Minor despot / MON 1-10-11 / Scottish hillside / Highway route through Whitehorse Yukon / Ancient Asia Minor region

Constructor: James Tuttle

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: Follow THE BOUNCING BALL — two 13-letter answers (KARAOKE SCREEN, PING PONG TABLE) are clued as places "to follow the object named in the circled letters"—circled letters spell out THE BOUNCING BALL, and form a series of arcs that looks vaguely like the path of said ball


Word of the Day: SATRAP (52D: Minor despot) —

Satrap (Persian: ساتراپ) was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid (Persian) Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires. // The word satrap is also often used in modern literature to refer to world leaders or governors who are heavily influenced by larger world superpowers or hegemonies and act as their surrogates. (wikipedia)

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This one played out like a slightly toughish Tuesday or a very easy Wednesday puzzle. Quick glance at the early times at the NYT puzzle site suggests that I wasn't alone in taking longer than usual. You don't normally see gimmick puzzles like this on a Monday, and it's possible that the gimmick (specifically, getting the bouncing ball pattern to work out), forced the fill into somewhat tougher-than-usual territory—and yet there's not really much in the way of non-Monday fill here. SATRAP, sure, and maybe ALCAN (40A: ___ Highway (route through Whitehorse, Yukon)), and maybe (depending on your purchase on popular culture) THE SIMS (49A: Computer game with virtual people). But everything else seems easy. The cluing seemed vaguer or tougher than usual. But then again I started by falling flat on my face with SERBS for SLAVS (1A: Many Eastern Europeans), which I erased after I realized that Pierre's state had to be ÉTAT at 1D: Pierre's state: Abbr. (S. DAK.) (I just ignored that "Abbr." notation, apparently). So I was way behind before I ever left the gate. But elsewhere, PICNIC ... what? Needed crosses to see AREA (11D: Outdoor eating place where you might lay a blanket). Couldn't remember SANTANA despite how massive that 1999 album was (29A: Artist whose 1999 hit "Smooth" was #1 for 12 weeks). GEEKS for TECHS (31D: Computer whizzes). No hope for IONIA on first pass (44A: Ancient Asia Minor region). Tough to get to HOG TIE from the vague clue 50D: Immobilize. SATRAP is a word I know, but certainly didn't get straight away from the clue 52D: Minor despot. All of this made for a time in the high 3s, Very high for a Monday.

[Warning: there's some profanity in here]
As for the theme, it's cute, but supremely thin (even counting the circled letters). As for KARAOKE SCREENs (odd phrase, not nearly as in-the-language as, say, KARAOKE BAR) ... do their balls bounce that way? That is, does the height of the ball change as much as it does in this grid's rendering? Just a question, not a criticism of the concept. Pics I'm seeing online feature text that changes color, not text with a bouncing ball. Never having participated in KARAOKE, I can't comment on the finer points of the tech involved. This puzzle feels a bit like editorial kissing-up, as Will Shortz is well known as a PING PONG enthusiast (not just in a rec room kind of way—he competes at a pretty high level, as I understand it). At any rate, it's nice to have a gimmick puzzle to shake things up on a Monday. Wasn't crazy about it, but it's at least far more memorable than a lot of early-week fare.

Bullets:

• 6A: Air passage (DUCT) — botched this one too. Had VENT.
  
• 24A: Hannibal ___, vice president under Abraham Lincoln (HAMLIN) — brain went immediately to LECTER. That's a mildly tough trivia clue. Pied piper clue deemed too remedial, Harry HAMLIN clue deemed too dated, apparently.
  
• 54A: Old-fashioned paper copies (DITTOS) — whoa, I don't think I've seen or heard that word since elementary school.
  
• 60D: WXY, on a phone (NINE) — my favorite number! And it's a telephone keypad clue?! Ted Williams is rolling over in his grave.

[Number nine ... Number nine ...]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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