Animator Don / TUE 11-2-10 / 1972 #2 hit Bill Withers / Fiddler on Roof milkman / Beach resort at entrance to Lagoon of Venice

Constructor: Brendan Emmett Quigley

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: DRESSINGS (57A: What the last words in 16-, 22-, 36- and 48-Across are) — theme answers end with RANCH, RUSSIAN, FRENCH, AND CAESAR, respectively


Word of the Day: Don BLUTH (2D: Animator Don) —

Donald Virgil "Don" Bluth (born September 13, 1937) is an American animator and independent studio owner. He is best known for his departure from the Walt Disney Company in 1979 and his subsequent directing of animated classics such as The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail (1986),The Land Before Time (1988), and All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), as well as his involvement in the laserdisc game Dragon's Lair. The competition provided by his movies is often credited for forcing the Walt Disney Company to improve from their streak of lackluster film efforts to the films that would make up the Disney Renaissance. (wikipedia)

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Trying to write this while watching the World Series postgame — not easy. Let's see. This took me over 4, which is pretty high for me. Some of that was the fill—neh-ever heard of Don BLUTH, barely heard of RABE (and then only bec. of xwords) (31D: "Streamers" playwright David), know IRON-WILLED way better than IRON-JAWED (32D: Exhibiting fierce determination). The clue on SET meant nothing to me (60D: Word with the longest entry in the O.E.D.), I misspelled AMBIANCE (with an "E") (9D: Atmosphere, as at a restaurant), went with SO AM I over SO DO I (3D: "Same here"). Another big problem was technical. Puzzle seemed to have a lot of longish clues, and my (mostly good) software doesn't display long answers well. They appear as partials until I hover cursor over them ... and I can only make clue box so big. Bah! That said, it's a solid, kind of cool Tuesday. Such a simple theme, I'm surprised it hasn't been done before (maybe it has—not bothering to look it up). Good. YES (66A: Word repeated in a classic "When Harry Met Sally..." scene). That is all.



Theme answers:

• 16A: Where a cowpuncher may work (DUDE RANCH)
  
• 22A: Drink made with vodka, coffee liqueur and cream (WHITE RUSSIAN)
  
• 36A: "Sorry if that rude word offended you" ("PARDON MY FRENCH")
  
• 48A: Play whence the phrase "the most unkindest cut of all" ("JULIUS CAESAR")
  

Bullets:

• 4A: Machine that was often cloned (IBM PC) — something about this phrasing felt odd to me, but I really can't defend that reaction.
  
• 33A: Grades in the mid-70s (CEES) — finally finished up the latest batch of exams. More CEES than I would've liked.
  
• 53A: Group for young people coping with parental substance abuse (ALATEEN) — never heard of this, but made up a word that felt right, and it was.
  
• 62A: "Fiddler on the Roof" milkman (TEVYE) — don't think I knew he was a milkman.
  
• 25D: 1972 #2 hit for Bill Withers ("USE ME") — [Seems I completely forgot to insert a comment here when I first published ... so why start now? Talk amongst yourselves...]
  
• 45D: Told fibs (LIED TO) — don't like this trickery. "LIED" seems the better answer, but if I "told (so and so) fibs" then I LIED TO (so and so). So ... so.
  
• 54D: Beach resort at the entrance to the Lagoon of Venice (LIDO) — didn't know it. Guessed it based on Boz Scaggs and the Love Boat's LIDO Deck.

• 58D: Model Herzigova (EVA) — still haven't committed this EVA to memory. Clue made me think only of Paulina Porizkova ... and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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