2003 hip-hop hit by Fabolous / THU 3-4-10 / Fiesque composer / Eponymous scale developer / Villainous member of Serpent Society Marvel Comics

Constructor: David J. Kahn

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: MIXED METAPHOR (14D: Answer to each of the six starred clues, literally) — six theme answers are anagrams ("mixes") of "METAPHOR"


Word of the Day: ASP (47A: Villainous member of the Serpent Society, in Marvel Comics) —

The Asp (Cleo Nefertiti) is a former supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe, most notably a member of the Serpent Society and B.A.D. Girls, Inc.. She was created by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Neary, and first appeared in Captain America vol. 1 #310. // Intelligent yet soft-spoken, Asp was born in Tanta, Egypt. It was there that she earned her reputation as an exotic dancer, being able to charm snakes with her sensual movements. Her ability to generate blasts of energy which cause paralysis intrigued the leader of the Serpent Society, Sidewinder, and he invited her to join the group. // Asp has the ability to generate an unique form of radiant bioelectricity that she can channel as lightning-like blasts. This energy does not affect inanimate matter, but upon striking a living being causes a rapid paralysis of the nervous system similar to the effect of the neurotoxic bite of certain venomous snakes. Her body constantly generates and stores this energy, but it can be temporarily expended after firing several "venom-bolts" in rapid succession, requiring her to recharge. Asp can accelerate the speed at which her body regenerates energy by engaging in physical activity that increases her heart rate and metabolism. (wikipedia)

• • •

I may be one of the few people on the planet who finished today's puzzle faster than he did yesterday's. Really enjoyed this one. I think I've seen the same theme concept somewhere before, but it probably wasn't executed this well, so it hardly matters. I was surprised to find the cluing so easy for a Thursday, especially since the gimmick wasn't that hard to uncover. I think the idea was that, since the theme answers aren't solid, self-standing phrases that one would normally find in a grid, they would be hard to get (this is somewhat true), so the crosses needed to be easy to uncover. Only the non-theme stuff was so easy that the central answer gave itself up right away, and then the theme answers weren't tough any more. In fact, once you know you are looking for an anagram of METAPHOR, things get real easy real quick.

The only place I can see someone's having trouble is in the SW, where non-football fans are not going to have a clue who Adam Vinatieri is — EX-PATRIOT (56A: Football's Adam Vinatieri, e.g.) is a tough answer to infer, and that section gets a whole lot tougher with the 2003 Fabolous song "IN TO YOU" in it (63A: 2003 hip-hop hit by Fabolous). I'm guessing there's *massive* overlap between "People who don't know much about football" and "People who don't know much about hip-hop." Throw in a bygone senator (EXON — 51D: Nebraska senator succeeded by Hagel), and some people are likely to have issues. Not me. My issues were in the SE, and they didn't last long. Didn't know LALO (though I'd heard of him) (55D: "Fiesque" composer), and had DRAMS (!?) for DOSES (64A: Pharmacy units). Also didn't read the NHL GOALIES (29D: Masked men with blades) clue very well and thought only of hockey players generally, not GOALIES in particular (overlooked the "masked" part of the clue, though ... those face guards players wear are *kind* of masks, aren't they?).



Theme answers:

• 14A: *One who dislikes unruly hair? (MOP HATER)
  
• 21A: *Alternative way to get directions? (OTHER MAP)
  
• 34A: *Better, in hip-hop slang? (MORE PHAT)
  
• 38A: *Kitchen or living room? (HOME PART)
  
• 45A: *Via Veneto? (ROME PATH)
  
• 61A: *Be funnier than comedian Bill? (TOP MAHER)
  

I started this one so fast that I thought I must be walking into a trap. Got AD LIB (1A: Proceed without notes, say) instantly, and then four Downs in a row off those letters, including the ridiculously easy LITTLE LAMB (3D: Mary's charge). You only need the initial "L" for that one (if that). I destroyed the NE corner in the same fashion. Got a couple Downs, threw TOO FAST (6A: How kids grow up, it's often said) across, and then put the remaining Downs in instantly, in order, bang bang bang bang. I'm sure I'll get beat up TOMORROW (6D: Song sung by an orphan), but today, I am the puzzle-slayer.

Bullets:

• 15A: Spy satellite's acquisition (INTEL) — isn't that an abbrev.?
  
• 32A: "Molly ___," popular Irish song ("MALONE") — never heard of it. Apparently it's about a fishmonger who dies young, of fever. She may or may not have been a prostitute. Read more here.

• 35A: Spanish waves (OLAS) — whoa. Never seen that before. I thought maybe this had something to do with greeting "HOLA!" but ... it's literally the Spanish word for "waves."
  
• 4D: Retail giant founded by a 17-year-old (IKEA) — I had it at "Retail giant." 17?!
• 30D: Big blow? (GALE) — I had GUST.
• 36D: Devotional bench (PRIE-DIEU) — which gets a churchy vibe by crossing PEW (36A: Church perch), and an ironic vibe by crossing MAHER.
• 32D: Eponymous scale developer (MOHS) — I know everything I know about this guy and his scale from crosswords (he sometimes gets used in clues for TALC).
  
• 40D: 1972 treaty subj. (ABM) — I had IBM ... not because I thought the computer giant was involved, but because I thought I was abbreviating Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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Husband of Frigg / WED 3-3-10 / Starbuck's quarry / Shaggy Tibetans / Hammy Now I see

Constructor: Peter A. Collins

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: RED AND WHITE (18A: Like the Canadian flag ... and a hint to the first names of 24- and 48-Across) — turns out that VIVIEN LEIGH (57A: See 24- and 28-Across) won OSCARs (38A: See 24- and 48-Across) for playing both SCARLETT O'HARA (24A: 1939 role for 57-Across, for which she won a 38-Across) and BLANCHE DUBOIS (48A: 1951 role for 57-Across, for which she won a 38-Across)


Word of the Day: Orvieto (22A: Where Orvieto can be found — BAR / 51D: Where Orvieto can be found — ITALY) —

Orvieto is a city and comune in southwestern Umbria, Italy situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The site of the city is among the most dramatic in Europe, rising above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are completed by defensive walls built of the same stone. (wikipedia)

Also
Orvieto is an Italian wine region located in Umbria and Lazio, centered around the commune of Orvieto. It is primarily known for its white wines made from a blend of mostly Grechetto and Trebbiano, which is sold under the Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) Orvieto and Orvieto Classico. Blended red wine and eight varietal reds are sold under the Rosso Orvietano DOC. The region has been producing wine since the Middle Ages, when Orvieto wine was known as a sweet, golden yellow wine. Today's white Orvieto is dry, but a semi-sweet style, known as Orvieto Abboccato, and dolce (sweet), are also produced in small quantities.(wikipedia)

• • •

First, I received the following message last night from an insider at the NYT (for those who solve the puzzle right on the NYT puzzle website):

Argh. It looks like the Java applet version of the Wednesday puzzle has a bug. Some updates didn’t make it in. The Across Lite file is correct. You might want to tell your readers. I’ll add a note to Wordplay.

Apologies for the error.

Turns out the downloadable (AcrossLite) version is just fine. As for the puzzle ...

Honestly, this one was kind of like death to solve. Super-choppy and loaded with short fill. Felt like I was being bombarded by short names at one point — I think that point was when BECK (40A: Fox News star), (non-TERI) GARR (46A: Ralph who was the 1974 N.L. batting champ), and DRU (43D: Actress Joanne) were having their little meeting in the S and SE there. The theme was probably very exciting to discover ("Hey, she won Oscars for playing a woman whose name [kinda] means RED *and* a woman whose name [kinda] means WHITE! And they have the same number of letters!"). Not so exciting to solve, however. First, REDANDWHITE as an answer? It's descriptive, but not it's not a self-standing, cohesive phrase (the way, say, RED WHITE AND BLUE or BLACK AND TAN would be). Second, in America, we spell SCARLET (meaning "red") with one "T" and we BLANCH[E] vegetables. Thus, in English, SCARLETT does not mean "RED" and BLANCHE does not mean "WHITE" (you gotta go to QUEBEC for that meaning of BLANCHE). Third, all I could think, as I was solving, was "... is it VIVIEN LEIGH's birthday? Why am I doing a puzzle about VIVIEN LEIGH? Wait, is this a puzzle about CANADA, 'cause of the Olympics? ... is VIVIEN LEIGH Canadian?" So there was almost zero joy for me today. I kind of like PHILANDER (11D: Fool around). That's it.

I had never heard of "Ovieto" as either a place or a wine, so while guessing ITALY was easy, guessing BAR, not so much. Wanted to spell HAMELIN (44A: Town that failed to pay the piper) like the actor Harry HAMLIN, so had some hesitation figuring out where an extra letter went. DELANEY (29A: Kim of "NYPD Blue") and CARNES (63A: Kim who sang "Bette Davis Eyes") just added more bygone names to this puzzle, though I at least mildly enjoyed both of their work when they were still working. Maybe they're both still working and I just don't know about it.



Bullets:

• 14A: Former Yankee pitcher and coach Stottlemyre (MEL) — Teri GARR and MEL Sharples (of MEL's Diner), both kicked to the curb in the same puzzle.
  
• 23A: The N.F.L.'s Papa Bear (HALAS) — He has this weird status as someone who is common to the puzzle but frequently unknown by solvers. Not sure how this happens.
  
• 61A: Big tractor, informally (CAT) — Deliberate (if mild) toughening up of clues for Wednesday. See also 38D: Husband of Frigg (ODIN).
  
• 19D: Starbuck's quarry (WHALE) — Starbuck is a character in "Moby Dick." He did not hunt lattes.

[ "I will have no man in my boat," said Starbuck, "who is not afraid of a whale." — from "One Drawing for every page of "Moby-Dick" by Matt Kish]

• 31D: Shaggy Tibetans (YAKS) — not sure why, but I wanted YETIS.
• 16A: Hammy "Now I see!" ("AH, SO") — If by "Hammy" you mean "Asian-caricaturing," then sure.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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