1957 Cy Young Award winner / FRI 12-30-11 / Site of 1815 escape / Russain chemist with law of thermodynamics / Show for which Jim Dale won Tony 1980

Constructor: Mike Nothnagel

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Germain Henri HESS (5D: Russian chemist with a law of thermodynamics) —

Germain Henri Hess (Russian: Герман Иванович Гесс German Ivanovich Gess, August 7, 1802–November 30, 1850) was a Swiss-born Russian chemist and doctor who formulated Hess's Law, an early principle of thermochemistry. (wikipedia)

• • •

High Point: UP THE WAZOO
Low Point: HAIL TO
Crucial gimmes: SMOOT, SPAHN

Really liked this one—played tough at first but then opened up beautifully. I like having to struggle for results that do not then make me resent the struggle. Beginning was rough, with nothing going in in the NW until I just took a flyer on SPAHN (25D: 1957 Cy Young Award winner) and the crosses Worked (hurrah!). I guessed HOSTAS (38A: Landscaping plants) off the (at that point imagined) "H." I repeat, *I* guessed HOSTAS. Me. My knowledge of flora is ... I would say "lacking," but that's hardly strong enough. Crosswords taught me that HOSTAS was a word at all, and now today, bam, I just throw it down and off I go. Didn't go off so fast on HESS, though. Still science deficient. Needed Every Single Cross (HESS is a gas / toy truck company to me). I tanked at least one other sciencey clue ... oh yeah, I went with PETROchemical over NEUROchemical. Seemed reasonable. Just watched some awesome animated versions of PLATO's "Allegory of the Cave," and yet still needed virtually every cross to get the answer to 32D: Academy head. Had PLAT- and thought "how is a PLATE an 'academy head'?" Because of the PETRO error I had 45A: Most chic as TOPIEST (which I believe is the correct answer to [Most like a 33-Downed person]). Was annoyed at myself for not coming up with the director of "Good Will Hunting," until I realized I had No Idea Gus VAN SANT directed that. The only names I associate with that movie are Matt Damon and that other guy ... played O'Bannion in "Dazed and Confused" ... come on, what's his name? Affleck! Ha. Brain only partially decayed. Just like two of my teeth, it turns out. Stupid dental X-rays and their diagnostic abilities! I've got an appointment with Dr. Novocaine next Thursday ...





Bullets:

• 17A: What you might reach for after hearing "Don't go anywhere!" (RADIO DIAL) — I don't really get this. Why are people so defiant of the admonition?
• 16A: Holder of legends (ATLAS) — first two answers that leapt to mind : ARK, ERIC.
• 33A: Show for which Jim Dale won the 1980 Tony for Best Actor in a Musical ("BARNUM") — this clue couldn't have been more meaningless to me if it tried. Jim Dale? Yeah, I'm gonna need a *little* more information than that.

• 41A: Shout with cupped hands, maybe (BOO) — Not computing. Are you shouting it across an open field?
• 48A: Drug sold under the brand name Retrovir (AZT) — Did not know this, but I had the "Z," so no sweat. I'm guessing "Retrovir" refers to retrovirus and not, as I originally thought, a Roman who wears bell bottoms.
• 51A: Site of an 1815 escape (ELBA) — I had ERIE. That's a big miss.
• 15D: How Simon Cowell often critiques (CRUELLY) — "The X-Factor" (or the first and only episode I watched, at any rate) was dull and terrible. And "American Idol" has gotten soft and keeps generating irrelevant winners. So I'm out of the reality singing competition game, I'm afraid. More time for watching and rewatching "Downton Abbey."
• 10D: ___-X (septic treatment brand) (RID) — kind of a cruel way to clue a perfectly ordinary word, but somehow I managed to pull this answer out of my X.
• 52D: Humorist who wrote "Progress might have been all rigiht once, but it has gone on too long" (NASH) — As in Ogden. I had SAHL. As in Mort. Humorist, four letters—SAUL is the knee-jerk reaction.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Gaston who wrote Phantom of the Opera / FRI 9-23-11 / He famously asked why didnt you burn tapes / Juicer detritus

Constructor: Mike Nothnagel

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none

 Word of the Day: Gaston LEROUX (24A: Gaston who wrote "The Phantom of the Opera") —

Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux (6 May 1868^[1] – 15 April 1927) was a French journalist and author of detective fiction. // In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, notably the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney; and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. (wikipedia)

• • •

I was slow on this one, but that's almost entirely due to the fact that I have residual head cold nonsense going on between my ears. It's a meaty puzzle, but there's nothing particularly brutal about it. I started out by crossing GEODE with "ERES TU" (5D: 1974 lyric repeated after "Como una promesa"). Sadly, only one of these was right, and cleaning up that little mess was more work for my brain than it ought to have been. Eventually sorted the AGATE business out (1A: It has rock bands), but not before putting in GURU for LAMA (24D: Asian spiritual guide). Then EXEMPT for EXCEPT (22D: Not counting). And then later: ADD ON for TAG ON (25A: Include as an extra) and GLUTES for GLUTEI (27D: Muscles strengthened by squats). Other than that, steady progress, though in a disconnected way: NW, then NE, then SW, then (finally) center, and (finally finally) SE. Note that EXCEPT and GLUTEI (both of which I initially botched) are major connectors between the center and the corners of the grid. SE was by far the easiest section. Felt like a Tuesday puzzle up in there. Strange. Anyway, the grid is lovely—fully of solid, familiar, yet lively answers that were mostly a pleasure to uncover. LOW PH was the one that tricked me the worst (44D: Vinegar quality), and THE SAUCE was the one I liked the best (58A: Something a drunkard is liable to hit). I continue to despise the word ROLF (48A: Give a good rubdown), but that's really just my personal hang-up.

Toeholds, by section:

NW: "ERES TU"
NE: EDO (9D: Old Tokyo) and TORSO (13D: Many a sculpture)
Center: RATE (30D: Put on a scale)

In the bottom part of the grid, I slid in and out of sections using crosses—OFTEN got me OFFERS got me ROLF. GLUTES (wrong, but close) got me EATS AT got me MEET. Most helpful answer of the day was ABBEY ROAD (3D: 1969 #1 album for 11 weeks) (It also happens to be one of my very very very favorite albums). With the whole GEODE debacle, with nothing falling smoothly into place, I just thought "... must be a Beatles albums. Late Beatles. LET IT BE? No ... ABBEY ROAD! Ding ding!" Nice musical subtheme up there in the NW, with "ERES TU" parallel to ABBEY ROAD and crossing LEROUX—whose novel was the basis of a famous musical, and whose name is also the name of a band I kind of like (OK, so it's LA ROUX—close enough for me).



Bullets:

• 15A: Informal show of approval? (STANDING O) — dang, that's a good clue. I was halfway through asking myself "How is a STANDING O informal?" when I got that it wasn't the thing but the (slangy) phrase itself that was at issue. Other Os of note are KAREN O, SANDRA OH, SADAHARU OH, and WENDY O. WILLIAMS.
• 18A: Juicer detritus (PEELS) — briefly convinced myself that PULPS was a word (and it is, in reference to cheap magazines of the early-mid 20th century).
• 2D: Series ender, sometimes (GAME SEVEN) — cool clue. I tried to stretch ET CETERA. Didn't work.
• 31D: Music style derived from samba and jazz (BOSSA NOVA) — this music style always reminds me the Robert Palmer album "Heavy Nova." There is absolutely no good reason for this. 

• 49D: Object frequently painted by Degas (TUTU) — interesting phrasing, as (presumably) he's painting the dancer, who happens to be wearing said "object." Unless there's some still life with TUTU I'm unaware of. 
• 45D: Attachments to pronator quadratus muscles (ULNAE) — it's a very muscly puzzle, with the GLUTEI and the pronator quadratus and what not. Very BUFF.
• 43D: He famously asked "Why didn't you burn the tapes?" (FROST) — the poet to his wife, just after their sex video went viral.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Broadway musical 1919 1973 / SAT 5-14-11 / German region viticulture / Title woman 1975 #1 hit / Organ appendages / Emission in cloud chamber

Constructor: Mike Nothnagel

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none


Word of the Day: GRAPY (19D: Inferior, as some wines) —

of or relating to grapes; especially of wine : having the taste or aroma of fresh grapes (merriam-webster.com)

• • •

This played like two completely different puzzles for me: the NE corner, and everything else. I started in the NW, and had that whole quadrant done in under a minute. Then tried to enter the NE—no dice. Reeeeealy would've helped today if I knew a lot about wine. As it was, --APY was giving me only nonsense possibilities, I got gun shy about BLARE (24A: Loudspeaker's sound), I convinced myself that 21A: One in la famille could be FILLE or FEMME *or* FRÈRE ... so I turned around and went the other way. Guessed LADED off the -ED, "DEAR ME" off the D-, and TEETERS off just that second "E," so that SW corner didn't last long. Slowed down slightly when I got carried away with the Zs and had 29D: Lightheaded as DIZZY (it's WOOZY). But no worries: BASENJIS was a gimme (32D: Barkless dogs), with no crosses needed. That led straight to TIP JAR and shortly everything was done but the NE. At this point, maybe we're five or six minutes in. And then, with (it turns out) GRAPY and MOSEL (25A: German region known for viticulture) guarding the gates, I just sat. Not pat. Just sat. Then I flailed a bit. My general tactic for solving a corner I just CanNot get into is to throw stuff at it. Hard. Threw in ORBITS (wrong) and TSE (correct!) and something-ISH (wrong). That was leading me toward MOSHE for the German viticulture region (wrong), which sounded more Israeli than German. Tore all that out. Had "ANNIE" as the musical (wrong) (8D: Broadway musical of 1919 and 1973=>"IRENE"). Tried HANGS ON / HIDDEN (wrong / wrong) (really SITS PAT / SECURE). Tried SPIN (wrong) next to SLOW (correct!). Finally, finally, went with FRÈRE over BLARE and from that -RE went with SECURE at 7D: Encrypted, perhaps). Also, after trying "TOP STORY..." (wrong), I decided to TEST "WE'RE LIVE!" (15A: Opening words from a TV news reporter). And that was that.



Clue on ICES OVER is just brutal (17A: Makes negotiating difficult, in a way). I was like "wow, I've never heard that expression before." And then I realized the "negotiating" was referring to driving. A car. Or truck, I guess. "W" from SLOW gave me the WORK part of GRUNT WORK (19A: Job for base pay?), and "K" gave me TERKEL (13D: 1985 Pulitzer winner for "The Good War"). Even as my brain kept trying to plug in football positions at 15D: Linemen, some other part of my brain was telling me "it's the 'Wichita Lineman' kind of 'lineman,' you idiot ... what the hell was Glen Campbell singing about!?!?" Did not figure out the answer til the very, very end (WIRERS).


Weird (which I just mistyped as "Wired"...): I was all set to tell you how today is Saturday the 14th and I have a very vivid memory of being at USC in the very early '80s with my mom, who was there for something having to do with her MPA, when they were filming a spoof horror movie called "Saturday the 14th" that featured Tommy Smothers ... only I found out just now that he wasn't in "Saturday the 14th" (1981). He was, however, in a different horror movie spoof called "Pandemonium" (1982), which was originally titled ... "Thursday the 12th!" That must have been the movie that was filming when I was in L.A. Anyway, the weird part is remembering the role Tommy Smothers played in this (slightly false) memory, and then calling up that Glen Campbell clip, and seeing that in it, he's performing on the Smothers Brothers show.

Bullets:

• 1A: Organ appendages (PEDALS) — first thing I guessed; this led immediately to AVIAS, LARVAE, etc.
  
• 23A: Animal ordered to "be angry, and dispatch," in Shakespeare (ASP) — Cleo, presumably. Never saw this clue.
  
• 52A: Nissan's first hybrid vehicle (ALTIMA) — was thinking LEAF, but that's the all-electric model. This is just ... a model.
  
• 3D: Product whose name lost its period in the 1950s (DR PEPPER) — Periods being well-known symbols of Communism. Another triumph for HUAC.
  
• 25D: Title woman in a 1975 #1 hit ("MANDY") — if you were expecting that I'd play this, well, you were right (got it off the "Y," by the way):

• 26D: Pull from the ground, quickly? (ONE G) — wow, that is some good cluing right there.
  
• 33D: "Doubt" co-star, 2008 (AMY ADAMS) — massive celebrity crush.
  
• 43D: Entertainment giant with a 1995 I.P.O. (PIXAR) — off the "R." Just felt right.
• 34D: Emission in a cloud chamber (DELTA RAY) — it will surprise no one that I had no idea what this was. Very easy to get from crosses, though.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

2011 title role Chris Hemsworth / SAT 4-23-11 / President after Ten-Cent Jimmy / Cultural org with HQ Beverly Hills / Sulker's expression

Constructor: Mike Nothnagel

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none


Word of the Day: H.P. LOVECRAFT (31D: "The Call of Cthulhu" writer) —

Howard Phillips "H. P." Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction. // Lovecraft's guiding literary principle was what he termed "cosmicism" or "cosmic horror", the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. As early as the 1940s, Lovecraft's work had developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fiction featuring a pantheon of humanity-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism, Humanism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the antithesis of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality and the abyss. // Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades, and he is now regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th century. According to Joyce Carol Oates, Lovecraft — as with Edgar Allan Poe in the 19th century — has exerted "an incalculable influence on succeeding generations of writers of horror fiction". Stephen King called Lovecraft "the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale." King has even made it clear in his semi-autobiographical non-fiction book Danse Macabre that Lovecraft was responsible for his own fascination with horror and the macabre, and was the single largest figure to influence his fiction writing. (wikipedia)

• • •

A very nice, very easy Saturday offering from Mr. Nothnagel. I plunked down "UP HERE!" and "UPDOS" instantly, which immediately made me think "uh oh ... it's a trap," especially after I figured 3D: President after Ten-Cent Jimmy (HONEST ABE) had to be TEFLON RON (now *that's* a trap, and a good one). But little by little the crosses worked out, which gave me confidence, which then sent me tearing through the grid like it was Wednesday, until I hit the AMPAS section and came to a brief grinding halt. Also couldn't figure out the clue on TARTS (43D: Some shells and their contents). The shell itself is a TART, *and* the contents are a TART? Could this clue work for TACOS? Or SNAILS? Seemed convoluted and inelegant to me, though ultimately gettable (much more easily gettable if it hadn't been going through the mysterious AMPAS, which turns out just to be the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Anyway, that tiny southern section caused a bit of pondering, but the rest just said "yes, sir" and got out of the way.

My comment to a procrastinator (let's say, myself) would never be as encouraging as "IT'S NEVER TOO LATE" (55A: Comment to a procrastinator). It would be something more like "Hey *#&$#$, get off your ass!" But that's just me. Loved STOCKING STUFFER (which I got from -FFER) (58A: Little something in Santa's bag) and "DON'T MOVE A MUSCLE" (which I got from "DON'T M-") (17A: "Freeze!"). Lucked into a few answers. My aunt lives in MARIN County (53A: It's south of Sonoma). I have spent lots of time in comic books stores and around comic book people, many of whom know not just their Marvel superheroes (THOR!) (20A: 2011 title role for Chris Hemsworth) but their weird fiction as well (LOVECRAFT!) (31D: "The Call of Cthulhu" writer). I've got a book by Leigh Brackett called "something something Alpha Centauri," and I know a little Latin, so I pieced together PROXIMA CENTAURI that way (14A: Second-closest start to Earth). I watch a little football, so GIBBS was no problem (he owns a racing team now) (29D: Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe). I know and love ENSOR, whose work I once saw at the Getty in L.A. (46D: Expressionist James) The only answer in the puzzle that I had never seen before (besides AMPAS, which I'd probably seen before, somewhere), was ONE-SUITER, and I inferred that from just the ONE-S-, so, as I say, definitely breezy. And enjoyable.



Some of the clues were very clever, without being overly cute or terribly tricky. Had to think a few beats at 49A: A shark may carry one (CUE), and many more beats at 52A: Cubbie, e.g. (NL'ER), which was in that damned AMPAS section. 22D: Inclined to strike out (TESTY) could've gone any number of directions. First thoughts were that the clue was related to baseball or exploring. Wanted III for 33D: What may come after an heir? (-ESS). I don't think of ANVILs as particularly "rural," though I do think of them as pre-modern, so ... from a time when most of the world was "rural," so OK. Interesting clue (48D: Rural block).

Can't believe I only just now noticed the clue on STU (9D: Afro-sporting character on "The Simpsons"). A clue custom-made for me and I don't even see it.

Bullets:

• 22A: Difficulty increaser in diving (TWIST) — I was thinking deep-sea, not Olympic, so ... SHARK?
  
• 41A: Team that has won the World Series three times while based in three different cities (BRAVES) — Boston (1914), Milwaukee (1957), Atlanta (1995)
  
• 12D: 1950s sweater material (ORLON) — Congress having outlawed the use of ORLON in sweaters on ENERO 1, 1960
  
• 25D: Terra ___ (pulverized gypsum) (ALBA) — this was word of the day earlier this month, I think. Not that I remembered.
  
• 26D: Sch. that awarded the first civil engineering degree in the U.S. (RPI) — Do you need to abbreviate "school" in this clue if you've already got "U.S." in it, or is "U.S." simply too common an abbrev. to be a real abbrev.-tipper?
  
• 40D: Olympic even since '88 (SUPER G) — Kenny G, Ali G ... (this is what it looks like when brainstorming for a potential puzzle theme goes nowhere — I mean, maybe if you had one more ___ G, you could then make wacky phrases by merging them with phrases that start with "G", i.e. KENNY G FORCE, SUPER G RATED, ALI G-SUIT, etc... still, I'm not convinced that theme's going anywhere. See what you can do).

• 44D: View espoused in Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason" (DEISM) — God as watchmaker. Lots of meditation on this idea in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's Watchmen (I told you I spent a lot of time around comics).
  
• 53D: Sulker's expression (MOUE) — a truly dumb word. I can barely look at it. It's like a mouse that lost its ESS.
  
• 57D: N.H.L. Senators, on scoreboards (OTT.) — any new clue for OTT is good.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]
[Rex Parker's Tumblr feed]

Rush drummer/lyricist Neil / FRI 3-25-11 / Blue-backed Dr. Seuss character / One-named rock star 1990s-2000s / Wild flowers in Sara Teasdale poem

Constructor: Mike Nothnagel

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none


Word of the Day: The TYMES (47A: Group with the 1963 #1 hit "So Much in Love") —

The Tymes are an American soul vocal group, who enjoyed equal success in the United Kingdom as their homeland. They share the distinction of being one of the few acts to have one and only one chart-topper in both the U.S. and UK with different titles [...] Their song "So Much in Love" was elected to the Songs of the Century in 2001. In 2005 The Tymes were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. As of 2006^[update], they are still performing, with three of the original five group members; they appeared on the PBS special, My Music: Love Songs of the 50s and 60s. (wikipedia)

• • •

Very, very slow start for me. Couldn't get a foothold anywhere. Had a *very* tentative ARE WE in the NW (4D: "___ ready?"), a somewhat less tentative but still not rock solid ORECK in the SW (37A: Hoover rival), and not much else. Kept circling the grid, looking at short stuff, trying to get in, when I finally made some headway in the unlikeliest of places: ILA (42A: Pier grp.). I can barely tell ILA apart from ILO, and the only reason I know either is because of crosswords, but for some reason, that initialism felt Right, and I plunked LEANER (43D: "Almost" in horseshoes) and I'M DONE (42D: "All finished!") down shortly thereafter. Used those and gimmes LANG (52D: Filmmaker Fritz) and ATEE (53D: Exactly, after "to") to wrangle the SE, and I was off, building continuously (though sometimes slowly) on what I had until I finished the puzzle.



Lots of this stuff ended up falling into my wheelhouse (ironic, given the Ugly start I had): ALEPPO (39D: Largest city in Syria) is in "Othello" and a Nabokov short story whose title cites "Othello" ("That in ALEPPO Once..."). GEN X'ER ... well, I am one (41D: Millennial's parent). That was easy. NSF I know from having academic scientist friends (36D: Univ. research grantor). Neil PEART (31A: Rush drummer/lyricist Neil) ... well, see GEN X'ER, above. That guy was legendary, esp. among a certain kind of boy in the 80s (not me, but kids I knew, for sure). I quite enjoy BECK (30D: One-named rock star of the 1990s-2000s). As a onetime medievalist, I'm amused by the presence of JOUSTS at a "Renaissance" fair (8A: Renaissance fair sights). TREF is one of my most memorable of all crossword words (22A: Not allowed on certain diets), as I thought I had made it up during my first tournament puzzle experience—come to find out, it's a very common word in some sets (not to this California GEN X'ER, that's for sure). With the exception of ECK (45A: Opponent of Luther during the Protestant Reformation), PEART, and TYMES, this puzzle had little in the way obscurities, getting all its difficulty from rough cluing (that ION clue, yikes—25A: ___ drive (engine in "Star Wars")). Hard for me to dislike a puzzle with TIME WARP (12D: Dance in which "you bring your knees in tight"), ERIC IDLE (33D: "And Now for Something Completely Different" co-star) and STEAMY SLEAZE (18A: R-rated, maybe + 56A: Schlock). All in all, a suitably tough and entertaining romp from Mr. Nothnagel (constructor of the Finals puzzle at this year's ACPT)



Bullets:

• 59A: Where some jets originate (GEYSERS) — this was *not* one of yesterday's options!
  
• 30A: She "espied their tails side by side / All hung on a tree to dry" (BO-PEEP) — not a part of the rhyme I know, but I had that terminal "P" and figured it out almost immediately by context.
  
• 55A: Onetime General Motors spokesman (PAT BOONE) — Had forgotten or else never knew this.
  

• 10D: Uintah and Ouray Reservation tribe (UTES) — UINTA mts. (a must-know bit of crossword fill) are in Utah, so ... that was a clue, though it doesn't take much prodding for a solver to get from nothing to UTES. Tribe in four = UTES or OTOS / OTOE and then a host of other less common possibilities like, say, CREE.
  
• 13D: Those involved in cutting class at school? (STYLISTS) — well this one gave me fits. Had ST--ISTS and still needed help from the crosses (another beanball of a clue at 20A: Digs for peanuts? => HOSTEL).
  
• 15D: Blue-backed Dr. Seuss character (YERTLE) — the Turtle. I was at a loss until eventually I had the -TLE. Not on heavy rotation when I was a child. (Dr. Seuss Dictionary and "Green Eggs and Ham" and "One Fish, Two Fish" were the Seuss books of my childhood)
  
• "Wild" flowers in a Sara Teasdale poem (ASTERS) — not a poem I know. A very tough ASTERS clue (though as with UTES, it's not hard for a constant solver to get to ASTERS with minimal clue prodding: "Flower ... starts with "A" ... sure."

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

P.S. nice (loooong) write-up of the ACPT over at PuzzleGirl's "L.A. Crossword Confidential"

Company concerned with automobile history / THU 2-17-11 / Andy's dinosaur in Toy Story / Radioactive enemy of Captain Marvel / Cutesy in London

Constructor: Mike Nothnagel

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: WAR & PEACE (33D: What's broken out of the answers to the starred clues? & 40A: Opposite of 30-Down) — WAR is removed from familiar phrases, creating wacky phrases, clued "?"-style


Word of the Day: ASHLAND (4D: Henry Clay's historic Kentucky estate) —

Ashland is the name of the plantation of the nineteenth-century Kentucky statesman Henry Clay, located in Lexington, Kentucky, in the central Bluegrass region of the state. It is a registered National Historic Landmark. // The Ashland Stakes, a Thoroughbred horse race at Keeneland Race Course run annually since the race course first opened in 1936, was named for the historically important estate.

• • •

This was a lot of fun—best Nothnagel puzzle I've done in a while. Remove a letter string / Get wacky phrase = an old trick, but this had many wonderful things going for it: interesting and occasionally funny theme answers (especially liked FLASH FORD), clean and fresh fill, and a theme revealer that was not just the missing word (WAR), but a second word (PEACE) symbolizing the first word's absence. Having the opposites WAR and PEACE cross each other in the grid's dead center, as well as having the revealers combine to form the title of a Russian novel = icing. Choked a bit on EXACTOR (23A: Tax collector, e.g.) ... I think I had EXCISOR (?!) ... but otherwise experienced no feelings of unpleasantness. Loved the nowness of CARFAX (34A: Company concerned with automobile history) and "SEEN IT" (15A: Jaded response to a movie suggestion), the colloquialness of "NOT BAD" (69A: "I'm impressed"), and the deeply insightful intersection of SEXY (60D: Hot) and REX (67A: Andy's dinosaur in "Toy Story"). Truly NOT BAD.

Theme answers:

• 18A: *Photogenic athlete from Cincinnati? (HANDSOME REWARD)
  
• 22A: *Cozy rooms for playing? (GAME WARDENS)
  
• 56A: *Social gathering for auction participants? (BUYER BEWARE)
  
• 61A: *Diatribes from captured criminals? (ARREST WARRANTS)
  
• 3D: *Commercial for a private school? (ACADEMY AWARD)
  
• 35D: *Expose oneself to a former U.S. president? (FLASH FORWARD)
  

There were several answers about which I had no clue, but they fell easily from crosses. These included ASHLAND, which I know much better as the site of an annual Shakespeare Festival, and Lew AYRES, whose name I've seen before, but only in crosswords (53D: 1948 Best Actor nominee for "Johnny Belinda"). Love the way the puzzle steered around a partial at AND ... GO! (7D: "Start ... now!"). That could so easily have been [Touch ___]. It's funny how dated PRETEENS looks now (39D: Much of Nickelodeon's target audience). That word has been largely supplanted by TWEENS. They're the same group of kids, right? I'm not criticizing PRETEENS; it's a fine word. Just observing how quickly language can change.

Bullets:

• 29A: Food made from fermented beans (MISO) — ugh, embarrassing how long this took me. Wanted TOFU, then had the M and S and wanted ... I don't know, MASH? I'm pretty sure we have a container of MISO in our fridge...
  
• 43A: Indian city now known as Chennai (MADRAS) — I did not know that. CHENNAI seems like a word that wants to be in crosswords, but I've never seen it (to my knowledge). Got this answer easily from just a cross or two.
  
• 24D: Halloween costume, maybe (CORPSE) — I don't get this clue at all. Even after getting CORP- I refused to write in the answer. A CORPSE is not a costume. A sheet—that's a costume. But a CORPSE? And plus, don't you mean "zombie?" A CORPSE would not be much of a costume. You'd just ... lie there. If you are animated (ambulatory, etc.), then you are not a CORPSE; you are undead. This distinction is important.
  
• 25D: Cutesy, in London (TWEE) — got this right away. This was a word I had never seen or heard used before 2008, when I first encountered it as a genre of contemporary music.
  
• 37D: Marked, as a questionnaire (X'D IN) — this answer looks wrong, but feels right, so ... I'll allow it.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Danish kroner topologically speaking / THU 1-6-11 / Application letters / Genre for Spice Girls Oasis / Capital ENE of Jerusalem / Symbol above 5

Constructor: Mike Nothnagel

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium


THEME: BREAK / RANKS (9A: With 65-Across, go against the group ... or what the circled squares literally do in the answers to the starred clues) — circled letters are embedded inside a military rank, which is in turn embedded inside a larger theme answer

• PERCAPITAINCOME —> (17A: *Average national earnings)(circled "I" inside of CAPTAIN)
• AMMANJORDAN —> (26A: *Capital ENE of Jerusalem)(circled "N" inside of MAJOR)
• PERCENTSIGN —> (44A: *Symbol above a 5)(circled "T" inside of ENSIGN)
• MARSHMALLOWPEEP —> (59A: *Easter basket treat)(circled "M" inside of MARSHAL)

Word of the Day: BRIT POP (39A: Genre for the Spice Girls and Oasis) —

Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s. The movement developed as a reaction against various musical and cultural trends in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly the grunge phenomenon from the United States. In the wake of the musical invasion into the United Kingdom of American grunge bands, new British groups such as Suede and Blur launched the movement by positioning themselves as opposing musical forces, referencing British guitar music of the past and writing about uniquely British topics and concerns. These bands were soon joined by others including Oasis, Pulp, Supergrass, Sleeper and Elastica. // Britpop groups brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of a larger British cultural movement called Cool Britannia. Although its more popular bands were able to spread their commercial success overseas, especially to the United States, the movement largely fell apart by the end of the decade. (wikipedia) [Spice Girls??? They have almost Nothing in common with the bands in this blurb, besides being British]

• • •

I like the idea of this puzzle. I don't think I much like its actuality. It's an interesting variation on the embedded word-type theme, but ... there are several problems. First, the circled letters. When you a circle a letter, you draw the solver's eye to that letter, emphasizing its letterness. These letters, however, are meaningless *as letters*. They spell MINT, but I can't believe that's related to the theme. Is it? Maybe there's a rank at the U.S. MINT called "Marshal," because I can't find a U.S. military rank with that name—which brings me to another problem: theme consistency. "Marshal" is a military rank only in other countries, as far as I can tell. Three ranks that are native, one ... that isn't. I've been reading Patrick Berry's "Crossword Challenges for Dummies" over the past couple of days—by far the best guide to constructing puzzles I've ever seen, and particularly good for the novice / aspiring constructor. He spends a lot of time on themes and the importance of getting them Just Right. You do not want a "which of these four is not like the others?" reaction from the solver. "Marshal" sticks out badly in this lot. Next, there's the grid construction, which demonstrates very poor connectivity (another issue Berry highlights). Turn just one more square black (and its symmetrical counterpart, of course), and the two halves of the puzzle don't interconnect at all. Do that just one more time and you've got four islands. I really felt the narrowness of those passageways in the middle of the grid. Ended up feeling as if I'd solved two puzzles. Got the whole top half and had to reboot in the SW. Not ideal. Lastly, MARSHMALLOW PEEP, in the singular, seems weird. And are there non-marshmallow Peeps??? Fill in this puzzle is very smooth, without an obscurity in sight, and only MISDO (32A: Screw up) makes me want a do-over, so thumbs up in that regard. But themewise, this felt ragged around the edges.



Puzzle felt very easy overall, with only the poor connectivity and the supervague clue on NMI (related problems) holding me back at all (29D: Application letters). Somehow remembered the gymnasts' names today (HAMM=>30A: Olympic gymnast Paul or Morgan), and despite having no idea what the TORI clue was getting at (TORI are roughly the shape of donuts) (48A: Danish kroner, topologically speaking), the crosses were pretty kind. Lots of "?" clues today, but they didn't provide much in the way of vexation. Intersecting ones up top proved a little tricky (JINX (5A: Hurl curse words at?) / X-RAYED (8D: Saw right through?)), but only a little. Wanted ADAGE or MAXIM for MORAL (41A: "Slow and steady wins the race," e.g.). Hate A CAT, but like that A CAT is intersecting TAMER (48D: Circus chairperson?).

Bullets:

• 22A: "Hooked on Classics" record company (K-TEL) — their pop compilations were a staple of TV advertising when I was growing up. I think I own a K-TEL record, the lead song of which is "Him" by Rupert Holmes (of "Piña Colada Song" fame)

• 37A: Organ donation site (EYE BANK) — Had EYEBALL ... that lost me precious seconds for sure.
  
• 67A: Ciudad del ___ (second-largest city in Paraguay) (ESTE) — luckily the word was easy to get, because that's some nearly pointless trivia right there. The parenthetical part is like a parody of the kind of esoteric clues non-solvers believe (mostly erroneously) are the crossword's bread and butter.
  
• 3D: Medieval close-combat weapon (WAR HAMMER) — I don't remember this from either my Dungeons&Dragons days or my medieval studies grad school days, but it's a simple description that seems right enough. I was looking for something more technical, like a halberd or pollaxe or falchion or something else only nerds would know.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Title location Hemingway novel / WED 12-8-10 / Cartoon stinker / Mrs. Frisby's charges in Secret of NIMH / Motocross racer for short / Screening aid

Constructor: Mike Nothnagel

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: SECRET AGENTS (53A: Undercover operatives ... or what are hiding in 17-, 20-, 35- and 58-Across?) — the word "SPY" can be found, backwards, inside each theme answer


Word of the Day: SOYUZ (29D: Russian space program started in the 1960s) —

The Soyuz programme (Russian: Союз, pronounced [saˈjuz], meaning "Union") is a human spaceflight programme that was initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960's. It was originally part of a Moon landing programme intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon. Both the Soyuz spacecraft and the Soyuz rocket are part of this programme, which is now the responsibility of the Russian Federal Space Agency. (wikipedia)

• • •

This was thornier-than-average, almost all over. SE corner was a breeze, but almost everywhere else I had to struggle with vague or deliberately misleading cluing—which I don't mind, but don't expect so much of on a Wednesday. Nothing in the grid is very obscure (except SER. —??? yuck; 31A: It might precede a collection: Abbr.), but the cluing is clearly amped up a notch. Also, I had no idea what the theme was until very late, and there were many clues along the way that suggested a theme that never materialized. This happened largely in the NE, where the long WAR MOVIE was cross-referenced with the central Across, APOCALYPSE NOW, which made me almost certain we had some kind of movie tribute puzzle on our hands. Then there was the cross-referencing of two more clues, both in that same NE section: ALTAR and VOTIVE. So the whole thing felt a mess until I got much further along, and even after I finished, I had to think for a second to understand what SECRET AGENTS had to do with the theme answers. The NE and SW corners were, in general, the hardest parts of the puzzle — felt very open, and contained virtually no gimmes. You race ATVs (43A: Motocross racer, for short)? You wear SHAWLS to pray (49A: Some prayer clothing)? Yes, apparently.



Would've ditched SER. (it's short for SERIES? Maybe?) [someone in "Comments" says "SERmon," which makes sense, but doesn't make me like SER. any more] for SES or SED, which have the virtual of being words, albeit foreign ones. The backwards placement of SPY is an interesting twist on the normal way of "hiding" embedded answers in puzzles—in plain sight, stretched across two words. YPS is not a letter string that wants to be broken across two words, and freedom from that constraint means that there are more possible theme answers to work with. Grid is interesting. Lively. Only SER. and AMUST gave me any pause. Some of the cluing seemed a bit forced (in an attempt to be tricky, I suppose), but overall this one provided an enjoyable challenge.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Home of Eastern Michigan University (YPSILANTI)
  
• 20A: Harry Belafonte's specialty (CALYPSO MUSIC)
  
• 35A: 1979 film with Capt. Willard and Col. Kurtz ("APOCALYPSE NOW")
  
• 58A: Leaf-eating insect scourge (GYPSY MOTH)
  

Not sure how in the world I did this, but I read 15A: Mrs. Frisby's charges in "The Secret of NIMH" (RATS) as somehow asking for Mrs. Frisby's first name. Weird. Inexplicable. I object to the clue [Universally known] for FAMOUS. COOLIO is FAMOUS (33A: Rapper parodied by Weird Al Yankovic in "Amish Paradise"). I do not believe COOLIO is universally known. In fact, I'm certain at least a handful of you do not know who he is. Santa is universally known. And yet I would not call him "FAMOUS."







Bullets:

• 57A: Onetime TWA competitor (US AIR) — one of the keys to unlocking the SE. Just couldn't see many of the answers down there, including AS SUCH (43D: In and of itself), and the ambiguously clued CALLER ID (36D: Screening aid).
  
• 3D: First of a pair of lists (DOS) — this clue made No sense to me. Feels almost Saturdayish in its oddness. Once you get it, it's easy: "Oh, right, DOS and DONTS." But before you (I) get it, "... lists come in pairs? What kind of lists? WTF?"
  
• 10D: North Pacific islander (ALEUT) — crosswordese, but phrased this way, it stumped me at first. When I see "Pacific islander" my mind goes south. The fact that "North" is the first word in the clue did not affect this tendency in the slightest.
  
• 29D: Russian space program started in the 1960s (SOYUZ) — wanted SOYEZ, which is the 2nd person plural imperative "Be," in French.
  
• 33D: Medical condition treated by thrombolysis (CLOT) — another very non-Wednesday clue.
  
• 44D: Title location in a Hemingway novel (THE SEA) — glad this was the first thing that came to mind (given the crosses I had), because this could have been tough. Just like with A MUST, I don't normally expect articles (def. or indef.) in my answers.
  
• 51D: Cartoon stinker (LEPEW) — As in Pepe. The only other cartoon stinker I can think of is Pigpen, from "Peanuts." He's more dirty than stinky, though.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]