Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: DAY (68A: Word that can follow the first part or precede the second part of 22-, 28-, 46- or 55-Across) — that pretty much says it all
Word of the Day: Paul HENREID (10D: Paul who played Laszlo) —
Paul Henreid (born Paul Georg Julius Hernreid Ritter von Wassel-Waldingau; 10 January 1908 – 29 March 1992) was an Austrian actor and film director. Henreid's best remembered role is as Victor Laszlo in Casablanca (1942). (wikipedia)
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This is one of those themes that, at best, elicit a "huh ... interesting" upon completion. In general, if you're going to do a "Word that can follow / precede / follow&precede" theme, then your actual theme answers, those phrases that actually appears in the grid, better be bouncy, interesting, original. These are just bland. I dutifully went through, after I was done, and plugged "DAY" in (mentally) where it was supposed to go in each answer. Yep, mostly works, though I don't know what a DAY LILY is. But who cares? I kind of liked the due north section (MOOCHED next to GRILLE), but otherwise, I had to endure some Dreck—MESNE? Again?? ARAM (59D: Ancient Syria)? OCAT OCTO MELC (39D: Sporty Spice's other nickname) ELY YESI EEN *and* OFT *and* ETERNE ULEES ESSE LIENEES (ouch, man I hate that word), to say nothing of that HENREID guy, who was that HENNEID guy until I found my error—and for what? Not much. With only four real theme answers, this puzzle should have been Much smoother in the fill. MUCH smoother.Theme answers:
- 22A: Remove snow from, e.g., as a car (CLEAR OFF)
- 28A: Go-ahead signal (GREEN LIGHT)
- 46A: Holiday bloom (EASTER LILY)
- 55A: One with a 1.0 G.P.A. (D STUDENT)
Started out fast with DAILY / DOUBLE (1A: With 1-Down, "Jeopardy!" feature), but then hit LIENEES, which I never think of (for good reason), and slowed down some. Got slowed down a little in the SW when I realized that the crosses had 55A starting DST-, and that couldn't possibly be right (erase erase ... oh, crap, it is right). Also took a while with MINT TEA because I had the first "T" and knew the answer would involve TEA and so wanted the answer to be something TEAS, despite the non-plural clue. So, flailing there a bit. Got ARAM entirely through crosses without ever seeing the clue, thank god. Couldn't remember what the name of the LAWN in Central Park was. FRONT? Got GREAT from crosses. HENREID killed me (as I noted above) because I had CLEAN OFF instead of CLEAR OFF. I think I resent HENREID more than I might because of the way the clue just presumes we all know who Laszlo is. That movie is overrated.Bullets:
- 6A: Chat room "Yikes!" (OMG) — OMG stop saying "chat room!" I don't even know what that is anymore. Who goes into chat rooms? What year is it? OMG is shorthand internet-wide, not just in some *bygone* "room."
- 20A: Cousin of a yarmulke (BEANIE) — And here I thought BEANIEs were TREF (13D: Not kosher).
- 60A: Rocker Turner's autobiography ("I, TINA") — clues for this answer never fail to generate a lot of Google traffic, despite the fact that the answer is ultra-common and you'd think everyone would know it by now.
- 29D: M.R.E. eaters (G.I.s) — and survivalists. Don't forget them.
- 66A: Nut with a cupule (ACORN) — another clue that tends to generate Google traffic for my site (yes, this clue is recycled). "Cupule" is an unusual word, so the bafflement is sort of understandable.
- 38A: Palin parodist Tina (FEY) — read her book "Bossypants" earlier this summer. Very enjoyable. Lots of stuff in there on becoming "Sarah Palin." Book is worth it for the chapter on her father alone. Sweet and hilarious.
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