Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: NYC commuting debut of 1904

Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: SYOSSET (24A: Oyster Bay hamlet) —

Syosset is a hamlet (and a census-designated place) in Nassau County, New York, in the northeastern section of Town of Oyster Bay near the North Shore of Long Island. The population was 18,829 at the 2010 census. It is served by the Syosset railroad station, the Syosset Post Office, the Syosset Central School District, the Syosset Public Library, the Syosset Fire Department, and the Jericho Water District. (wikipedia)

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The corners on this one—virtually all the 10s—are nice. The SW is the worst of them all, and the only real problem there is ODER-NEISSE (26D: ___ Line (German/Polish border)), an answer I retrieved from the deepest depths of my brain (after discarding ODENSE-something) only because I'd run into it in crosswords before. An answer like that is a real drag, because if you don't know it (and why should you?) there's virtually nothing about it that's inferrable, so you can only get it through slow process of torture. Strap it to a chair and pull its teeth. Miserable. This is the big problem with the puzzle's worst answer—SYOSSET. This is NY provincialism at its worst. A "hamlet" no bigger than, oh, let's say, TRURO (gag), and its spelling is nuts, and and and. That's the sore-thumbiest answer I've seen in a long time. Everything else in this puzzle is at least plausbily familiar to all. Famous names, general vocabulary, some crosswordese (see ARIOSI, e.g. 21A: Melodic passages). And then there's SYOSSET. There's no reason anyone outside the greater NY area should know what the hell that is. Is it fair? Well, all the crosses are gettable (or, in the case of "IVY ROSE" (???) inferrable (11D: 1957 hit for Perry Como)), so, yeah, sure. But torturous tooth-pulling metaphor applies here, too. Moreso. That answer nearly WHELMed me. And by the way: if WHELM means [Overpower], then "overWHELM" means ... [Overoverpower]???

Got started by dropping down PAS (4D: Part of une danse) and TSARS (7D: Pre-Soviet succession) and a very tentative AMA. This allowed me to see PASTRAMI. In inferred the HOT and was off and running (1A: Stage Deli staple). Had SATAYS for SAMOSA (6D: Chutney-dipped appetizer), but that's really the only write-over

I had in the whole puzzle. Oh, no—I stupidly wrote in plural SARIS (instead of correct SAREE 30A: Ranee's wear) before MORAY EEL set me straight (10D: Crevice-lurking predator). Thought the clue on BASE PATH was very clever (33D: Diamond lane). Once I plunked that down, ETHEL MERMAN became obvious (off the "-TH-") (53A: 1951 Tony winner for "Call Me Madam") and then that corner was done. NE took me the longest, which was almost entirely SYOSSET's fault. Finished in 10-something on paper. No idea if that's fastish or normal. I know it's not slow (my slow Saturdays are pushing 15 or higher when I'm solving on-screen).

Bullets:

15A: Writer who held 14 honorary doctorates (ISAAC ASIMOV) — ASIMOV shows up not infrequently in puzzles. Not many V-ending words out there.
29A: Singer of the 2011 #1 hit "Someone Like You" (ADELE) — Justifiably, deservedly famous now. Hurray.

40A: Jerboa's home (DESERT) — forgot jerboas were animals and went looking for a country.
46D: "Ev'rybody Wants to Be ___" (Disney film tune) ("A CAT") — nooo idea. This is from ... "Lady and the Tramp"??? No. Dang it. It's 1970's "The Aristocats." Never seen it.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld