Muslim headdress / SUN 8-4-13 / 1972 musical or its 2013 revival / Column on Clue notepad / Much-hyped Google product / High Muslim honorific / Car make whose name sounds like Cockney greeting

Constructor: Steven Ginzburg

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "Should I Call The Repairman?" — clues are objects that might break followed by ellipses; answers are continuations of the clues that create a punny sentence about how the objects are broken:

Theme answers:

• 27A: The jigsaw ... KEEPS CUTTING OUT
• 40A: The elevator ... JUST WENT DOWN
• 53A: The mosquito zapper ... HAS STILL GOT BUGS
• 77A: The quiz-grading machine ... FAILED SOME TESTS
• 89A: The crosswalk signal ... IS ON THE BLINK
• 104A: The film-processing machine at the movie studio ... DEVELOPED A SHORT

Word of the Day: W.E.B. DUBOIS (33D: "The Souls of Black Folk" author, 1903) —

William Edward Burghardt "W. E. B." Du Bois (pronounced /duːˈbɔɪz/ doo-boyz; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author and editor. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. After graduating from Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology and economics atAtlanta University. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. (wikipedia)

• • •

Someone wrote me the other day to ask me if the Sunday puzzles had, as she suspected, gotten easier lately. I said probably not, or if they had, it was standard variation—perhaps a patch of easyish puzzles, but only in the way we might have a patch of cold or warm weather, i.e. it would all norm out over time. But then I did this puzzle in under 9, and now I'm thinking there may be something to this theory. They have been playing rather easily lately. Someone who tracks times assiduously will be better able than I to see if there is a large-scale trend. I'd still bet against it, but part of me wants to sign on to the conspiracy theory.


I don't have very strong opinions about this puzzle. There are only six theme answers and they are punny in that way that I don't enjoy that much (i.e. they are punny). But the puzzle is what it is, and as this type of puzzle goes, it seems just fine. Easy, but fine. Fill is no worse than most Sundays, perhaps even a little better—lots of longer non-theme answers helps keep the fill from being completely ordinary and dull. ASSYR and OATY and ABAA (an answer I'd totally banish if I could) are weak, but that's not much to complain about. The STNS EEO ASSN block there in the middle is yuck, but again, it's a small patch. Overwhelmingly, the fill is rock solid. I didn't struggle much, but there were a few places that caused me some relative slowage. HAVEN'T was remarkably hard to come up with (67D: Lack). The vague clue (noun? verb?) is likely to blame, at least in part. Also, nobody expects a contraction. No One. Also struggled mightily to come up with THE RAMS. In what sense might they be said (straightfacedly) to be a "pride" (90D: Pride of St. Louis). The Cardinals fit that clue, but THE RAMS? Not lately. Or is a pack of rams called a "pride" now? If so, why are rams hanging out in packs? End times?


Bullets:

• 52A: Column on a Clue notepad (ROOMS) — flashback-inducing clue. I haven't played this board game (or any board game) in years.
• 58A: He said "Every great film should seem new every time you see it" (EBERT) — interesting assertion. I'll have to test this out in the near future. 
• 75A: Muslim headdress (TAJ) — Did not know this. Better than [___ Mahal], I guess.
• 98A: 1972 musical or its 2013 revival ("PIPPIN") — couldn't tell you anything about either. I just keep picturing Pippie Longstocking. Is she involved?
• 6D: High Muslim honorific (AGA KHAN) — I thought this was a specific guy, but apparently not. I was probably thinking of (Prince) ALY KHAN (the son, it turns out, of AGA KHAN III). KHAAAAAAN!
• 55D: Much-hyped Google product (GLASS) — if this is the future, I'm out. Nice knowing you all. 
• 78D: Car make whose name sounds like a Cockney greeting (AUDI) — "Howdy" is a Cockney greeting? I get the dropped "H" thing, but "Cockney greeting" is surprising to me. Either "howdy" is a Cockney expression or there were Cockneys in the Old West. Either way, color me surprised. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Lollapuzzoola 6 crossword tournament is coming up on Saturday. If you can't make it to NYC on Saturday, there's a solve-at-home option. Here's a message from tournament co-founder, Brian Cimmet:

Lollapuzzoola 6 is happening in New York City on Saturday, August 10. A day of all-original puzzles designed just for the tournament, bonus games, great fun and friends, and all for just $25 (optional pizza party not included). Or, if NYC isn't in your travel plans, sign up for the At-Home version for just $10. For more on Lollapuzzoola, visit www.bemoresmarter.com, find us on Facebook, or contact tournament co-director Brian Cimmet at brian@bemoresmarter.com. P.S. Rex Parker once described this crossword competition as "easily the best tournament experience I've had to date," if that sort of thing holds any sway.
Thanks!
- Brian

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TUESDAY, Sep. 1 2009 — Hot car's destination / Was a Lady Ethel Merman tune / Precursor of reggae / Woody Allen's trademark emotion

Constructor: Steven Ginzburg

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: BY HOOK OR BY CROOK (37A: How 18-, 24-, 47- and 56-Across may be defined) — HOOK is the clue for the first and third theme answers, CROOK the clue for the second and fourth.

Word of the Day: CROOK — n.

1. An implement or tool, such as a bishop's crosier or a shepherd's staff, with a bent or curved part.
2. A part that is curved or bent like a hook.
3. A curve or bend; a turn: a crook in the path.
4. Informal. One who makes a living by dishonest methods. (answers.com)
   

-----

Very EASY (29A: "Careful, now!") except in the theme answers, which are essentially unclued until 37A is discovered (and even then the relationship between BY HOOK OR BY CROOK and the theme answers isn't self-evident). Theme answers are somewhat arbitrary phrases, passable definitions of "HOOK" or "CROOK" but chosen more for reasons of rotational symmetry than for aptness. RACKETEER, for instance, could have been a million things — that definition of "CROOK" is very, very broad. SHEPHERD'S CANE took me the longest (of all the theme answers) by far — even as I was writing its last letters in, I was thinking "is that a thing?" Aside from TYR (a recent Word of the Day, 9D: 49-Down war god) and "EADIE" (which I also singled out for examination not that long ago), everything else was right over the plate today, with CHOP SHOP being the most interesting entry by far.

Theme answers:

18A: SHARP TURN (hook)
24A: SHEPHERDS CANE (crook)
47A: SWINGING PUNCH (hook)
56A: RACKETEER (crook)

Had the most trouble with 34D: Utah, Omaha and others, on D-Day (code names), as my brain wanted only "BEACHES," and even with CODE in place I refused to believe that the answer was something as generic as CODE NAMES. It's a perfectly accurate answer for the clue, but the clue misdirected me with its beachness. Probably intentional. I like that there is a kind of boxing subtheme in the puzzle, with both TKO (36D: Fight ender, for short) and CUT (41A: Director's "Stop!") hovering right above SWINGING PUNCH. More martial action at the KWON in Tae KWON do (38D). And then HE-MAN underneath at 59A: Rambo type). If we extend the subtheme to cartoon boxing, then BOING works as well (32D: Spring sound).



Bullets:

• 1A: Moody's rates them (bonds) — completely and utterly blanked on this. Needed almost every cross. Ugh.
• 15A: Gross, in kidspeak (icky) — yeah ... KIDspeak ... 'cause I never say this.
• 23A: "_____ Was a Lady" (Ethel Merman tune) — the insidious thing about this title is that if you don't know it, and you're given a fill-in-the-blank clue like this, the name that wants to go in there is SADIE (my downfall last time this name appeared). EADIE doesn't even rhyme with "lady!" Here, the "E" cross is easy ... unless you have some reason for believing there might be PSAs in your frozen vegetables (19D: Accompaniers of carrots in a Birds Eye package => PEAS).
• 64A: "Guarding _____" (1994 MacLaine movie) ("Tess") — did anyone actually see this? I think Nicolas Cage was Shirley MacLaine's bodyguard in this. Seems an odd / obscurish clue for a Tuesday (though a gimme for me), harder than [Hardy heroine], though easier than, say, [Poet Gallagher].
• 3D: Food package datum (net weight) — man I dislike the word "datum." The most irritating singular form in the English language.
• 6D: Baseball cap part (visor) — more often called the "brim," I think.
• 7D: Needed a massage, maybe (ached) — I'm there. LOMI LOMI, take me away. In related news, today is the first day of the new semester for me.
• 8D: Precursor of reggae (ska) — I always think of reggae as a precuror of SKA. Weird.
• 30D: Epitome of simplicity (ABC) — With this type of clue, I'm always torn between ABC and PIE.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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Preceder of bravo in radio alphabet - THURSDAY Apr. 30 2009- G Kaiser/S Ginzburg (Food whose name comes from a language of West Africa)

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "CAPITAL OFFENSES" (36A: Pun-crimes committed by the answers to the six starred clues?) - theme answers are world capitals clued via puns on their names

Word of the Day: LUNA moth - n.

A large, pale-green North American moth (Actias luna) having elongated, taillike hind wings.

Here is a LUNA moth:


And here is a LUNA moth shawl I found at (no foolin') ELANN.com (40D: Personal flair):


I winced inwardly when I saw the phrase "pun-crimes" (the phrase being a redundancy in my book), but mercifully there are no punny tortured phrases in the grid itself, which is masterfully, beautifully, colorfully filled. Honestly, I think this puzzle is beautiful, from the RUMINANT (18A: Cow or goat) in KHARTOUM to the SPACE BAR (57A: Long key) in NEW DELHI. The grid is super-geographical, with six world capitals plus IDAHO (50D: Home of the sawtooth range), SIBERIA (14D: Home of the 2,700-mile-long Lena River), and the UBANGI (17A: Congo tributary) ... plus SARONG (43A: Island attire) and PAN-ARAB (46A: Like Gamal Abdel Nasser's movement), both of which suggest more and different parts of the globe (different parts of ASIA, to be precise - 56A: _____-Pacific). I had a little trouble getting into the NE - I knew RIDGE (16D: First secretary of homeland security), but the other 4+ Downs were adequately disguised enough that I had to crawl into that tiny 3x4 space in the puzzle's attic and work on those 3-letter answers. Poor initial success (didn't know, wrong answer (NTH), right answer, didn't know) ended up being enough, as the "G" from GUN (11D: Rev) tipped me to MTGE (9A: You can get one on the house: Abbr.), and everything fell from there.

Oh, and I "finished" the puzzle and then realized I hadn't checked my crosses and had NUTTY where BATTY was supposed to go (67A: Crackers), resulting in the plausible cross of NIN (for NIB - 62D: Penpoint) and the implausible cross of ABRU (for ABRA - 56D: Start of a magic incantation).

Theme answers:

• 2D: *Multiplyin' by 2? (Dublin) - HA ha. Love that one.

• 48D: *Base of a fragrant tree? (Beirut)
• 15A: *Final resting place for old autos? (Khartoum)
• 24A: *Father of the Ziploc? (Baghdad)
• 49A: *Wide shoe specification? (Tripoli)
• 63A: *Recently opened sandwich shop? (New Delhi)

Gotta run - busy day - so I'm going straight to ...

Bullets:

• 19A: Preceder of bravo in a radio alphabet (alfa) - thought Bravo would be capitalized in this context. Also thought ALFA was spelled "alpha." Live and learn.
• 29A: Extreme Atkins diet credo ("No carbs!") - so extreme that if you followed it, I believe you would die. Then you'd *really* lose weight.
• 33A: Author Fallaci (Oriana) - had it as ARIANA, but then the wonderful COIN-OP came into view and set things straight (30D: Pinball machine, e.g.)
• 64A: It's white and fleecy (cirrus) - another beautiful word for the grid
• 5D: REM researcher's tool (EEG) - new clue on old fill. Nice.

• 6D: Food whose name comes from a language of West Africa (okra) - I had no idea - part of the reason getting into the NE was harder than it might have been, what with OKRA's providing the first letters for those long Acrosses.
• 23D: It has feathers and flies (dart) - a bit too much like a riddle for my tastes
• 59D: "How cute!" (aww) - ah, the arbitrary, rarely-seen double-W. If you're lengthening the vowel, why isn't the "A" the letter that's repeated?

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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TUESDAY, Jun. 17, 2008 - Steven Ginzburg (SHOW OF LOWBROW TASTE)

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "DATE AND TIME" (65A: Invitation info ... or two alternate endings for the starts of the answers to 18-Across, 10-Down and 24-Down)

This theme is weirdly complicated, in that it's not complicated at all once you sort it all out, but when you're flying through the puzzle ... figuring out where the theme answers were and how parts of those answers were supposed to relate to each other reminded me of doing long division. Still, the theme works perfectly. I think I would have said "possible" rather than "alternate" in the DATE AND TIME clue, but no big deal. This puzzle had fewer unknown words in it than yesterday's, but still took me longer. Two main sticking points: I had SHOE for SHIN (49D: It's usually over a foot) and I could not for the life of me figure out what 18A: Furniture within easy walking distance of the kitchen was going for. I consider all the furniture in my house to be "within easy walking distance of the kitchen," so ... the answer here was not obvious to me. I am comforted by the fact that my wife's initial answer here was DINNER PLATE. I don't know what I would have entered had I ventured a guess, but I know it would not have been that silly.

Theme answers:

• 18A: Furniture within easy walking distance of the kitchen (dinner table)
• 10D: Popular Sony product (Playstation)
• 24D: Spy who lives dangerously (double agent) - as opposed to those lazy, cowardly spies who take no risks and swill beer on the couch all day

Had one of those great puzzle coincidences last night - you know the kind, where you're doing the puzzle and some answer comes up that you were Just talking about an hour earlier ("... and I hadn't thought about OCELOTS in years ... isn't that weird"?), or your run across a word and someone on the radio or TV utters that word at that exact moment? Well, last night I was pushing at the puzzle while "Family Guy" was on in the background (I rarely watch this show any more, so ... I must have been waiting around for "The Daily Show" to come on). I noticed that the background music was really familiar, but I couldn't place it. Then I hit 57D: Mt. Rushmore's locale: Abbr. (S. Dak.) and about one second later someone on "Family Guy" utters the words Mt. Rushmore and then I realize that the music that was so familiar was familiar because I own it - it's the soundtrack to "North by Northwest," and the "Family Guy" episode that's on is an enormous parody of that movie (entitled, I later found out, "North by North Quahog"). The top secret film at issue in the parody is "Passion of the Christ 2: Crucify This," which Peter is trying desperately to save the world from ever experiencing.

Listy:

• 20A: Actor Mos _____ (Def) - he is also, notably, a rapper. Expect to see his name (first and last) in puzzles now and forever.
• 31A: Show of lowbrow taste (kitsch) - hmmm. Only high/middlebrow people would ever use this word.
• 40A: Pimpernel or prairie clover (herb) - no idea. I thought The Scarlet Pimpernel was just his name ... like ... Sir Pimpernel. My wife thought this was a much sillier idea than DINNER PLATE (see above).
• 43A: Cheer competitor (Tide) - seems as if almost ALL detergents have short, puzzle-worthy names. One of my favorite "Simpsons" episodes involves Principal Skinner standing in front of a laundromat detergent dispenser trying to decide which kind to buy; he recites each name in a methodical, slow, monotone, and it goes on Forever. Since I can't find a clip of that, here is perhaps the greatest one and a half minutes of Homer Simpson footage you'll ever see. Premise: Homer chances upon an overturned sugar truck and decides that seizing the spilled goods will surely make him rich ... somehow.
• 50A: African heavyweight, for short (Rhino) - couldn't think of any African boxers. Reading book on Jack Dempsey, so "heavyweight" skewed toward boxing even more than it likely would have otherwise.
• 53A: Perennial teenage feeling (angst) - Sadly, tellingly, this was a gimme. I got it without even looking at how many letters it was.
• 60A: Popular place (in spot) - feels off. IN CROWD. HOT SPOT. Here is a local diner, which as you can see, is The Spot to eat. My wife picked up this card for me because it looks so old school. My first reaction: "It looks like a Robert Crumb drawing."

• 2D: Geneva-based watchmaker (Rolex) - lots of other watch brands would fit here.
• 12D: It's cheap, proverbially (talk) - we just had some variation of this very clue, didn't we?
• 19D: Corner piece (rook) - I had NOOK until the bitter end, the bitter end being "What's a DINNEN TABLE?"
• 32D: Weapon in a gang fight (shiv) - by far my favorite crossword weapon. UZIs are cliché, AXEs are far too messy, and ADZEs are just pretentious.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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WEDNESDAY, Mar. 5, 2008 - Steven Ginzburg (GERMAN AUTO DEBUT OF 1974)

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: Initial initials - all theme answers begin with two initials that are also sequential letters of the alphabet (at least I think that's the theme)

Bad morning. Basement flooded, floor drain clogged, sump pump anemic. Ugh ugh ugh. Why do I live in a stupid old house, again? If any of you have recommendations for how to fix a clogged floor drain, I'm all ears. You can write me privately (see sidebar for address). Once again, ugh. I just bailed a bunch of horrible, near-brackish water for about a half hour. I can't even tell how the water is getting into the basement. It's coming in from only one side (like a mini mini waterfall cascading down the side of the basement) but when I go outside, yes, our back yard is a lake, but there is no water pooled against the house that I can see. Can you tell I'm a super duper handy-man. For the last time, allow me to say, ugh. I'm going to have to storm-proof my basement, or else I'm looking forward to a March filled with ankle-deep water and gnashing of teeth, a nice complement to a March that will already inevitably be filled with the Democratic party tearing itself limb from limb. Actually, the self-destruction of the Dems may be good, in the long run, or at least entertaining. It's certainly deserved. The same cannot be said for the flooding of my basement. [Update - all is well, basement-wise, relatively speaking; thanks for the (many) helpful suggestions]

This puzzle felt more like a Tuesday, or Monday-Tuesday ... Monsday/Muesday. I'm saying it was supereasy, but maybe not so much if you've never heard of the VW SCIROCCO. I have heard of it, though it took a few beats to conjure up. I had OVATE for OVOID (26D: Egg-shaped), and I have NO idea what a LEONID is (except what the puzzle tells me - 15A: Meteor in a meteor shower - is it cat-like?), but otherwise I sailed through this. Oh, I had IGIVEIN instead of the correct IGIVEUP, but as the resulting MISE and SNED were not recognizable words to me, I fixed that up, eventually.

Oh, and you remember about a year back when I launched "Operation: Stop Referencing 'Ally McBeal'"? Well, that Operation, like the Surge in Iraq, has been largely successful. But, it seems we have a new enemy. Yes, if "Ally McBeal" is Iraqi insurgents in this scenario, then "Desperate Housewives" is the looming threat of Iran. That, or Al-Qaeda. Take your pick. Something must be done. Please, help me solve the twin problems of EVA Longoria (29A: Longoria of "Desperate Housewives") proliferation and TERI Hatcheritis (21A: Hatcher of "Desperate Housewives") before it's too late - and I lose my mind and start shouting at constructors.

Theme answers:

• 18A: Common computer feature (CD-ROM drive)
• 23A: German auto debut of 1974 (VW Scirocco)
• 37A: First person to win a Smarties Prize, for children's books, three years in a row (J.K. Rowling) - author of the Harry Potter books. I hope she got tangy colored candy with her Prizes.
• 53A: Universal recipient type (AB Positive)
• 61A: Cause of some burns (UV exposure)

I did not grasp the sequential part of the initial letters until well after I was done; I just kept telling myself "initials!" That seemed to work.

Hurrying thru puzzle so I can get back to tending my basement lake:

• 11A: Plane with a machmeter: Abbr. (SST) - A very good disguise, Mr. SST. I like it when you vary your outfits. Your date, Ms. ONO, is also exceedingly well dressed (48A: 1969 "bed-in" participant).
• 16A: Spray-paint, maybe (mar) - one of many clues I never saw. Does this clue refer to graffiti? Ok, that was a dumb question.
• 28A: Big name in stationery (Eaton) - learned from X-words. Wrote in EAMES, then remembered that that was the chair guy.
• 32A: City near Saint-Exupery (Lyon) - reminds me of the guy who wrote "The Little Prince," perhaps for the obvious reason that that guy's name was Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Yes, that must be it.
• 33A: Frankie with the 1959 #1 hit "Why" (Avalon) - Hmm, seems like, with the clue at 63D: Round Table honorific (Sir), you sort of missed your chance for a nice sub-theme here - [Arthur's final resting place] or something. Not that Frankie AVALON isn't perfectly lovely. Better than the Toyota AVALON, that's for sure.
• 43A: Ohio city named for a mathematician (Euclid) - not quite as silly a name as AKRON, but it's up there.
• 67A: Melpomene, e.g. (muse) - I really should make a point of learning my muses. Those nine are some kind of spelling bee nightmare. OK, ERATO is easy, but Tripsichore? [According to Pete M., and every other authority in the world, it's actually TERPsichore ... which proves my point nicely]
  
• 1D: Turn from a grape into a raisin, e.g. (shrivel) - got it easily, but I grew up in raisin country, so that's to be expected.
• 6D: Los Angeles's San _____ Bay (Pedro) - seems familiar, but I needed a bunch of crosses to get it. Good thing I know that PEDRO is a name - otherwise LEONID would still be staring at me, with a big hole in it.
• 10D: Drainage indicator (eddy) - I WOULDN'T KNOW! MY BASEMENT WON'T DRAIN! Stupid, smart-ass puzzle.
• 25D: They're part of the string section (celli) - don't care how correct this plural is, it always seems silly and affected when I see / hear it.
• 33D: Dutch-speaking part of the West Indies (Aruba) - much in the news, for all kinds of bad reasons.
• 39D: Manner of going (gait) - thank god. I had no idea where that clue was headed.
• 50D: Like many a home improvement (DIY) - one of my favorite abbreviations (initialisms). It's just such an improbable combination of letters.
• 55D: Fairy tale baddies (ogres) - "baddies" is not a word I care for. Who says that? Not even children say that. You would say "bad guys." I would. My 7-year-old would. BADDIES sounds like some awful British food: baddies and mash, or baddies and kidney pie or etc.

Finally, Christina ("from the Sunday puzzle"), can I have an autograph? In fact, if you are even mildly famous, read this blog on a regular basis, and have a head shot or other item you can sign, you should take it for granted that I want it. I would be exceedingly, painfully, humbly grateful. I promise to keep your readership of this blog a complete secret. I know I blew it when I outed Anne Meara, but that totally wasn't my fault, and it won't ever happen again. Of course, if you are not famous and want to send me something, that would be OK too.

[Address retracted because my friends (plural!) are afraid I'll be stalked. And here I thought I was the stalkER. Anyway, if you want to send me something, please, just email me, and I'll give you the address.]

Back to the basement. Oh, and my actual job, which demands immediate attention (exams tomorrow).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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MONDAY, Aug. 27, 2007 - Steven Ginzburg

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: ANTS (68A: Tiny critters found twice each in 17-, 38- and 60-Across)

Blew through this quickly except for the NW, which was clunky as all hell. In the end, I had an error that I spent a good three minutes tracking down. The error produced valid-looking entries in both directions, hence the long delay. I started at 1A: It's rounded up in a roundup and couldn't think of anything. When I came back to the NW at 14A: Hawaii's "Valley Isle" I wrote in OAHU. Wrong. Eventually 1D: Insurance grp. (HMO) gave me the "M" for MAUI. Eventually had HE-D for the 1A clue, and wrote in HEAD - as in, HEAD of cattle. It made total sense at the time. Didn't check the cross, which was AUG (totally valid abbrev.). Sadly, the clue was 3D: Oriental _____, making AUG unequivocally wrong. HEAD and AUG eventually became HERD and RUG.

Two-ANT answers:

• 17A: Operation for a new liver or kidney (organ transplant)
• 38A: Beneficial substance in fruits, vegetables and tea (antioxidant)
• 60A: Literary genre popular with women (romantic fantasy)
  

Most inventive answer in the grid is 27D: Four (two x two) - I've never seen the letter "X" used as a multiplication symbol in a grid before. Hot. The phrasing on 43A: Picking _____ with (nits) seems off, or awkward. The positioning of "with" is bugging me for some reason. Apparently FOIE gras (36D: _____ gras) is illegal in Chicago, but nobody, especially law enforcement, cares. It is Chicago, right? Some big city, anyway. I didn't know that ROMANTIC FANTASY was an established genre (60A: Literary genre popular with women). FANTASY tends to skew toward the Sci-fi in my mind. Just learned today (from wife) that linen is made from FLAX (16A: Linen fiber). Wife also had the decency to point out actual, real-live I-BAR (47A: Letter-shaped building support) in the parking lot of the Carousel Mall in Syracuse last weekend.

Tripped slightly in the SW, where having SOON for ANON (66A: Shortly) caused a minor typing and retyping kerfuffle. TASSEL (50A: Mortarboard addition) just looks wrong, as a word. TASSLE looks right. Don't argue with me. CLASS ACTION (11D: Kind of suit) is a fun, fancy phrase for a Monday. Lastly, I like the musical pile-up where G MINOR (29D: Key of Saint-Saens's "Danse macabre" - a great piece) pierces right through VOICE (44A: Alto or soprano) and CAROLS (49A: Yuletide songs). And we get a Yuletide reprise, despite its being all out-of-season, at 71A: Yuletide (Noel).

Long day ahead of me tomorrow. Must get some rest.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

PS many new vintage paperbacks and commentaries at my other blog

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