Heavenly gatekeeper in Portugal / MON 3-7-11 / 1982 question from Clash / Old advertising question from Clairol / Soliloquy question from Hamlet

Constructor: Mike Torch

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: Paper or plastic? — Theme answers are famous "___ OR ___" questions


Word of the Day: Oksana BAIUL (59A: Oskana ___, 1994 gold-medal skater) —

Oksana Serhiyivna Baiul (Ukrainian: Оксана Сергіївна Баюл) (born November 16, 1977) is a Ukrainian professional figure skater. She is the 1994 Olympic Champion in Ladies' Singles and 1993 World Champion. (wikipedia)

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How weird—this should've been a superfast solve for me. I mean, I knew two of the theme answers cold, no crosses needed ("TO BE OR NOT TO BE," "SHOULD I STAY / OR SHOULD I GO"). But somehow I ended up fumbling stupidly around the grid, tripping over the keyboard, and particularly botching SAO PEDRO (went for PAULO based on the city and the fact that St. Paul is also biblical). Also thought "DOES SHE OR DOESN'T SHE?" was "IS SHE OR ISN'T SHE?," which, of course, didn't fit, but that didn't stop me from trying to make it. Also, this one had a lot of multi-word answers that just didn't come to me straight off: SOISEE, OWINGTO, FREEOF, OPTFOR. So, it was all pretty easy, but my grid navigation was clumsy, bordering on inept. Ended up with a typical Tuesday time. Still, I think this one was probably on the Easy side of a normal Monday, if only just. Clever idea. Solid Monday puzzle.



Theme answers:

• 17A: With 61-Across, 1982 question from the Clash ("SHOULD I STAY / OR SHOULD I GO?")
  
• 23A: With 54-Across, old advertising question from Clairol ("DOES SHE OR / DOESN'T SHE?")
  
• 37A: Soliloquy question from Hamlet ("TO BE OR NOT TO BE")
  
• 12D: With 46-Down, question from a 2000s game show ("DEAL OR NO DEAL?")
  

LIRAS (32A: Turkish money)—I didn't realize the plural had an "S." Is that different from the plural of the (former) Italian currency of the same name? Seems that in both the Italian and Turkish versions, an -S plural is acceptable as well as an -E. OK.

That's all. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. The Youngstown Crossword Puzzle Tournament to benefit the Poland Public Library of Youngstown, OH will take place at the library this Saturday, Mar. 12, 2011, from 10:00am - 1:00pm. Fresh puzzles for the tournament provided by Will Shortz ahead of their NYT publication schedule. Get more info here.

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