Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Pakistan's so-called Garden of Mughals

Constructor: Matt Ginsberg

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: "Jabberwocky" — seven answers are "words" in "Jabberwocky," a poem from "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There" by LEWIS CARROLL (44A: Writer who was the source of all the words with asterisked clues in this puzzle)

Word of the Day: LINEAR A (14A: Form of writing of ancient Crete) —

Linear A is one of two linear and possibly syllabic scripts used in ancient Crete before Mycenaean Greek Linear B. In Minoan times, before the Mycenaean Greek dominion, Linear A was the official script for the palaces and cults and Cretan Hieroglyphs were mainly used on seals. These three scripts were discovered and named by Arthur Evans. In 1952, Michael Ventris discovered that Linear B was being used to write the early form of Greek now known as Mycenaean. He and others used this information to achieve a significant and now well accepted decipherment of the script, although many points remain to be elucidated. A failure to discover the language of Linear A has prevented the same sort of progress being made in its decipherment. (wikipedia)

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Well this one is sure to divide people. Or so I'd imagine. If you know "Jabberwocky," then sure, why not — this is lively and by all means original. Nothing says "original" like completely made-up words.

Seven spicy little exotic treats, and LEWIS CARROLL's name to boot. Win. On the other hand, if you don't have much or any familiarity with the poem, then this puzzle is a giant "*#%& you!" You better know nearly every damn cross or you're a dead (wo)man. Personally, I fall somewhere in the middle — I had the absolutely coincidental good fortune to look over "Jabberwocky" in just the past week or so, as I am currently reading the serialized comic version of "The Complete Alice in Wonderland" (Dynamite Comics), adapted by Leah Moore (daughter of Alan) and John Reppion. So the poem was reasonably fresh. But I have no history with this poem, have never memorized it, and so am familiar only with "BRILLIG" (from crosswords, where it's often used in partials for 'TWAS) and (to a lesser extent) "SLITHY." Thus, I struggled. To the puzzle's credit, I was able to piece it together even without knowing most of the words.

MYSORE (38A: Indian tourist city) is possibly the worst-named city in the history of the world. So high on getting LAHORE straight off (5D: Pakistan's so-called "Garden of Mughals"). So sad at completely bombing with this second ORE.

Theme answers:

1A: *4:00 in the afternoon (BRILLIG)
8A: *To make holes (GIMBLE)
19A: *To go round and round (GYRE)
24A: *Fearsome, swift-moving creature with snapping jaws (BANDERSNATCH)
52A: *Grass plot around a sundial (WABE)
64A: *Lithe and slimy (SLITHY)
65A: *Smiling radiantly (BEAMISH)

Had trouble in the NE, where I wanted MIMBLE and so had no idea what 8D: Church annex? (GOER). I do not like "annex" as a cutesy term for "suffix," but that's just me. It makes a kind of sense. Never can remember LENYA's name

(12D: "From Russia With Love" actress Lotte). Wanted LORNA or something. Had EYE instead of RYE for a bit (20A: Catcher's spot?), until I got B-GIRL (11D: Old-time floozie). And the first part of FRYPAN wasn't obvious to me up front either (15D: Browner). More trouble in the SW where I had ADVISE instead of ADJURE (45D: Urge formally), and SPEC instead of ITEM (55D: Detail). Also ORCS instead of ENTS (57D: Tolkien creatures). Getting JAILED ironed everything out (54A: Put away), which I guess makes JAILED an IRONER, of sorts (6D: Person whose work is decreasing?). NW was tough at first, but once I hit on the theme, I went back and put in BRILLIG and all was rightish with the world. The "W" at WABE / WASH (52D: Wadi) was probably my last, tentative letter.

Bullets:

35A: Emulate the dodo (DIE OUT) — "Emulate" implies intention, making this clue ... odd.
47A: Wonderland food for Alice (CAKE) — little bonus theme answer, along with MAD (10D: ___ Hatter) and possibly other things I'm not noticing. Like CRY (29D: "Curiouser and curiouser!," e.g.)
59A: Some buffalo hunters of old (ARAPAHO) — helped me change AUDIO to AURAL (48D: Not visual)
46D: Objects employed to show everyday life (REALIA) — I made up a word that sounded like it might be right, and it was. I cannot imagine what REALIA are or look like. Looks like they are just everyday objects used as aids to comprehension in educational settings. Because "everyday objects" was too clunky.