Midnight to 4 am at sea / THU 12-15-11 / South-Sea House essayist / Trademarked sanitary wipes / What Cowboy legend Tom Landry sported

Constructor: Jim Hilger

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: TOP / SIDE / MIDDLE / BOTTOM — solver must supply TOP, SIDE, MIDDLE and BOTTOM as the first word for the answers along the TOP, SIDE, MIDDLE and BOTTOM of the grid, respectively

Word of the Day: Key FOB (28A: Key ___) —

A key fob is a generally decorative and at times useful item many people often carry with their keys, on a ring or a chain, for ease of tactile identification, to provide a better grip, or to make a personal statement. The word fob may be linked to the low German dialect for the word Fuppe, meaning "pocket", however, the real origin of the word is uncertain. Fob pockets (meaning 'sneak proof' from the German word Foppen) were pockets meant to deter thieves and a chain was used (called a Fob Chain) to attach to items, like a pocket watch, that you would place in them. (wikipedia) (never heard of this ever) (this definition is terrible)

• • •

Typically, I started sluggishly and then caught onto the theme (much later than I should have), and then tore the puzzle apart. Finished with a pretty ordinary time, somewhere in the mid-6s. I knew TOP was involved very early on (with BANANA), but 1D: Writing in a box didn't confirm anything. I had BA- and couldn't do anything with it. Also, I figured HAT was the complete answer for 7A: Bit of dance attire for Fred Astaire, so getting that answer did nothing to advance my understanding of the theme. Same with ROAD. I was like "yep, the way less traveled is a ROAD. That's what Frost said ..." I hit 39A: Midnight to 4 a.m., at sea (WATCH), and thought that *that* was a theme answer [it was only at this point in my write-up that I realized MIDDLE was involved in the theme—didn't see it. Just though EAST and AGED had really, really bad clues]. "Must be [something] WATCH. Maybe FIRST WATCH. FIRST would go with the TOP from BANANA ..." Not until I hit on SADDLE did I realize what was going on. From that point out, all the peripheral answers were a cinch. Sped right around the grid, finishing up in the SW corner. Theme is clever—seems like something that someone must have done before, but I guess not. Theme density is Really impressive. Oh, and I never saw the "Notepad" and really don't think there should've been one. Unnecessary.

Theme answers:

• 1A: Company's numero uno (BANANA)
• 7A: Bit of dance attire for Fred Astaire (HAT) 
• 10A: Elite (TIER)
• 1D: Writing in a box (BAR)
• 23D: Drug drawback (EFFECT)
• 38A: Oil source (EAST)
• 39A: Midnight to 4 a.m., at sea (WATCH)
• 41A: In the 40s? (AGED)
• 53D: Tire part (WALL)
• 13D: Way less traveled (ROAD)
• 33D: One way to ride a horse (SADDLE)
• 63D: Brandy cocktail (CAR)
• 67A: Often-flooded locale (LAND)
• 68A: Hit a low point (OUT)
• 69A: Starfish or sea cucumber, e.g. (FEEDER)

Trouble spots, trouble spots. Pre-theme-understanding, I just died in the west. Threw down "VOLARE" with ease (24D: 1958 hit that won the first-ever Grammy for Song of the Year), but then went with ADDICT at 25D: Rehab candidate (ABUSER). My answer is better. Way better. But anyway, the point is that I got nowhere. The other big sticking point was SALT TALKS (29A: With 30-Across, they started in 1969). Couldn't get TALKS. Knew there had been "treaties." Thought maybe there were TESTS. SALT TESTS. That was my answer. Like H-TESTS or A-TESTS or whatever letter the crossword is using this week-TESTS. I guess I can take some solace in the fact that, in some tenuous way, I was in the ballpark. SALT TALKS did deal with nuclear arms. But anyway, TESTS was wrong, and it took a whole lot of TACO SALAD to show me the light (10D: Dish often served in a shell).




Bullets:

• 17A: Arsenal, so to speak (REPERTOIRE) — dang, that's a hard clue. I had most of the letters in this answer before I could figure out what was going on.
• 19A: Opening word of many an Italian letter (CARA) — and now a brief message from Jay and the Italians ... I mean Americans.

• 46A: ___ verte (green earth pigment) (TERRE) — ungainly, weird clue. "TERRE verte" simply, literally means "green earth." Pigment? Dislike.
• 53A: Trademarked sanitary wipes (WET ONES) — cool answer. I'd have replaced "Trademarked" (odd) with "brand of," or maybe put "brand" on the end. Sounds more natural.
• 66A: What Cowboy legend Tom Landry sported (FEDORA) — iconic. I started paying attention to professional football in the Landry era.
• 18D: Capital whose name comes from an Algonquin word for "to trade" (OTTAWA) — Got it off the first "T" and felt pretty damned good about myself. OTTAWA also falls within the alphabetical parameters (A-C) of World Capitals That I Know So Far.
• 47D: "Star Trek" helmsman (MR. SULU) — love the MR. part.
• 54D: "The South-Sea House" essayist (ELIA) — come on. An "essayist" in 4 letters? Bush league. Old school bush league.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Patrick Blindauer's "Musical Puzzlefest" (his latest suite of interconnected crossword puzzles) is available starting today. From his website:

It gives me great pleasure to announce my 3rd annual interconnected suite of crosswords, available for $9.95 via the PayPal button marked "Musical Puzzlefest" on the right. The puzzles will be released on December 15, and each one will lead to a larger puzzle, which leads to the final answer. Send me the correct final answer by February 15 to be entered in the drawing for prizes. 

The Puzzlefest will have a musical theme this time around, and the difficulty level increases from Monday NYTimes level at the beginning to Thursday NYTimes level by the end.

 To order, and for more information, please go to http://www.patrickblindauer.com/shop.html

Direction to alternative musical passage / WED 9-7-11 / Richard with much-used thumb / Figure of many Mayan deity / Singer whose name was once symbol

Constructor: Jim Hilger

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: FOLLOW (54A: Word missing from the answers to 17-, 23-, 29-, 40-, 47- and 62-Across) — all theme answers are missing this *initial* word, that is, grid contains only the parts of the answer that FOLLOW "FOLLOW"


Word of the Day: OSSIA (33A: Direction to an alternative music passage) —

conj. Music
Or else. Used as a direction to the performer to designate an alternate section or passage.

[Italian, from o sia, or let it be : o, or (from Latin aut) + sia, third person sing. present subjunctive of essere, to be (from Latin esse).]

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/ossia-2#ixzz1XEPKkoJ5

• • •

Piece of cake. Theme was almost too easy to get. ORDERS wasn't making any kind of sense as it came into view, and then I looked up and saw what looked like THE BOUNCING ... and then I easily supplied FOLLOW and off I went. Most of the theme answers just filled themselves in after that—in fact, I'm pretty sure that for at least a couple of them, I didn't even have to look at the clue: crosses told me what the answer would be. Not the most exciting theme type (though one of the three puzzles I've had published to date had *exactly* this theme type, so I can't complain too much). I did like "[FOLLOW] THAT CAR," probably because I've just begun a new semester of teaching crime fiction; but the rest were just ... phrases. Oh, [FOLLOW] THE BOUNCING BALL was nice, too. All in all, a solid example of this theme type, with little in the way of either difficulty or cruddiness.



Theme answers:

• 17A: Sing-along direction (THE BOUNCING BALL)
  
• 23A: Obey (ORDERS)
  
• 29A: Children's game (THE LEADER)
  
• 40A: Chase scene shout ("THAT CAR!")
  
• 47A: Pursue a passion (ONE'S HEART)
  
• 62A: Do as a mentor did, say (IN ONE'S FOOTSTEPS) — this doesn't feel like it was clued correctly, esp. following 47A, where "ONE'S" is understood as "one's own"; here, the gist of "ONE'S" seems to be "someone else's." Awkward.
  

There were a couple of speedbumps that kept this from being a real speedfest. OSSIA was today's superstumper. I also forgot that ARMY was the Team nicknamed the Black Knights, and didn't know that the JAGUAR was a Figure of many a Mayan deity. Didn't know Krugerrands came in KARATs (58A: One of 22 in a Krugerrand). Hesitated over AGE GROUP for a bit (39D: Demographic division). Otherwise, no sweat.


Bullets:

• 69A: Longtime mall chain (GAP) — When did GAP lose the "THE?" I don't think of the GAP as a "mall chain," and yet I've never been in one that wasn't in a mall. So clearly I don't really Think about GAP that much. Probably OK.
  
• 8D: Singer whose "name" was once a symbol (PRINCE) — Quotation marks struck me as odd at first—weird to put "name" in quotation marks. "PRINCE" is, in fact, a name, whether it's his birth name or not (it is). But I see that what's being quotationated is the idea that a symbol could properly be considered a name. OK.
  

• 10D: Dyne-centimeter (ERG) — good ol' ERG. Don't see him around much anymore.
  
• 19A: Netanyahu's successor, 1999 (BARAK) — his first name, EHUD, is also crossworthy.
  
• 51D: Richard with a much-used thumb (ROEPER) — Ebert's longtime movie-rating partner. That's how he was using his thumb: putting it up, or putting it down. Whatever dirty ideas *you* had about how he was "using" his thumb, you can put them out of your mind right now.

Happy first day of middle school to my daughter. Also, happy "2nd puzzle published in the L.A. Times" day to me (click here to download .pdf).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Tahitian-style wraparound skirt / WED 1-12-11 / Provisional Mormon state / Milton Berle's longtime sponsor / Lake Michigan explorer Jean

Constructor: Jim Hilger

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: HALF — a rebus puzzle with six "HALF" squares placed symmetrically around the grid (four in the corners, two near the center)


Word of the Day: PAREO (48A: Tahitian-style wraparound skirt) —

The pāreu or pareo (see below) is the Cook Islands and Tahitian word for a wraparound skirt. Originally it was used only to refer to women's skirts, as men wore a loincloth, called a maro. Nowadays the term is applied to any piece of cloth worn wrapped around the body, worn by males or females. It is related to the Malay sarong, Sāmoan lavalava, Tongan tupenu and other such garments of the Pacific Islands such as the islands of Hawaiʻi, Marquesas, Aotearoa, and Fiji. (wikipedia)

• • •

[It's pledge week here at the Rex Parker site (thru Sat.) —read my pitch for donations in the opening paragraphs of Sunday's write-up, here ... and thanks for your faithful readership (and the many kind messages I've received so far)]

An enjoyable and (mostly) easy rebus puzzle. A bit tough getting off the ground, but once I backed that first HALF into the corner in the NW, it squawked pretty quickly. Once the next HALF showed up, I knew what I was looking for and it was off to the races (esp. in the bottom half where I just put the "HALF"s in the corners and got the crosses instantly). Not a terribly ambitious rebus, but fine for a Wednesday (when most people aren't expecting to see one). The strangest thing about this puzzle is the grid—there's a boatload of black squares (42 by my count), including two giant blocks of nine squares each on either side of 1/2 AND 1/2. The chosen theme answers, and their placement, pretty much necessitate this blackness (1/2 AND 1/2 has to be centered, but because of the placement of the theme answers around the edges, nothing can go on either side of 1/2 AND 1/2). Whatever the reason, the result has some unfortunate consequences, namely a highly segmented grid with a *huge* amount of short (and hence uninteresting) fill. 28 three-letter words (I think). Is that high? That seems high? Add in the four-letter words (12, I think), and over half the answers are tiny. There's also some YAKky fill in the longer stuff, like NICOLET (?) (11D: Lake Michigan explorer Jean ___) and DESERET (?) (45D: Provisional Mormon state) and PAREO (!?). TO ANY is a bad partial, but you gotta give a puzzle like this some leeway, especially in the middle where the "HALF" answers aren't safely hugging the wall, but right in the middle of everything. In the end, I liked it. Uneven, quality-wise, but ultimately enjoyable.

HALF-BAKED is my favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. ONE HALF is, by far, the weakest theme answer. Would have loved to have seen HALF TIME, HALF WIT, HALFLING (D&D nerds know what I'm talking about), TWO AND A HALF MEN, or comics legend HAL FOSTER (creator of "Prince Valiant").



The HALFs:

• HALF BAKED / HALF TRUTH
  
• ONE HALF / HALF NELSON
  
• HALF AND HALF / SAWED IN HALF / HALF HEARTED
  
• BETTER HALF (37D: Wife, colloquially) / HALF DAY
  
• FIRST HALF / OTHER HALF (49D: Jacob Riis subjects, with "the")
  

I somehow don't think of BEAT OUT as conveying the "barely" part of 2D: Barely defeat. I had EDGE OUT (first thing in the grid). That NW corner was the hardest, not just because it came first (before I had the theme), but because of BEAT OUT and then TEXACO (Berle was waaaaay before my time—no idea about his corporate sponsors, 14A: Milton Berle's longtime sponsor), and then DONEN (musical theater names and I do not get along) (6D: "Singin' in the Rain" director Stanley). Knowing UKR. straight off helped. A lot. Potentially tricky words like TOLUENE and HULKS and TYRE (34A: Port on the eastern Mediterranean) all fell 1-2-3. Rest of the grid was a snap except the end, in the SE, where PAREO was a huge mystery, and P-ENUPS made no sense to me at all. I was parsing it wrong, breaking it between the "N" and "U." Something-UPS? After rechecking all the crosses, I had a "D'oh!" moment when PRE-NUPS came leaping forth (44D: Marriage contracts, briefly). Done and done.

Bullets:

• 23A: "Misty" composer Garner (ERROLL) — more old musical stuff I don't know!? At least tap into some of my other ignorances. Spread the misery around!
  
• 66A: "Time After Time" singer Cyndi (LAUPER) — love her! "She's So Unusual" is great, and apt. Apt!

[Cyndi covers Prince!]

• 53D: Moe parodied him in some W.W. II-era Three Stooges shorts (ADOLF) — ... and yet you will never see HITLER in an NYT puzzle. I guess he's less evil when you call him by his first name.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

P.S. THE Song of 2010 ... translated. Awesomely. Adorably. (Sorry— the profanity is in the title itself, so I can't really hide it ... :)