Linotype machine nowadays / TUE 2-16-16 / Part of fishing line to which hook is attached / Andrea ship that sank in 1956 / Half of SWAK / Czech form of French Pierre

Constructor: Ron and Nancy Byron

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: FIGUREHEAD (55A: Carved decoration on a ship's prow ... or a hint to the first word of 17-, 25-, 37- and 45-Across) — first words of themers can *precede* (so, come before, or at the "head" of) "figure" in a common phrase:

Theme answers:

• FULL NELSON (17A: Banned wrestling hold)
• ACTION PLAN (25A: Aid in accomplishing a goal)
• STICK TO YOUR GUNS (37A: "Don't give up the fight!")
• GO FOR BROKE (45A: Risk everything)

Word of the Day: SADA Thompson (30A: Actress Thompson of "Family") —

Sada Carolyn Thompson (September 27, 1927 – May 4, 2011) was an American stage, film, and television actress. [...] Her portrayal of matriarch Kate Lawrence on Family won her the 1978 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and garnered her three nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series Drama. (wikipedia)

• • •

Not sure I'm getting the use of "head" here. In the phrase "go figure," I don't think of "go" as the "head" of "figure." A word that simply precedes another word is not the latter word's "head." A prefix could be considered a head, or the first letter of a word (a common cluing wordplay trick). So we're stretching the meaning of "head" here a little bit. But  the "___ FIGURE" gimmick is consistent, even if the resulting "___ FIGURE" phrases are adjective, noun, noun, verb phrase. Still, all of them work. I'm more familiar with "plans of action" than ACTION PLAN(s), but again ... theme, technically works. The fill, however, was torturous. I would like to put it more nicely, but I don't have it in me. Dreadful, dreary, dated, and inexplicably bad. Worse, unnecessarily bad. Will or Joel should've quietly cleaned this mess up. A grid with this shape, with this many little corners, with this theme density, should be easy to fill at least moderately cleanly. There is no excuse for an EELY SNELL on a Tuesday, or any day. On and on and on the subpar fill goes. In case you can't tell, I ain't FER it. I'm agin it. Bobby DOERR, DON HO, and SADA Thompson probably think it's grand, but hoo boy no. No no no. AT NO no. Just no.

["Don't give up the fight!"]

Puzzle was pretty dang easy, except for RELIC, the clue for which was oddly hard (6D: Linotype machine, nowadays). I misspelled DORIA as DOREA, so that probably didn't help there. Also struggled to get PETR, as having Czech clued via French made my brain just balk. I should add: DORIA, PETR ... these are tolerable answers in a demanding, theme-dense, or otherwise sparkly grid. In *this* grid, they're just so much dreck. I'll resist the urge to spout all the junk. In order to resist, I need to get off the computer. Luckily, there is bread baking downstairs, so pulling myself away from the computer will not be hard. Have a nice day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Surfer wannabe / WED 12-21-11 / Bygone Toyota sedan / Texas/Louisiana border river / William Tell's canton / Musical with Mungojerrie Jennyanydots

Constructor: Ron and Nancy Byron

Relative difficulty: Medium

 THEME: NOEL (69A: Seasonal song ... or a phonetic hint to 18-, 23-, 37-, 52- and 59-Across) — DESCRIPTION

Word of the Day: Saint Philip NERI (63A) —

Saint Philip Romolo Neri (Italian: Filippo Neri) (July 21, 1515 – May 25, 1595), also known as Apostle of Rome, was an Italian priest, noted for founding a society of secular priests called the "Congregation of the Oratory". (wikipedia)

• • •

[FOR MY READERS IN SYNDICATION: It's pledge week here at the Rex Parker site (thru Sat.) —read my pitch for donations in the opening paragraphs of Sunday's write-up, here ... and thanks for your faithful readership (and the many kind messages I've received so far)]

• • •

If you'd like to know what I think of this theme, I refer you to the last time this theme (this EXACT theme) appeared in the NYT—Christmastime, just four years ago, in a puzzle constructed by David J. and Steve Kahn.

Cruciverb database search for PUP FICTION turns up two recent puzzles with the missing "L" concept. I'll say it again. Check your theme answers check your theme answers check your theme answers. I must say, however, that Will is far more to blame for this replication of a very recent theme than the constructors are. This theme is so screamingly obvious that you'd think he'd at least have run the tiniest background check. I knew I'd done puzzles like this before as soon as I hit "NOEL," and I'm not paid to keep track of such things.



The puzzle's theme could also be "Bygone"—as in 11D: Bygone Toyota sedan (CRESSIDA) and 28D: Bygone Fords (LTDS) and this puzzle has been done before and it reeks of yesterday's crosswordese ([William Tell's canton] etc. etc.).





[Speaking of bygone ...]
Theme answers:

• 18A: Movie about La Brea Tar Pits' formation? ("THE BIG SEEP")
• 23A: Movie about a Nobel-winning chemist? ("THE ION KING")
• 37A: Movie about Wall Streeters' excesses? ("CASH OF THE TITANS")
• 52A: Movie about the early life of Lassie? ("PUP FICTION")
• 59A: Movie about the memoirs of the Duke? ("WAYNE'S WORD")
  

Bullets:

• 58A: Nonsense word said while pointing a finger (J'ACCUSE!) 
• 8D: Texas/Louisiana border river (SABINE) — rings a faint, crossword bell, but I needed every cross.
• 36A: Surfer wannabe (HODAD) — er ... uh ... OK. Again, the crossword bell is faint. I wanted HAOLE.
• 37D: Musical with Mungojerrie and Jennyanydots ("CATS") — musical in four letters with some dumbass character names? Sure, I got that.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Milne's absent-minded Mr / TUE 2-1-11 / Pre-Russia intl economic coalition / Bangladesh's capital old-style / Prison screw / Motherland affectionately

Constructor: Ron & Nancy Byron

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: MIXED MEDIA (61A: Artwork using both paint and collage, e.g. ... and a hint to this puzzle's circled letters) — circled consecutive letters inside theme answers are jumbles of the letters M, E, D, I, and A


Word of the Day: TOULON (11D: French port near Marseille) —

Toulon (Provençal Occitan: Tolon in classical norm or Touloun in Mistralian norm ) is a town in southern France and a large military harbour on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence. // Toulon is an important centre for naval construction, fishing, wine making, and the manufacture of aeronautical equipment, armaments, maps, paper, tobacco, printing, shoes, and electronic equipment. // The military port of Toulon is the major naval center on France's Mediterranean coast, home of the French Navy aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle and her battle group. The French Mediterranean Fleet is based in Toulon. (wikipedia)

• • •

Writing this ahead of a massive blizzard that is expected to descend upon this area of the country aaaaaaany second now (actually, it will come on slowly tomorrow and then destroy us some time on Wednesday). Northern midwesterners and northeasterners will have some idea what I'm talking about, if not now, then soon. I like this "Winter Storm Meter," which I lifted from the alloveralbany.com website. "SnOMG!"


As for the puzzle, I don't have much to say. There was something kind of lackluster about the whole thing. Theme answers aren't that interesting, and that non-theme fill is boring at best, strange and dated-feeling at worst. The dull: ELEE over SSTS (!), then ILA, ELEC, AAR, IBE (?), ERMA, ABM, ETA, SRO, SRI, CMI, NOMSG, etc. The strange: GSEVEN (bygone) (43A: Pre-Russia intl economic coalition), TOULON (where?), Mr. PIM (so bygone I couldn't even find a halfway decent summary online) (1D: Milne's absent-minded Mr.), and DACCA (so bygone the puzzle knows it's bygone: "old-style!") (20A: Bangladesh's capital, old-style). Whole thing felt very not-of-this-century, from the opening gambit ("PSHAW!") to OLD SOD (32A: Motherland, affectionately) to the clue for JAILER (unless "screw" is still contemporary non-sexual slang, in which case, my apologies) (21A: Prison "screw"). Despite never having heard of several of these answers, I finished in an absolutely average Tuesday time. All in all, the puzzle is just fine—not at all incompetent or off-putting. Just blah.

["Pretty girls come A DIME A DOZEN..."]

Theme answers:

• 17A: Big name in orange juice (MINUTE MAID)
  
• 25A: Large gem in the Smithsonian (HOPE DIAMOND)
  
• 37A: Kindly doctor's asset (BEDSIDE MANNER)
  
• 52A: Common (A DIME A DOZEN)
  

Stay warm. I'm off to ... do something. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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Beturbaned seer / MON 1-11-10 / 1980s hardware used Microsoft Basic / 10th century Holy Roman Emperor / Alaska boondoggle 2008 campaign news

Constructor: Ron and Nancy Byron

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: Dental work — first words of theme answers are things a dentist might put in your mouth, clued in non-dental contexts

Word of the Day: CROWN VICTORIAS (48A: Full-size Fords) —

The Ford Crown Victoria (commonly nicknamed the Crown Vic) is a rear-wheel drive full-size car first produced by the Ford Motor Company for the North American market in the mid-1950s. Its current incarnation has been in production since 1992 at Ford's St. Thomas Assembly plant. While the Crown Victoria shares its platform and components with the Lincoln Town Car, it shares almost no exterior sheet metal or interior parts. Beginning with the 2008 model year, it has been available only for fleet sales, mainly in police and taxi form, but also for rental car companies.

• • •

What year is it? I didn't even know Ford made the CROWN VICTORIA any more. Sounds like something from another era. Something you would drive to a FILLING STATION, say, if you were ELDERLY (4D: Getting on in years) and needed to refuel your car on the way to the dentist for the unbelievable amount of dental work that you apparently require. Even the computer is old here — IBM PC (28D: 1980s hardware that used Microsoft Basic) ... what is that? Or, rather, don't IBM PCs still exist? Anyway, I guess the original IBM PC is what's meant here, which came out around the time that LE CAR was in its heyday (29D: Old Renault) ("A 5-door hatchback body style was added for the 1981 model year," says Wikipedia). I had a good number of hesitations, but absolutely shredded the majority of the puzzle, and ended up ... right at normal for a Monday, time-wise.

First hesitation: right out of the box. Wanted only WAFFLE at 1A: Go back and forth in deciding. Then didn't pick up WAVER til the third cross bec. I appear to think it's spelled WAIVER. Hesitated at CROWN VICTORIAS (not a model I know well, clearly). I might have tried to put CROWN VICTROLAS in there. Hesitated again at IBM PC (ugly), again at beginning of FILLING STATION — got FOGS, which gave me the "F," which still didn't clear up matters. Hesitated at NAOH (41D: Sodium hydroxide, to a chemist). Probably had -CH or -CL or god knows what. NAOH is ugly on any day of the week. As is OTTO I (31D: 10th-century Holy Roman emperor). Despite getting hung up in all those places, as I said, average Monday time. Not a terribly enjoyable puzzle. I am quite hard on "first words / last words have something in common puzzles," for personal reason. If I see one of them, it had better be good. This wasn't, particularly.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Alaska boondoggle in 2008 campaign news (BRIDGE to nowhere)
• 27A: Place to get gas (FILLING station)
• 48A: Full-size Fords (CROWN Victorias)
• 63A: Gets ready to crash (BRACES for impact)

The whole set reads like a really tragic (or possibly comic) short story about a car wreck. Just move the BRIDGE clue to third position, and it all makes sense.

Bullets:

• 6A: Traffic tie-ups (jams) — man, there's lots of car stuff in this puzzle. See also the GMC Yukon (37A: Yukon S.U.V. maker) that is T-boning the LECAR.
• 10D: Western part of Czech Republic (Bohemia) — I learned this in grad school. Before that, I think I thought "Bohemia" was a mythical / fictional place, like Shangri-La or Manitoba.
• 30D: Beturbaned seer (swami) — humiliating admission of the day: I thought "Beturbaned" was a place name. Possibly some place in India. It was going to be my Word of the Day...

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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