Summer Triangle star / WED 4-6-11 / Stereotypical glass fillers / Yellowstone foragers / Carrier renamed in 1997

Constructor: Gareth Bain

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: DOUBLE HEADERS (34A: Once-common baseball events and a hint to 16-, 24-, 46- and 57-Across) — theme answers are two-word phrases where both words can precede "HEAD" in familiar phrases.


Word of the Day: ALMA, MI (18A: Michigan college town) —

Alma is the largest city in Gratiot County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,275 at the 2000 census. It was incorporated as the Village of Alma in 1872 and became a city in 1905. // Alma's claims to fame include the annual Highland Festival which brings members of Scottish clans and interested onlookers together for a weekend of Highland dancing, bagpipes, kilts, and camaraderie. The Highland Festival is held each year over Memorial Day weekend. Alma College, a small liberal-arts institution of approximately 1,300 students, is located in town and focuses on multidisciplinary learning in a residential setting. (wikipedia)

• • •

A familiar theme type. There are approximately one billion words that can precede HEAD in familiar phrases, so options here were probably plentiful, allowing for two-word theme answers that are completely natural and unforced. Not a very exciting or interesting or funny theme. Just ... a theme. Fine. OK. Sadly, there's not a lot of interesting fill outside the theme, so the whole thing ends up feeling a little flat. Very choppy grid with lots of short fill and a bit more crosswordese than I normally want to see. Check out xwordese xorner down there in the SW, with AROD over REUP over ASTI ... and ELIOT and USAIR (49D: Carrier renamed in 1997) and SSRS just across the way. Not sure why four cheater squares were needed to make the grid work, but there they are (see FAQ for def. of "cheater squares"). There's really not a lot to say about this one. The theme is what it is. The fill is ordinary at best. The end.



Found the cluing off in a couple of places. DENTURES are [Stereotypical glass fillers]? "Stereotypical?" "Oh, you know how DENTURES are, always ... being in glasses..." They're often found in glasses, or often depicted in glasses, but "stereotypical" just feels like the wrong word. I get that you were going for misdirection on this clue, but "stereotypical" is taking it a bit far. And "Beat it!" for "GO HOME!"? If I tell you to beat it, I am not telling you where to go, I'm just telling you to get away from here. There is nothing, zero, in "beat it" that suggests "home." I have a giant "NO" written next to that clue.



Puzzle went down pretty easily, though I certainly screwed up in a number of places, starting with (shocker!) GO HOME, which I had as GO AWAY. I then had EVADED for ELUDED (3D: Got away from), and, later, SEEP IN for SOAK IN (39A: Absorb thoroughly).

Theme answers:

• 16A: Thor, for one (THUNDER GOD)
  
• 24A: Ones often marrying in a hurry (WAR BRIDES) — why? I didn't know haste was involved. Is it because the men are being shipped back home? The wikipedia page on war brides doesn't mention haste as a factor.
  
• 46A: Calypso instrument (STEEL DRUM)
  
• 57A: It's undeliverable (DEAD LETTER) — I had never heard this term until R.E.M. released an album in the late '80s called "Dead Letter Office.

Bullets:

• 14A: Language that gave us "kiwi" (MAORI) — my non-war bride is a "kiwi," so no problem here.
  
• 4D: Summer Triangle star (DENEB) — Never heard of "Summer Triangle," but learned DENEB from crosswords a few years back, so at least the answer was familiar once I saw it. If you've never heard of DENEB, it really looks nuts.
  
• 10D: Yellowstone forager (MULE DEER) — do they look like mules? Hmm, wiki says they get their name from their large, mule-like ears. Huh. Interesting.
  
• 48A: Walks like a tosspot (REELS) — "Walks like a tosspot" being the far less successful SIDE B of "Walk Like an Egyptian"

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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