Archer's wife in Maltese Falcon /THU 9-8-11/ Nevada county containing Yucca Mountain / Italian scientist who lent name to number / Episode VI returnee

Constructor: Matt Ginsberg and Pete Muller

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom WOLFE (25A: Author of the 1968 work named in the circled letters (reading clockwise)) — WOLFE is in the grid along with KESEY (44A: Leader of the 35-Across) and MERRY PRANKSTERS (35A: Subject of the 1968 work)


Word of the Day: STU ERWIN (1A: He played Joe Palooka in the 1934 film "Palooka") —

Stuart Erwin (14 February 1903, Squaw Valley, California — 21 December 1967, Beverly Hills, California) was an American actor. Erwin began acting in college in the 1920s, first appearing on the stage, then breaking into films in 1928 in Mother Knows Best. He was cast as amiable oafs in several films such as The Sophomore, The Big Broadcast, Hollywood Cavalcade, Our Town, International House and Viva Villa!. In 1934 he was cast as Joe Palooka in the film Palooka, and in 1935 he had a supporting role in After Office Hours (starring Clark Gable). He co-starred in the Paramount Pictures all-star revue Paramount on Parade (1930). // In 1936, he was cast in Pigskin Parade, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. // In Walt Disney's Bambi, he did the voice of a tree squirrel. // In 1950, Erwin made the transition to television, where he starred in Trouble with Father, which was eventually retitled The Stu Erwin Show. He co-starred with his wife, actress June Collyer. He later appeared in the Disney films Son of Flubber and The Misadventures of Merlin Jones. He also appeared with Jack Palance in the ABC series The Greatest Show on Earth during the 1963-1964 television season. // Erwin has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6240 Hollywood Blvd. He is buried in Chapel of the Pines Crematory. (wikipedia)

• • •

Well, that was something. On the one hand, I like the theme idea, though I don't quite understand what the answer going around the perimeter clockwise has to do with the theme. It's a cool trick, but it is related to the book somehow? No matter, that part is fine, though this is one of those themes that favor (heavily) older solvers. The New Journalism and '60s drug culture aren't really on the radar for people who didn't live through the '60s. I got the references, but I have a Ph.D. in English, so I'm not exactly typical. But, again, fine. Narrow, and old-skewing, but fine. The fill in this puzzle, however, was often less than fine. I'LL NEVER and I LEAVE aren't not free-standing phrases in any way, shape, or form. They are partials pretending to be something more substantial. Will doesn't generally allow partials longer than five letters, but apparently he'll allow Two if he likes your theme and you can dress the partials up as legitimate independent phrases. If the MERRY PRANKSTERS skews old, STU ERWIN skews superold. He also happens to look Horrible in the grid. TRACTILE should have its wordness revoked (17A: Able to be drawn out), and PTUI (30A: Cartoon "Yuck!") and O'TEA think I don't see them, but I do. All in all, a little too much KLUDGE for my taste (44D: Workable if awkward solution to a crossword computer problem).



Had weird issues with the NYT solving applet, which was cutting off the ends of some clues, such as 46D: Last word in a showman's spiel [sp...] (VOILA!) and 48A: Like ruckuses or roadster roofs [roo...] (RAISABLE). OK, RAISABLE should've been on my horrible fill list, above. Firefox hates it (giving it the red underline treatment) and really, a ruckus? Sure, and a fit is pitchable. Bah. I actually thought I might sail through this one at first, when SETH (1D: MacFarlane who created TV's "Family Guy") and TARE (2D: Amount ignored in weighing) and USAF (3D: Org. with the ad slogan "It's not science fiction. It's what we do every day") went right in and gave me the first letters of all those long Acrosses in the NE. I got none of them. Never (or barely) heard of STU ERWIN, even EAST- couldn't get me EASTERLY (tried EASTWARD) (15A: Like the trades) and TRACTABLE (a real word) didn't fit at 17A. After some struggle, picked up the theme and again thought I'd sail through (theme got me a lot of free squares). But no. Clued (and filled) to a solid Thursday/Friday level. Very much liked "YOUR MOVE" and SIDEKICKS. Rest of the fill seemed tolerable to poor.



Bullets:

• 8D: Nevada county containing Yucca Mountain (NYE) — Oh, *that* Nevada County. [facepalm] [facedesk] [deskfacepalm]
  
• 18A: National park whose name means "the high one" (DENALI) — so-named because the natives smoked a Lot of weed. It's medicinal, man.
  
• 19A: Bunny fancier (HEF) — there is a new show starting this fall about the Playboy Club. It looks like something that will last ... about five weeks.
  
• 39A: Source of the saying "The gods help them that help themselves") (AESOP) — AESOP knew that welfare just gives poor people incentive to be lazy. Aesop '12!
  
• 34D: Language from which "spunk" is derived (ERSE) — one of the few words less appealing than ERSE is "spunk"
  

We're having epic rains here: schools canceled, record flooding, 10,000+ people evacuated from their homes. Population centers get all the media attention, but upstate NY and New England have just been getting destroyed the past two weeks. Combine climate change patterns (our last "70-year flood" was in 2006, for example) with climate change denial and general gov. brokeness and unwillingness to invest in infrastructure improvements, and things don't look good for near future. It's enough to make me wanna take some acid and get in a van and go do some merry pranking, man. And I'd do it. It's just that the funds aren't RAISABLE at this time.

Happy 10th birthday to my amazing nephew, Miles.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

West Coast evergreens / SUN 7-3-11 / 1950s NBC icon / Island visited Captain Cook 1778 / DKNY competitor / Stake metaphorically / Private eye Peter

Constructor: Pete Muller

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "My Treat" — all about ICE CREAM SODA (117A: Something delicious to drink).

Puzzle Note: "When this puzzle is done, the circles will contain five different letters of the alphabet. Connect each set of circles containing the same letter, without crossing your line, to make a simple closed shape. The resulting five closed shapes together will form a picture of a 117-Across. The five letters can be arranged to name a good place to get a 117-Across."

[Picture created by following instructions in the Puzzle Note includes a TALL GLASS, TWO SCOOPS, a LONG SPOON, and a FLEXIBLE STRAW. Five letters involved in the picture can be arranged to form DINER]


Word of the Day: MADRONES (47D: West Coast evergreens) —

n.

1.

(Bot.) A small evergreen tree or shrub (Arbutus Menziesii), of Pacific North America, having a smooth bark, thick glossy leathery leaves, and edible orange-red berries, which are often called madroña apples; the wood is used for furniture and the bark for tanning.

• • •

No pleasure here. None. I checked out mentally very early on, once I realized that the theme was straightforward and boring, and the fill was lifeless and often tortured. I have "ugh" and "ugly" written in margins all over the top of the puzzle. At some point, as I say, I stopped caring, and just dutifully filled in the grid. No marginalia in the bottom half. I don't even know what to say today. Theme is self-explanatory. Theme answers aren't good or bad—they just are. Fill is rough all over, but I don't have the heart to list it all. I can tell you that the puzzle lost me completely after just the NW, with its plural OKRAS and IT'SAN and SETA NDAK SDS REATA ABCD DRLAO (19A: 1964 title role for Tony Randall) PADMA DOI. Later I just stared at SIDERITE (33D: Valuable iron ore) and ESOTERY (?) (14D: Obscure things) and MADRONES (47D: West Coast evergreens). But mostly, by then, I didn't care. This is the danger of Sunday—if you don't like it, you're in for a long, uncomfortable ride.

[I only just now tried to draw the picture, per the "Puzzle Note"'s instructions. What I have on my paper looks almost nothing like an ICE CREAM SODA ... Oh, the "E"s are supposed to be a *spoon*! I was like "why is that straw stuck in an olive?"]

Theme answers:

• 25A: Some versions of a 117-Across (BROWN COWS)
  
• 27A: Ingredient in a 117-Across (SELTZER WATER)
  
• 59A: Ingredient in a 117-Across (FLAVORED SYRUP)
  
• 83A: Utensil for 117-Across (FLEXIBLE STRAW)
  
• 121A: Version of a 117-Across (COKE FLOAT)
  
• 4D: Container for a 117-Across (TALL GLASS)
  
• 11D: Like many a 117-Across (CHOCOLATE)
  
• 84D: Utensil for a 117-Across (LONG SPOON)
  
• 87D: Quantity of a key ingredient in a 117-Across (TWO SCOOPS)
  

I learned that an ice cream float is a version of an ice cream soda. I have always thought of them as two entirely different species of drink. I also learned MADRONES and SIDERITE, but I won't remember those.

Bullets:

• 23A: 1950s NBC icon (BERLE) — Uncle Miltie. Way before my time. Still, got it off the "B"
  
• 41A: Kimchi-loving land (KOREA) — Mmm. Wish we had Korean food around here. I haven't had Korean food since I lived in Ann Arbor (*several* choices there).
  
• 48A: DKNY competitor (YSL) — this was where I got the "Y" in ESOTERY. Possibly the low point in the solving experience.
  
• 104A: "Web ___" (ESPN segment showing great fielding plays) (GEMS) — Specifically, it's a "Baseball Tonight" segment.
  
• 12D: Private eye Peter of old TV (GUNN) — he has a very famous theme:

• 72D: Mountain sighting, maybe (YETI) — No. Not "maybe." Just no.
  
• 50D: Like mountains and computer images (SCALABLE) — I like the clue a whole lot better than the answer.
  
• 116D: Old U.S.P.S. routing codes (RFDS) — I'd hate this, but I used it once, so ... [whistling and looking the other way]
• 109A: A stake, metaphorically (SKIN) — most interesting clue of the day. I you have "a stake" in the game, you have SKIN in the game.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Classical name of Troy / THU 4-14-11 / David of infomercials / Commercial prefix with dyne / Gravlax ingredient / Wahhabi's belief

Constructor: Pete Muller

Relative difficulty: Challenging [but, then again, I never saw the "note," which *might* have made things easier/clearer—the downloaded puzzle I used had *no* indication there even was a note. . . annoying]

THEME: UMBRELLA — "UMBRELLA" is the clue for four theme answers, only it's found not in the clues, but inside circled squares, which, when connected form an approximation of the shape of an UMBRELLA. All theme answers are clued only by empty brackets.

Puzzle note: (not visible unless hunted down under one of the toolbar menus in my software program): "Four answers in this puzzle are missing the same eight-letter clue - a single word that can be spelled from the eight circled letters. When the puzzle is done, connect the circled letters in order with a line, and you will get an outline of the object the word names."



Word of the Day: RADO (33A: Pricey Swiss watch brand) —

Rado is a Swiss manufacturer of watches, with headquarters in Lengnau, Switzerland. It is noted for its use of scratch-proof materials, a field in which it is considered a pioneer. Today the company produces about half a million watches a year with a staff of about 470 in total. [...] RADO watches vary in pricing according to model, age and materials but the core collection of RADO pieces will range from about US$700 to about US$28,000. Models that include pave dials of diamonds and baguette diamonds can cost approximately US $30,000 to $250,000. (wikipedia)

• • •

This took a while, and was not entirely pleasant. Creative and memorable, though, I'll give it that. The empty-set clues for the theme answers made the experience frustrating, which I guess was the point. Wasn't sure if TRAVELERSLOGO was TRAVELER'S LOGO or TRAVELERS LOGO, and in both cases the logos that were presenting themselves to my brain were wrong. Could think only of the haloed Good Samaritan guy you see on stickers on RVs, or else the bear from TRAVELODGE. SHADE PROVIDER = elm, of course. GENE KELLY PROP? Uh ... cane? Only with the HIT FOR RIHANNA did I realize what the puzzle was getting at. Never heard of RADO (33A: Pricey Swiss watch brand), did not know ORECK was associated with infomercials (29D: David of infomercials), forgot about ILION despite teaching Trojan War literature all the time (had ILIUM, which is also right) (12D: Classical name of Troy), never Ever heard of whatever TELEdyne is (40A: Commercial prefix with dyne), blanked on the Hebrew month NISAN (49D: Passover month), can't believe I had to deal with RANDR twice in one week (38D: Service break), and ... and then there's APISH! (10A: Imitative) Took me about 50% longer than my average Thursdays of late. But I got it, and mostly enjoyed the struggle. The UMBRELLA shape (created by the circles) doesn't look Terrible, except for the handle. What the hell? The distance between "U" and "M" is comical. That "U" should be where the second "E" in ELOPED is.



My favorite moment of the solve—wondering what the hell kind of temple features LAPDANCEs (40D: Temple performance). Turns out it's Shirley Temple, and actual answers is TAPDANCE. "Ohhhhhhh.... nevermind."



Cluing was tricky. Started out with clues about docks and pirates, and answers that had nothing to do with the ocean. I know ARIEL as a servant of Prospero and as a book of poetry by Sylvia Plath, not as a Durant (20A: One of the Durants who wrote "The Story of Civilization"). "Gumbo" comes from BANTU. Whu knu? ILLE Pu! (43A: Langauge from which "gumbo" comes) I know what a snow leopard is, but chamois? Isn't that what you use to clean your car? (66A: Where chamois and snow leopards live: Abbr.=>MTNS) Don't remember what gravlax is at all. Sounds like an OTC medicine: "For Serious Constipation: GRAVLAX." Twyla THARP is my homegirl (25D: "Movin' Out" choreographer) ... well, she attended my alma mater, and her last name is one letter (one step in the alphabet) off from my own (real) name, so ... good enough (yes, my real name is UHARP). Weird that I though TRAVELER'S LOGO was related to a halo and then got HALOS at 14D: Nickname for the Anaheim Angels. RADO / RADON intersection is at least mildly unfortunate (intersecting identical four-letter strings not being ideal). This puzzle is 16x15. The end.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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