Film resident of Crab Key Island / THU 4-18-13 / Taxi worker / Long writers blocks / Senorita's silver / TV neigh-sayer / Actor who made his film debut in Breakin 1984 / Big-eared Star Wars character

Constructor: Stu Ockman

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: ALPS (68A: High points of which five are found going up in this puzzle) — five Across answers exceed their allotted space, climbing the letters A, L, P on a diagonal, and continuing at other Acrosses (which, in the AcrossLite version, are clued [---])

• TID ALP OOL (22A: Where seawater remains after an ebb + 5A: ---)
• RACI ALP ROFILING (38A: Unethical law enforcement practice + 20A: ---)
• NATION ALP ASTIME (44A: Baseball, in America + 28A: ---)
• MECHANIC ALP OWER (54A: Engine's output + 40A: ---)
• LEG ALP ADS (67A: Long writers' blocks? + 51A: ---)

Word of the Day: ALDOL (51D: Perfume ingredient) —

n.

1. A thick, colorless to pale yellow liquid, C₄H₈O₂, obtained from acetaldehyde and used in perfumery and as a solvent.

2. A similar aldehyde. (thefreedictionary.com)

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Some pretty meager ALPS. More like short staircases. Took me forever to see the gimmick here, and while it's ambitious and out-of-the-ordinary (both good), it felt kind of broken. I just don't think ALP is in any way a good indicator of the use of physical space in this puzzle. It's imagistically imperfect. I like the idea of theme answers doing what the theme answers do in this grid, but ALPS does not represent that action well. Strange. Whole set-up felt pretty perverse, esp. the [---] clues. If you're solving on the right side of the grid, you're just getting nonsense, and there's no clear point to the [---] clues. Even when I went looking for the revealer and found it, ALPS does not come to mind for the generic [High points], and the clues / answers down there made it very hard to get in there. No idea what an ALDOL is. Clue on TOUT was too vague to be useful (65A: Push). I put in TOP LIT but couldn't get much to work and ended up taking it out. Grid was 80% filled in before I had any idea what was happening. Whole thing felt like a slog. Ambition without graceful execution. Better than ho-hum routine fare, I guess, but dissatisfying nonetheless. Nothing about three steps up says ALPS to me.

Not that many four-letter titled fictional characters out there, and we get two of them today: DR. NO (13A: Film resident of Crab Key Island) and MR. ED (30D: TV neigh-sayer?). Odd. What exactly is 1A quoting ("This bag is not A TOY")????? Your mom? It's odd, in that I don't know what the source is, and morbid, in that it calls to mind children asphyxiated by bags. Interesting bit of trivia about an ancient bit of crosswordese today in the AMATI clue (15A: Instrument bearing the coat of arms of France's Charles IX). Less interesting trivia about ancient crosswordese TRINI Lopez (2D: Lopez with the 1965 hit "Lemon Tree"). 7A: Jay LENO'S Garage (popular automotive Web site) had me wondering about the meaning of the word "popular." Not sure what is "historical" about PAPUA—I guess it used to be called that (?)—but it's an obvious answer considering the country that makes up the island's eastern half is called PAPUA New Guinea. There was an odd assortment of '80s/'90s pop culture today with ERIKA Eleniak, LATKA (47D: "Taxi" worker), and ICE-T in his movie debut (34D: Actor who made his film debut in "Breakin'," 1984). Major mistakes on my part included EWOK for YODA (4D: Big-eared "Star Wars" character), KLEE for DALI (10D: "Swans Reflecting Elephants" artist), and PLAYA for PLATA (36D: Señorita's silver). Excellent clue of the day (a tough one) goes to 53D: Doesn't strike out in the end (STETS). Terrible fill redeemed by outstanding clue.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Japanese colonel in Bridge on River Kwai / WED 4-17-13 / 1876 novelist / Org founded by Dr Nathan Smith / Heads to numismatist / Richie's mom to Fonz / Last Oldsmobiles made

Constructor: Samuel A. Donaldson

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: SECURITY (66A: Mall cop's job ... or a word that can precede the starts of 19-, 32-, 43- and 58-Across) — just like it says:

• CLEARANCE SALE (19A: Department store superevent)
• CAMERA READY (32A: Like photographable copy)
• DEPOSIT SLIP (43A: Part of a stack at a bank)
• BLANKET DENIAL (58A: "These allegations are completely false!," e.g.)

Word of the Day: PIU (49A: More, musically) —

adv.

1.

(Mus.) A little more; as, più allegro, a little more briskly.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by C. & G. Merriam Co.

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Dime-a-dozen theme type slightly enlivened by a. a longer-than-usual revealer (usually "words that can precede/follow" are short things) and b. halfway decent theme answers. "Halfway" in that half are good, specifically CAMERA READY and BLANKET DENIAL. Long Downs are also nice (esp. 10D: "1876" novelist => GORE VIDAL). But the fill is heavy on the dreck. Lots and lots of bad and/or boring stuff. AMUCK ABENT ADRIP AHEAP, for starters. And that's really just the start of it. This is a 74-word puzzle. If you can't keep OMN (?!) out of your grid, if you have to clog your grid with partials and odd spellings and ancient crosswordese, as well as a pop culture answer so moribund it hasn't been seen since 1989 (SAITO), then you should probably consider going to 76 or 78 words and making the fill ... acceptable. Passable. Bearable. I kept being on the verge of enjoying the puzzle, only to have the gunk rise up and drag me under. Perhaps more sterling fill here and there would've balanced things out. I don't know. I just know pairs of answers like ERO and ESS, or REDDI and ESTOP, repeatedly sapped my will to continue today.


Much trouble getting started in the NW, as I refuse (even now) to spell "amok" the way this puzzle thinks I should. ABENT is one of the more awkward partials I've ever seen in a grid, so that didn't come easily. BAD CASE really flummoxed me, as I had BADDEST (?) and had to adjust from there. Got my first real toehold in the NE with AMAS (which has the non-virtue of being both old old crosswordese *and* an apparent plural of 1A: AMA [Org. founded by Dr. Nathan Smith]. Once I got going, I didn't encounter much in the way of real trouble. Just took a bit more effort than usual to move around the grid. Forgot Sting's real last name (also considered SUMMER and SUMTER) (45D: Gordon ___ (Sting's real name) (SUMNER)), and, of course, had no idea about SAITO. Otherwise, very doable.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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