The One in the Matrix / THU 2-23-12 / Meany of story / Famous cloth locale / Magazine once published by Playboy / Ancient Mexican / Big name in vacuums

Constructor: Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: AROUND (46A: Word needed to be added to 12 appropriately placed answers in this puzzle for their clues to make sense) — answers AROUND the edge of the grid need to be followed by AROUND to make sense

Word of the Day: MEGABIT (40A: Storage unit) —

The megabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix mega (symbol M) is defined in the International System of Units (SI) as a multiplier of 10⁶ (1 million),^[1] and therefore

1 megabit = 10⁶bits = 1000000bits = 1000 kilobits.

The megabit has the unit symbol Mbit or Mb.
Using the common byte size of 8 bits, 1 Mbit is roughly equal to 125 kilobytes (kB) or approximately 122 kibibytes (KiB). (wikipedia) [please don't ask me to explain the relationship of MEGABIT to "megabyte," because it's too late and I barely understand myself]

• • •

Just getting over a cold and I have to teach early, so this will be super-short.

I liked it fine. I can't decide if this benefits from or suffers because of the recent MARGIN FOR ERROR puzzle. This puzzle is certainly superior, but having just seen a "answers on the edges have x in common" puzzle, the revelation of this puzzle's gimmick did nothing for me. Shrug. I like all the Ks, and for a grid with a preponderance of short fill, it's pretty lively and interesting. Lots of Ks, which is rarely bad. The random placement of AROUND is a bit of a distraction (this gives the puzzle something in common with the MARGIN FOR ERROR, though the revealer placement there was more "train wreck" than oddity). I probably took longest to get the MEGABIT portion of the grid. Did not know that was a word. Or, I did, but then "megabyte" ate it alive and so I forgot it. That [Meany of story] clue should get a prize. Don't know if it's original, but it's good. Like a good chunk of America, I instinctively dropped in OGRE (it's OWEN). 

Theme answers:

• SHOOT
• ROOT
• JERK
• KNOCK
• FOOL (I wrote FART at first; not kidding) 
• POKE
• HORSE
• MESS
• KICK
• STICK
• COME 
• SHOP

Bullets:

• 17A: Many a nude beach visitor (OGLER) — this seems an unfair assumption. Why not just write [Many a beach visitor]? Seems at least as likely to be true.
• 34A: The One, in "The Matrix" (NEO) — recently had a class discussion about NEO. Students made lots of great comparisons between him and Aeneas.  
• 5D: Famous cloth locale (TURIN) — frowny face. Is this about the Shroud? Or do they really make cloth in TURIN?
• 29D: Items sometimes tossed in strongman contests (KEGS) — really? Can't picture it. I think I'm thinking of the Highland Games, where guys throw logs or hammers or sheep or something.
• 51D: Ancient Mexican (OLMEC) — the good thing about guessing AZTEC is you're 40% right.
• 54D: Johnny Storm a k a the Human ___ (TORCH) — did I mention I also teach Comics? The Human TORCH is one of the "Fantastic Four."

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Player of TV's Caine / THU 2-16-12 / Lined as furnace hearth / Market town that's suburb of London / Film planner / 1960s title sitcom character

Constructor: Jim Page

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: MARGIN / FOR / ERROR (21A: With 29-/30-Across, wiggle room ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme) — answers around the edged (i.e. MARGINs) of the grid are types of ERRORs

Word of the Day: REIGATE (55A: Market town that's a suburb of London) —

Reigate is a historic market town in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs, and in the London commuter belt. It is one of the main constituents of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. Reigate and the adjacent town of Redhill form a single urban subdivision of the Crawley Urban Area. // Colley Hill, one mile (1.6 km) north of Reigate, is the sixth highest point in Surrey at 756 feet (230 m). Reigate Hill, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the east of Colley Hill, is the seventh highest point in Surrey at 723 feet (220 m). (The 7th highest! You don't say ... My lands ...) (wikipedia)

• • •

This puzzle is 7-Down. Let's start with the ungainly placement of the revealer. Just make a 16-wide grid and put it in the middle. Something. Anything symmetrical. Part of me thinks that the nature of the theme somehow accounts for the awfulness. Like it's a seriously meta-bad-crossword. BONER-themed with BONERs aplenty. If that's the case, standing ovation. But just in case—FETTLED? (16A: Lined, as a furnace hearth) AGENTRY? RESPECTER? SCENARIST? PLICATE? REIGATE? It's hard to be a respecter of that kind of fill. I'm surprised at how much long(er) junk there is. In the age of construction software, this kind of infelicity avalanche shouldn't be possible. I'd give you one or two of those words, but the lot? Jeez louise. Also, what's a LIGHT PEN? ("A farm enclosure for light!" "The opposite of a heavy pen!") (8D: Implements for "writing" on computer screens) And what is "writing?" If you are making letters, you are writing. Not "writing." The use of ILLEGAL as a noun made me cringe (54A: One caught by border patrol).



Theme answers:

• 1A: Goof (SLIP-UP) — I had MESS UP, thinking [Goof] was a verb. It appears that all the theme answers are nouns.
• 7A: Boo-boo (FLUFF) — ????? I have never heard FLUFF used this way. Ever. Also, isn't a "boo-boo" an OWIE or little bruise or bump. I guess you can make a "boo-boo," but do you make a FLUFF? It sounds ... like it has an etymology I don't really want to know about.
• 15D: Misprint (TYPO)
• 37D: Muff (MISCUE)
• 16D: Flub (FUMBLE) — I had BUMBLE. [Lined, as a furnace hearth] is about as nonsensical (to me) a clue as I have ever seen. Needless to say, FETTLED was not in my vocabulary. Neither was BETTLED.
  
• 45D: Pratfall (TRIP)
• 59A: Gaffe (BONER)
• 60A: Screwup (HOWLER)   

This puzzle is about as out-of-my-wheelhouse as they come. I can't even look at David CARUSO (12A: Player of TV's Caine), and I thought FENSTER was from somebody's Uncle on one of those spooky '60s sitcoms. But I was thinking of Uncle Fester from "The Munster." FENSTER comes from the long-running megahit "I'm Dickens ... He's FENSTER" (1961-62) ... [cough] ... [tumbleweeds] ... I think this was the prequel to "She's the Sheriff" (10D: 1960s title sitcom character). Anyhoo, the pop culture was way out of my league today. Didn't even know the EGAN woman (51D: Susan of Broadway's "Beauty and the Beast"). I knew ENSLER from "The Vagina Monologues" (43D: Tony-winning playwright) and WHASSUP!? from those horrible Bud ads about a decade ago (20A: Bro's greeting). And I knew OHIO STATE because I went to Michigan for eight years (31D: School whose football stadium is nicknamed the Horseshoe). Your UVEA is part of your face the way your fingernail is part of your arm (9D: Part of the face whose name is derived from the latin for "grape"). Come on.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Suckler of Romulus Remus / THU 2-9-12 / Island birthplace of Epicurus / Spartan king who fought Pyrrhus / Salty orange square

Constructor: Kevin G. Der

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: SAILS (62A: Travels over what's hidden in the answers to the seven starred clues) — "SEA" appears "hidden" in the answers to the starred clues, starting at the front of the answer and moving one square to the right w/ each successive theme answer

Word of the Day: PALSY (9D: Tight) —

[Honestly, I have no idea how [Tight] works ... I'm asking people right now ... only guess I have is that these are synonyms for "drunk" ... OK, it turns out PALSY is slangly for chummy; "PAL" + "SY" i.e. in the manner of a pal. I think I've only heard this expression as part of the rhyming, sing-songy "palsy-walsy." Thanks so much to C. Eutsler for the comprehension assist.]

• • •

I enjoyed this as a vaguely thorny puzzle, and the forward movement of SEA is, in retrospect, a nice touch. But (and it's a big but) the final theme answer absolutely, positively kills the puzzle for me. You cannot have "SEA" in your answer. Not in a puzzle where your revealer clue explicitly states that "SEA" is "hidden." It's not even a metaphorical SEA. It's an actual, honest-to-god, made-of-water SEA. The kind one SAILS over. I hesitated So Long before entering CELTIC SEA because I couldn't accept that "SEA" would appear literally, nakedly, like that. I still can't accept it.

Theme answers:

• 17A: *Look for (SEARCH OUT)
• 21A: *Entice with (USE AS BAIT) — not at all crazy about this "answer." Hardly a coherent phrase. See also the next theme answer...
• 28A: *Drop one, say (LOSE A GAME)
• 34A: *July, for Major League Baseball (MIDSEASON)
• 44A: *Doesn't worry (RESTS EASY)
• 51A: *It may bear a coat of arms (ROYAL SEAL)
• 57A: *View from Land's End (CELTIC SEA)  

Unusually, I went searching for the revealer before stumbling upon it naturally in the course of solving. Normally I don't like to do this. Too much extra movement. But today, I was semi-stuck and thought maybe if I could find the rationale, I could move more quickly. And it worked. First I wondered what it would mean to travel over an ARCH (see first theme answer), but then I looked at a couple more theme answers and SAILS became obvious. Other strange aspect of my solve—it felt reasonably tough throughout, except in the SW, which I solved in about 10 seconds. Weirdly uneven (for me). Otherwise, nothing too flummoxy (except PALSY, obviously). Didn't know JOSEPH I at all (33D: Holy Roman emperor during the War of the Spanish Succession), but he was easy enough to piece together. What's a BETACAM? (11D: Sony recorder) That doesn't have anything to do with the defunct "Betamax" video format, does it? Well, sort of. Here's more than you'd ever want to know.


Bullets:

• 33A: Most common first name among U.S. presidents (six) (JAMES) — this came pretty quickly, without any actual counting.
• 46A: TV's onetime ___ Club (PTL) — tough clue; luckily all the longish Downs came super easy, so I barely saw this clue. 
• 1D: "___ his kiss" (repeated 1964 lyric) ("IT'S IN") — Seems like a call an announcer might make in ... some sport. Golf? Soccer?
• 2D: Suckler of Romulus and Remus (SHE-WOLF) — I just (re-)read Book VIII of the Aeneid earlier today, so, yeah, I knew this. She's on Aeneas's shield, I think; the one Vulcan agrees to make for him in exchange for hot sex with Venus (is there any other kind?). See, Venus is Aeneas's mom and ... etc. I did less well on the other classical clues. Forgot SAMOS even existed (29D: Island birthplace of Epicurus). Ditto AREUS (30D: Spartan king who fought Pyrrhus).
• 18D: Salty orange square (CHEEZ-IT) — Nice. I haven't eaten these since my childhood, but I used to shovel them into my face by the fistful.
• 42D: Ophthalmologist's procedure (DYE TEST) — wow. That's *really* close to EYE TEST, isn't it?
• 52D: "The Land of Painted Caves" novelist (AUEL) — got it off the "L." Never heard of the book, but a four-letter novelist who writes about (what sounds like) prehistoric times? Not a hard guess. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Pagliacci clown / THU 2-2-12 / NHL's Laperriere / Oscar Wilde poem By the * / Cinematographer Nykvist / When doubled Miss Piggy's white poodle / L * du jeu 1939 Renoir film

Constructor: Stu Ockman

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: Confucian aphorism — REAL KNOWLEDGE IS / TO KNOW THE EXTENT / OF ONE'S IGNORANCE

Word of the Day: Howell RAINES (42A: Journalist Howell) —

Howell Hiram Raines (born February 5, 1943 in Birmingham, Alabama) was Executive Editor of The New York Times from 2001 until he left in 2003 in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal. He is the father of Jeff Raines, one of the founding members of the rock band Galactic. He is currently a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio, writing the magazine's media column. (wikipedia)

• • •

This is my Thursday? An incredibly banal quotation? No thanks.

The grid is weird. I do like those looooong Downs (a lot), but the rest, not so much. TACHOIALITHEAIS! Is that corner for real? For real? And was ALET really unavoidable? That section does not look that hard to fill.

Honestly, this is just a dull quotation puzzle with an inexpertly filled grid. While I'm teaching, if Thursday puzzles aren't damn good, I can't spend a lot of time with them. I just can't.


Also: Journalist Howell? Really? Somewhere eventual Hall-of-Famer Tim RAINES is weeping for your silly New York provincialism.

Also: [More] = OTHER = painful.

[I'm hearing from sources (literally, just this second, via email) that this is a debut, so I feel slightly bad, but my feelings are my feelings. If nothing else, this never should've run on a Thursday]

Bullets:

• 14A: Oscar Wilde poem "By the ___" (ARNO) — nuts. The problem with making your clues for short fill really obscure is that there's no payoff. Just a "... huh. OK." At best.
• 15A: Ingredient in traditional medicine (ALOE) — I have no idea how "traditional" is being used in this clue. My doctor has never prescribed ALOE.
• 20A: Man's name that's Latin for "honey" (MEL) — again, nuts. French helped me here.
• 35A: TV network that broadcast live from Opryland USA (TNN) — the one area that gave me trouble, first because of [More] / OTHER, and then because I'd transcribed the quotation wrong and put a "T" where the "H" was supposed to go (had [More] = OFTER for a bit). 

• 5D: Not being such a daredevil, say (SANER) — boooooooooo. SAFER is so much more appropriate here. Not clever, just annoying for its trying-too-hardness.
• 54A: Together, in Toulon (UNIE) — French helped me here, too, though less so. "États-Unis" led me to the wrong spelling here.
• 10D: "La ___ du jeu" (1939 Renoir film) (RÈGLE) — French helped me here, too. This is pretty tough, as French words in U.S. puzzles go. I knew most of the other proper nouns, like ED ASNER (19D: "Elf" co-star, 2003) and IRENE (26D: Memorable 2011 hurricane) and even TONIO (learned from crosswords) (33D: "Pagliacci" clown). Would've guessed Miss Piggy's poodle was Fifi, but it's not such a long way from there to FOO Foo, I guess. The only Lap... oh, it's not "Lapierre," it's "Laperriere" (!?!?!?! who????). I was going to say "the only 'Lapierre' I know is Wayne."

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Happy birthday, dad.

W.W. II Pacific battle site / THU 1-26-12 / Moore who wrote Gate at the Stairs / Horseshoe-shaped lab item / 1980s sitcom filmed with puppet

Constructor: Alan Arbesfeld

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: ST- — common phrases have "ST-" added to beginning of one of the words in said phrases, creating wackiness

Word of the Day: TRUK (39D: W.W. II Pacific battle site) —

Operation Hailstone (known in Japan as Japanese: トラック島空襲 Torakku-tō Kūshū, lit. "the airstrike on Truk Island") was a massive naval air and surface attack launched on February 17–18, 1944, during World War II by the United States Navy against the Japanese naval and air base at Truk in the Caroline Islands, a pre-war Japanese territory. (wikipedia)

• • •

What the TRUK?!

This was a Wednesday dressed up as a Thursday (i.e. with fairly difficulty cluing throughout). The theme concept is not really Thursday-worthy—just a pretty loose add-a-letter (OK, two letters). No rhyme or reason to the add-ons. It's a theme that could be replicated over and over and over again, ad infinitum. I'd be shocked if it hadn't been done several times before. At least the ST-s could've been added to, say, all R-words (you're 3/5 there! STRAP MUSIC ... STRIPE FRUIT ... STRING FINGER ... come on!). JACK THE STRIPPER is mildly cute; the rest, shrug. And the fill. Pretty lousy. I cannot believe that that TRUK / UTUBE fiasco was unavoidable (44A: Horseshoe-shaped lab item). The grid parameters just aren't that challenging. The whole thing smacks of laziness, esp. at the fill level. Then you've got the AGASP / AROAR crossing (abarf) and then junky stuff all over the place. Not the NYT puzzle's finest hour, by any stretch.


Theme answers:

• 17A: Private quarters in a stable? (STALL FOR ONE)
• 23A: Dallas tourists, perhaps? (TEXAS STRANGERS)
• 37A: Name for a bachelorette party performer? (JACK THE STRIPPER)
• 49A: Vacation spot for some who stop working? (STRIKERS ISLAND)
• 60A: Not saluting for quite some time? (STILL AT EASE)
  

Bullets:

• 15A: Moore who wrote "A Gate at the Stairs" (LORRIE) — ambivalence ... she is crossworthy, for sure, but she is only here (or in any puzzle) because of her friendly letters, and I don't like seeing her except where she's propping up something Very nice (in an otherwise very-difficult-to-fill section). LORRIE / ARRET is (yet) another inglorious crossing (7D: Stop over in Paris?). 
• 41A: Announcement that comes from an envelope (OSCAR) — timely, as the nominations just came out. I've seen practically nothing. "Bridesmaids." I saw that. I am familiar with every film and its cast because I make it my business to keep up with this stuff—important for solvers as well as constructors. I tear through my "Entertainment Weekly" as soon as I get it and write down all the interesting-looking names that I didn't previously know.VIOLA Davis, for instance, or Berenice BEJO.
• 5D: 1980s sitcom filmed with a puppet ("ALF") — he ate cats. My sister looked like sister on that show. My best friend in college liked (likes?) this show. I've never seen an episode all the way through. I associate ALF with MR. T. I don't know why.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Bret harte/mark twain play / THU 1-19-12 / 1994 Ray Liotta action film / Holy Roman emperor who succeeded father 973 / 1920s-40s baseballer / Big gobbler

Constructor: Derek Bowman and Sarah Keller 

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: TO-DO LIST (66A: Agenda ... or, together, what the seven starred clues and their answers constitute?) — all the starred clues have answers that are synonymous with "TO-DO" (i.e. "disturbance")

Word of the Day: "AH, SIN" (9D: Bret Harte/Mark Twain play) —

Ah Sin (1877), a play by Bret Harte, Mark Twain. [ Fifth Avenue Theatre, 35 perf.] Broderick (Edmund K. Collier), a “knave through circumstances over which he ought to have control,” attacks Uncle Billy Plunkett (P. A. Anderson), “the Champion Liar of Calaveras,” leaving him for dead and attributing the attack to mill owner York (Henry Crisp). Just as a lynch mob is about to hang York, the wily Chinaman Ah Sin (Charles T. Parsloe) solves the crime by connecting an incriminating coat to Broderick. The Augustin Daly production, developed from a character in Harte's poem, was a failure, but it is remembered because of the speech Mark Twain, dressed in white, gave at the end that many critics claimed was better than anything in the play. Sensing a poor reception, Mark Twain began by wryly telling the audience that the play was “intended rather for instruction than amusement” and suggesting, as an example, that “for the instruction of the young we have introduced a game of poker.”

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/ah-sin#ixzz1juDeJaQy

• • •

[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)]

• • •

Maybe it's just the 10 hours (!) sleep talking, but I *loved* this puzzle.  Thorny without being filled with annoying, obscure words; delightful in the broad subject range of its answers; and smart in its theme and the execution thereof. Very clever repurposing of "TO-DO." And So Many Theme Answers—all symmetrical, all *intersecting* other theme answers, and yet nowhere does the grid feel strained or awkward. The only thing that bugged me had nothing to do with the quality of the puzzle—why does HULLA have two "L"s but "BALOO" doesn't? My brain rejects this lack of "L" symmetry. I don't know who Derek Bowman is, but Sarah Keller is an old pro—though usually you see her stuff on Monday or Tuesday. Whatever they've got going is working and they should do it again sometime.




Theme answers:

• 1A: *Rumpus (BROUHAHA) — more spelling issues here. I mean, "OU?" It's not HOUPLA or HULLABALOU or HOUHAH, after all...
• 7D: *Hubbub (HURLY-BURLY)
• 16A: *Excitement (HOOHAH)
• 10D: *Turmoil (COMMOTION) — stands out like a sore thumb for being the one theme answer one might actually use unironically / unsillily.
  
• 32D: *Tumult (KERFUFFLE)
• 63A: *Foofaraw (HOOPLA)
• 30D: *Ruckus (HULLABALOO)  

With so little connection between the east and west halves of the grid, this really was like two different puzzles, though both ended up being about the same in terms of difficulty. I've been constructing puzzles over the past week (for eventual publication as well as for private clients) and I think being in constructing mode helps your solving brain, if only slightly. I used OAXACA in a clue yesterday (3D: Southern Mexican state), and I had to write a KSU clue a few days ago (P.S. almost all KSU clues are the same as this one—32A: The Wildcats of the N.C.A.A.). When you construct, you not only encounter all the words that eventually end up in your grid, but all the words that could've been in your grid, the ones you select, discard, put back in, spin around, write your friends about to see if they're good / terrible, etc. Anyway, I didn't need much special help or luck today, as the short answers were generally easy enough to give me significant purchase on the longer stuff. ANA and UNS in the NW, LMN and YMA near the middle, TAM and EBAY (51A: Web site that includes the heading "Dolls & Bears") in the SE. Do boxers have "matches" (25D: Match enders, briefly = TKOS)? I guess they do. But that's a word I associate more with soccer (aka football). Boxers have "bouts."




Bullets:

• 17A: Like the maximum-height New York City apartment building that's not required to have a fire evacuation plan (SIX-STORY) — I think I spent half my solving time reading this clue. Shouldn't every NYC building have, at least, a "plan" for getting people out of the building if it's burning?
• 28A: Inits. on many uniforms since 2002 (TSA) — good clue; had me stumped all the way.
• 34: Figure on Scotland's coat of arms (UNICORN) — I was looking for THISTLE, but luckily already had some important crosses, most notably the "U"
• 64A: They may be painted in a bathroom (TOENAILS) — I always imagine women doing this on the couch while watching soaps and eating bon-bons. Not accurate?
• 37D: Hungarian hero ___ Nagy (IMRE) — Crosswordese 102. Not much else available in the -MR- department. 
• 39D: 1994 Ray Liotta action film ("NO ESCAPE") — never heard of it, and yet I got it easily, off of "NOES-." I've been watching 1987 movies lately. I recommend seeing "Black Widow" (starring Debra Winger and Theresa Russell) and avoiding "The Bedroom Window" (starring a completely miscast Steve Guttenberg ... but also a frequently naked Isabelle Huppert, so ... you could choose to take the bad with the good, I guess). The fact that both movies have the initials "BW" is a complete coincidence, as far as I know.
• 45D: 1920s-'40s baseballer with a retired "4" (MEL OTT) — lack of any indication of how great he was left me searching for a much less legendary player. The fact of a retired no. doesn't tell me much about real greatness. No "Hall-of-Fame," no position, no team ... totally gettable, but not the gimme it might have been.
• 46D: Holy Roman emperor who succeeded his father in 973 (OTTO II) — [Holy Roman emperor who [some random bit of trivia that will clarify things for you not at all]]

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Old name of San Jose Sharks arena / THU 1-12-12 / Pet rat in 1972 #1 song / Popular Italian scooter / Veld flower

Constructor: Gareth Bain

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: CANADIAN PROVINCE (39A: What each of the 10 abbreviations in this puzzle's answer stands for) — rebus puzzle with 10 province abbrevs. arranged symmetrically around the grid

SK = Saskatchewan
MB = Manitoba
ON = Ontario
NB = New Brunswick
AB = Alberta
BC = British Columbia
QC = Québec
PE = Prince Edward Island
NL = Newfoundland and Labrador
NS = Nova Scotia

Word of the Day: La PLATA (1A: La ___ (Argentine city)) —

La Plata (English: The Silver) is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the 2001 census [INDEC], the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants. // La Plata was planned and developed to serve as the provincial capital after the city of Buenos Aires was federalized in 1880, and it was officially founded by Governor Dardo Rocha on 19 November 1882. Its construction is fully documented in photographs by Tomás Bradley Sutton. La Plata was renamed Eva Perón City (Ciudad Eva Perón) between 1952 and 1955. (wikipedia)

• • •

16 wide, heavily segmented, a jillion (give or take) black squares—these are the things I noticed first. I also knew very quickly (while still in that NW corner) that I was dealing with a rebus. Something just didn't smell right. Sure enough, ON fell into place, but then SK showed up and I had no idea what kind of rebus I was dealing with. It's not clear—are these postal abbrevs.? What kind of abbrevs.? Because I've seen most of these provinces abbreviated differently before (ONT, PEI, etc.). Even with the extra column in the grid, the 9 rebus squares is pretty impressive. I'd say the symmetry of those squares is also impressive (it is), but here's my feeling about symmetry and rebuses—unnecessary. In fact, unwanted. What fun is a rebus if you aren't going to be surprised by where the squares turn up (for half the grid, anyway)? The grid is good, but I can't help wondering if it would've been better if the rebuses hadn't been locked into place. The placement of the rebus square in both MARLO[N B]RANDO and COMPA[Q C]ENTER is gorgeous—right at the place where the first word ends and the second word begins. But ON and PE are just hugging the wall. Rebus square symmetry is nice for people who really struggle with rebuses, but for me it halfway defeats the fun. So I applaud the architecture, but .... give me scattershot rebus squares placed in interesting ways over strict symmetry any day.


The constructor really, really wants you to know he's from South Africa. So, in case you didn't gather that fact from the (at least) three different South Africa-oriented clues—[Windhoek-to-Pretoria dir.], [Andries Pretorius, e.g., who gave his name to a national capital], [Veld flower]—now I'm telling you directly. He's from South Africa. Nice guy.

Bullets:

• 27D: They're flicked (BICS) — I remember this from an old ad campaign, but I have not heard the expression "flick my BIC" in decades. 

• 65A: American Shakers founder (AN[NL]EE) — SW corner was threatening to be one of the toughest until I hit this answer. A very crossword-friendly name (in fact, I definitely  learned this bit of trivia from crosswords).
• 48A: Pet rat in a 1972 #1 song (BEN) — Michael Jackson. I think BEN was also a pet bear from a '60s TV series. He was "Gentle," by which I assume they mean "heavily drugged so as not to kill the actors."
• 67A: Popular Italian scooter (VESPA) — the epitome of mod-cool when I was in high school. Maybe at other times as well.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Grammy winner Elliott / THU 1-5-12 / Org featured in 1983's WarGames / Book after Zechariah / Miniscule lengths / Early gangsta rap group featuring Dr Dre

Constructor: Dan Schmiedeler

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: ALL FOR ONE / ONE FOR ALL (34A: With 21-Down, catchphrase that provides a hint to eight answers in this puzzle) — words with letter string "ALL" in them are clued as if they were words that had that same letter string replaced with "ONE"—and symmetrical vice versa

Word of the Day: ALTON B. Parker (19A: ___ B. Parker, Theodore Roosevelt's 1904 opponent for president) —

Alton Brooks Parker (May 14, 1852 – May 10, 1926) was an American lawyer, judge and the Democratic nominee for U.S. president in the 1904 elections. (wikipedia)

• • •

I imagine people will like this one, but all I see are lots of ONEs and ALLs—neither word very exciting, as fill goes. I do think the idea is clever, and despite the fact that the concept was easy to uncover, and gave away huge swatches of real estate in the grid, I still got turned around a few times, forgetting that the switch was on and instead writing the Same word in two different (symmetrical) places in the grid. So a puzzle that really should've been Easy came in a pretty solid Medium. Nothing very interesting in the grid, though I do sort of like both MALACHI (1D: Book after Zechariah) and TWEEZES (42D: Plucks, in a way). But DOUAI? (44A: French city near the Belgian border) OATSEED? (43D: Cereal grain) Those are pretty rough. What really stands out (badly), though, is the single longest partial I've ever seen: LESSER OF. The rule on partials is—not longer than five letters, except on rare occasions. I had assumed that on rare occasions that meant that a six might slide in. But eight. Eight is horrible. LESSER OF is not a valid answer.

Theme answers:

• 3D: Set up, as software (IN STONE) / 41D: Fixed (INSTALL)
• 4D: Schoolyard game (T-BONE) / 49D: Certain steak (T-BALL)
• 14A: "That was funny!" (GOODALL) / 59A: Jane who wrote "In the Shadow of Man" (GOOD ONE)
• 24A: Captivates (ENTHRONES) / 47A: Crowns (ENTHRALLS)

Bullets:

• 33A: Grammy winner Elliott (MISSY) — really feels like she's dropped off the map. Very big a decade+ ago.
• 37A: Org. featured in 1983's "WarGames" (NORAD) — "Shall we play a game?" Right in my teenage nerd wheelhouse.

• 46A: Early gangsta rap group featuring Dr. Dre (NWA) — I expect complaints here. They are not legitimate. This is one of the most influential rap groups of all time. Lots and lots and lots of profanity, so beware:

• 52A: Miniscule lengths (MILS) — I've only ever encountered this word in crosswords. It's now a gimme.
• 50D: Part of a Caesarean trio (VIDI) — Weird to see "Caeserian" used in non-birthing context—not that the clue was deceptive at all.
• 11D: Shells of shells (CASINGS) — Nice, tough (for me) clue. I kept looking for something pasta-related.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Rudy with megaphone / THU 12-29-11 / g2g follower / Muckracker Tarbell / Spanish muralist / Old bus maker / Zoological wings

Constructor: David Steinberg

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: PIZZAZZ — 17A: Start of a brainteaser whose answer appears in order, from top to bottom, in this puzzle's circled squares (NAME THE ONE / SEVEN-LETTER WORD / IN ENGLISH THAT / CANNOT BE PUT DOWN / IN SCRABBLE)

Word of the Day: Rudy VALLÉE (2D: Rudy with a megaphone) —

Rudy Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986) was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer. [...] Vallée became the most prominent and, arguably, the first of a new style of popular singer, the crooner. Previously, popular singers needed strong projecting voices to fill theaters in the days before the electric microphone. Crooners had soft voices that were well suited to the intimacy of the new medium of the radio. Vallée's trombone-like vocal phrasing on "Deep Night" would inspire later crooners such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Perry Como to model their voices on jazz instruments. // Vallée also became what was perhaps the first complete example of the 20th century mass media pop star. Flappers mobbed him wherever he went. His live appearances were usually sold out, and even if his singing could hardly be heard in those venues not yet equipped with the new electronic microphones, his screaming female fans went home happy if they had caught sight of his lips through the opening of the trademark megaphone he sang through. A brief caricature of him in the Fleischer Brothers' color Betty Boop theatrical short cartoon from 1934 Poor Cinderella depicts him singing through a megaphone. (wikipedia)

• • •

Before I even saw this puzzle I got an email about the puzzle from a fellow solver that consisted entirely of anguished exclamations. This is probably the only reason I wasn't unduly pained by the puzzle. I was pained. Just not unduly. Never did like the instructions-as-answers gimmick, and this is 63 squares worth of instructions. PIZZAZZ letters go in order from top to bottom, but they're a bit of a mess. And then there's the fill—I should be happy at the preponderance of crosswordese, because I destroyed this grid. ODAS, bam! SERT, bam! (60D: Spanish muralist) SDS, bam! Take that, SE corner. ALAE?! (4D: Zoological wings) Pfft, child's play. HOER!? I barely knoer! And yet instead of feeling happy at my success, I have that sickly feeling I imagine one has when one shoots a deer in one of those deer parks where they're essentially tame and you know you're gonna get one. No joy. I HEART is very inventive stuff (6D: Start of many a bumper sticker), but I don't have much to say about the rest of it. That NW corner, man ... nah, I'll just stop here. You get the idea.


Bullets:

• 1A: Wagner heroine (EVA) — needed every cross and just guessed at the "V" (at that point, I may have been thinking that Rudy VALLÉE was Frankie Valli, or else a Notre Dame cheerleader (I never saw the movie "Rudy," so I don't really know the details)
• 19A: City in the San Gabriel Valley (EL MONTE) — I lived in said Valley for four years. Have no recollection of a place called EL MONTE, even though it *is* the 51st largest city in California.
• 22A: John XI's successor (LEO VII) — a random LEO! Who doesn't like those!?
• 39A: 10th- to 12th-century Chinese dynasty (LIAO) — Yiao! Did not know.
• 50A: 1944 Sartre play ("NO EXIT") — one of the first works I ever read entirely in French. Most memorable quote: "L'enfer, c'est les autres."
• 48A: Muckraker Tarbell (IDA) — another crosswordese Hero. Sometimes I get "muckraker" and "Moonraker" confused in my head. Sometimes. A little.

• 46D: Person with a conical hat, maybe (WIZARD) — took me several stabs, despite the fact that I'm currently in the middle of reading "The Hobbit" 
• 56D: "g2g" follower (BYE) — apparently I do not text nearly enough, or with the right people. Had to ask what "g2g" meant after I was done. "Got to go" (or "gotta go").  BYE? Not C YA or something equally pithy? And why waste the keystroke on the "E." BY or BB (for bye-bye) would work just as well, I'd think.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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)

• • •

[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)]

• • •

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

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