Doll's House heroine / WED 4-20-11 / Half 1980s TV duo / Bespectacled dwarf / President whose first name means one who is blessed

Constructor: Michael Farabaugh

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: MIXED GREEN SALAD (39A: Dieter's fare ... or a hint to 17-, 24- and 49-Across and 10- and 26-Down) — anagrams of GREEN SALAD


Word of the Day: GIAN Carlo Menotti (40D: Composer ___ Carlo Menotti) —

Gian Carlo Menotti (July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular taste. He won the Pulitzer Prize for two of them: The Consul (1950) and The Saint of Bleecker Street (1955). He founded the noted Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of the Two Worlds) in 1958 and its American counterpart, Spoleto Festival USA, in 1977. In 1986 he commenced a Melbourne Spoleto Festival in Australia, but he withdrew after three years. (wikipedia)

• • •

Lots of anagrams. So what? Seriously. SEE GARLAND? That's ... funny? What is that? I mean, maybe you could *do* something with SEAL DANGER or LANGE READS or EARS DANGLE, but these anagrams just lay there. They also represent the only thing at all challenging about this grid, which is Monday/Tuesday-easy in all other respects — I struggled a tiny bit in the SW corner with APRON (51D: Place for a chip shot) and NORA (61A: "A Doll's House" heroine), but otherwise, torched it. This puzzle has impressive theme density, but that's not enough to make it interesting.


Also, a MIXED GREEN SALAD is not "dieter's fare." It's just a thing people eat. At restaurants. Every night of the week. You can see them. Eating the salad. And steak. And then dessert (thus, *not* dieting).

Theme answers:

• 17A: Lee at Appomattox, e.g.? (SAD GENERAL)
  
• 24A: Portly college figures? (LARGE DEANS)
  
• 49A: Salutation in an Anaheim baseball fan's letter? (DEAR ANGELS)
  
• 62A: Cowgirl Evans's hot temper? (DALE'S ANGER)
  
• 10D: Where to get discount flowers? (GARDEN SALE)
  
• 26D: Go out with the star of "The Wizard of Oz"? (SEE GARLAND)
  

I'll give the grid one thing—with the exception of CERT. (68A: Like some checks: Abbr.), the grid is very smooth. Oh, it also taught me something about OBAMA's name (didn't know "Barack" mean "one who is blessed," though OBAMA was my first and only guess for that clue). Honestly, there's not a whole lot left to say. Seems like there were a number of '80s TV duos (Simon & Simon, Cagney & Lacey, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, Siskel & Ebert, Sam & Diane, Jack & Diane, Jack & Jill, etc.), so ALLIE didn't come right away, but she came (44A: Half a 1980s TV duo). Kitchen gadgets in three letters = always OXO (31D: Maker of Good Grips kitchen tools) (I've told the story about OXO being the first band I ever saw live, right? They opened for Hall & Oates ... another '80s duo!). "Bespectacled" is a good word, so that's a nice clue on DOC (62D: Bespectacled dwarf). I had no idea JAMA was a *weekly* (45A: Org. with a peer-reviewed weekly journal). Oaxaca is one of my very favorite place names—looks and sounds fantastic (32A: Other, in Oaxaca). My favorite chocolate is made using traditional Oaxacan methods.



Clearly I'VE run out of things to say. So good night.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]
[Follow Rex Parker on Tumblr]