Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
THEME: NOT TO BE (38A: Ill-fated ... or a hint for answering the six starred clues) — familiar phrases containing "TO BE" have the "TO BE" removed, leaving ... "TO BE"-less (and thus nonsensical) theme answers
Word of the Day: ORVAL Faubus (5A: Gov. Faubus in Arkansas history) —
Orval Eugene Faubus (January 7, 1910 – December 14, 1994) was the 36th Governor of Arkansas, serving from 1955 to 1967. He is best known for his 1957 stand against the desegregation of Little Rock public schools during the Little Rock Crisis, in which he defied a unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court by ordering the Arkansas National Guard to stop African American students from attending Little Rock Central High School. Despite his initial staunch segregationist stances, Faubus moderated his positions later on. He even endorsed the African American minister, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, in the 1984 Democratic presidential primaries. (wikipedia)
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Interesting theme, which I picked up pretty easily — somewhere in the middle of the puzzle, between BORN... in 24A and the ... YOU in 50A. Theme density is pretty impressive, though as usual this means non-theme [Dear syndicated solvers—It's pledge week here at the Rex Parker site (thru Saturday) —read my pitch for donations in the opening paragraphs of this past Sunday's write-up, here ... and thanks for your faithful readership (and the many kind messages I've received so far)]
fill has to bend itself into some strange positions at times. ORVAL seemed the strangest to me, but maybe wouldn't have had I been alive during school desegregation in the south. LUELLA looks more like a real name, but only just (29A: English fashionista Bartley). Last time some famous British woman got stuck in the puzzle (GEMMA someone), traffic to my website spiked as desperate Googlers set out for answers. This will likely happen again today. I spent eight years in English graduate school and never once heard someone refer to him- or herself as a BYRONIST (39D: Certain English poetry scholar). An IRONIST, maybe. A CHAUCERIAN (guilty), a SHAKESPEAREAN, a JOYCEAN, even, but not a BYRONIST. Still, I recognize that it's a real word, and it's at least interesting-looking. I feel like I drew on my crosswording superpowers today with TOKAY (35D: Sweet wine of Hungary). Got it off the "T"—utterly impossible (for me) without serious crossword mileage under my belt. Puzzle manages to have really interesting vocabulary and an admirable Scrabbly quality (by which I think I mean "a lot of Ks and an X") despite the theme density, so despite the fact that the resulting theme answers are nonsense, I liked this one.Theme answers:
- 17A: *"I don't know yet" (THAT REMAINS SEEN)
- 3D: *Memorable movie quote of 1932 ("I WANT ALONE")
- 24A: *1968 #2 hit heard in "Easy Rider" ("BORN WILD")
- 50A: *1924 Isham Jones/Gus Kahn song ("IT HAD YOU")
- 30D: *Like someone who's had a narrow escape (LUCKY ALIVE)
- 58A: *"No WAY!" ("YOU'VE GOT KIDDING")
Gotta get up early for a dentist appointment, so I'll cut to the chase, i.e. the Bullets.
Bullets:
- 1A: "Caro nome," for one (ARIA) — never heard of it, and yet it was a gimme. Four letters, Italian title ...
- 33A: Air or ami preceder (BEL) — I don't see "bel ami" in dictionaries on-line. It is a Maupassant title, but "ami" isn't capitalized here. I don't know the phrase as one that has entered the English language.
- 56A: Diamond on a record player (NEIL) — "record player," nice. Retro.
- 6D: Head of the Egyptian god Amun (RAM) — did not know. Wanted ASP or OWL.
- 5D: Length in years of a lenient sentence, maybe (ONE TO TWO) — this feels forced, but I don't know ... maybe it's a common sentence for ... something. I'm seeing that it's a not uncommon drug offense sentence. Hmm. OK.
- 54D: Follower of juillet (AOÛT) — wanted JUIN, but that's the wrong direction.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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