THEME: Valentine's Day — grid is heart-shaped, and then there are three theme answers: Theme answers:
HEARTSTRINGS (1D: Deepest feelings)
CUPID'S ARROWS (8D: They lead to love at first sight)
SAINT VALENTINE (19D: February honoree)
Word of the Day: POPOV (38A: Vodka with a Russian name) —
Popov is a brand of vodka produced by British drinks giant Diageo plc's Diageo North America subsidiary. It commands a significant marketshare among vodkas in the United States and competes in the low range pricing niche,[3] and because of this it is also affectionately (and ironically) known as "Russia's Finest" among college students. (wikipedia)
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Not sure what I'd think of this puzzle under normal conditions, but following as it does yesterday's inedible off-brand puzzle-trocity, this one looks pretty good. In fact, the second I looked at the grid, I thought, "Yep, already better." This one's not trying to do anything but be pretty and stay clean. it's already got the grid shape going for it, so it can go light on the theme material, thereby easing up on the grid, thereby not torturing the solver with nonsense (except TIRO, LOL). It's best not to look at the grid too hard, because otherwise you will notice that it is irritatingly non-symmetrical. Give it a quick look, seems fine. Stare at it, and the black squares just don't match up. Heart failure! It's like a picture on the wall that is just *slightly* crooked—it's gonna drive me a lot more crazy than the picture that is just obviously crooked. This one is somewhere in the uncanny valley of symmetricality. Off-puttingly shy of the real deal. But, yeah, most people aren't going to notice this at all, or, if they do notice, care.
["Cupid by the hour sends valentines / To my sweet lover and me"]
The thing about the Swiss canton is I always forget if it's ULM or URI and then I think, "no, URI is the mentalist spoon-bender guy, so it must be ULM." And then it isn't (ULM is the city in Germany where Einstein was born). And yet I somehow remembered it was EEO today (I'm never quite sure where the Es an Os go (59A: Fair-hiring initials). I struggled in only a few places. I had -ASTER and still no idea what 25A: Furniture mover? was after (CASTER). Those are little wheels on furniture that lets you push it around easily. Seems like they are literally furniture movers, so the "?" is weird, but I guess the temptation to echo the VAN clue was just irresistible? (32D: Furniture mover, maybe). Took me a while to get ROTISSERIE (35D: Game's turning point?). Only after I was done did I look back and go "Oh, *game*'s turning point." Wrote in SAO PAULO for SANTIAGO, whoops (45D: World capital founded by a conquistador). Couldn't remember the letter of the STREET at 29A: Part of Washington, D.C., known for lobbying firms (K STREET). Wanted to wiggle my EARS (54D: Parts of the body that may be wiggled => TOES). Didn't know DINGE was a "shade"—I thought it just meant, like, "griminess" (58A: Dark, dirty shade). Don't really know POPOV. Lots of vodkas in crosswords, most notably STOLI and SKYY. This appears to be just the second NYT appearance for POPOV. Anyway, happy V-day. Hope you got boxed roses galore!
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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