Company that produced Twister Candy Land / MON 3-14-11 / Hershey's vatful / Antianxiety drug with palindromic name / Area west of Bowery

Constructor: Andrea Carla Michaels

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: MALT to MULT — a vowel progression puzzle, with theme answers all starting with M-LT and the "-" being a different vowel in each case: A, E, I, O, and U, respectively.

Word of the Day: CIVET (21D: Spotted cat) —

A civet (pronounced /ˈsɪvɨt/) is a small, lithe-bodied, mostly arboreal mammal native to the tropics of Africa and Asia. Civet may also refer to the distinctive musk produced by the animal. (wikipedia ... which says nothing about the civet being a "cat," though it does say CIVETs "have a broadly cat-like general appearance")

• • •

A bouncy little Monday puzzle from the Other Divine Miss M. This one felt slightly thornier than her usually offerings, perhaps because she went with a 76- rather than a more typical (for a Monday) 78-word grid while also throwing down some high-value Scrabble tiles. My time was pretty average for a Monday, but I felt like I was working somewhat harder than I normally have to on a Monday — not a bad thing. There were some weird things about this puzzle. First, it seemed like its theme was sweets—60% of the answers either are or refer to sugary treats. Then there was the fact that two of the M-LT words were very nearly synonyms of one another (MELTING, MOLTEN), with both words having chocolaty contexts. Slight feeling of repetition and redundancy. Lastly, I was mildly UPSET (4D: Overturn) with MELT IN ONE'S MOUTH, since that phrase is taken directly from M&Ms' slogan, and thus (in my mind) should be quoted perfectly, i.e. MELT IN YOUR MOUTH. That is what they do. That is what the ads say they do. Nothing about "ONE'S" in the ads. I'm happy to have constructors fudge the ONE'S/YOUR distinction generally, but in the case of a direct quotation, not so much. Still, this glitch did LITTLE (3D: Wee) to diminish my enjoyment of the puzzle as a whole.

Theme answers:

• 18A: Fountain treat (MALTED MILK) — I don't know that I've heard this phrase. A MALTED MILK shake, I've heard of. "MALTED MILK" appears to be some kind of powder... but maybe in some bygone era this phrase was totally normal for the "fountain treat" in question.
  
• 23A: What M&M's do (MELT IN ONE'S MOUTH)

[What the...?]

• 37A: Company that produced Twister and Candy Land (MILTON BRADLEY)
  
• 50A: Hershey's vatful (MOLTEN CHOCOLATE) — I assume this refers to some imagined vat at their factory... we live very close to Hershey, PA, but have never been.
  
• 56A: The "3" in "6 x 3 = 18" (MULTIPLIER) — ugh, I tripped over the final letter. Somehow couldn't process what the clue was asking for, and the cross just didn't help at first — clue on RES. feels weirdly redundant; RES. is an abbrev. for "home." "Phone number" part just confused me. For a few seconds, anyway.
  

Normally don't have to deal with detritus like CIS, MELO, and ABAA in Andrea's grids, but again, I think the tradeoff — theme density and Scrabbly letters — is worth it.

Bullets:

• 5A: WWW letters (HTML) — one of those either/or clues: is it HTML or HTTP?
  
• 17A: Jamie Foxx's "Yep ___ Me" ("DAT'S") — again, very un-Andreaesque, this kind of non-word. I do like the clue, though. Don't know the song. Let's hear it.

• 55A: Antianxiety drug with a palindromic name (XANAX) — always strikes me as a name better suited to an anti-gas drug. I think I've been conditioned by GAS-X and MAALOX.
  
• 27D: ___ Reader (eclectic bimonthly) (UTNE) — not much you can do with a U--E set-up (which the theme answer arrangement puts in place). ULEE. UTNE. URGE may be your best bet there. But UTNE is a solid, if crosswordy, choice.
  
• 44D: Pre-cable TV adjunct (AERIAL) — "adjunct" threw me slightly, for reasons I don't quite understand. Also, is there any difference in this context between ANTENNA and AERIAL?
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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