Man-shaped mug / TUE 10-19-10 / Pioneering DJ Freed / Westernmost Aleutian / Onetime colonial power in Philippines / Hunter's garb for short

Constructor: Fred Piscop

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: OR to -ER — common blank-OR-blank phrases are reimagined as "blankER blank" phrases, and clued "?"-style


Word of the Day: ALAN Freed (63A: Pioneering D.J. Freed) —

Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965), also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting African-American rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll. His career was destroyed by the payola scandal that hit the broadcasting industry in the early 1960s. (wikipedia)

• • •

Felt easy, but stupid mistakes (several) kept me at or maybe even a little higher than my average Tuesday time. Somehow thought JAPAN was the 10D: Onetime colonial power in the Philippines (SPAIN). Later thought ALAN was STAN and GLUM (36D: Wearing a long face) was GRIM. The latter two errors were particularly costly, time-wise, because the crosses didn't help me correct them, so I just got stuck. I mean, Dover SOLE?? Not on my menu (53D). As for the puzzle a whole: the theme—not very interesting. The fill—fine, with ATTU (19A: Westernmost Aleutian) and DIRK (40A: Dagger) being the icky crosswordese outliers in an otherwise pretty solid, mostly unremarkable grid.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Seventh day, in the Bible? (MAKER BREAK)
  
• 11D: One-third of a strikeout? (HITTER MISS)
  
• 28D: Statue of a post-W.W. II baby? (BOOMER BUST)
  
• 60A: $10 bill enclosed in a Valentine card? (LOVER MONEY) — this one doesn't work so well; "Love or Money" is not really a self-standing phrase—kind of stupid-looking without the "For" in front of it, or some context to make it meaningful
  

Bullets:

• 45A: Hunter's garb, for short (CAMO) — Like it. Seems like a word that should appear in the grid much more often than it does.

• 64A: Home, sweet home (ABODE) — "sweet home" is gratuitous, even misleading. There is nothing "sweet" about ABODE (a clinical term that no one would use in an affectionate way)
• 55D: Man-shaped mug (TOBY) — also, the not-very-lovable loser HR guy on "The Office"
  
• 5D: Ricocheted, as a cue ball (CAROMED) — Love the word — feels almost onomatopoetic, while also sounding like "caramel." Silent 't' in "Ricocheted" looks nuts if you stare at it too long.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

P.S. Pomona College Magazine's fall issue is out, with nice article on crossword puzzles featuring several students and alums who are constructors, including Xan Vongsathorn ('09), Joel Fagliano ('14!), and ... me ('91). Online edition is not up yet—I'll link to it when it is. I've done many interviews in the past few years, and this one came out better than any of the others.