1948 John Wayne western / TUE 12-27-11 / 1954 monster film setting / Linda Ronstadt hit co-written by Roy Orbison

Constructor: John Dunn

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: WATER COLORS (61A: Some Winslow Homer art ... or what five answers in this puzzle are?) — all theme answers follow the model [color + body of water]

Word of the Day: James LEVINE (17D: James of the Met) —

James Lawrence Levine ( /lɨˈvaɪn/; born June 23, 1943) is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has conducted 2,512 Met performances. In 1997, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. (wikipedia)

• • •

Another very easy puzzle, and another puzzle saved by a great revealer. As I was doing this, I was like "oh, great ... colors." Then realized that they were attached to bodies of water. OK, mildly more interesting. Strangely, I *never* saw the answer WATER COLORS while I was solving. My eyes must have glided over the clue, but when it failed to register anything, I must have gone on and solved the entire answer via crosses. A good revealer is really valuable—it's an emphatic expression of the puzzle's organizing principle, and is successful to the extent that it is both accurate as a statement of what the puzzle's about and clever in its wordplay. Outside the theme, the grid is solid—vivid and interesting and light on junk. Very Scrabbly without feeling forced.


Theme answers:

• 16A: 1954 monster film setting (BLACK LAGOON)
• 22A: 1948 John Wayne western (RED RIVER) 
• 50A: City that's home to the winner of the first two Super Bowls (GREEN BAY)
• 10D: It's between Korea and China (YELLOW SEA)
• 32D: Linda Ronstadt hit co-written by Roy Orbison ("BLUE BAYOU")
  

I confess to having no idea who James LEVINE is (17D: James of the Met). I was not even sure if "James" was a first or last name. That answer, and the entire southern region, caused the only hold-ups in the entire solve. In the south, I had GO FOR instead of GUESS (50D: Take a stab), and that took some undoing. Took a while to get to GAPS from 67A: Reasons for braces. CREATOR took a few crosses to see (45A: Brahma, in Hinduism). Otherwise, everything else just fell into place quickly (hence my never seeing the most important theme answer of the lot).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Busch Gardens locale / MON 11-8-10 / Late 1940s to about 1990 / Commonplace utterance / Rough tumble outdoor kids game

Constructor: John Dunn

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: CATCHPHRASE (64A: Commonplace utterance ... or a description of 18-, 26- and 49-Across) — three theme answers are phrases beginning with synonyms of "CATCH"


Word of the Day: Larry MIZE (7D: 1987 Masters winner Larry) —

Lawrence Hogan "Larry" Mize (born September 23, 1958) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and currently plays on the Champions Tour. He is well-known for one career-defining shot — a chip from off the green at the 11th hole at Augusta to win the playoff for the 1987 Masters Tournament, which was his only major title. (wikipedia)

• • •

Really liked the long answers on this one (both Across and Down), esp. GRAB A BITE TO EAT (five words!) and COLD WAR ERA (3D: Late 1940s to about 1990). The theme revealer actually generated an "aha" (or at least an "oh") moment, as in "Oh, that's what's going on." Short stuff was inoffensive, and so, the verdict: Good. Simple theme idea, Monday-easy, but still interesting. Not much more to hope for. Weirdest thing about the puzzle was the way I solved it—or, rather, the path I took to solve it. Diagonal, right through the middle, starting in the NW and headed SE. I don't know how much of the grid I had done before I got a single theme answer, but it felt like a lot. The theme answers are arranged slightly unconventionally, in that usually the first one will be flush left, and today it's flush right. This meant that I bypassed it completely with my initial solving momentum. Feels like SEIZE THE DAY is hanging out up there in its own little treehouse. Had to climb up there and shake it down before finally finishing the puzzle off in the South. Sadly, I finished with a stupid error: Had PAT for PET (41D: Caress) and never checked the crosses (rookie mistake). Had to scan the grid before I noticed SAAL, which I first thought was a typo for Mort SAHL (42D: Comic Mort), but no.

[37D: Singer k. d. LANG]

Theme answers:

• 18A: "Carpe diem" ("SEIZE THE DAY")
  
• 28A: Quickly satisfy one's hunger (GRAB A BITE TO EAT) — Five words. Nice.
  
• 49A: Rough-and-tumble outdoor kids' game (CAPTURE THE FLAG)
  

I had no idea there was a Bush Gardens in TAMPA (33D: Busch Gardens locale). Sounds like an amusement park that belongs in St. Louis, Missouri, but there's one in Williamsburg, VA and TAMPA and that's it (except for another one planned for — you guessed it: Dubai). Had very, very mild trouble getting into the N and NE generally because I worked my way in from the bottom up and neither ON EDGE (8D: Fidgety) nor TAUT (19D: Fully stretched) were clear from their rear ends. Luckily, I remembered that Andrew JOHNSON was the one pre-Clinton impeachment (9D: First impeached U.S. president), and that was enough to get the ball quickly rolling up there. Also lucky to (somehow) remember Larry MIZE. Not sure why his name stuck, considering I don't care much about golf, but it did "Z" and all.

See you tomorrow. I'm going to try to squeeze in another "Mad Men" before bed. That, or keep (re-)reading "Lolita."

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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