Flirty toon Betty / MON 2-13-12 / 1954 Hitchcock thriller / Samuel Beckett play with unseen character / Chicken tikka go-with / Roman poet who wrote To be loved be lovable

Constructor: Ellen Leuschner and Victor Fleming

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: a deer, a female deer — theme answers all end with the sound of "DOE"

Word of the Day: ADEN (31A: Port of Oman) —

Aden [...] is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately a million people. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a low isthmus. This harbour, Front Bay, was first used by the ancient Kingdom of Awsan between the 5th and 7th centuries BCE. The modern harbour is on the other side of the peninsula. (wikipedia)

• • •

A pretty nice Monday. Fill is generally boring (as it can be in a 78-worder), but the five theme answers are fairly interesting, and I especially like the grid-spanning "WAITING FOR GODOT" in the middle. Had no idea what the theme was til I was done (and I was done in 2:39, which is largely why I never noticed the theme). I always feel that if a puzzle is 78 words, there should be almost no cruddy fill. High word-count grids are easiest to fill, and 78 words is the max. I'm saying this only to explain why stuff like ON YOU and OREG annoy me more on a day like today than on, say, a Friday (I wouldn't like them there either, but I'd understand them). So—stale fill, but solid theme answers and a cute little theme. Fine.



Theme answers:

• 17A: It's kneaded at a bakery (BREAD DOUGH)
• 23A: "Doonesbury" cartoonist (GARRY TRUDEAU)
• 35A: Samuel Beckett play with an unseen character ("WAITING FOR GODOT")
• 47A: Vito Corleone portrayer (MARLON BRANDO)
• 57A: 1954 Hitchcock thriller ("REAR WINDOW") — went through a big Grace Kelly phase in grad school. This remains one of my very favorite movies. Curiously, and perhaps unexpectedly, my big Grace Kelly phase was followed closely by my big Mamie Van Doren phase.
  

Bullets:

• 15A: Flirty toon Betty ___ (BOOP) — big thumbs-up to the phrase "flirty toon"
• 29A: Roman poet who wrote "To be loved, be lovable" (OVID) — this was from his treatise on picking up hot chicks entitled Ars amatoria (roughly translated, it means "hot piece of ass")
• 37D: Chicken tikka go-with (NAAN) — the puzzle remains the only place I ever see the term "go-with." Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to have some tea and chocolate (my "Downton Abbey" go-withs).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

1924 Edna Ferber novel / MON 7-11-11 / 1972 Bill Withers hit / Pair of cymbals operated by pedal / Holder of birdseed / Icy expanse redundantly

Constructor: Ellen Leuschner

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "Redundantly" — common two-word phrases that are (allegedly) redundant, with every clue ending, "redundantly"


Word of the Day: "SO BIG" (62A: 1924 Edna Ferber novel) —

So Big is a 1924 novel written by Edna Ferber. The book was inspired by the life of Antje Paarlberg in the Dutch community of South Holland, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. It won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1925. (wikipedia)

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Seems like a fine Monday puzzle, though I've heard some summaries that were Not At All brief, so I'm not buying that one as much as the others. "Brief" is a relative term. A summary is by definition briefER than its object, but, depending on context, might not feel "brief" at all. Anyhoo, it's no big deal. I mean SOUTH is not literally DOWN except by map conventions. I suppose you could pick any of these apart if you really wanted to, but that seems mean-spirited and dark-hearted. My time was actually a little slower than normal, but I made some stupid mistakes and a Lot of typos, so I doubt this is any harder (or easier) than your typical (very easy) Monday.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Place of refuge, redundantly (SAFE HAVEN)
  
• 29A: Icy expanse, redundantly (FROZEN TUNDRA)
  
• 47A: Synopsis, redundantly (BRIEF SUMMARY)
  
• 64A: Where snowbirds head, redundantly (DOWN SOUTH)
  

Here's how a speed solver can go badly awry on a Monday:

• Get confused by the gendering of 1D: Cowgirl's rope (LASSO)—no reason the rope can't belong to a girl, but in a world where the generic is usually masculine (sexist convention, but convention nonetheless), "girl" triggers thoughts of "there's a *girl's* rope?"
• Think that the "celebrity" in 8D: Celebrity is a person (RENOWN)
• Go with SNOBBY before SNOOTY (28D: Having one's nose in the air)
• Spell RAZE "RASE" (31D: Bulldoze)
• Fail to adjust the size of clue box to its biggest setting and thus not be able to read the full clue at 37A: 2006 title film character who says "Pamela! I no find you attractive anymore! ... Not!" (BORAT)
• Try I FORGET before I FORGOT (44D: Excuse for a lapse)
• Assume 55D: Pair of cymbals operated by a pedal is an S-ending plural (HI-HAT)
• Fail, until the bitter end, to understand what 33D: Dead center? was all about (TOMB)

Bullets:

• 29D: Holder of birdseed (FEEDER) — how is this different from [Birdseed holder]. Did you want me to think the answer was ERIC? If so, no dice!
  
• 7D: Like a car with 20,000 miles on its odometer (USED) — that's a long (and arbitrary) way to go for USED.
  
• 35D: Lighter-than-air aircraft (DIRIGIBLE) — Nice word. Is the helium considered part of the aircraft? Or is it considered something you put *in* the DIRIGIBLE (e.g. I don't consider gas, oil, transmission fluid as part of the car). Because the "aircraft" is "lighter-than-air" only with the helium inside.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld