Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Thomas Takaro

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: EYE (37D: Word that can follow each half of 20- and 60-Across and 11- and 36-Down)

Word of the Day: GIGOLO - n., pl. -los.

A man who has a continuing sexual relationship with and receives financial support from a woman.
A man who is hired as an escort or a dancing partner for a woman.

Despite an over-reliance on partials and abbreviations (way too many to mention), and an over-fondness for olde schoole crosswordese - OONA (15A: The last Mrs. Chaplin) and ELIA (37A: Director Kazan) rarely come out and dance together any more, and even RIATA (62A: Gaucho's rope) and ALOU (64A: Baseball's Moises) DODDER a little (45A: Walk unsteadily) - this seemed a solid puzzle. Right over the plate for a Tuesday. The theme holds up pretty well, with a couple of exceptions: SEEING EYE holds up only in front of "dog," and a GLASS WALL barely holds up at all. I mean, surely there are GLASS WALLs in the world, but as a theme answer goes ... well, it doesn't hold up nearly as well as the other three.

Theme answers:

20A: Attack helicopter (black/hawk)
60A: In the altogether (buck/naked) - my wife had a hilarious error here, which she refuses to let me discuss in public
11D: Really steamed (seeing/red)
36D: See-through partition (glass/wall)

Big name day today, with three splashy Downs: PLACIDO (4D: Tenor Domingo), KEILLOR (21D: Radio host Garrison), and JACOBI (49D: Derek of "I, Claudius"), the last of which is the most obscure of the three and most likely to have given someone somewhere trouble, especially as it abuts KURT Warner, who is well known if you follow football today, but we know that's not true of a good chunk of you (61D: Quarterback Warner). What *I* don't follow are composers, especially those who compose for stage or screen, and so ARLEN was rough for me in the SW (66A: "Over the Rainbow" composer Harold). I stared at a blank where that "R" was supposed to be for what felt like a long time (maybe a few seconds), even though the IRA cross, in retrospect, seems quite obvious (63D: Portfolio part, for short). Also skidded a little at BANKABLE (8D: Sure to bring in money), where I started to write BANK ON IT then stopped and just waited for crosses. Biggest mistake was seeing -ER-- at 23A: Raptor's roost (aerie) and immediately writing in PERCH. This made the 1D: Tourist mecca off Venezuela (Aruba) rather difficult to see - don't know of any "mecca" that goes AR--P.

Bullets:

1A: Org. for boomers, now (AARP) - total gimme, but this word "boomers" interests me now, since it was used to clue SSTS the other day. Flexible.
26A: Snack machine inserts (ones) - if you are lucky. Mine refuse to be inserted a lot of the time.
52A: Cornell or Pound (Ezra) - just reading about Pound last night, in passing. Frederic Wertham, the anti-comic book psychiatrist who wrote "Seduction of the Innocent" (which led to Congressional hearings on comic books in the 50s), apparently did not believe that Pound should have been able to plead insanity and thereby avoid treason charges following Pound's collusion with the Italians during WWII.
68A: Sons of _____ (group promoting Irish heritage) (Erin) - interesting roundabout cluing approach to another bit of olde timey crosswordese. Makes ERIN more interesting, actually, though I think I still prefer ERIN Moran.
71A: Root beer brand (Dad's) - a gimme. Love root beer, but I drink Boylan - got a frosty four-pack just waiting for me to get home from work tonight.
13D: Classic game console letters (NES) - hey, this anagrams to ENS. (47A: U.S.N.A. grad) and SEN., i.e., John McCain. The only SEN. in this puzzle, though (I think), is ARLEN Specter.
30D: Colonel Sanders facial feature (goatee) - economy is in a downward spiral, and yet brand new, deluxe temples of chicken with this guy's mug all over them seem to be sprouting up all over my town.
59D: Girl with the dog Spot (Jane) - of Dick & Jane. Sahra went through a brief but important period of D&J reading early on, thanks to a gift from my grandmother. She has since given them up for Betty & Veronica (among others).
62D: Luftwaffe foe: Abbr. (RAF) - I'm sure the Luftwaffe were terrifying, but their name now sounds like a fabric softener.