Spanish resort island to locals / MON 11-23-20 / Pink-flowering shrub / Horror film villain with knife / Locale of Oakland and Alameda

Constructor: Stanley Newman

Relative difficulty: Hard to say since I solved it untimed *and* Downs-Only ... seemed like it might play slightly harder than the typical Monday

THEME: IDS (62D: Two forms of them are found in 18-, 38- and 60-Across) — the letter pair "ID" appears twice in each of the longer theme answers:

Theme answers:

• DIDGERIDOO (18A: Australian wind instrument)
• MID-OCEAN RIDGE (38A: System of underwater mountains)
• BRIDESMAID (60A: Wedding attendant)

Word of the Day: PARIETAL lobe (28D: ___ lobe (part of the brain)) —

The parietal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The parietal lobe is positioned above the temporal lobe and behind the frontal lobe and central sulcus.

The parietal lobe integrates sensory information among various modalities, including spatial sense and navigation (proprioception), the main sensory receptive area for the sense of touch in the somatosensory cortex which is just posterior to the central sulcus in the postcentral gyrus, and the dorsal stream of the visual system. The major sensory inputs from the skin (touch, temperature, and pain receptors), relay through the thalamus to the parietal lobe.

Several areas of the parietal lobe are important in language processing. The somatosensory cortex can be illustrated as a distorted figure – the cortical homunculus (Latin: "little man") in which the body parts are rendered according to how much of the somatosensory cortex is devoted to them. The superior parietal lobule and inferior parietal lobule are the primary areas of body or spatial awareness. A lesion commonly in the right superior or inferior parietal lobule leads to hemineglect.

The name comes from the  parietal bone, which is named from the Latin paries-, meaning "wall". (wikipedia)

• • •

Hello. Very short write-up today because I already went over this puzzle in detail while co-solving it (Downs-Only!) on Zoom with my friend Rachel Fabi, which you can watch here:

Here are the highlights, for the video-averse:

Bullets:

• The revealer clue is not accurate — There are not "two forms" of ID found in the theme answers. There is one form, found twice. There's just ID ... two times. Not, not, decidedly not "two forms." I get why the "forms of ... " phrasing is there, in terms of trying to evoke a common phrase related to IDs, but when your themers don't have "two forms," best not to say they do.
• What the heck is a MID-OCEAN RIDGE? — I have no doubt that it's a real thing, but that is not a thing that either Rachel or I had ever heard of. Seems kinda weird that you have to get that technical on a Monday, when the only theme restriction is 2xID. 
• Some of the fill is less than great — this is true esp. for YALEU, which, when you're solving Downs-only, is particularly gruesome ("What 5-letter answer ends -LEU?" A: nothing good). Lots of very common crosswordy stuff. Solid and inoffensive overall, though, for the most part, and the rather large / open corners kept the fill from being boring. 
• Neither of us knew PARIETAL — or, in my case, how to pronounce it :(
• There are so many ways this puzzle could've included more women and it just chose not to — CHRIS, DANA, PEARL, OSAKA, OBAMA ... lots of opportunities for cluing these answers as women. It seems like a low-stakes thing to many of you, I know, but just a little attention, a little thoughtfulness, even having the issue (of gender parity) on your radar, would go a long way. Please check out this visual essay from the website The Pudding ("Who's In The Crossword?"), which uses data gleaned from several major daily crosswords to illustrate the tendency of puzzles to underrepresent women and people of color.

That's all. I'll be taping Zoom solves with Rachel on the 23rd of every month from now on, so, yeah, we'll be back with another of these on Christmas Eve Eve, I guess. But I'll be back to regular blogging tomorrow. Wait, nope. It's a Clare Tuesday tomorrow, I'm pretty sure. So Clare will be here. I'll be somewhere–and then back here on Wednesday. Cheers.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Fictional land named in some real-life international law cases / FRI 5-24-19 / Euphemism for Satan / Inventor of 17th-century calculator / Horse-drawn four-wheeled carriage / Priciest 1952 Topps baseball card / Cold War opponent informally

Constructor: Stanley Newman

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (6:43)

THEME: QUEEN VICTORIA (35A: So-called "Grandmother of Europe," born 5/24/1819) — actually it's a themeless with this commemorative answers just plunked in the center

Word of the Day: LANDAU (2D: Horse-drawn four-wheeled carriage) —

A landau is a coachbuilding term for a type of four-wheeled, convertible carriage. It was a city carriage of luxury type. The low shell of the landau made for maximum visibility of the occupants and their clothing, a feature that makes a landau still a popular choice for the Lords Mayors of certain cities in the United Kingdom on ceremonial occasions. (wikipedia)

• • •

This??? This is your Queen Victoria's 200th birthday tribute puzzle? Just ... her name? Look, do a damn tribute or don't do a tribute, but this half-assed half-themed junk has got to go. I kept looking around for Victorian material. Kept thinking there was some theme building that I just couldn't see. Seriously, when I got to the cross-reference clue at 65A: Some descendants of 62-Across (MEXICANS) I briefly thought "... MEXICANS are descended from QUEEN VICTORIA???" But no. "Grandmother of Europe," ugh, why are we "honoring" her? Was the idea ... what was the idea? Just put her name in the middle and then build a very old-fashioned, very old, kinda mediocre themeless around her? LINDY in a LANDAU, that's what this thing was. For the NONCE. It's painfully hoary, and could not have been more off my wavelength if it tried. This was some classic Maleska-era stuff, complete with your classic crosswordese (ÉTÉ! ODIE! LANDAU!!) and your almost exclusively olde-tymey frame of reference. Who the hell is Manchester, the WRITER (24D: London or Manchester). That clue killed me, and kept me from accessing the NE in a way that had me wondering if I was even going to finish. Satan is The DEUCE!?!? LOL, when? Who? Woof.


But seriously, Manchester? There is a guy I found named that, and he wrote books, but I would submit to you that he is not not not famous enough. Which is why I'm not naming him—I think I must be overlooking someone. But I can't figure out who. [Do so hope]??? I just stared at that going "what does that ... even mean? When would you say that????" The phrasing ... so archaic and forced and sad. Why is an EDGER [Tool used while on foot]??? You might use any tool while on foot. Why would *that* be your clue? The cluing here is perverse in stupid ways—designed to make things hard, no doubt, but mostly just off. If you're gonna go hard, you better be on. And this thing is off fro stem to stern.


OK, since no one has offered a better explanation, it looks like the Manchester in question is William Manchester, a historian and biographer (!?!?) that I've never ever heard of. The idea that you think he is an iconic WRITER on the level of Jack London (or Jack Vance or even Jack LaLanne) is hilarious. Did you really want your English city "joke" so bad, So Bad, that you went with William (??) Manchester!? Every idea this puzzle has about being "difficult" is actually bad. It's sour. It's off. EMAILS are not a "cause" of flooding. They are the substance. Whoever's sending them is the cause. Some bot or spammer or whatever. Or, just, all the people who (still) email you for some reason. (Thanks to my friend Helen for pointing out that particular cluing infelicity). Also, EMAILS with an "S," ugh. Grating. I felt guilty getting ABRAM instantly. I Don't Even Know Whose Middle Name That Is, but I've done enough crosswords to know that it's a [Presidential middle name], ugh. I also felt guilty at having the entire arsenal of carriage lingo at my fingertips thanks to decades of doing dated puzzles. LANDAU! (ask me about the SURREY, the HANSOM, the TROIKA, etc.)


Had KEPT TO for HELD TO (9D: Didn't stray from), AMASS for HOARD (9A: Stockpile), AMENS (?) for SMARM (21A: Unctuous utterances) (had the "M" from ST. ELMO, my first answer in the grid). No idea who Jamie DORNAN is (45D: Jamie ___, co-star in the "Fifty Shades of Grey" movie). Please stop putting TEC in puzzles, as I can assure you, as someone who studies and teaches crime fiction, it's a non-thing. No one says that. Even re: Spade. At least indicate its datedness, its bygoneness, whatever. Quit passing it off as an ordinary slang term. It isn't.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Waffle introducer / TUE 9-13-16 / O'Neal's memoir of his rookie year / Central Florida metropolis informally / Cousin of baboon

Constructor: Stanley Newman

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging to Challenging (*for a Tuesday*)

THEME: two Qs — three theme answers, each with 2 Qs

Theme answers:

• QUINQUAGENARIAN (17A: Person between 50 and 59)
• "SHAQ ATTAQ" (40A: O'Neal's memoir of his N.B.A. rookie year)
• QUEBEC NORDIQUES  (65A: N.H.L. team that became the Colorado Avalanche)

Word of the Day: "SHAQ ATTAQ"—

• • •

Well that was weird. Not much of a theme, but the answers are unusual enough that it's at least interesting (more than I can say for most Tuesdays). QUINQUAGENARIAN is not common (my blogging software is giving it an angry red underline right now) and "SHAQ ATTAQ" is downright obscure. I've never heard of it, which is at least a little weird. I mean, I've heard of "Kazaam." And I've heard of "Hack-a-Shaq," which is sincerely what I thought this was for a little bit. HAQQ-A-SHAQ! Difficulty level also jacked up by strangely tough mash-up of several words in and around "SHAQ ATTAQ": DIBS was mildly tough (31A: Rights, informally), and the front end of CUE CARDS was hard to see for a while (38A: Orators' aids), but real Saturday-level wrench in the system was that clue on BUT (32D: Waffle introducer?). Holy moly. It's a fine clue, but it's not at all a Tuesday clue. The fact that it runs through DIBS and CUE CARDS and, perversely, "SHAQ ATTAQ," made it especially debilitating. Everything else was Tuesday-easy, but that little nexus of nastiness added significantly to my solving time.


Bullets:

• 5D: Davenport, e.g. (COUCH) — I'm reading Chandler right now, and there are no COUCHes in his novels. No sofas. Only davenports. Everywhere you turn.
• 73A: Central Florida metropolis, informally (O-TOWN) — oh, this one added to my time too. Is this really what they call OCALA?*
• 53A: Acknowledge as true (COP TO) — dropped REPLETE in the cross but then took it out because I figured this answer was ... NOD TO ... [cough] ... [sound of wind whistling in the trees] ... [somewhere a coyote howls] ...

Gonna go watch Sam Bee now. Later.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*kidding

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Statistician Silver / THU 11-27-14 / Second-largest moon of Saturn / Highest paid TV star of 2014 / State south of Veracruz / Sister of grand duchess Anastasia / Upwards of 170 beats per minute / Eastern terminus of Erie Canal / Actual first name of Tom Seaver Orson Welles

Constructor: Stanley Newman

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME:  [Thanksgiving phrase] — "Thanks a lot" (roughly) in three different languages

Theme answers:

• MUCHAS GRACIAS
• MILLE GRAZIE 
• MERCI BEAUCOUP

Word of the Day: COO (53D: Corp. manager) —

A chief operating officer (COO), also called the chief operations officer, director of operations, or operations director, is a position that can be one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, comprising part of the "C-Suite". The COO is responsible for the daily operation of the company, and routinely reports to the highest ranking executive, usually the chief executive officer (CEO). The COO may also carry the title of President which makes that person the second in command at the firm, especially if the highest ranking executive is the Chairman and CEO. (wikipedia)

• • •

This was a reasonably solid themeless—yes, I see the theme there, but … I don't know. Those countries don't celebrate Thanksgiving, so while it's literally true that those are all "thanksgiving phrases" , the whole conceit seems rather thin. Also, the theme is just thin generally—just 35 squares total. So its feel is mostly that of a themeless. The most interesting thing about the theme is the way the clues exploit the first-letter-capitalized cluing convention to get you to think that the clues relate to capital-T Thanksgiving, when really they're related only to lowercase-T thanksgiving. The foreign angle … I don't really get. I guess those three phrases just fit nicely/symmetrically into the grid.


Solved this one slow-fast-stopped … then done. Got AAH and SCAM but nothing else in the NW. Then PECS and PSI got me going in the NE, though it still took me a while to throw MUCHAS GRACIAS back across the grid and into that NW corner. I had -RACIA- at the end of that answer, and I was like "… how is a [Thanksgiving phrase] going to end in 'RACIAL'???" After that top themer went in, the puzzle went down fast, until I put in MERCI BEAUCOUP. I thought with LAGS, AUEL, and BEAUCOUP going for me down there in the SE, I'd be set, but Nuh-o. Got TSP and PAST … still nothing. I just sat. I put the blame entirely on COO. Nobody expects a perfectly good word to be clued as an abbr. I will add that nobody *wants* it, either. Why you decide to clue a word as an abbr., I will not know. I guess just to f*** with solvers. Mission accomplished. Without GEORGE, I had no hope down there. No way I was getting RETORT from [Counter with a sharp edge] (clever) or SERAPES from [Clothing items with fringes] without much help from crosses, but those just wouldn't come. I just couldn't pick up any of those short Acrosses from their final letters. Somehow, finally, my brain managed to see through T---U-H to THROUGH, and only then did I realize, "Oh … COO." And then I was done.


I had no idea JUDGE JUDY was still on the air. Seriously. [Highest-paid TV star of 2014, by far]?? Wow.

Happy capital-T Thanksgiving,

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Eleniak of Baywatch / MON 10-27-14 / Long-running western anthology / Eponymous star of 1960s sitcom / Tennis champ Kournikova

Constructor: Stanley Newman

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: DVD RECORDER (53A: TV hookup option … or what you are by solving this puzzle?)— two answers have "DVD" as their initials:

Theme answers:

• DICK VAN DYKE (21A: Eponymous star of a 1960s sitcom, the only American TV star with his three initials)
• "DEATH VALLEY DAYS" (37A: Long-running western anthology, the only American TV series with its three initials)

Word of the Day: "DEATH VALLEY DAYS"—

Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945 and continued from 1952 to 1970 as a syndicated television series, with reruns (updated with new narrations) continuing through August 1, 1975.

The series was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Borax Company (20 Mule Team Borax, Boraxo) and hosted by Stanley Andrews (1952-1963), Ronald Reagan (1964-1965), Robert Taylor (1966-1969), and Dale Robertson (1969-1972). With the passing of Dale Robertson in 2013, all the former Death Valley Days hosts are now deceased. Hosting the series was Reagan's final work as an actor; he also was cast in eight episodes of the series. (wikipedia)

• • •

This puzzle is puzzling. First, there are two theme answers. That makes this as thin a theme as I've ever seen on a Monday. Yes, the revealer is part of the theme, but even so—really, really, really thin. Second, DVD RECORDER? Do those still exist? Did anyone ever own one? A google search reveals that said recorder is a real thing, but it's telling, I think, that the first page of hits returns an article entitled "Why DVD Recorders Are Getting Harder to Find." DVD RECORDERs did not kill the VCR—first the DVR and then streaming services did that. I cannot imagine why anyone would own a DVD RECORDER? I refuse to believe it is a common "TV hookup option." To be fair, the clue doesn't say "common." But still, it's weird to build your puzzle around such an uncommon, semi-archaic device. Third, why is it interesting that DICK VAN DYKE and "DEATH VALLEY DAYS" are "the only" things in their categories with these "three initials"? Seriously. Does that fact make anyone go "wow?" Would I expect lots of "American TV stars" or "American TV series" to have those initials? "How I Met Your Mother" is undoubtedly the only "American TV series" with the initials "HIMYM," but … so?


Lastly, if the theme is going to be this thin, the fill should be much better. It is by no means terrible, and there's some good, timely stuff in the cluing, most notably JEANNE Shaheen (50A: New Hampshire senator Shaheen), who is in a tough fight to hold on to her Senate seat right now. PAPA JOHNS is a pretty lively answer (gross pizza, gross corporation, but lively answer) (32D: Rival of Domino's). But the grid is so segmented that almost all we get is warmed over short stuff. I don't understand why, in the age of construction software, a corner like the SW corner exists. MDLII may be the most needless RRN (Random Roman Numeral) of all time. It's not like any of the other fill down there is glowing. Tear it out. Rebuild.


That's all. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Public-road race / THU 4-24-14 / Wassailer's tune / Scratch-card layer / Finnair rival / Spillsaver brand / Conan nickname

Constructor: Stanley Newman

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: four-syllable clues — Only theme answer = 20A: The theme, part 1 (EVERY ONE OF THE / CLUES HAS EXACTLY / FOUR SYLLABLES)

Word of the Day: RALLYE (48D: Public-road race) —

Rallying, also known as rally racing, is a form of auto racing that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars. This motorsport is distinguished by running not on a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format in which participants and their co-drivers drive between set control points (special stages), leaving at regular intervals from one or more start points. Rallies may be won by pure speed within the stages or alternatively by driving to a predetermined ideal journey time within the stages. [I have no idea why the French spelling, with the terminal "e," is (sometimes) retained …] (wikipedia)

• • •

Stan is a fine editor (Newsday) and a veteran constructor, but I don't understand this. Who cares if a clue has two or three or seven syllables? How hard is it to write four-syllable clues? I mean, people do entire puzzles where the first letters of clues are just one letter, or where the first letters of clues, in order, spell out elaborate crap. Four syllables? I would think any good constructor could do that for most any grid. Also, this grid is not demanding, and the fill is just OK. Nothing exciting or special. And given that the backbone of the whole puzzle is just … instructions, I fail to see where the interest lies. Why is this interesting? Is this fun? I certainly don't find it bad or offensive, but its reason for existing—why anyone might think this an entertaining idea—is totally beyond me.


This one played pretty easily for me, but then again I had just finished a much more intricate, much harder puzzle (this week's Fireball—a barnburner), so piecing this together felt like child's play. There were a few hang-ups. Wanted LIFE VESTS then LIFE BOATS for LIFE BELTS (which … I don't really know what those are, but I can imagine). NORA (47A: Mrs. James Joyce) and RALLYE (48D: Public-road race) and AMANA (41D: "Spillsaver" brand) were not easy for me to pick up, so coming down out of the middle into the SE was tough. Also, I had TEN- at 37D: Break time, perhaps, but couldn't conceive of writing out O'CLOCK, so remained baffled for a bit. Had ROUE for RAKE (68A: No gentleman). Would never have thought of a scratch-off layer as made of LATEX (though I'm not doubting the science) (3D: Scratch-card layer). Thought 32A: French department was going to be a generic word for the category rather than a *specific* department. Considered RYDER for FEDEX (22D: Golf cup sponsor). None of this is that remarkable or interesting. Just your ordinary snags. Really wish there were something juicy to talk about here, but I don't see it.


The NYT feels like it's in a pretty bad rut at the moment. Monday's puzzle aside, it seems like all the really good work is coming out elsewhere. Hope that turns around soon.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Columbus stopping point of 1493 / THU 2-27-14 / Some Coleridge colleagues / Epicurean explorer

Constructor: Stanley Newman

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: Sign at a neighborhood bar: "DON'T TALK ABOUT / YOURSELF. WE / WILL DO THAT / AFTER YOU LEAVE" 

Word of the Day: DIURNAL (11D: Active when the sun shines) —

adj.

1. Relating to or occurring in a 24-hour period; daily.
2. Occurring or active during the daytime rather than at night: diurnal animals.
3. Botany. Opening during daylight hours and closing at night.

n.

1. A book containing all the offices for the daily canonical hours of prayer except matins.
2. Archaic.
   1. A diary or journal.
   2. A daily newspaper.

[Middle English, from Late Latin diurnālis, from Latin diurnus, from diēs, day.]

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/diurnal#ixzz2uUNq9Vci

• • •

I am on record as being, let's say, not the biggest quote-puzzle fan. This quote is both strange and vaguely menacing, which I infinitely prefer to cutesy or punning, so I was not as put off as I might have been. Also, the grid is whisper quiet. 72 words (that's low for a themed puzzle) and not a rattle anywhere. This is what Stan is perhaps best known for, as editor of the Newsday crossword—search-and-destroying the short dreck that can clog up puzzles. I don't normally care what a constructor has to say about his/her own puzzle—while such "notes" have the potential to be interesting, they're usually either boring or self-serving, and at any rate have no relevance to my feelings about the quality of the puzzle. But I'm gonna quote from Stan's notes on this puzzle—not on this specific puzzle, actually, but on puzzle-editing in general—because I think his "fussiness" (as he puts it) is admirable.

In the 1,000-plus crosswords I’ve constructed and the 5,000-plus I’ve edited (for the New York newspaper Newsday and PuzzleSocial.com) since adopting Crossword Compiler in 2000, I’ve found that with careful grid patterning it’s never necessary to use obscurities, even for wide-open grids such as the 72-worder here. This sometimes requires that I check Google News and Google Books, to be sure that words I think are in common current use actually are. I look forward to the day where this fussiness will be standard procedure for constructors, so we can finally bid the OLEOs, OLIOs and ANILs of crosswordese an unfond farewell.

I told Stan last week that I was solving one of his Newsday puzzles, Downs-only, with my wife in the diner last week, and found myself adjusting my guesses based on my knowledge that he was editor of the puzzle. Wife: "4 letters: [Amazing thing]" Me: "Oh crap, it's probably stupid ONER … oh wait, no. This was edited by Stan. Try LULU." And LULU it was. A similar thing happened when we were trying to parse an Across (w/o looking at clue) and had the pattern EV_L. Wife: "It's EVIL." Me: "Could be EVEL … no, wait, it's Stan. You're right; it's probably EVIL." And yes, it was EVIL. It's nice being able (mostly) to rule out the dreck.



This grid isn't what I'd call sparkly, but for a 72-word themed puzzle, its smoothness is pretty damned impressive. Loved the clue on SODA POP (1D: Redundant-sounding refreshment), as well as the clue on AMA (8D: Org. offering group practice membership), which had me thinking NRA and imagining a bunch of people on the shooting range at once.  FOODIE is fresh and original and, again, I like the clue (61A: Epicurean explorer). Unexpected clue on RIP (59D: Cut in the direction of the grain). Modern clue on AMY (55A: Adams of "American Hustle"). Just a solid, professional effort overall.

Puzzle news now: Matt Gaffney is now doing a regular metapuzzle contest for New York Magazine. See the first contest here. And, again, I'll be at the Finger Lakes Crossword Competition this Saturday (3/1) in Ithaca, NY, judging and mingling and talking and god knows what. Should be fun. Info on the competition, which is open to all skill levels, here.

Now, for no reason, here is a picture of me and my dad from the early '80s. I have no idea where we are or why (in the world) I'm wearing shades.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Pompous pronoun / MON 10-3-11 / So-called white magic / Vacation resort policy perhaps / Two-front as Coast Guard rescue

Constructor: Stanley Newman

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (for a Monday)

THEME: DUBYA (66A: 43rd president's nickname) — theme answers all end in one-syllable "W" words; vowel sound in the "W" word changes (from "A" through to "U") with each successive theme answer

Word of the Day: HGTV (40D: "House Hunters" cable channel) —

HGTV (also referred to as Home & Garden Television), is a cable-television network operating in the United States and Canada, broadcasting a variety of home and garden improvement, maintenance, renovation, craft and remodeling shows. It is also a popular Home & Garden website (HGTV.com). (wikipedia)

• • •

Monday theme idea, Tuesday hard. Which is to say, not hard. Just semi-slow in patches. The connection between "Vacation resort" an NO TIPS is so tenuous as to be non-existent, to me (30D: Vacation resort policy, perhaps). I honestly thought it was NO TOPS at some point. Seemed plausible. Nudist beach resort, maybe? I don't know. Seemed as plausible as NO TIPS. TRIOXIDE is not a word I've ever seen, as far as I can remember (38D: Compound containing O3), though the "O3" part seems like a giveaway, in retrospect. I've never FITted anything UP. I've fixed things up. HGTV is not a network I think of often (40D: "House Hunters" cable channel). USAGE is something I think of only in relation to words—Practical application is vague. I had no idea WICCA was (so-called) "white magic." None. Never heard that. AIRSEA? (42A: Two-front, as a Coast Guard rescue) You know something is weird about your clue when it contains the phrase "as a Coast Guard rescue." That's a pretty specific example. Anyhoo, theme answers are lively—I really like THE ROYAL WE—and the fill is at least not boring. "I CAN'T TELL YOU WHY" should've been clued as an Eagles song, 'cause it's a little weird as just a random phrase someone might say. The main thing I learned today is that my wife has never heard the phrase "PITCHING WOO" in her life. She's from NZ, so maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe the fact that it's not the 1910s anymore also has something to do with it.




Theme answers:

• 17A: Wins a dispute (GETS ONE'S WAY)
• 26A: Pompous pronoun (THE ROYAL WE)
• 37A: "It's a mystery to me" ("I CAN'T TELL YOU WHY")
• 50A: Sob stories (TALES OF WOE)
• 59A: In romantic pursuit (PITCHING WOO)
  

I say the "WH" in "WHY" like the "WH" in "whether" (with a slight outrush of air ... as opposed to the way I say the "W" in "weather") making the pronunciation just *slightly* different than the "W" sounds in the other theme answers. Not different enough to matter, but different enough for me to mention the fact here. I thought 41D: Thumbs-up votes were AYES. They were YEAS. The equivalence of those bugs me no end. Surprisingly, I have no memory of ever having seen JESUS in a puzzle before, which is strange, since it's a perfectly good man's name, Hispanically speaking. NINJA JESUS is a particularly appealing image. I would totally watch that cartoon.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. for a strange flashback, check out my puzzle write-up from 5 years ago today...

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Pittsburgh Pirates hero 1960 World Series / MON 8-15-11 / Music source on many old fairground / Perry with 1956 #1 hit Hot Diggity

Constructor: Stan Newman

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (*for a Monday*)


THEME: ZIP (56D: Nothing ... or a hint to what's hidden in 20-, 35- and 52-Across) — ZERO is embedded in three theme answers

• APPETIZER ORDER (20A: Buffalo wings or bruschetta, e.g.)
• BILL MAZEROSKI (35A: Pittsburgh Pirates hero of the 1960 World Series)
• WURLITZER ORGAN (52A: Music source on many an old fairground)

Word of the Day: Jeff BEZOS (30D: Jeff who founded Amazon.com) —

Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos (born January 12, 1964) is the founder, president, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and chairman of the board of Amazon.com. Bezos, a Tau Beta Pi graduate of Princeton University, worked as a financial analyst for D. E. Shaw & Co. before founding Amazon in 1994. (wikipedia)

• • •

I love the vast majority of this grid — really interesting answers (esp. for a Monday) and very little in the way of junk (we'll just pretend OOO and III didn't happen). [sidenote: "Centerfield" by John Fogerty just came on (I'm listening to his 1985 album, also called "Centerfield," on Spotify) ... I know BILL MAZEROSKI was a second baseman, but still, it seems appropriate]


I had to struggle a bit more than I normally do on Mondays, due largely to the proper nouns: got SAM RAIMI pretty easily, but needed help with BOTSWANA and BEZOS and even BILL MAZEROSKI—blanked on his name, then remembered but misspelled it. Nice to have a bunch of long, none-theme answers in a Monday puzzle. Really livens it up. The one thing I really didn't like about the grid is APPETIZER ORDER. Buffalo wings and bruschetta are APPETIZERS. The "ORDER" part feels horribly tacked-on and non-idiomatic. Theme answers need to be tight, solid, indisputably right. "ORDER" just derails this one. "Mmm, mozzarella stix ... that's my favorite kind of APPETIZER ... ORDER." No no no. That said, I still think this puzzle is good.


Stan Newman is an old pro — a former ACPT champion and editor of the Newsday puzzle, he knows what he's doing with this crossword stuff. Never surprised when his NYT puzzles are top-notch. They aren't frequent, but they're good.

Bullets:

• 39A: Perry with the 1956 #1 hit "Hot Diggity" (COMO) — another proper noun that slowed me down. Way way before my time, and I've never heard this song. I know Perry COMO only by name. He was probably mentioned frequently in '70s-era TV (the only way I can imagine his name sinking into my consciousness).

• 23A: Kid's "shooter" projectile (PEA) — my guess is that a kid has not actually shot a pea since Perry COMO was big. And yet PEA-shooter is a familiar term, and this was easy to get.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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1970s first mother / SAT 12-25-10 / Twentieth century producer / Perfection under fire product / Corrosion-resistant plating

Constructor: Stanley Newman

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium


THEME: Santa ___ — names of famous places that start with SANTA

• 19A: Santa ___ (CATALINA ISLAND) — never heard anyone call it anything except CATALINA ISLAND ...
• 36A: Santa ___ (MONICA MOUNTAINS) — ... whereas I've never heard anyone call these MONICA MOUNTAINS, and furthermore I never think about SANTA MONICA as anything but the city (where Best Friend 1 lives), or maybe the BOULEVARD (it fits!) so ... weird and weird so far.
• 48A: Santa ___ (ANITA RACETRACK) — And weirder, as this one is not (like the others) a geographical feature ...

Word of the Day: LILLIAN Carter (18A: 1970s "first mother") —

Lillian Gordy Carter (August 15, 1898 – October 30, 1983) was the mother of former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter. She is also known for contribution to nursing in her home state of Georgia and as a Peace Corps volunteer in India as well as writing two books during the Carter presidency. (wikipedia)

• • •

Kind of an odd fake Christmas puzzle. Theme answers don't produce much joy. Fill is fine but unremarkable. Cluing is interestingly much more like Stan Newman's "Newsday" cluing than it is like the typical NYT puzzle. That is, it relies more on short (often one-word) and vague cluing for its toughness than the typical Shortzian creation. I'm thinking of [Point] and [Point] and [Tap] and [Zip] and [Spring] and such. [Go around] isn't ORBIT, it's AVOID. [Stir up] isn't AGITATE (as it should be), it's ANIMATE and the cross, [Imply], isn't GET AT (as it should be), it's AIM AT. That said, it wasn't all that hard, and there's hardly an obscurity in sight, so what toughness there was was welcome. [Put away] — is that about eating, or stowing, or ... nope. It's killing (DO IN). In the end, I liked this puzzle fine, though the theme left me cold.

Some interesting moments:

We've got STENO (7D: Old office worker) and STERNO (44D: "Perfection under fire" product), so lucky us.

I invented two words today: MAZING for 23A: Stunning (DAZING) and ADORATES for 37D: Fawns over (ADULATES).

I could remember the villain himself from 2009's "Star Trek," but not the actor who played the villain in 2009's "Star Trek" (xword-friendly Eric BANA).

Other wrong answers:

• ORDINAL for 8A: Point (DECIMAL)
• SPICE for 30D: Oomph (JUICE)
• ASTI for 34A: Sight from the top of the Leaning Tower (ARNO)

Also, could not get ANDROMICA out of my head at 20D: Wife of Perseus, probably through conflation of the actual answer (ANDROMEDA) with Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus."

Bullets:

• 1A: "The Twentieth Century" producer (CBS NEWS) — probably the hardest answer of all for me, as I don't know what "The Twentieth Century" is and I was looking for a person, not a news organization. This was especially weird when I thought the actor who played Nero in "Star Trek" was Billy ZANE. "CZ-NE-S?!?! Who is that?"
  
• 44A: Happy cohort? (SNEEZY) — transparent, but I still liked the clue. That's the playfulness I like / expect in my late-weekers. (and it's a "Snow White" reference, in case somehow that's not yet abundantly clear)
  
• 45A: Company with an I.P.O. in both 1992 and 2009 (AOL) — 1992. Wow. Seems early, but I guess I got my first email address in 1991, so maybe not so early after all.
  
• 14D: Wiseman who directed "Live Free or Die Hard" (LEN) — wanted LES, which was good enough to get the ball rolling up there. No idea how I (2/3) know the name. Interesting fact: the first "Die Hard" was a Christmas movie. This "Die Hard" ... I don't know.
  

• 38D: Corrosion-resistant plating (TIN) — "Tin roof! Rusted!"

Merry Christmas to all relevant parties. If you frequently read the comments section, you might enjoy this blog-based holiday puzzle by my friend Dave Eckert (whose dad is the eponym of a local theater here where I live, but that's another story...). Get it here. Enjoy.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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Comedic inspiration for Robin Williams / MON 3-8-10 / Musical group with its own 1977-81 show / Vampire slayer of film and TV

Constructor: Stanley Newman

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: Plural Seasons — four theme answers end with plurals of each of the four seasons

Word of the Day: VEGA (12D: Bright northern star) —

Vega (α Lyr / α Lyrae / Alpha Lyrae) is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, the fifth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus. It is a relatively nearby star at only 25 light-years from Earth, and, together with Arcturus and Sirius, one of the most luminous stars in the Sun's neighborhood. (wikipedia)

• • •

Stan Newman takes a break from his normal Newsday crossword editing gig to offer a delightful little Monday puzzle in the NYT today. What is it with me and slow starts lately? I must have spun my wheel for 10 seconds ago (an eternity in Monday time) before I managed to get going in the NW. Looked at 1D: Show to be true — nothing. Looked at 2D: Watch with a flexible wristband — well, lots of watches have those ... nothing. 1A: Capitalized, as a noun — uh, yeah, nothing. Finally got ONO (3D: John Lennon's middle name) and things started to come together. Then I had COLORADO- at the beginning of 16A: Home of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and thought, "how the hell should I know?!" Then I realized that only one word could possibly follow COLORADO: SPRINGS. From there on out, I remember nothing, as I blazed through the puzzle at light speed. All that diddling around at the beginning and I *still* came in under 3. I figure one or two of the places or names are bound to cause people at least a little hesitation, so Easy-Medium. Oh, turns out the watch was a ROLEX and the capitalized noun was PROPER and of course [Show to be true] was PROVE. Never saw the theme. Noticed it only after I was done.

Theme answers:

• 16A: Home of the U.S. Air Force Academy (COLORADO SPRINGS)
  
• 27A: Vampire slayer of film and TV (BUFFY SUMMERS) — didn't know her last name. Hardly mattered. Crosses made it easy to infer.
  
• 45A: City in 21-Across (WICHITA FALLS) — never looked to see what 21-Across was. Had -AFALLS and filled in WICHIT- from that.
  
• 60A: Comedic inspiration for Robin Williams (JONATHAN WINTERS) — WINTERS of course played Mork's son Mearth on "Mork & Mindy" (hatched as an adult, the idea being that he ages backwards, Benjamin Button-style). From wikipedia: "Although Robin Williams calls Jonathan Winters his greatest influence, the idea of Mearth didn't work, and the show was soon canceled, in 1982."

I have to say, I would not have spelled CASSAVA that way (7A: Tapioca source). Would've gone with CASAVA, probably. I'm clearly conflating it with CASABA, a melon. CASSAVA is a nice-looking answer. There were some less-than-nice-looking answers today. Aside from the SURFEIT (23D: Overabundance) of crosswordese, e.g. SSTS, TSE, ASST, HARI, ONO, ERAS, ICET, SLR, ARNO, NEA, ATARI, SAGO, ABE, EVE (and even some of the longer stuff, e.g. IRONORE — 14A: Raw material for a steel factory), there was the weird RETASTE (67A: Take another sip of); and finally, there was the result of the especially odd magic trick whereby, with a simple addition of "S," a Literature Nobelist becomes a really oddly pluralized baking product: YEATS (49A: Literature Nobelist William Butler ___) to YEASTS (68A: Bread bakers' buys)! I think the unusual (and unusually long) theme answers are what makes the puzzle — and they're strong enough, for me, to keep "ugh" from overtaking "yay" today.

Bullets:

• 42D: Musical group with its own 1977-81 show (SHA NA NA) — Whoa, that's my pop culture sweet spot (or one of them). How'd I miss this show? Were they capitalizing on the '50s fad ushered in by Mr. Arthur Fonzerelli? Who knows? Enjoy:

[be sure to let the tape roll to experience the ... sketch comedy?]

• 25D: Path for a mole (TUNNEL) — Thought the "mole" might be figurative at first, i.e. an undercover operative. I liked all the 7-letter Downs in this one, esp. SURFEIT and SUITS ME (10D: "I have no problem with that")
• 53A: Chester Arthur's middle name (ALAN) — Learning something on a Monday! I like it. I've since forgotten it, but it was fun while it lasted. Wife, perusing the puzzle, just now: "... I thought Chester Arthur's middle name began with a "B." Why did I think that?" I give her the one second she needs to figure out her problem.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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