Title on certain language videos / THU 8-23-12 / Effrontery / Cafe alternative / Some World of Warcraft figures / It spent 5519 days in orbit / Locale of some Mayan ruins / Villain player Rocky III

Constructor: Mark Feldman

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: LEARNING YIDDISH (40A: Title on certain language videos ... with a hint to entering six answers in this puzzle) — apparently there are such a thing as "LEARNING YIDDISH" videos (???); Yiddish, like Hebrew, is written right to left, so this grid has English words borrowed from Yiddish written out "backwards"

• HAPZTUHC (17A: Effrontery)
• PELHCS (20A: Lug)
• ATNEY (33A: Gossip)
• ZTULK (46A: Butterfingers)
• ZTIBIK (56A: Offer unwanted advice)
• EZOOMHCS (66A: Shoot the breeze)

Word of the Day: ROADEO (45A: Competition for truckers) —

n. a competition, usually held annually, for professional truckdrivers testing driving skill.

• • •

I got that the words derived from Yiddish were going backwards, but LEARNING YIDDISH and its clue ("certain language videos"?) meant nothing to me. Don't know what these videos are. Presumably they are videos to help one learn Yiddish. I had to infer that the backwardsness of the answers had something to do with Yiddish's being written (like Hebrew) right-to-left. Turns out, I was right. That's the rationale. So what we have here, essentially are English words that everyone knows (no LEARNING YIDDISH actually required) written backwards. Alright then. And for some reason this was worth breaking the upper limit on word-count (this is an 80-worder—max is 78; I've seen that limit broken on a 15x15 only once to my recollection).

This just wasn't for me.

I had two moments of stupidity, early and late, that kept me from a very fast time (the puzzle was pretty easy once you grasped the theme): I wrote in INRE for ENCL (7D: Abbr. on a business letter). So I had HAPZTUHR and thought "Why won't this be CHUTZPAH ... it's got most of the letters ... what the?). I was happy with MENI at 4A: Biblical word on a wall (MENE)—sounded close, in my head. So I fumbled a bit before figuring it all out. Then it was pretty smooth, fast sailing until, ironically, I got to 68A: Genre for Q-Tip (HIP-HOP). Q-Tip rapped for A Tribe Called Quest, a group that made what is probably my favorite album of the '90s: "The Low End Theory." So ... I know who he is. This did not keep me from imagining that the answer was some invented hybrid "genre" POP RAP or RAP POP. I think of HIP-HOP as a bigger cultural phenomenon (encompassing dance, fashion, politics, music, etc.) and "rap" as a musical genre within it, but I think HIP-HOP is valid as a "genre." I just dropped the ball.

Most of the fill is solid, if unremarkable. A little unpretty to have ASSESS and SSTS along the bottom edge (that's one big safety net of "S"s), not to mention PSST at the bottom of the eastern edge, just around the corner, but everything else is very familiar and relatively smooth (as it should be—80 words, dear lord). I like the clue on LAO—away from the typical geography clue, into tasty cuisine (44A: Cuisine whose staple food is sticky rice). I had no idea IMPS were in "World of Warcraft" (3D: Some World of Warcraft figures). I do know that MR. T was in "World of Warcraft" at some point (I remember the ads) (4D: Villain player in "Rocky III"). BELIZE is not a country I think of in relation to the Mayans, but the "Z" forced my hand (27D: Locale of some Mayan ruins). I don't think the clue on AHA applies unless you are a hammy detective portrayer (62D: Cry made with a raised index finger). THÉ is tea in French, just as "Café" is coffee (65D: Café alternative).

The end. Yo!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Hoopster Stoudemire / WED 8-22-12 / Wall St. stat / Humanoid of Jewish folklore / Babes in Toyland composer / Wings in zoology / Remainder in Rouen

Constructor: Peter A. Collins

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: STURM / UND / DRANG (38A: With 40- and 41-Across, 18th-century literary and musical movement) — it's just this phrase across, and then its translation running down (7D: WIth 36- and 53-Down, translation of 38-/40-/41-Across => STORM / AND / STRESS), and then the author "associated" with the phrase: JOHANN / GOETHE (45A: With 47-Across, writer associated with 38-/40-/41-Across). Grid has mirror rather than rotational symmetry, and is 15x16, presumably to accommodate the theme answers.

Word of the Day: Rio DE ORO (41D: Río ___ (African region)) —

Río de Oro (Spanish for "Gold River", Arabic: وادي الذهب wādī-að-ðahab, often transliterated as Oued Edhahab), is, with Saguia el-Hamra, one of the two territories that formed the Spanish province ofSpanish Sahara after 1969; it was originally taken as a Spanish colonial possession in the late 19th century. Its name seems to come from an east-westriver which was supposed to have run through it formerly. The river was thought to have largely dried out - a wadi, as the name indicates - or have disappeared underground. (wikipedia)

• • •

Yeesh. I had to put this one down at 35A: Golfer Aoki and others (ISAOS), which I think is, possibly, the most absurd plural name in crossword history. Breathtaking, in that way that getting punched in the stomach is breathtaking. And this was before I had any idea what the theme was. I am going to say that, conservatively, 90+% of crossword solvers could not name a second ISAO. Thus, while more than one surely exists in the world ... no. Just no. ISAO on its own is already the worst kind of crosswordese, the stuff you use only if you're desperate to hold something good together. More than one? I'm trying to imagine the answer ESAIS. And failing (here: you can try it yourself—just look at 65A: Morales of "Caprica" (ESAI) and then imagine an "S" on the end).

You can't condemn a puzzle on one answer, however mind-blowingly bad. Sadly, the theme is not at all strong. It's just a phrase and that phrase's translation and then the author associated with that phrase. It's all very pre-Shortzian in its non-playful- and non-cleverness. It's like the boring puzzles that contain an author's name and some novels she wrote or a singer's name and some songs he sang, only here, I guess there is some value added by the grid-muckery. Criss-crossing and enlongifying and what not. Not enough value added for me, though. The grid has a couple of stellar pillars in the long Downs DRAUGHT BOARD (25D: Place for an English king?; nice clue!) and "IT HAD TO BE YOU" (27D: One of Sam's tunes in "Casablanca"). But, even if you give the ordinary crosswordese a pass (which seems reasonable), you've got the truly junky set of ANES, ISAOS, DEORO, OYER, RHOMB, MONDE/RESTE, ALAE and OEN to contend with. Which is to say that outside the long stuff, it's not a pretty grid. Oh, I liked TECATE (54D: Mexican beer brand), because it felt new and interesting. Also liked clue on MARCO (same reason) (62A: Sen. Rubio). So it's not all bad. Just not nearly enough good.

Bullets:

• 16A: Hoopster Stoudemire (AMAR'E) — sic
• 17A: Humanoid of Jewish folklore (GOLEM) — I've known this word for a while, but I don't think it really settled into my brain for the long haul until I read Michael Chabon's "Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay," where a GOLEM figures prominently.
• 30A: "Babes in Toyland" composer (HERBERT) — the one answer in the puzzle about which I truly had no idea at all. Couldn't tell you the guy's first name. (Well, now I can: it's Victor)

• 32A: Wall St. stat (P.E. RATIO) — another good answer; really threw me. I briefly thought the answer would be PER AGIO (!?) and I think I would've just called it a night at that point.
• 70A: Moor growth (MOSS) — briefly thought the clue might be going the "Othello" route ("... Did Othello have a beard ...?"), but no.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. hey you guys, did you know that the NYT crossword had Dr. DRE in it the other day?!! It's ... big news! I mean "news": See for yourself.

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