Theologian Johann / THU 8-4-11 / Kitty 1940 movie romance / Musical with song Be Italian / Beyond Peace author's monogram

Constructor: David J. Kahn

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: WENT / BAR-HOPPING (50A: Painted the town red, in a way ... or successfully completed this puzzle?) — 5 theme answers "hop" across "bars" (i.e. banks of black squares) [WHOOPS: I missed the part where the words that "hop" the "bar" can precede "bar" in a common phrase, e.g. SINGLES [bar], CANDY [bar] ... I'm now far more impressed with the puzzle than I was when I did the write-up; I just wonder how many solvers are going to miss that aspect of the theme ... thanks to joon for pointing out my blind spot]


Word of the Day: GALT MacDermot (37A: "Hair" composer MacDermot) —

Galt MacDermot (born December 18, 1928) is a Canadian composer, pianist and writer of musical theatre. He won a Grammy Award for the song African Waltz in 1960. His most successful musicals have been Hair (1967; its cast album also won a Grammy) and Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971). MacDermot has also written music for film soundtracks, jazz and funk albums, and classical music, and his music has been sampled in hit hip-hop songs and albums. (wikipedia)

• • •

This was a bit anti-climactic, considering we'd seen a similar bar-hopping type theme just this past Sunday. BAR-HOPPING would have been a great revealer, but the WENT part feels weird; also, that answer violates the general principle of the theme, as all the others "hop" mid-word, but that answer doesn't. I enjoyed doing the puzzle—there's some interesting fill in there, and the clues were often thoughtful and tough—but I wasn't wowed the way I might've been had the reveal been more spectacular, or had I not seen a word-breaking theme just four days ago. Also, what's with the weird names? NOELLE (25D: Girl with a festive-sounding name) isn't even ... anybody. Just a name a woman might have??? Yuck. I knew Kitty FOYLE from my collection of old paperbacks, but I think that's pretty damned hard / obscure (40A: "Kitty ___" (1940 movie romance)). Ditto GALT. ECK, I knew (38A: Theologian Johann). He has some crossword currency. Theme answers are interesting enough, but as they have nothing in common, it's hard to be too excited about them.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Some ballpark hits (INFIELD SIN / GLES)
  
• 22A: Provider of some outdoor entertainment (STREET PI / ANO) — what the hell? They have pianos on streets now?
  
• 44A: "Star Wars" and "Battlestar Galactica" (SPA / CE OPERAS)
  
• 11D: Youthful time (SAL / AD DAYS)
  
• 29D: Sugar in large crystals (ROCK CA / NDY)
  

Last week, Will Shortz tweeted (yes, he's on Twitter now):

An innocent NYT crossword clue I wrote for ROCK CANDY: Something hard to suck on? Test-solver Frank caught it before it ran. [Whew!]

Pretty funny. But it also acted as a very minor spoiler, since the tweet leapt immediately to mind once I'd gotten the first part of that answer.

Bullets:

• 7D: KLM alternative (SAS) — every time I see "KLM," I want to say "uh huh, uh huh." Only 90s music fans / victims will understand this.

• 48D: Musical with the song "Be Italian" ("NINE") — this reminds me of my mom, and I have No Idea Why. Maybe there was a production of this in the late 70s / early 80s and she saw it??? Just a weird association I can't account for. We lived in Fresno, CA for god's sake. "NINE" couldn't have been further from our everyday lives.
  
• 53D: "Beyond Peace" author's monogram (RMN) — wow, needed all the crosses for this. It's Nixon, in case you somehow didn't pick up the monogram.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Balcony playwright / SUN 7-10-11 / Paolantonio of ESPN / 1862 invasion battle site / Mount for god Neptune / Fruit for lagomorphs

Constructor: Ben Pall and David Kahn

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "BODY ENHANCEMENT" — familiar phrases have (circled) letter added, creating wacky answers, clued "?"-style; circled letters are implanted in each familiar phrase, *and* spell out IMPLANTS, *and*, when connected, form the unmistakable profile of a (fake?) boob. Just connect the circles in a gently flowing line. It's there. I think. And yet ... it's a bit imprecise ...

[Update: I just got a tweet from ... someone who would know ... and she said: "@rexparker [...] There is no picture. I repeat, no picture." And yet I've drawn a very convincing picture with my circles. Interesting. Roughly half my friends do Not see it / buy it. Other half do. Best comment was from a well-known constructor: "It looks more like what you think it looks like than last week's looked like an ice cream soda."]


Word of the Day: GAUSS (61D: See 88-Across [10,000 61-Down]) —

The gauss, abbreviated as G, is the cgs unit of measurement of a magnetic field B (which is also known as the "magnetic flux density", or the "magnetic induction"), named after the German mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss. One gauss is defined as one maxwell per square centimeter; it equals 1×10⁻⁴ tesla.

• • •

Is the NYT trying to save ink by getting rid of constructor middle initials. Peter A. Collins was Peter Collins earlier this week, and now David J. Kahn is simply David Kahn? Odd. Anyway, Ben Pall is a teenager, if memory serves, so a puzzle about boobs is perhaps not so shocking. It's an odd theme, not very complicated or dense, but oddly effective. I didn't think much of it all until I read the circles and drew a naked lady on my puzzle (best "you have to draw on your damned puzzle to figure out what it's all about"-type puzzle Ever). That drawing almost makes up for the avalanche of unpleasant, OOXTEPLERNON*-pleasing short fill I had to HEC through. I mean hack. Hack through. HEC NOI UTILS SASES BAHS ERI DEMIT ITE REE DAH STER SNEE ISI OCTA, to name a gigantic handful. But a boob in profile is a boob in profile, so +1.

Theme answers:

• 22A: What a poltergeist investigator does? (COUNTS NOISES)
  
• 30A: What the tired waiter provided? (LIMP SERVICE) — that clue could've gone in a Completely different direction.
  
• 40A: Fruit for lagomorphs? (RABBIT PEARS)
  
• 56A: Disorderly poultry workers? (CHICKEN FLINGERS) — I've seen too much footage of poultry "farms" to give this the smile it probably deserves.
  
• 75A: Attempts to climb a mountain range? (TAKES ON THE CHAIN)
  
• 90A: Sad sports headline in a Providence paper? (BROWN BEATEN)
  
• 116A: Churchgoers, sometimes? (PSALM READERS)
  

Cluing felt slightly more difficult than normal, though this was offset by the relatively straightforward theme. Never spell ANTIETAM right (I always go "-TEM") (24A: 1862 invasion battle site). Thought "Mount" in 25A: Mount for the god Neptune (SEA HORSE) was referring to a mountain. I'm a casual but regular ESPN viewer, so SAL Paolantonio was a cinch ... except for the part where I wanted his name to be SAO (45D: Paolantonio of ESPN). Couldn't remember Ron KOVIC at all and had to rely almost entirely on crosses (58D: "Born on the Fourth of July" hero Ron). Went looking for all the usual playwrights with 71D: "The Balcony" playwright and found none. Don't think I knew Jean GENET was a playwright. Not sure I've ever read anything by him, now that I think of it. My favorite clue of the day was 74D: Stale Italian bread? (LIRA). Should've doubled down and gone with [Stale French bread?] for ECU.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*For definition of OOXTEPLERNON, see FAQ (above).

P.S. Anyone who wants to get creative and draw on his/her puzzle is heartily encouraged to send pictures to me at rexparker at mac dot com.

GALLERY:

Image 1: From Jim P. who adds, understatedly: "Doesn't quite work"

Tiered tower / WED 5-18-11 / Actress Mills others / Titania's husband / Quick turnaround slangily / Butterfly wrapping / Dry stretch in Mongolia

Constructor: David J. Kahn

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: SIDNEY / LUMET (58A: With 46-Across, late, legendary director) — many theme answers related to his movies


Word of the Day: DANAË (40D: Mother of Perseus) —

In Greek mythology, Danaë [...] was a daughter of King Acrisius of Argos and Eurydice (no relation to Orpheus' Eurydice). She was the mother of Perseus by Zeus. She was sometimes credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium. // Disappointed by his lack of male heirs, Acrisius asked an oracle if this would change. The oracle told him to go to the Earth's end where he would be killed by his daughter's son. She was childless and, meaning to keep her so, he shut her up in a bronze tower or cave. But Zeus came to her in the form of golden rain, and impregnated her. Soon after, their child Perseus was born. (wikipedia)

• • •

Like most tribute puzzles for the recently deceased (at least the ones I can remember) this one felt a little ragged. Crammed full of the deceased's accomplishments — those that can be arranged symmetrically, anyway — but otherwise not very clever, and with accompanying fill that is mediocre to bad. This puzzle has theme density, which includes the cool crossing central 15s, but that's about all that's really nice about it. Then you've got ridiculous words like OVERMAN (15A: Provide with too much staffing) and oddball words like ELEMIS and a long (and thus obtrusive) plural name in JULIETS and the strange and unwelcome two-part aria "O PATRIA / MIA" (a two-part answer that long should be themed or should not exist) and a ton of ugly little junk like RUN A, ASTIR, ERO, ABES. GRIFFITH is a total stretch, theme-wise (a partial name that is there only to counter AL PACINO). Grid structure is interesting, but the puzzle wasn't fun to do. Just movie trivia. No playfulness or pizzazz. This is better than the Elizabeth Taylor tribute puzzle, but not by much.



Theme answers:

• 4A: 58-/46-Across movie (1973) ("SERPICO")
  
• 7D: 58-/46-Across movie (1981) ("PRINCE OF THE CITY")
  
• 37A: 58-/46-Across movie (1975) ("DOG DAY AFTERNOON")
• 23A: With 55-Across, 58-/46-Across movie (1964) ("FAIL / SAFE")
  
• 68A: Frequent location of 58-/46-Across movies (NEW YORK)
  
• 28A: "12 ___ Men," 58-/46-Across movie (1957) ("ANGRY")
  
• 16- and 64A: Workplace for 58-/46-Across (LOT / SET)
  
• 11D: Star of 4- and 37-Down (AL PACINO)
  
• 39D: D.W. ___ Award, honor for 58-/46-Across for lifetime achievement (GRIFFITH)

Biggest snag was the area all around SIDNEY LUMET and down into that SE corner. Didn't know the director at first (didn't read the "late" part and am not sure I would have recalled his name instantly even if I had). Had a tough time coming up with ELEMIS (had ELENIS at one point) and MON AMI (wanted EN AMI, a common xword French phrase). Sure as hell didn't know the aria in question. So I had to hack a lot down there. But the most of the puzzle was reasonably easy; I was at least familiar with the titles of all of the movies. I thought the puzzle was AL PACINO-themed at first—I got "SERPICO" first and then "PRINCE OF THE CITY" and "DOG DAY AFTERNOON," which allowed me to convince myself (briefly) that AL PACINO was in "PRINCE..." He wasn't. Treat Williams and Jerry Orbach were.

Bullets:

• 10A: Quick turnaround, slangily (UEY) — this is how I realized RUN A was not (the much better) ROOM (26D: ___ temperature).
  
• 60A: Butterfly wrapping? (OBI) — I'm guessing this is some kind of "Madame Butterfly" reference.

• 69A: Where Oskar Schindler is buried: Abbr. (ISR.) — if you got mad at me for not having seen "My Cousin Vinny," well, I have other "movies I haven't seen" news for you...
  
• 1D: Tiered tower (PAGODA) — I consistently confuse this word with BODEGA.
  
• 61D: Funny Stewart (JON) — I had JAN, believing that the clue was referring to the SNL actress (whose name, it turns out, is JAN Hooks, duh). This is ironic as I watch "The Daily Show" religiously (every T-F morning, DVR'd from the night before)
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Starpeace recorder 1985 / THU 3-3-11 / Language gjuho shqipe / Quested Passage to India woman / Subject of sailor's weather maxim

Constructor: David J. Kahn

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: ANDREW JACKSON/JOHNSON (39A: Either of the two presidents who also served as a 17-Across (U.S. SENATOR) from 62-Across (TENNESSEE)) — central answer in the puzzle works whether you choose JOHNSON or JACKSON


Word of the Day: Gilbert ADAIR (60A: Gilbert ___, author of "A Void," a 290-page novel without the letter E) —

Gilbert Adair (born 29 December 1944 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish author, film critic and journalist. He won the Author's Club First Novel Award in 1988 for his novel The Holy Innocents. In 1995 he won the Scott Moncrieff Translation Prize for his book A Void, which is a translation of the French book La Disparition by Georges Perec. The original book contains no instances of the letter e; Adair translated it with the same limitation. His works are compared to those of Julian Barnes, A. S. Byatt and Patrick Gale. [so ... more "translator" than "author" ... not that knowing that would've helped me one whit] (wikipedia)

• • •

Another tricky DJK tour de force. This one was tough all over for me, and it was not until the bitter end that I figured out what was supposed to be happening in the central answer ("'Either of the two...?' But ... no two presidents had the same names ... except ADAMS ... JOHN ADAMS ... well that's not right"). My version went with ANDREW JOHNSON because I came at the last name from 33D: It's rich in sugar (CANE/CAKE), and I wanted CANE from the second I got the "C." HOOK came easily too (41D: Captain James of the high seas). Only problem was BOLLS, which looked so wrong (37D: Cotton ___) ... and yet I knew that "boll weevils" were a thing ... a bug ... that gets after cotton? Seemed OK. Turned out to be right (though, curiously, my software recognized only JACKSON as "correct").



I had to struggle at least a little in nearly every part of the grid. The worst part was the NW, where TURKEY for IGUANA (1D: Creature with a dewlap) started things badly, and then, later, INCHES for LOSSES (2D: The "5" in "6-5," e.g.) really put me in a hole. Wanted GO IT ALONE early on (14A: Act independently) but INCHES said nay. Finally figured out the theme answer must be U.S. SENATOR, dumped INCHES, and it all fell into place quickly. Wanted YALE at 9D: School whose 1910 football team went undefeated and unscored upon (NAVY). Never heard of either of the literary characters (ADELA or ABBIE) (16A: ___ Quested, "A Passage to India" woman / 42A: Wife in "O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms") or the so-called "author" of "A Void" (ADAIR). But I nailed IMO with no crosses (61D: Start of many a blog comment), even though no one ever starts comments on my blog that way, and that little answer helped make the SW the easiest quadrant by far. SE was also doable (learned "jipijapa" from an earlier puzzle, which helped). Really the NW and the eastern middle that held me up the most. I enjoyed figuring this one out, and had a genuine aha moment at the end. This is very much in the mold of the famous CLINTON / BOBDOLE puzzle of election day 1996 (wherein either answer worked and the clue was something like [Winner of today's election]). That puzzle spooked people. I doubt this one will have the same effect. But it's still pretty dang good.

Bullets:

• 24A: Food sometimes eaten with a small fork (OYSTER) — Had the "O," wanted OMELET (?)
  
• 32A: Year the first Tour de France was held (MCMIII) — if you gotta have a giant Roman numeral, it should at least have an interesting clue like this (one that was actually semi-helpful in getting at least the first three letters)
  
• 52A: Subject of a sailor's weather maxim (RED SKY) — at night, sailor's delight. This confirmed COOK for me. I mean HOOK. I think.

• 7D: "Starpeace" recorder, 1985 (ONO) — knew it, somehow—possibly from the three letters, possibly from having seen it in xwords before, and possibly for the vaguely ONOish-sounding quality of "Starpeace"; give starpeace a chance, man.
  
• 11D: Real-life character in the 1950 western "Broken Arrow" (GERONIMO) — strangely, I think the first answer that popped into my head was RED ADAIR. He was real, and there was at least one movie based on his exploits...
  
• 12D: Language known to native speakers as "gjuho shqipe" (ALBANIAN) — Whoa. Whoa. That is possibly the weirdest-looking language I've ever seen. Needed many crosses, the most helpful of which was the "B" from VERBS (18A: Come and go, e.g.)
  
• 27D: 1940 Henry Fonda role (TOM JOAD) — I prefer the 1968 Henry Fonda role of "Frank" in "Once Upon a Time in the West"

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Bandleader Jones of 1920s-30s / SUN 2-6-11 / Island near Quemoy / TV Guide's Pennsylvania headquarters / Nine-time world champion rodeo cowboy

Constructor: David J. Kahn

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "High School Reunion" — theme answers are part of a joke


Word of the Day: ISHAM Jones (108D: Bandleader Jones of the 1920s-'30s) —

Isham Jones (January 31, 1894 – October 19, 1956) was a United States bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter. [...] From 1929 to 1932, his Brunswick recordings became even more sophisticated with often very unusual arrangements (by Gordon Jenkins and others; Jones was his own arranger early on, but cultivated others for offbeat arrangements). During this period, Jones started featuring violinist Eddie Stone as one of his regular vocalists. Stone had an unusual, almost humorous tone to his voice. His other vocalists included Frank Sylvano, Billy Scott, Arthur Jarrett and Stone beginning in 1929 and in 1932, he added Joe Martin, another of the band's violinists. In April that year, young Bing Crosby recorded two sessions with Jones' group which included "Sweet Georgia Brown". Crosby at this point in his career was still singing in a jazz idiom, transitioning to his better known "crooner" style. // In August 1932, Jones began appearing on Victor, and these records are generally considered among the very best arranged and performed commercial dance band records of the Depression era. Victor's recording technique was especially suited to Jones' band. In October 1932, he teamed up with the Three X Sisters in New York who had just departed from CBS radio. They recorded "experimental" songs for RCA Victor which Jones began to fuse jazz, and early swing music. They recorded Where, I Wonder Where? and What Would Happen To Me If Something Happened To You. His Victor releases had an almost symphonic sound. He stayed with Victor until July 1934, when he signed with Decca. (Jones' recordings during this period rivaled Paul Whiteman and other dance orchestras as examples of the very best and most popular dance music of the era.)

• • •

Ha ha, it's funny 'cause she's old and unattractive...

Hey, here's another one: what has two thumbs and doesn't like "jokes?"

[this guy]

You either liked the joke or you didn't. This puzzle obviously wasn't meant for me, but maybe it was meant for you. I accept that this sometimes happens (i.e. that I'm just not the intended audience). That's all I have to say about this theme, except that the answers practically filled themselves in. Once you got past that opening fragment (TO SEE A NEW DOCTOR), you could see every part of the joke coming down Broadway.

Fill was very nice except for one nutso place in the south (which was, coincidentally, the last part of the puzzle I arrived at). ISHAM (108D: Bandleader Jones of the 1920s-'30s) and MATSU that close together felt a little brutal, but crosses ended up being pretty gettable, so I got slowed only slightly. Oh, the TWAY / TY MURRAY part is pretty wicked too (86D: Bob ___, 1986 P.G.A. Player of the Year / 88D: Nine-time world champion rodeo cowboy), if you're not familiar with either name (TWAY was somewhere in my brain, as opposed to Mr. MURRAY, who was nowhere in my brain). Again, crosses were kind, and I ended up with a sub-10-minute time, which is lightning-fast for me.

Theme answers:

• 23A: A woman went TO SEE A NEW DOCTOR.
  
• 31A: In his office, she noticed a DIPLOMA ON THE WALL.
  
• 42A: She remembered having a high-school crush on a handsome, dark-haired boy with THE SAME NAME.
  
• 53A: However, this man was balding, gray-haired and JUST AVERAGE-LOOKING.
  
• 68A: She thought he was much too old to have been her CLASSMATE.
  
• 79A: Nevertheless, she asked him if he had attended her high school, and after he said yes, she asked "WHEN DID YOU GRADUATE?"
  
• 92A: He answered "In 1971. But WHY DO YOU ASK?"
  
• 106A: The woman exclaimed "YOU WERE IN MY CLASS!"
  
• 118A: He looked at her closely, then asked "WHAT DID YOU TEACH?"
  

P.S. Doctors have their *high school* diplomas on their walls? How desperate are you for wall coverage?

Bullets:

• 26A: Expressionist artist James (ENSOR) — gimme. He's a rather common five-letter artist. "Impressionist" is gonna give you MANET or MONET, probably, but "Expressionist" is a good hint that it's ENSOR.
  
• "One Mic" rapper (NAS) — never saw the clue; don't think I've seen this NAS clue before. I would commit it to memory, but, honestly, three-letter rappers? There aren't many.

• 105A: 1969 newlywed in the news (ONO) — Coincidentally, "Wedding Bell Blues" was a #1 hit that year (coincidentally, the week I was born).
  
• 8D: TV Guide's Pennsylvania headquarters (RADNOR) — this is like some bad crossword joke. This is the clue you'd trot out if you were trying to prove how *&$^ing obscure and random crossword clues are.
• 8A: Certain bias (RACISM) — whoa. OK. I'll deflect this one, this way (by request...):

Matt Gaffney is running a special crossword contest from his (very popular) website—here's the message he sent me a couple days ago:

I'm running a special month here at MGWCC ("Matt Gaffney's Weekly Crossword Contest") called "Literary February." Four book-themed puzzles, and *every* solver who answers the four February metapuzzles correctly wins a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set.

http://www.crosswordcontest.blogspot.com/

Matt's a fantastic constructor and his metapuzzles add an extra bit of fun to the solving experience. Get in on the action. You'll be glad you did.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Yankee manager who wore #37 / THU 10-28-10 / Poison of life per Bronte's Rochester / Barnard's locale Great Expectations / Greene Godfather gangster

Constructor: David J. Kahn

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: A Halloween riddle...

Q: WHAT IS A / GHOST'S FAVORITE / DESSERT? (17A: With 27- and 35-Across, a Halloween riddle)

A: BOOBERRY PIE AND / I SCREAM (43A: With 60-Across, answer to the riddle)


Word of the Day: Picaroon (43A: Picaroon=>BANDIT) —

n.

1. 1. A pirate.
   2. A pirate ship.

• • •

Pretty easy, though a barrage of annoying, gnat-like little proper nouns kept me from flying through this thing as fast as I thought I should have. I didn't care too much for this Halloween-week offering. Too cutesy. Pulled straight from a joke book for third-graders. Much preferred yesterday's simple, smooth, clever spookfest. This tired groaner isn't fit to hold center stage in a NYT puzzle. As for the gnats:

• 15A: ___ Greene, "The Godfather" gangster (MOE) — seen the movie, of course, but the name just didn't come. I wanted ABE (likely bec. of Vigoda)
• 51A: Italian TV channel (TRE) — I still can't really believe this clue is serious. How in the world should I know an Italian TV channel? Or is the idea that it's just a number ... channel three? Weird.
• 3D: Elaine ___, George W. Bush's only labor secretary (CHAO) — I'm sure I've seen her and been flummoxed by her before. The only CHAO I know readily is Knives CHAO, a major character in the "Scott Pilgrim" comics (and, I assume, the movie, though I haven't seen it). Although her name's spelled CHAU, so nevermind.
  
• 39D: Barnard's ___, locale in "Great Expectations" (INN) — ??? I see a theme developing. Minor character in a movie, obscure foreign TV channel, minor figure in a pres. admin., some place in a book ... clearly the cluer is trying really hard to throw down little speed bumps, likely anticipating that the hackneyed joke will be far too easy for Thursday solvers to get...
• 42D: Debbie who won three swimming gold medals at the 1968 Olympics (MEYER) — I have some vague memory of having encountered her in crosswords past.

Gotta go finish grading exams so I can get out of town this weekend without too much work hanging over my head. Also, I want to get back downstairs to catch the end of the Giants/Rangers game. So ... Let's see ... what's left to say. Only real trouble spot of any size was the NE, where I had the tail ends of all the 7-letter Acrosses, but couldn't bring any of them down! Unh! Of those three answers, I'm most embarrassed by not getting BRIDGES much, much sooner (7A: George Washington and others). The only answer my brain really wanted was GEORGES, which, as you can see, is ridiculous. Never read "Jane Eyre" (that I can recall), but that awesome Rochester quote kind of makes me want to (16A: "The poison of life," per Brontë's Rochester). My first thought upon reading that clue: ABSINTHE. I had an absinthe cocktail this past weekend in New York. Surprisingly delicious. My friend and host (who paid, god bless her) just kept ordering interesting-sounding cocktails, then not liking them and passing them down to me and our mutual friend, who liked them quite well, thank you very much. My original order was a whisky drink with cracked-pepper-infused Sazerac rye and some kind of ginger liqueur and possibly something else in an old-fashioned glass, on the rocks. It was bleeping brilliant. Loved seeing YAKIMA in the grid (45D: Washington city, river or tribe)—I know it well because a. my father grew up in the state of Washington and we went there every summer for years, b. Raymond Carver (one of my favorite writers) grew up in YAKIMA, c. my friend Robert used to call games for the YAKIMA Bears.

And so to bed.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]