Titular queen of Castile in a Handel opera / THU 5-19-16 / terminer criminal court / punny quip about perp's predicament / Turing test participant / Pollock painting unit / Bygone name in Chinese politics / Modern prefix with gender / One-named Grammy winner for American Boy 2008 / Daughter of Sweeney Todd in Sondheim musical / Nautical command

Constructor: Morton J. Mendelson

Relative difficulty: Challenging (between the ... interesting ... fill and the made-up punny quip, I just couldn't find the handle)

THEME: a punny quip about a perp's predicament — THE PRIME SUSPECT / KNEW HE WAS COOKED / AFTER HE / WAS GRILLED BY THE / POLICE DETECTIVE

Word of the Day: ALMIRA (51A: Titular queen of Castile in a Handel opera) —

Almira, Königin von Castilien ("Almira, Queen of Castile", HWV 1; full title: Der in Krohnen erlangte Glücks-Wechsel, oder: Almira, Königin von Castilien) is George Frideric Handel's first opera, composed when he was 19 years old. It was first performed in Hamburg in January 1705. [...] Almira is the sole example among Handel's many operas with no role for a castrato. (wikipedia)

• • •

I can't write about this in any way that I feel good about, so I'm going to keep it very brief. This type of puzzle is not for me, but you knew that. This specific incarnation of this type of puzzle is not for me, but you knew that as well. Punny quips (esp. those with cutesy alliterative clues) aren't my bag. Never have been. Never will be. I couldn't tell you who cooks the best liver because I don't eat that stuff. This is how I feel about punny quip puzzles. I have to wonder (out loud, partly because it's kind of my job) how made-up a punny quip can be. This one feels Highly made-up. PRIME appears to be there just to make the letter count in the answer come out right, and ... I'm no joke-teller, but isn't it somewhat poor form to have your laugh word, your "punch line," come in the *middle* of your joke. Everything after GRILLED is just filler ... filler that goes on forever. Seriously, the entire last part of this quip is arbitrary and anticlimactic. "... KNEW HE WAS COOKED AFTER HE WAS GRILLED..." stop. That's it. Get it!? Yeah, you get it. But ... the "grill" part really really really needs to come at the *end* for this to be a proper joke. Maybe end the quip with "... when the detective started grilling him"? Something like that. But instead the punny quip just steps on the "joke" and then keeps on walking. It's like a malfunctioning joke-bot wrote this. Crap! I said I would keep it brief. Not for me. Moving on.


The fill. Also not for me. Please don't make me relive it. ATRI OYER ALMIRA PEE. That is all. Seriously, I have to stop. There is nothing for me here. No, wait, one last thing. I'll confess I'm not up to date on all the different astrophysics prizes there are out there (????) but if you give me 33A: Bruno ___ Prize (astrophysics award), the answer better damn well be MARS.


Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. a couple of people (in emails) have floated the idea that "PRIME" is some kind of substantive adjective for meat (e.g. prime steak, prime rib). I don't know the stand-alone usage of "PRIME," but maybe this interpretation adds to the punniness? You be the judge.

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Mantra-chanting priest / WED 5-18-16 / Pie old British dish / Worrisome call at home / Internet-based phone provider / Great Lakes freighter load perhaps / African nation renamed in 1997 / Chinese dynasty after Qin / Souped up vintage auto

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: fore! — three answers that have four Cs, four Ts, and four As, respectively, are cross-referenced in clues for three words that are rough homonyms of four Cs (FORESEES), four Ts (FORTIES), and four As (FORAYS):

Theme answers:

• ANTARCTIC CIRCLE (17A: Where the midnight sun can be observed) / FORESEES (4D: What 17-Across has, phonetically)
• "THAT'S A MOOT POINT" (38A: "No need to discuss it") / FORTIES (26D: What 38-Across has, phonetically)
• FANTASY BASEBALL (61A: Rotisserie League game) / FORAYS (47D: What 61-Across has, phonetically)

Word of the Day: RHEA Seehorn (37A: Actress Seehorn of "Better Call Saul") —

Rhea Seehorn (born May 12, 1972) is an American actress best known for playing Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul. From 2011 to 2013, she was one of the main characters in NBC's Whitney. She is also known for her role as Cheri Baldzikowski in ABC's I'm With Her and Ellen Swatello in TNT's Franklin & Bash. (wikipedia)

• • •

This theme is very loose, but unusual enough, and well-executed enough, to be interesting/entertaining. The homophones are slightly uneven in quality, in that FORESEES is perfect, FORAYS is perfect, but FORTIES sounds a bit off because the "T" comes out more as a "D" when you say it. You can hear the "TEES" in, say, "expertise," but not so much in "forties." Is that a regional thing? If I say "forties" naturally, it sounds far more like I'm saying "FOUR DEES" than "FOUR TEES." But no matter. Close enough. Interesting that this theme catches all the possible "four [letters]" combinations. I ran the alphabet and nothing else works (except, for me, the aforementioned "FOUR DEES"). There's "four eyes," but that doesn't follow the thematic pattern. I imagine there are a gajillion phrases with four Cs, four Ts, and four As, but we have these three phrases, and they seem fine. The puzzle played slightly easy in most places *except* toward the center—entirely a function of that central themer not being obvious, and two of the Down themers running right through it. It took a long time for me to get FORESEES. I had FORES-ES and still no idea what was going on. All I could see was FOR ESSES (!?). Had -EL for 28A: ___ pie (old British dish) and still had no clue. None. With such a bizarre clue, I figured the answer would have to be some French word like SEL, not a common word like EEL. But that cross, and the exact wording of the central themer, were the only real speedbumps.


I was wondering when someone was going to clue (crosswordese) RHEA as RHEA Seehorn, who is *amazing* on "Better Call Saul" (which is the best show on television). She's not "Emmy-winning" yet, but she will be, and then you'll be seeing her name in puzzles FOUREVER. Does VONAGE still exist? (2D: Internet-based phone provider) I used to see ad after ad after ad for it, but seeing it today ... it feels dated. Bygone. Erstwhile. I do not thing PENITENT means "showing sorrow." Or, rather, I think it means showing a Very Specific Kind of Sorrow—for having done wrong. Remorseful or repentant. Just "showing sorrow" seems incomplete. Also, STRIKE TWO is not a [Worrisome call at home]. Professional baseball players don't "worry" at STRIKE TWO. Tony Gwynn hit just over .300 when down to his last strike. So, yes, statistically, you're more likely to get out in two-strike situations than you are in 1- or no-strike situations, but "worrisome" is a bit melodramatic.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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