Brazilian port of 1.4 million / TUE 1-10-12 / Actor Sam of stage screen / Lapel attachment / One not looking for individual glory

Constructor: Gary Cee

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: TEPEE (40A: Indian home ... or a hint to nine other answers in this puzzle) — two word answers, where first word starts with "T" and second word starts with "P"

Word of the Day: Sam LEVENE (52D: Actor Sam of stage and screen) —

Sam Levene (August 28, 1905 – December 28, 1980) was an American Broadway and film actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1927 with five lines in a play titled Wall Street, and over a span of nearly 50 years, appeared on Broadway in 37 Shows, of which 33 were the original Broadway Productions, many now considered legendary. Levene made his film debut in 1936 as Patsy recreating the same role he had created on Broadway in Three Men On A Horse (1935). Levene also appeared in the USO Tour of this same Show; the Radio Version; the Musical version that opened on Broadway called Let It Ride (1961) as well as the 1969 Broadway Revival of the play directed by 'George Abbott', the original Broadway Director and co-author. (wikipedia)

• • •

The deal seems to be that if you have a pretty weak theme, if you just cram a ton of theme answers in, that cramming will more than make up for it. I'm not a fan of cramming (in most situations), as it leads to discomfort. Today, specifically, a pretty rocky grid with at least one Highly unfortunate cross. What the hell is a TACK PIN? I know what a TIE TAC(K) is (from crosswords), and I know what a LAPEL PIN is, but TACK PIN is mysterious. Never heard of it. Very odd for a Tuesday puzzle. Odder still, though, is the LEVENE / BELÉM cross. Most people are just guessing at that "E" because it seems like the most plausible letter. I don't care if *you* knew LEVENE and/or BELÉM (57A: Brazilian port of 1.4 million), those simply aren't commonly known (proper!) nouns, and there is no way in hell they should be crossed at the "E." None. LEVENE has been in precisely one puzzle in the last decade (acc. to cruciverb.com), almost ten years ago. His name is also spelled differently from other LEVINEs, so with the "I" different I was not sure at all that the first "E" was a given.

Now throw in BELÉM. It's a city of over a million, you say. Uh huh. But no way in hell most Americans can name it. Some, perhaps. But not most. I know it *only* because I was poring over my Atlas recently marveling at all the cities in the world with 1 million+ populations that I had never heard of (and even then I wasn't sure if it was BELAM or BELÉM). BELÉM is dwarfed, population-wise, by NINGBO. Never heard of it? What about (much larger) HARBIN? SURAT? FAISALABAD? You can see why the "the population's over a million!" argument doesn't impress me much. I mean, BELÉM is only the 11th most populous city in Brazil. Can you name the other 10? No. No you can't. You can name three: RIO, SAO PAULO, and (maybe) the captial, BRASILIA. Once again (and again and again and again) the the point isn't whether BELÉM or LEVENE should be allowed in a puzzle. They should (though maybe not on a Tuesday—that's a judgment call). But they shouldn't cross, and they damn sure shouldn't cross at an "E." And again (and again and again and again), I guessed right, so I'm not sour-grapesing this thing. It's. A. Bad. Cross.





Theme answers:

• 17A: Essay, say (THINK PIECE)
• 21A: Lapel attachment (TACK PIN)
• 58A: Backup group for Gladys Knight (THE PIPS) — as my wife said, "when one of your 'T' words is 'THE,' maybe there's a problem ..."
• 63A: One not looking for individual glory (TEAM PLAYER) — I admire both TEAM PLAYER and THINK PIECE very much
  
• 11D: Group associated with 2009's Taxpayer March on Washington (TEA PARTY) — also [Group having no success influencing the election of the 2012 Republican presidential nominee]. Romney 2012! Feel the Inevitability!
  
• 39D: Singer with the Heartbreakers (TOM PETTY)
• 25D: La Brea fossil preserve (TAR PITS)
• 4D: Coach on a court (TENNIS PRO)
• 36D: Disneyland, e.g. (THEME PARK)    

Also, I want the revealer to be TPS (i.e. pulls a Halloween prank), even though TPS is itself a initialism for "toilet paper." Feels more accurate (not to mention entertaining), and the "S" suggests the plural (i.e. there are nine TPS in the puzzle).



Bullets:

• 16A: Major-leaguer Tony or Alejandro (PEÑA) — forgot about the latter, but grew up with the former, who was a 5-time All-Star in the '80s.
• 13D: U-___ (Berlin railway) (BAHN) — did not know this. Figured answer was probably not HAUL. Inferred BAHN from "autobahn."
• 45A: Fireplace (INGLE) — does anyone say this? The only time I've ever seen this word is in 16th-century Scottish literature.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Albino rocker with 1973 #1 hit / MON 12-26-11 / Furrowed fruit / Letters before xis / Physician with daily talk show

Constructor: Gary Cee

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: SEASON FINALE (39A: With 41-Across, good time for a cliffhanger ... or what each of 17-, 24-, 50- and 63-Across) — theme answers are two-word phrases where second word is a season

Word of the Day: EDGAR WINTER (50A: Albino rocker with a 1973 #1 hit) —

Edgar Holland Winter (born December 28, 1946) is an American musician. He is famous for being a multi-instrumentalist. He is a highly skilled keyboardist, saxophonist and percussionist. He often plays an instrument while singing. He was most successful in the 1970s with his band, The Edgar Winter Group, notably with their popular song, "Free Ride". He has albinism. (wikipedia)

• • •

A very tired theme with a very cool revealer—actually, I'm not sure I've seen this theme done quite this way; typically the seasons are in the plural, largely because JONATHAN WINTERS is a grid-spanning 15 letters long and far more famous than EDGAR WINTER. Once I saw the theme (after getting FALL, then SUMMER), I physically deflated a little, but after hitting the nice little revealer, I recovered a bit. Grid is very interesting—it's got the maximum 78 answers, but doesn't feel segmented and choppy the way some high word-count puzzles can. This is largely because of two lovely long Downs (IN NAME ONLY, MOSEY ALONG), and two pairs of 7s (also Downs) in the N and S, respectively. Seasons aren't in order, but that's a small matter. I like the seasonal YEAR END directly over WINTER in the grid. Nice work.

Theme answers:

• 17A: What a slippery sidewalk might cause (NASTY FALL)
• 24A: "Last Dance" singer, 1978 (DONNA SUMMER)
• 50A: Albino rocker with a 1973 #1 hit (EDGAR WINTER) — I have no idea why the clue doesn't tell you the name of the song; if "Albino" didn't give the answer away, then sure "Frankenstein" wouldn't have either:

• 63A: Spa locale (HOT SPRING)

Found this puzzle remarkably easy. Fumbled around a bit with the typos, but still managed to come in well under 3 (which I hadn't done in a while). For some reason, I seem to be a good deal faster solving a downloaded puzzle on my desktop than I am solving on the NYT applet itself. Perhaps the navigation system is more intuitive for me, or perhaps the software's slightly more responsive than the web-based applet, or perhaps knowing that I'm not being timed by Big Brother loosens me up a bit. Anyway, none of this will matter come tournament time (just under 3 months away now), when all solving is done with pencil and paper. Nothing slowed me down much today besides my own typing clumsiness. Didn't know NUS, but crosses took care of that (26D: Letters before xis). Didn't know an UGLI was "furrowed" (27D: Furrowed fruit). I was just looking at the DR. OZ logo the other day and wondering why I hadn't seen that answer in puzzles more often (57D: Physician with a daily talk show). Other than that, my only tiny struggle was figuring out 2D: Wheedle (COAX). Ironic, given that I'd been watching "Downton Abbey" earlier in the evening, and one of the characters had suggested that another was "flanneling" her. This sent me to my dictionary to look up the verb "flannel"; from http://www.phrases.org.uk:

Collins' Dictionary of Slang says that the noun "flannel" has been used to mean "rubbish, albeit plausible rubbish" since the 1920s, and the verb "to flannel" has meant "to talk nonsense in a soothing, plausible manner, esp for the purposes of charming a woman one wishes to seduce" since the 1940s. I imagine the original metaphor was flannel's function as wrapping, padding or muffling material.

 So, yes, wheedle, indeed.


Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Former Houston footballer / MON 12-12-11 / Gloomy in verse / Dutch painter Jan / Onionlike soup ingredients

Constructor: Gary Cee

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: ERS (37A: Hosp. parts ... or what the answers to the six starred clues each have twice) — six two-word phrases, where both words end in -ER

 Word of the Day: VLOG (19A: Journal on YouTube, maybe) —

(Video bLOG) A Weblog (blog) that includes video clips to be downloaded and viewed immediately or transferred to a portable player. Also called a "vog," "vid-blog" and "movie blog," the vlog can be exclusively videos with text used only for captions, or text entries may be included. A venue for people who like to remix audio, video and graphics in some artistic expression, as well as novice and experienced videographers and movie makers, the material is distributed in popular video formats such as Windows Media, QuickTime and Flash. See diavlog, blog, audioblog and vidcast.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/vlog-technology#ixzz1gHNN1PlX

• • •

I just can't get too excited about a bunch of -ER words. I consider them my mortal enemy. Well, my enemy, at any rate. Hyperbole? Maybe. Yes. But still. I stand by my feelings.



Theme answers:

• 17A: *One who's an empty threat (PAPER TIGER)
• 26A: *Willie Mays, positionally (CENTERFIELDER)
• 45A: *What a waiter might be holding when he says "Say when" (PEPPER GRINDER)
• 59A: *Lawn-Boy or Toro product (POWER MOWER)
• 10D: *Enclosure with a manuscript or résumé (COVER LETTER)
• 23D: *Spider-Man's alter ego (PETER PARKER)
  

The fill on this one is solid and the interlocking theme answers are a nice touch. This one was very easy, as almost all Mondays are, but there are degrees of Easy ... so let me give you some sense of the difference between fast and blistering. Today I was fast. Normal fast. It doesn't take much in the way of speed bumps to keep me in the normal range on a Monday. It almost always feels like I could break my own speed records, but for that to happen, I have to play the Whole Thing almost flawlessly, and today, I had four slip-ups—they probably cost me only 30 seconds total, but that's an ocean of time on a Monday. First, DUPE (3D: Bamboozle). Just couldn't find it. Couldn't find the handle. D- ... DU- ... nope. Needed the "P" from PAPER TIGER before I saw it. Minor glitch, but the toggling / thought time cost several seconds. Then there was LEGS (13D: Important parts of dancers). I brilliantly wrote in TOES. Seemed a better answer, though admittedly I was thinking of ballet specifically, and not dance generally. Anyway, committing to a wrong answer is a bit of a killer, as the undoing, however quickly done, is costly. Another miscue with POWER TOOLS ... the clue's not even in the plural, so my answer doesn't make sense, but POWER MOWER, in the 21st century, is basically a MOWER, so that phrase just wasn't leaping to mind. Worst of all was STILLERS. I had everything but the "I" and still didn't get it. Figured I had a wrong cross somewhere. Only after getting PEPPER GRINDER did I remember that actors Ben STILLER and Jerry STILLER are son and father. And that, my fellow solvers, is all the resistance it takes to turn a sub-3-minute solve (Easy) into a mid-3-minute solve (Medium) 



Bullets:

• 16A: Woodwind able to provide an orchestra's tuning note (OBOE) — "able to"? That sounds weird. It generally *does* provide said note. What's this "able to"?
• 39: Dutch painter Jan (STEEN) — "Daily life was Jan Steen's main pictorial theme. Many of the genre scenes he portrayed, as in The Feast of Saint Nicholas, are lively to the point of chaos and lustfulness, even so much that a Jan Steen household, meaning a messy scene, became a Dutch proverb (een huishouden van Jan Steen)". (wikipedia)
• 53A: Former Houston footballer (OILER) — the current Houston footballers *just* (yesterday) clinched their first playoff berth ... ever.
• 62A: Actor/songwriter Novello (IVOR) — crosswordese of a pretty high order.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Bandleader Kyser / WED 11-16-11 / Baseball star nicknamed Godzilla / 1960s payola figure Freed / Phenomenon named for infant Jesus / Salad made famous by Julia Child

Constructor: Gary Cee

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: BEER CHASER (62A: Shot follower ... and a hint to the starts of 17-, 23-, 39- and 48-Across) — First words of theme answers can also follow BEER in familiar phrases

• BOTTLE NECK (17A: Common result of a lane closing) — Beer bottle
• GARDEN PARTY (23A: Outdoor affair) — Beer garden
• BARREL OF MONKEYS (39A: Large, fun quantity, in a saying) — Beer barrel
• BELLY DANCER (48A: Performer with sinuous moves) — Beer belly

Word of the Day: KAY Kyser (41D: Bandleader Kyser) —

James Kern (“Kay”) Kyser (June 18, 1905 – July 23, 1985) was a popular bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s. [...] Following graduation, Kyser and his band, which included Sully Mason on saxophone and arranger George Duning, toured Midwest restaurants and night clubs and gradually built a following. They were particularly popular at Chicago's Blackhawk restaurant, where Kyser came up with an act combining a quiz with music which became "Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge." The act was broadcast on the Mutual Radio in 1938 and then moved to NBC Radio from 1939 to 1949. The show rose in the ratings and spawned many imitators. Kyser led the band as “The Ol’ Perfessor,” spouting catchphrases: “That’s right—you’re wrong”, “Evenin’ folks, how y’all?” and “C'mon, chillun! Le's dance!” (wikipedia)

• • •

I guess there aren't really any familiar phrases starting with BONG or GOGGLES ...

Hey look, I found Tuesday's puzzle. It was hiding in Wednesday's paper. I did this with almost no hesitation, and was actually surprised / disappointed to find that I had a time over 4 minutes. I solved this first thing on waking, without aid of any liquid stimulant, and so I don't think peak speed was attainable. Anyhoo, there were only a couple of places where I actually had to think today. Wrote in THOU for THEE and couldn't make sense of 10A: January 1 game at all. Even when I got it, I thought "Does he mean ROSE BOWL?" Then I realized that BOWL describes any number of games being played on that date. OK. Also could not remember "WHEAT penny" (12D: ___ penny (pre-1959 cent)) (I'm currently reading Stephen King's new book "11/22/1963," in which our time-traveling protagonist alights initially in the last year of the WHEAT penny ...). Later, I blanked briefly on MATSUI (43A: Baseball star nicknamed Godzilla) and confused AMU Darya with ABU Dhabi (35D: ___ Darya (river of central 58-Down)). Other than that, no resistance. A very smooth puzzle overall. Simple theme concept, nicely executed. A good revealer is the key to these "first words have X in common" puzzles, and this one has one.



Bullets:

• 1A: Some undies (BVDS) — briefly (!) considered BRAS. But then VLOG set me straight (2D: Journal on YouTube, maybe)
• 8D: Social contract theorist John (LOCKE) — Also, apparently, a character on "Lost." Not that I'd know.
• 27D: ___ Freed, 1960s payola figure (ALAN) — Saw his name just the other day while searching down info for a clue for LES PAUL (both early inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame).
• 51D: Kind of football with eight-player teams (ARENA) — hesitated here as well. This kind of football is not on my radar at all. I mean, I know it exists, but have no idea where it's played, by whom, etc.
• 45D: Phenomenon named for the infant Jesus (EL NIÑO) — wow. I had no idea. Weird naming choice for such a potentially destructive phenomenon. Baby Jesus brings you ... drought and floods! 

• 25D: Kind of salad made famous by Julia Child (NIÇOISE) — had the "NI-" so this was easy. I didn't know she made it popular.
• 22D: Warren ___, baseball's winningest lefty (SPAHN) — Just saw his picture yesterday, juxtaposed with Randy Johnson's, in this giant "Sports Illustrated" book that was on a Barnes & Noble "Giant Gift Books" table. So far, B&N seems to be resisting the urge to put Santas and elves and reindeer everywhere (before Thanksgiving!). The same cannot be said for CVS, Wal-Mart, etc...

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Longhorn's school informally / WED 10-12-11 / Eminem rap with lyric Guarantee I'll be greatest thing you ever had / Fruit related to cherry plums

Constructor: Gary Cee

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: Separate answers... — idiomatic expressions whose first words can also be synonyms of "divide" (though "CRACK" and "BUST" are drifting ... maybe the first are supposed to suggest simply MARRING in some way)

Word of the Day: "The IPCRESS File" (39D: "The ___ File," 1965 film) —

The Ipcress File is a 1965 British espionage film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Michael Caine, Guy Doleman, and Nigel Green. The screenplay by Bill Canaway and James Doran was based on Len Deighton's 1962 novel, The IPCRESS File. It has won critical acclaim and a BAFTA award for best British film. In 1999 it was included at number 59 on the BFI list of the 100 best British films of the twentieth century. (wikipedia)

• • •

Gary. Gary, Gary, Gary. GLARY?

Despite having déjà vu feelings, I enjoyed this puzzle. I like that the first words of the theme answers are relatable to one another only in ways different from the ones in which they are being used in the grid. Related literally, used idiomatically. Consistent ___ A ___ phrasing, also a plus. Only real problem is the fact that no one says "SPLIT A GUT." It's "BUST A GUT" (which outgoogles the former by a 5-to-1 margin), but you've already got BUST in the grid down there. I thought maybe you SPLIT A RIB (feels more natural to me, as a rib is a discrete entity of which you have many, which makes the indefinite article seem appropriate—I mean, how many GUTs do you have that you can split just one?). But I see that SPLIT A RIB is even rarer than SPLIT A GUT, and SPLIT A GUT appears to have dictionary backing, so it's legit, however irksome. 

Theme answers:

• 17A: Laugh uproariously (SPLIT A GUT)
• 25A: Perspire mildly (BREAK A SWEAT)
• 36A: Pay cashlessly (CUT A CHECK)
• 50A: Begin to grin (CRACK A SMILE)
• 62A: Boogie (BUST A MOVE)
  

This was a strange solve for me. Normally, I refuse to be led around by the nose by cross-reference. No, I will not "See 64-Down," thank you very much. But today I got sucked in—probably because in both cases I was confident that I'd know the answer once I jumped over to the cross-referenced clue. 4D: Boxer with an allegiance to 16-Across had to be ALI (boxer, three letters, ALI), so I jumped right over the 16-Across and wrote in ISLAM. This is why it is advisable to actually read clues (16A: One who's called "the Merciful" and "the Compassionate"=>ALLAH). Anyway, I fixed that error quickly‚ but found it mildly disconcerting to be essentially starting the puzzle in the wrong (I mean Northeast) corner of the grid. That might happen on a tough / late-week puzzle, but usually not on a Wednesday. M-W I work out of the NW pretty reliably. So I'm feeling like the world's a bit off-kilter and then I hit another cross-reference: 22D: Michael who starred in 39-Down. As with ALI, I know the answer immediately (actor, Michael, 5 letters = CAINE), and I figure my CAINE movie knowledge will be pretty good so I jump ship yet *again* and head to the SW corner. This is just not how I roll, but it's working for me today. The jumping not only doesn't slow me down, it seems to speed me up, slingshotting me through the grid in a somewhat exhilarating way. I colonize the rest of the grid from my base camp in the SW and eventually end up finishing it off in the far north with a quick STAB (5A: Knife).

Mistakes were predictable. Blanked on the Elvis song and wanted BABY instead of MAMA. Wanted ENSURE instead of INSURE. Other than that, no hangups except for a brief but ultimately uneventful struggle in the south. Couldn't figure out what a Tulsan was. Don't think of MOUSE as a [Computer option]. PC, MAC ... those are computer options. MOUSEs are peripheral devouses. Not sure how TEXAS is "informal"—it's a state name. UT is informal. "SO BAD" is off the relatively recent Eminem album "Recovery" and is by no stretch of the imagination a hit. It wasn't a single. It didn't chart. How it got to be crossworthy, I have no idea. ROTH, ELIOT, KEATS, and ZELDA give the grid a strongly literary feel, while Ringo STARR ... doesn't (5D: Fab Four name).



Bullets:

• 49A: TV show set at William McKinley High School ("GLEE") — we recently stopped watching this show. Too much out there to watch, and "mildly entertaining show that seems to have come off the rails" wasn't enough to keep us hooked. Unfriended!
• 64A: Fruit related to cherry plums (SLOES) — the crosswordesiest fruit there is. Plunked it down with only the "S"s in place.
• 68A: Laura of "Rambling Rose" (DERN) — she has a new HBO show called "Enlightened." Thanks for the info, Terry Gross.
• 1D: Punk rock concert activity (MOSHING) — is MOSHING still a thing? Sometimes MUZAK makes me want to mosh (31D: Elevator background).
• 55D: Onetime feminist cause (E.R.A.) — I'm going to re-recommend Ken Burns's new documentary "Prohibition," which is tangentially related to this answer in that the suffragist movement has very close ties to the early Prohibition movement. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

White Writing painter Mark / SAT 6-11-11 / Classic Kipling poem ending / Miss Hannigan's charge / Creature Tennessee Williams title

Constructor: Gary Cee

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none — though puzzle is anchored by a single answer in two symmetrical grid-spanning segments: 17A: With 53-Across, classic Kipling poem ending ("YOU'RE A BETTER MAN / THAN I AM, GUNGA DIN")


Word of the Day: Mark TOBEY (23A: "White Writing" painter Mark) —

Mark George Tobey (December 11, 1890 – April 24, 1976) was an American abstract expressionist painter, born in Centerville, Wisconsin. Widely recognized throughout the United States and Europe, Tobey is the most noted among the "mystical painters of the Northwest." Senior in age and experience, Tobey had a strong influence on the others. Friend and mentor, Tobey shared their interest in philosophy and Eastern religions. Along with Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, Morris Graves, and William Cumming, Tobey was a founder of the Northwest School. (wikipedia)

• • •

I don't know much about Kipling, but I knew the GUNGA DIN line, and was shocked to find it slide right in, with no crosses in place—which was fortuitous, as I was making no headway with the first few clues I tried. With 30 free squares handed to me right off the bat, I managed to crawl around the grid and piece it all together eventually, in something like an average Saturday time, maybe *slightly* faster. I'm trying to imagine how difficult this would've been if I'd been utterly unfamiliar with the Kipling phrase. I'm guessing the older you are, the more familiar the poem is, generally. I don't think younger people read Kipling much anymore. It had gone out of fashion / out of the curriculum by the time I was in school, and I know the line in the puzzle only because of my dad's love of Jim Croce.


I like this grid a lot. Not a lot of showy stuff, lots of very common letters, but I respect the choice of smoothness over fireworks. Few things to make me say YUCK (38A: "Ewww!"). TONETTE is a little out of left field (56A: Small, simple flute), and TENA, MOR, and ITA aren't gonna make anyone stand up and clap (22A: ___ penny (very common, in British lingo); 40A: Tangier location: Abbr.; 54D: Spanish name suffix), but there's nice stuff here and there (TWITTER over ROGAINE (1A: Service with many followers + 15A: Hair-raising stuff?), the full NORMA RAE (11D: Field work that was award-winning), and FURLOUGH (36D: Leave), to name a few), and suitably tough clues to make the whole experience more than worthwhile.


One of the primary locations in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' "Watchmen" is an eatery called The Gunga Diner. I would say next to none of my students get the reference.


Several names I didn't know today, most notably that Mark TOBEY guy. I've seen lots of Abstract Expressionism exhibits, so his work has probably been right in front of me at some point, but his name clearly didn't stick. Never heard of PAULA Creamer (47A: Creamer who won the 2010 U.S. Women's Open). Did not know Casanova's first name was GIACOMO; I had him as GIAN-something at first. Thought maybe ELLA was Betta Than Evvah! at first (ETTA). Worst guessing took place at 47D: Big name in aircraft engines (PRATT), where I had TRANE (?) and then contemplated KRAFT (!?) before finally getting the right answer entirely from crosses. PRATT is a school of design in NYC. Also the last name of the actor who plays Andy on "Parks & Recreation."



Bullets:

• 31A: Attempt to enter dead space? (SEANCE) — is "dead space" a thing? Besides a video game, I mean? (I get the play on words, but usually the play is on ... something familiar. I've heard of "dead air," but not "dead space").
  
• 41A: East Coast city where tourism peaks in October (SALEM) — is this to do with leaf-peepers or witches?
  
• 3D: Creature in a Tennessee Williams title (IGUANA) — as in "Night of the..."; it's a horror play about this IGUANA who tattoos LOVE and HATE on his knuckles and terrorizes two young children.
  
• 18D: Brachium's end (ELBOW) — with the "W" in place, I got this instantly. Without the "W," I doubt I'd have been as immediately successful.
  
• 44D: Like the language Kalaallisut (ESKIMO) — Looked Finnish to me, which is at least the right general climate.
  
• 48D: Miss Hannigan's charge, on Broadway (ANNIE) — got it off the second "N," though I would've guessed this without any crosses, despite not remembering the name "Miss Hannigan." "Charge" made it easy to guess.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

P.S. Yoni Brenner, who was a freshman honors student in my Great Books section at Michigan when I was a grad student, has an Op-Ed piece in today's NYT. He was off-the-charts smart, and I'm so happy to see his name again, 12 years later.

Event of 4/29/11 / THU 4-28-11 / Logo of Clemson Tigers / French-speaking land of 12+ million / Mythological sprite / Utah winter vacation spot

Constructor: Gary Cee

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: ROYAL WEDDING (20A: Event of 4/29/11) — answers related to this event


Word of the Day: EURE (24D: French river or department) —

Eure is a department in the north of France named after the river Eure. [...] The main tourist attraction is Giverny (4 km (2.49 mi) from Vernon) where Claude Monet's house and garden can be seen, as well as other places of interest. (wikipedia)

• • •

Here's the Facebook status I posted just a handful of seconds after I started this puzzle:

Sorry, tomorrow's puzzle, but I hate you on principle. Just threw my pencil down in disgust and I've only got about 6 answers in there...

Anglophilia is a disease and this upcoming ROYAL WEDDING ranks in importance somewhere between the rantings of Charlie Sheen and the White House's release of Obama's "Certificate of Live Birth" (Gasp! Really?! He's a citizen!?). Throw in the In Ex Plicable EURE / TEN crossing (as my friend Jeffrey said, "Even I can fix that crossing") and one of my most hated names (DAAE), and, yeah, Big Dislike. Also, way way way too easy. I mean, when I can fill in every theme answer on a Thursday with Absolutely No Help From Crosses, then something is terribly, horribly wrong. If you're going to commemorate this circus, at least do something clever, tricky, interesting. ANYTHING. I don't know what's more shocking: the decision that this event was worth commemorating at all (esp. in an *American* crossword), or the decision to accept a theme so dull and straightforward. Wedding, groom, bride, titles, zzzzzzzzz.

Mark Oppenheimer sums up my ROYAL WEDDING feelings pretty well:

Of all the annoying things about the royal wedding—the crass materialism, the outrageous invasion of a young couple's privacy, the bad TV—none is more troubling than the occasion this event gives for the non-English to transform themselves into besotted Anglophilic wusses. It is one thing for the English to care about the wedding. Paying attention to the royal family, even if only to read sensationalist tabloid articles about them, is one of the proper jobs of English people. But for an American to be excited about the royal wedding is undignified and lame. And, I would add, if you get up at 3 a.m. on Friday to watch the wedding on television, you are a traitor to your country. (Mark Oppenheimer, Slate, Apr. 25, 2011)

Theme answers:

• 20A: Event of 4/29/11 (ROYAL WEDDING)
  
• 30A: Bridegroom of 4/29/11 (PRINCE WILLIAM)
  
• 38A: Bride of 4/29/11 (KATE MIDDLETON)
  
• 51A: 30- and 38-Across someday, presumably (KING AND QUEEN)
  

Amy (fellow blogger Crossword Fiend) suggested that EURE might not be (the much more sensible) EURO so as to avoid partial duplication in the EURAIL cross. My response—if that is true, that is an epic fail. First, EUR is EUR is EUR, esp. if you are still in *&^$ing France. Second, EURE is so ugly and obscure that including it so as to avoid EURO is like covering a small blemish with a giant, dirty band-aid. The cure is worse than the disease.

There are tons of other answers that could be passed off as theme answers, at least as clued: OBE and POOL (?) and ALTAR and WALES etc. I just don't care.

Bullets:

• 16A: Home of the Gardermoen airport (OSLO) — not sure how I've never seen this OSLO clue before. You think the airport name would be a common go-to answer.
  
• 45A: "La ___" (traditional Mexican nuptials song) ("BAMBA") — Needed every cross here. No idea that Ritchie Valens was singing a traditional nuptials song.

• 55A: Violinist Leopold (AUER) — learned his name accidentally when his grandson, actor MISCHA, was mistakenly clued as a violinist, leading to much complaining and even more frantic googling from confused solvers.
• 60A: Mythological sprite (PERI) — learned from crosswords, just like the answer on top of it (ALTA) (54A: Utah winter vacation spot).
  
• 1D: Logo of the Clemson Tigers (PAW) — first answer in the grid. Then UMA, AMEBA, and WALES —that was the point at which I had an inkling about what was going on, theme-wise. Downhill from there.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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God of south wind / THU 2-24-11 / Fashion rule for liberated / Muscovite prince moneybag / End of 1978 new-wave album title

Constructor: Gary Cee

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: NO UNDERWEAR (35A: Fashion rule for the liberated ... or one of four arrangements found literally in this puzzle) — letters "NO" are found underneath the letters "WEAR" four times in the grid


Word of the Day: GIING (64A: Cleaning, as if for military inspection) —

tr.v. Slang, GI'd, GI'ing, GI's.
To clean (barracks, for example) thoroughly for or as if for an inspection.

• • •

People will probably like this one for its sassy theme — which is undeniably clever. I didn't care for the construction of the grid overall, though, which is disappointing, because I really want to like this puzzle. I just didn't think the fill was, in general, up to the quality of the theme. I want to love WE ARE DEVO (20A: End of a 1978 new-wave album title), but the constructor in me balks at the idea of the "end of a ... title" (esp. one of that length) being a suitable stand-alone answer in the grid. The NE felt a little icky — ARIANA (11D: Afghanistan's national airline) is one of those answers constructors know and (speaking for myself) try hard not to have to use because it's a relatively obscure proper noun and a massive grid crutch, giving you lots of handy letters in a handy arrangement. PHENOL crossing wasn't lovely either (24A: Embalming chemical).


But let's write my reaction in that NE corner off to personal prejudice. Fine. My dislike for the SW corner is going to be harder to write off. That is one ugly mixture, from the insanely improbable-looking GIING (dear lord) to the random pope+Roman numeral *crossing a prince+Roman numeral* (!!!) (44D: 10th-century pope interred at St. Peter's Basilica + 58A: Muscovite prince known as "Moneybag") to the apostrophized WEARIN' (50A: "The ___ o' the Green" (old Irish ballad)) to the bizarreness of an alleged god named NOTUS (54A: God of the south wind) . . . yikes. ROSSSEA (46A: Body of water named for an English explorer) is like ARIANA to me — all I see is "exotic crutch." It's hard not to love a puzzle with a GOLD PIANO (55A: Elvis instrument now in the Country Music Hall of Fame) and NO UNDERWEAR, but I didn't love this one. Again, smart theme, but subpar fill.


Side note: didn't like the clue on the revealer, NO UNDERWEAR. Specifically, I didn't like "rule." It's a state of being, not a "rule." Do people really make the non-wearing of underwear a "rule?" What a weird issue to be a hardliner about. Also, did not like that the "WEAR" in "WEARIN'" is from the same semantic universe as the "WEAR" in UNDERWEAR (whereas the other "WEAR" strings have nothing to do with clothing or the lack thereof).

Bullets:

• 1A: Zapper's casualty (GNAT) — me, immediately: "TVAD"
  
• 43A: Lötschberg Tunnel locale (ALP) — just ... an ALP. One of them, over there, somewhere.
  
• 55D: Sound heard at the end of "Bohemian Rhapsody" (GONG) — I do not remember this, and yet I got it off the first "G"
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]