Chief of medicine on Scrubs / 12-22-11 / Red-haired ogress of film / 1951 historical role for Peter Ustinov / Sponsor of ads famous for nudity

Constructor: Kristian House

Relative difficulty: Easy

  
THEME: SHAPE SHIFTER (55A: Werewolf, e.g. ... or the one responsible for 20-, 34- and 41-Across— shape names are changed to other shape names inside familiar phrases

Word of the Day: ALY Khan (33A: Khan married to Rita Hayworth) —

Prince Ali Solomone Aga Khan (June 13, 1911 – May 12, 1960), known as Aly Khan was a son of Aga Khan III, the head of the Ismaili Muslims, and the father of Aga Khan IV. A socialite, racehorse owner and jockey, he was the third husband of actress Rita Hayworth. After being passed over for succession as Aga Khan, he served as Pakistan's representative to the United Nations, where he became a vice president of the General Assembly. // His first name was typically spelled Aly in the press. The titles of prince and princess, which are claimed by children of the Aga Khan by virtue of their descent from Shah Fath Ali Shah of the Persian Qajar dynasty, were recognized as courtesy titles by the British government in 1938. (wikipedia)

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[FOR MY READERS IN SYNDICATION: 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)]

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Simple theme with a nice revealer. Very tidy, in that all the shapes are kept in the family—that is, they just shift (as in move) around the grid. Nobody morphs into a RHOMBUS or anything. Grid is mostly very nice—smooth and Scrabbly. But why didn't you go for the pangram, Kristian!? Why!?!? Just a Z and a J away. So close. Sarcasm.



The strangest thing about this puzzle was that for most of the time it played like a Tuesday. Started with DODD-Frank and was down at FIONA (64A: Red-haired ogress of film) before I knew it. Of course getting to the back ends of those theme answers was a little tougher than getting at their front ends, but it didn't take much. My main area of struggle was in the Great Lakes-to-Northeast part of the grid. Could Not retrieve SEAM as [31A: Part of a baseball] and then (the killer), after getting the -VIN part of 25A: Title cartoon boy (CALVIN), I wrote in ... MARVIN! Talk about missing wide. The quality gap there is tremendous. I don't think I'd have even remembered that "Marvin" was a comic if I hadn't run across this comic strip while reading "The Comics Curmudgeon" a couple weeks ago:

Hilarious, I know. Anyway, MARVIN really $&^%ed me. Also slowed down by NO WAY, which I had in the space that was supposed to be filled by IXNAY (16A: "Nope!"). Also puzzled by 11D: The Wildcats of the America East Conf. (UNH) (my university is in this same conference; didn't help) and the clue on ILLS (27D: Drugs and crime), e.g. I had VICE. So that whole region was noticeably harder than the rest, and yet "hard" is a relative term. When I finish a Thursday under 5, nothing can really be said to be "hard."

Theme answers:

• 20A: Uncool Eskimo? (ARCTIC SQUARE)
• 34A: Percussion instrument owned by a New York newspaper? (TIMES TRIANGLE)
• 41A: Close-knit group at a popular island destination? (BERMUDA CIRCLE) 

Bullets:

• 15A: 1951 historical role for Peter Ustinov (NERO) — I didn't Know this, exactly, but with even one cross, or perhaps none, it's a pretty easy guess.
• 23A: Original Beatles bassist Sutcliffe (STU) — I like the Beatles but I'm no aficionado, so I learned STU from crosswords. He comes up so often that you should commit him to memory if he isn't there already. The other STU is Disco.

• 52D: Hit TV series starring Gary Sinise ("CSI: NY") — this helped me change LOWFAT to LOWCAL (51A: Lite). To my knowledge, I have never in my life seen a single episode of any flavor of "CSI". I've watched the opening, but as soon as that non-descript guy utters his stupid, cutesy / portentous tagline, right before The Who or whoever start playing, I'm out of there.
• 56D: Sponsor of ads famous for nudity (PETA) — here you go—a crossword twofer: a PETA ad featuring EVA Mendes. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Vega's constellation / TUE 11-1-11 / Nutlike Chinese fruit / Suffix with Kafka or Zola / Weathercaster's pressure line /

Constructor: Kristian House

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: SPLIT / HAIRS (23A: With 51-Across, nitpick ... or a hint to 17-, 37- and 60-Across) — three theme answers whose first and last letters spell out HAIR

Word of the Day: CAVA (19A: Spanish sparkling wine) —

Cava [...] is a Spanish sparkling wine of Denominación de Origen (DO) status, most of which is produced in Catalonia. It may be white or rosé. The macabeu, parellada and xarel·lo are the most popular and traditional grape varieties for producing cava. Only wines produced in the traditional method (méthode champenoise) may be labelled cavas, those produced by other processes may only be called vinos espumosos (sparkling wines). About 95% of all cava is produced in the Penedès area in Catalonia, with the village of Sant Sadurní d'Anoia being home to many of Spain's largest production houses. The two major producers are Codorníu and Freixenet. [...] The word cava means "cave, cellar" in both Catalan and Spanish. Caves were used in the early days of cava production for the preservation or aging of wine. Catalan winemakers officially adopted the term in 1970 to distinguish their product from French champagne. (wikipedia)

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I was sluggish on this one, for reasons I don't quite understand, though I do recall staring at S-L-T and thinking "that can't be part of the theme ... what the hell word is that, SALUT!?" Maybe one too many Halloween candies... Didn't care much for the theme. The only interesting theme answer is HARLEM BOYS CHOIR. If you want to know why pangrams suck, check out the SW corner of this puzzle. That "Q" is awkwardly shoehorned in there, with resulting ugliness (e.g. both "Q" "words," ECRUS). ARGUE beats ESQUE (48A: Suffix with Kafka or Zola). By a million country miles. And if that doesn't work, pull out SULTAN. Whatever. There's just no reason for that "Q" to be there. Makes puzzle uglier than it could've been otherwise.



Theme answers:

• 17A: Do-it-yourselfer's activity (HOME REPAIR)
• 37A: New York singing group that last performed in 2007 (HARLEM BOYS CHOIR)
• 60A: Forum cheer ("HAIL, CAESAR!")

The one somewhat interesting feature of this theme is that HAIR gets SPLIT in a different place in each theme answer: after the H, then after the HA, then after the HAI.



Bullets:

• 31A: Altogether it's worth the most bonus troops in Risk (ASIA) — blah blah blah Risk, four letters, done. 
• 46D: Nutlike Chinese fruit (LITCHEE) — I think there are several acceptable spellings of LITCHEE, which is one reason I'm never too thrilled to see it in crosswords. 
• 9D: Vega's constellation (LYRA) — Think I've seen it once before. Most of what I know about constellations, I know from crosswords. LYRICA is a prescription treatment for fibromyalgia. Haven't seen that in the grid yet.
• 35D: Charlie Brown toy that's often "eaten" by a tree (KITE) — Wish ROCK were in the puzzle—would make for a more timely crossword clue, i.e. "I got a ___!" (repeated trick-or-treating exclamation from Charlie Brown)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Rambo's drive / WED 1-19-11 / Locale for lashing / Dory's affliction in Finding Nemo / Onetime Sixers great / Like prefall Humpty Dumpty

Constructor: Kristian House

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: GEE WHIZ! (37A: Beaver Cleaver expletive ... or what you might need to be to answer 18-, 23-, 51- and 60-Across?) — common phrases have (self-standing) letter "G" added to their beginnings, creating wacky phrases, which are clued wackily


Word of the Day: String theory (51A: Guess as to how the thong came to exist?=>G-STRING THEORY)—

String theory is a developing theory in particle physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. It is a contender for the theory of everything (TOE), a manner of describing the known fundamental forces and matter in a mathematically complete system. The theory has yet to make testable experimental predictions, which a theory must do in order to be considered a part of science. (wikipedia)

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This puzzle could've been Rough (it wasn't) and I'd still have been beaming at the end, if only because of G-STRING THEORY. Best repurposing of scientific/mathematical terminology Ever. The theme today is very simple, but very entertainingly executed. I especially like the longer theme answers, and the creative way the central GEE WHIZ is used to bring it all together. Some of the fill is rough around the edges—the short stuff a bit too short stuffy—but all the 7+-letter answers are good-to-great (except maybe UNROLLS (28A: Puts down, as the red carpet), which is at least not bad). I can put up with a lot of short junk if I get stuff like BLOOD LUST and LOZENGE (4D: Sore throat soother) in return. If your theme is solid and engaging, and your longer fill has zing, you can get away with some unpretty connective tissue (e.g. ONEI, OSE, TSE, ELEE, etc.). All in all, a very nice Wednesday experience.

Theme answers:

• 18A: Part of the house where one might check Google messages? (GMAIL ROOM) — doesn't the "G" *stand* for "Google?"
  
• 23A: Cry for help on an F.B.I. cruise? ("G-MAN OVERBOARD!")
  
• 51A: Guess as to how the thong came into existence? (G-STRING THEORY)
  
• 60A: Where Neil Armstrong might store his gear? (G-SUIT CASE)
  

This puzzle was not terribly difficult to solve, but the cluing was vague or misleading enough in places to make it sufficiently thorny for a Wednesday. Had a weird lot of trouble up north, where I could think of only WELT for 6A: Locale for a lashing (MAST), which I knew wasn't really a "locale," but tell that to my brain. Getting the "T" on the end didn't help. Then I couldn't get to SEA at all from 8D: Deep blue. Is SEA a color, a kind of blue, or is "Deep blue" an idiomatic phrase referring to the SEA? Either way, I was lost. At SEA. Tied to the MAST. In danger of being thrown OVERBOARD (nice nautical theme up there!). Only other problem spot was in the Rambo region, where I couldn't make sense of 11D: Rambo's drive (BLOODLUST). I thought maybe they meant his ride, like ... the car / tank he drove (?). Also, I had AIRMAIL instead of AIRDROP (10D: Certain plane delivery), which was an obvious mistake given the proximity of GMAIL, but ... once again, my brain didn't care.

Bullets:

• 47D: Dory's affliction in "Finding Nemo" (AMNESIA) — misread "affliction" as "affection" and thought it was asking for a character name. A character name I couldn't remember (yes, I saw the damn movie).
  
• 56A: Like a prefall Humpty Dumpty (OVATE) — I had WHOLE. "Prefall" is funny as a term for Humpty Dumpty. I imagine him eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and then becoming overcome with shame as he realizes ... he is an egg.
  
• 68D: Lubricates / 69D: Kangaroo babies (OILS JOEYS) — Ew. Why would you do that?
  
• 31A: Alan who was born Alphonso D'Abruzzo (ALDA) — not sure if I knew this or not, but Alan in four letters ... that's either LADD or ALDA. Or FUNT, I guess.

• 63D: Onetime Sixers great (DR. J) — this may be the greatest 3-letter answer in existence. Not that I've thought about it much. But come on—complete name, no vowels, a terminal "J" (!?) ... it's pretty great.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

P.S. I co-constructed today's L.A. Times puzzle, along with my sometime stand-in PuzzleGirl. Here's how you can solve it:

• Get the .puz file via cruciverb.com (see the link in their sidebar)
• Solve right on the L.A. Times's own applet here.
• Get a simple .pdf file here
• OR you could just go out and get your local paper (assuming your local paper isn't the NYT). It might be in there.

I think SethG is doing the write-up over at PuzzleGirl's L.A. Crossword Confidential blog—it'll probably be a puff piece, since he's our friend, so go over there and add a dose of reality to the conversation if you feel like it. I assume the post will be up by around 9am EST.

Weezer's music genre / TUE 11-30-10 / Toper slangily / Toper's back-pocket item / Climate-change protocol city / Corleone who broke Michael's heart

Constructor: Kristian House

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: OPTS OUT — theme answers begin with OPTS and every possible anagram of OPTS


Word of the Day: DIPSO (26D: Toper, slangily) —

n. Slang, pl., -sos.
A person who has a compulsion to drink alcohol; a dipsomaniac.

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Didn't care much for this one, mainly because the theme answers just aren't that interesting. I run through these anagrams in my head virtually every day as I depart the woods where I walk my dogs. For some reason, in that context, the little STOP sign at the exit of the parking lot really stands out, and I often think of all the words that can be made out of it. Never thought to make a theme out of them. Here's the one thing I really, truly don't understand: POTS OF MONEY? That's your theme answer for POTS? I've never heard that expression in my life. Is it even an expression? Wow, I see that it is an idiom. It's perhaps the stupidest idiom I've seen in a good long while. It appears to mean LOTS of money. But instead of LOTS, you get ... POTS. This theme answers clearly should have been POTS AND PANS. The fill seemed mostly OK, though there were a few weak spots (SSTAR x/w EER? ([Astronomical red giant] + [Suffix with slogan]) FUM?). No trouble SPOTs for me except at 51D: Wrap around, where I wanted many different answers before I finally settled on ENFOLD (ENROBE ... ENCASE ...)

I think my favorite part of the grid is ROSSINI (46D: "William Tell" composer) alongside VIOLIN (50D: Isaac Stern's instrument). I also like the ridiculous orgy of "toper" clues — FLASK (4D: Toper's back-pocket item), DIPSO, and BARTAB (9D: Toper's expense). As with much boozing slang, I learned TOPER from xwords.

Theme answers:

• 20A: Is ranked #1 (TOPS THE LIST)
  
• 30A: Sign on a construction fence (POST NO BILLS)
  
• 39A: Brief visit along the way (STOP OFF)
  
• 42A: Declines to participate (OPTS OUT)
  
• 48A: Dry cleaner's fluid (SPOT REMOVER)
  
• 59A: Megabucks (POTS OF MONEY)
  

Bullets:

• 5A: Yankees' "$275 million man," informally (A-ROD) — I used to hate him a lot more than I do now. Back when he slapped at Bronson Arroyo, or when Varitek hit him in the face. Good times. Mostly I just try not think about him now. No one can say he's not a great player.
  
• 24A: Climate-change protocol city (KYOTO) — "The most notable non-party to the Protocol is the United States..." (wikipedia)
  
• 2D: Folkie who sang of Alice (ARLO) — Really dislike the word "Folkie," though I'm sure it was common, once. Still, it sounds like a derogatory word. Like "Commie" or "Bushie."
  
• 43D: Rhythmic humming sound (THRUM) — what a cool word. I never see or hear it, but it's at least vaguely familiar. The word even sounds like what it means. Rhythmic + Hum = THRUM. Cool.
  
• 40D: Corleone who broke Michael's heart (FREDO) — "Godfather II"

• 10D: Weezer's music genre (EMO) — Me: "That's not right." Googled [weezer emo]. Top results are mostly denials that the band is EMO. Which means clearly it's out there as an idea, but I have one of their albums, and EMO doesn't fit. But acc. to wikipedia: "A cornerstone of mid-1990s emo was Weezer's 1996 album Pinkerton." Seems their music changed to a more power-pop sound around 2000, which is roughly when this song's from:
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]