: Total: Abbr.) of dead air:

• 34A: Auto marque of the 1980s-'90s (GEO) — "Marque!?!?!" OO LA LA! (16A: "So chic!")
  
• 46A: "Perpetual Peace" thinker (KANT) — Had the "K" but would never have gotten this without "thinker."
  
• 49A: "... but not more like my father / Than ___ Hercules": Hamlet ("I TO") — easy, but interesting way to clue this common letter combo.
  
• 8D: Capital that was the scene of 2009 mass demonstrations (TEHRAN) — wow, that fact left my brain a little too fast.
  
• 10D: Annual journalism award, informally (POLK) — Named after George POLK and not, as I would have liked, after the only POLK I actually know—this guy (about the most charming video I'm likely to post...)

• 13D: Cigarette brand that once used the slogan "Not a cough in a carload" (OLD GOLD) — I know this brand from the very first episode (very first scene, in fact) of "Mad Men"; see here.
  
• 27D: Tiny opening in a leaf (STOMA) — word I learned from xwords, though it took a while to come back. Knew it sounded like -O-A...
  
• 29D: Its uniform includes a red serge tunic and a Stetson: Abbr. (RCMP) — the Mounties! I went from "???" to "Oh!" very quickly with this clue.
  
• 39D: 1970s Bowie collaborator (ENO) — for reasons I don't quite understand, I love ENO crossing ONO. SO SUE ME! (36A: "See if I care!")
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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