Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle

Hi Puzzlers!!! It may be a new year but it's the same old Annabel you get on the first Monday of every mouth! My new year's resolution is to not accidentally type "mouth" instead of "month" like I just did there.

Constructor: Chuck Deodene

Relative difficulty: Hard!

THEME: PARTY DOWN — Circles hidden within Down clues spelled out synonyms for "party." Different ways to celebrate NYE, I guess!

Theme answers:

LI(FEST)YLE CHOICE (3D: Vegetarianism or bohemianism)
RADIO (GALA)XY (5D: Source of faraway X-rays)
WA(BASH) RIVER (25D: Indiana/Illinois separator)
SCHOOL CA(FETE)RIA (11D: Spot for a food fight)
PARTY DOWN (21D: Really revel...or a hint to the words formed by the circled letters)

Word of the Day: RADIO GALAXY (5D: Source of faraway X-rays) —

Radio galaxies and their relatives, radio-loud quasars and blazars, are types of active galaxy that are very luminous at radio wavelengths, with luminosities up to 10³⁹ W between 10 MHz and 100 GHz.^[1] The radio emission is due to the synchrotron process. The observed structure in radio emission is determined by the interaction between twin jets and the external medium, modified by the effects of relativistic beaming. The host galaxies are almost exclusively large elliptical galaxies. Radio-loud active galaxies can be detected at large distances, making them valuable tools for observational cosmology. Recently, much work has been done on the effects of these objects on the intergalactic medium, particularly in galaxy groups and clusters.

(Wikipedia)

• • •

HOLY moly, this puzzle gave me so much trouble!! I was stuck in the center (around 29) and the bottom right corner for about a million years. I've never been good with US geography, and how am I supposed to know anything about DVD brands when they haven't been relevant since I was about eight years old?!? Oh well, maybe I'm just DENSE. I did like the double meaning of "web," and all the vaguely scientific words like GENE, ATOMS, IONS and of course RADIO GALAXY. It reminded me of the five seconds around the beginning of freshman year when I wanted to be a bio major. (Sorry, bio, but four years of reading eighteenth-century poetry mixed with emotional feminist texts won out.)

By the way, what was up with TOBACCOS? Is that really the plural of TOBACCO?

The theme was cool - I'm always happy when the theme includes Downs so the down-only solvers get to take part in the fun! Once I got LIFESTYLE CHOICE my sister and I were convinced the theme answers would be FEST / IVAL / OF LI / GHTS as a late Chanukah celebration. Oh well. What kind of FESTs, GALAs, BASHes and FÊTEs did you all have the other night? All I did was go to a friend's house to watch the ball drop, but it was probably the best party I'd been to in years because she had two big, droopy mastiffs which were absolutely adorable. Watching the ball drop paled in comparison to watching the big cute dogs play.

Bullets:

HAITIAN (14A: Port-au-Prince resident) — Tragically, I am no longer able to mentally pronounce this word correctly because of Clueless. However, I would like to remind everyone that it does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty! :p
CICADAS (65D: 17-year insects) — I still think cicadas are about the coolest bugs ever. First of all, they have TWO separate Pokèmon lines based on them, so you know they have to be good...second of all, the latest cicada summer happened when I was a kid so I have all these memories of trees absolutely covered in cicada shells. I think we used to play with them like they were dolls. Kinda morbid, when you think about it now, but oh well.
NECK (56D: Part bitten by a vampire) — Am I the only one who thought this meant "partly bitten by a vampire"? Like a half-vampire or something? I was so confused and I spent about ten minutes racking my brain for all the vampire lore I knew, all the while wondering how being partly bitten by a vampire would even work. The vampire just bites you with one fang? You can turn into a bat but only on Wednesdays? You don't drink blood, you just eat really rare steaks?
LAYLA (39D: Classic Eric Clapton song about unrequited love) — Believe it or not (okay, you probably believe it, because I didn't even know the DVD thing) I actually didn't know this song. So here's some Eric Clapton to brighten up your day.

Signed, Annabel Thompson, tired college student.

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Constructor:Michael Shteyman

Relative difficulty:Challenging (mid-4s)

THEME: ATANDT (44D: Communications giant ... or a possible title of this puzzle)— themers are two-word phrases where first word starts "AT-" and second word starts "T-":

Theme answers:

ATLANTIC TIME (20A: Puerto Rico clock setting)
ATHLETIC TRAINER (37A: Fitness pro)
ATOMIC THEORY (54A: Basis of particle physics)

Word of the Day:SKODA(43A: Czech-made auto that's part of the Volkswagen Group) —

Škoda Auto (Czech pronunciation:[ˈʃkoda] (listen)), more commonly known as Škoda, is a Czech automobile manufacturer founded in 1895 as Laurin & Klement. It is headquartered in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic. // In 1925 Laurin & Klement was acquired by Škoda Works which itself became state owned during the communist regime. After 1991 it was gradually privatized and in 2000 Škoda became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. // Initially, the company was meant to serve the role of the VW Group’s entry brand. Over time, however, the Škoda brand has shifted progressively more upmarket, with most models overlapping with their Volkswagen counterparts on price and features, while eclipsing them on space. Its total global sales reached 1.06 million cars in 2015 and had risen annually by 1.8 percent, profit had risen by 6,5%. In 2015, a corporate strategy was launched to produce an all-electric car by 2020 or 2021 with a range of over 500 kilometres (310 mi), 15-minute charging time, and a cost below comparative combustion-engine vehicles. (wikipedia)

• • •

This puzzle is stunningly bad. There are so many levels on which it is bad ... here, let me count them. First, there's the theme, which would be merely blah (FLAT, if you will) were it not for the flaming dumpster of a revealer. No one has ever written ATANDT that way. And this will surprise you—Not Even In Crosswords. At least according to the cruciverb database, this stylization is Completely ... well, I guess you could say "original," but that word has certain positive connotations I wish not to convey here. Placement of revealer is awkward, but not 1/10 as awkward as writing ATANDT that way. But we're just getting started. The fill—esp. for a Tuesday—is ridiculous. Both inappropriate to the day And atrocious. LORAIN? LEOVII? APTNO!? That's only the truly repulsive; that's not even starting in on the copious amounts of over-familiar dreck you might clogging any old (and I mean old) puzzle, e.g. ELHI, PALO, OSS, HAHA, and on and on and on. Where am I on my bad-count, I lost track. Three? Who cares, there's more. The Scrabble-f***ing is an embarrassment: naked, repeated, and entirely deleterious. That impulse to crowd the grid with high-value Scrabble tiles always, Always leads to disaster. Tell me that "Q" in the NW corner (god it hurts even to look at it) is worth it, for the QTR / UAE / ABA run we have to endure to get it. You can't. You can't tell me it's worth it unless you enjoy lying. And then ... nice "Z" I guess, but it gets us a bleeping ZIMA, which leads me to another issue: what year is it? One where LOCAL CALL is a thing that makes sense? Where you drink your ZIMA and play with your ENIAC and shop at KB TOYS (Which Don't Exist Anymore) (where's a "bygone" when you need one!?) (52A: Chain of children's stores founded by the Kaufman brothers (hence its name)). Yikes.

Still more trouble: [Fitness pro] is way, way, way too vague a clue for ATHLETIC TRAINER, esp. on a Tuesday. Lots of non-Tuesdayness (incl. some not-bad (and tough) "?" clues like [Dead-tired?] for FLAT, which I would've loved to encounter ... on, say, a Thursday). And finally there's SKODA. [cough] [cough] [wind blows through trees] [a raven croaks in the distance]. For me—and I won't be alone here—this is not an answer so much as a random assortment of letters. How do I know I won't be alone here? Well, this "Czech-made auto"—like ATANDT—is not in the cruciverb database. At all. So, it's a Tuesday, and we get a brand that has literally never appeared in a major crossword before. And not just a brand, but a brand that, per wikipedia, can be found "Worldwide" (ooh, that's promising) ... "except North America" (o... k). Now, I know this doesn't apply to all of you, but I happen to be solving this puzzle in North America, and the NYT is based in North America. As a solver I have to know many things that have nothing to do with North America, and that's as it should be. But this is a ridiculous ask. On any day of the week, but especially on a Tuesday. This is not cleverness, or inventiveness. This is poor fill. Just poor. The constructor is not a novice. He's a veteran. I have no idea how a puzzle breaks down this badly. Or why it's allowed to. Happy ongoing new year.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor:Samuel A. Donaldson

Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium

THEME: dentist humor—familiar phrases clued as if they had something to do with the dentist:

Theme answers:

FIRST IMPRESSION (17A: The new dentist wanted to make a good ...)
BRIDGE LOAN (24A: The dentist helped the patient afford the visit with a ...)
BRUSH PILES (45A: The dentist sorted all the bristled instruments into ...)
YOU KNOW THE DRILL (58A: When it was time for the filling, the dentist asked for, well, ...)

Word of the Day:LEK(33A: Albanian currency) —

The lek (Albanian: Leku Shqiptar; plural lekë) (sign: L; code: ALL) is the official currency of Albania. It is subdivided into 100 qindarka (singular qindarkë), although qindarka are no longer issued. (wikipedia)

• • •

OH GEE, one of these. Actually, it's fine. Cornball, but fine as cornball goes. Seems like you coulda squeezed a Sunday-sized puzzle out of this theme, what with all the punnable dentistry terms you left on the table—CROWN, RINSE, OPEN, CAPS, GUM, etc. But maybe it's best you didn't. Unless your puns kill, there's no reason to go on. There's only one pun that kills today—and it must've been the inspiration for the whole thing—and that's YOU KNOW, THE DRILL. I think it would've been funnier clued as some kind of phrase of introduction at a dental tool cocktail party. Or something the dentist says in explaining one of the drill's many wacky escapades. But this way, with the comma, is fine too. I honestly never saw the clue. At that point I knew the theme, saw THE DRILL at the end, and inferred (correctly) the rest. I also never resaw (!) the first theme clue between the time I first looked at it and the time I filled it in. Totally forgot it by that point. Speaking of resaw, RESLIDE. That was fun. RESLIDE is the RECARVE of 2017 (I think RECARVE was the RECARVE of, like, 2009—you'll have to ask Caleb Madison, who perpetrated RECARVE as a teenager). Anyway, RESLIDE is so stupid I'm not even mad.

RUBLE (25D: Belarussian money) and SABRE (30D: Buffalo pro) both give me the yips when I try to write their last two letters. Part of my brain wants RUBEL and SABER (the latter being, of course, a valid word). Today I nailed RUBLE but flubbed SABRE. Weird that they're symmetrical... anyway, moving on. I have begin keeping running lists for 2017. One is "Great ? Clues" and the other is "Let's Not Do That Ever Again" aka "The Most Wanted (Out Of My Crossword) List." Not sure there are any "great" ? clues today, though [Bee ball?] for SWARM sure stumped me. I was in the middle of typing "I don't understand the pun involved there..." when I realized it's B-BALL, as in, short for "basketball." My main mistake there was imagining that the bees were dancing. I do have my first word for the "Let's Not ..." list, though, and it's LEK. Kill it with a shovel and then use that shovel to dig a hole and bury it (alongside LEU, if possible) (LEK = Albanian, LEU = Romanian, good luck remembering the distinction). Minor foreign currencies are menaces to crossword society and I'm putting them on notice. The rest of the puzzle was mostly easy, but not remembering the LEK/LEU distinction made seeing GO KAPUT hard (I wrote in GO UNDER, briefly), and that insane clue on (ugh) MUS wasn't doing me any favors (37D: M M M) so the center was probably the worst trouble spot of the day. Still, not too much trouble. Otherwise, fill is average to below average, with far too much crosswordese clogging up the corners (DYAN AONE ANKA NESS and YUKS in a single corner? There's gotta be a better way...).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor:Ed Sessa

Relative difficulty:Medium (leaning toward Medium-Challenging for me)

THEME: Jack-in-the (BLACK) -box— words or phrase parts that require you to imagine JACK is in a preceding/subsequent BLACK square in order for the answer to make sense:

Theme answers:

YOU DON'T KNOW [JACK] POT (17A: *Put-down to an ignorant person / 19A: *"Bingo!")
[JACK] O'LANTERN (24A: *Headless horseman's prop)
BOOT [JACK] BLACK [JACK] PINE (38A: *Tool for removing heavy footwear / 39A: *Comic actor / *Card game ... or a hint to the answers to the starred clues / 40A: *Slender tree of northern North America)
MONTEREY [JACK] (49A: *Quesadilla cheese)
CAR [JACK] OF ALL TRADES (58A: *Trunk item / 59A: *Versatile worker)

Word of the Day:ABEL Tesfaye a.k.a. R&B's the Weeknd(31D) —

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born 16 February 1990), known professionally as The Weeknd (pronounced "the weekend"), is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. In late 2010, Tesfaye anonymously uploaded several songs to YouTube under the name "The Weeknd". He released three nine-track mixtapes throughout 2011: House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence, which were critically acclaimed. The following year, he released a compilation album Trilogy, thirty tracks consisting of the remastered mixtapes and three additional songs. It was released under Republic Records and his own label XO. // In 2013, he released his debut studio album Kiss Land, which was supported by the singles "Kiss Land" and "Live For". His second album, Beauty Behind the Madness, which became his first number one album on the US Billboard 200, included the top-three single "Earned It" and produced the number-one singles "The Hills" and "Can't Feel My Face". The songs have simultaneously held the top three spots on the BillboardHot R&B Songs chart, making him the first artist in history to achieve this. The Weeknd has won two Grammy Awards and has been nominated for an Academy Award. In September 2016, the release of the third album, Starboy was announced, along with the release of the single "Starboy" which subsequently reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. (wikipedia)

• • •

Two problems today, one mine, one not mine. First, mine: my wheelhouse is very far from this puzzle. I couldn't see my wheelhouse from this puzzle. I just don't know the things that this puzzle thinks I should know. SACHS meant jack to me (at 1A!) (1A: Half of a Wall Street firm since 1882). I was all "uh ... Standard & Poors ... Dunn & Bradstreet ... Brooks & Dunn ... Smith & Wesson ... dunno." What is a BOOT Jack? Don't know. What is a Jack PINE? Don't know. That damn OSLER guy again? (50D: William ___, physician who championed bedside training) Couldn't call him up. Then there's the hilarious clue on ABEL, which I *know* the constructor doesn't know because I don't know who knows that. I bet 50+% of y'all have never heard of The Weeknd at all, and I damn sure know you didn't know his real first name. I own one of his albums and I didn't know his real name. That clue is hilarious. How bad do you want a new ABEL clue? Apparently *that* bad. Come on, man. THE WEEKND, his fame name, hasn't even been in the puzzle before, and you're gonna ask for his birth name? Please. (I actually don't hate the clue—it's just I'd lay dollars to donuts that it's the most not-known thing in the grid by several country miles).

So there was just stuff I didn't know. My problem. Then there's the puzzle's (multiple) problems. The craftsmanship is just ... lacking. There's no real purpose to this. JACK here, JACK there. I couldn't see any rhyme or reason as to where the JACK went in relation to the answer (front or back). Plain old "BLACK" doesn't do much except tell me I'm supposed to imagine JACK is in (?) the black square preceding or following the answer, but since JACK doesn't work in the cross, the effect isn't so much "ooh, it's in the BLACK square" as it is "ooh, it's ... not ... there." It's mildly cool that the central answer can have JACK on either end. And it's neat that on three Across rows, the JACK squares do double-duty (following and preceding a themer). But then that neatness is undone by the O'LANTERN and MONTEREY rows, where that *doesn't* happen. Sigh. Longer Downs are solid. Beyond that, problems. I mean, problems. The fill is ghastly. Crusty and dated and partial as [bleeeeep]! WILEE OSOLE ACUT? Brutal. UIE (esp. with that spelling), always painful (37A: It may be pulled on a road). REA EDY MMI AMOI APOLO SOYA (again!) ASA CUER ... stand-alone VEY! Oy, indeed. Clean up! Clean this damn grid up. Throwing in one (ridiculous) reference to a contemporary music star is not nearly enough to modernize or otherwise spiff this thing up.

Some things about the grid were easy, but others? Clue on TILER was so vague that I had -ILER and wasn't sure what letter went there (6A: One working on hands and knees). I thought the work was being done *to* the hands and knees. To me a jack (the one used to elevate one's car) is a jack. There is a jack in my car. "CARjack" is what happens when someone points a gun at you and then takes your car. Clue on CODE felt off (32D: "Longtime companion" for "same-sex partner," once). I know there's a movie called "Longtime Companion," but all I could think was "euphemism."CODE seems like something requiring real specialized / insider knowledge to understand.

Bonus material—two snapshots of my solving process. First, the NW:

Here you can see I went for the nicer-feeling, more common-seeming ON ICE rather than IN ICE (15A: How fish is shipped, often). You can also see I have no idea what's going on with TILER. And then here's where I got semi-stuck near the end, trying to get into the SW:

SEND OFF? DASH OFF? That was tough. I had to reboot with ... I forget, EDY, probably ... in order to get going again (though if I'd looked at the SNOWE clue, I would've known that one right away too).

See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor:Jacob Stulberg

Relative difficulty:Medium-Challenging (the NE alone took it into "Challenging" territory for me)

THEME: none

Word of the Day:LEE ANN Womack(38A: Singer Womack with the 2000 hit "I Hope You Dance") —

Lee Ann Womack (born August 19, 1966) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Her 2000 single, "I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her signature song. // When Womack emerged as a contemporary country artist in 1997, her material resembled that of Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette,^[2] except for the way Womack's music mixed an old fashioned style with contemporary elements. Her 2000 album I Hope You Dance had an entirely different sound, using pop music elements instead of traditional country. It wasn't until the release of There's More Where That Came From in 2005 that Womack returned to recording traditional country music. (wikipedia)

• • •

This was a fairly ordinary Friday puzzle for a while, and then I hit the NE and (due solely to the sequence in which I read / tried answers) all of my wheels came off. I very rarely get "stuck" on Fridays, in the true sense of "absolutely not moving,""in freefall," etc. but that happened in the NE repeatedly today. And since I wasn't that warmly disposed toward the puzzle before hitting the NE—I have a tenacious and virulent prejudice against "ONE'S" answers, and BOWL A STRIKE was doubly terrible in that it seemed like Not the right phrase (bowlingball.com (!) uses "throw a strike"), *and* its clue was trying to do that cutesy faux-clever thing where it echoes the phrasing of a nearby (in this case, a crossing) clue (in this case, SPARE (48D: Get 10 from two?)). Also there were a handful of those how-do-you-spell-it proper nouns you often seen in crosswords—e.g. KEENEN, ODAMAE—that make solving irritating. But most of the rest of it was holding up OK. Nothing exciting, nothing terrible. And, in fact, that's pretty much how I felt about the puzzle at the end of it all. It's just that "average" puzzles are a lot less pleasant to solve when you hit a brick wall, and so solving pleasure plummeted once I hit the NW. It's not that struggle is a bad thing. It can be a very satisfying thing when the answers that fall into place make you think "Ooh, good one." And there was one of those in the NW, but too many of the others made me go "Oh ... really?" But as I said up front, in an alternate universe (such as you might find in, say, DC COMICS—that was the "good one," btw: 12D: Flash source), I would've sailed through this in half the time it took me. See if you can spot the tiny, lethal mistakes:

I did the fairly routine solving thing where you put in the terminal "S" for a plural. This is a useful habit ... sometimes. Today, the cautionary tale. With plurals, mostly "S," ... but sometimes "I" (and sometimes something totally different like "N," but more on that some other time). You can also see that yet another how-do-you-spell it name gave me trouble, as I had LEEANN's name written with a terminal "E" for some reason (38A: Singer Womack with the 2000 hit "I Hope You Dance")—that was better than my earlier guess, CEE CEE (I confused Womack with Winans. Whoops) (Also, for the record, it's CECE, not CEECEE Winans). You should also mentally add YTD to this grid at 16A: Fig. in annual reports, because I had that in there for a bit too. Sigh. Now if I had just started with CAV (18A: Quicken Loans Arena athlete, for short) and then looked at 14D: Peaceful protests, I feel very certain that the "V" alone would've given me LOVE-INS (14D: Peaceful protests), and that corner would've been much much easier. Still hard, but solving the terminal "I" thing alone at 25A would've been huge. But instead I had YTD in there and that wrong terminal "S" and so pfft.

Other clues were hard as hell. 12A: Browsing letters ... that could be lots of things (also, is DSL still a thing? I've had a cable modem forever so I have no idea). The "Fig." in "annual reports" was a CEO!? Again, hyper-vague cluing. What the hell is a "snuffer" I wondered, til the bitter end. SNUFFER is one of those horrible made-up -ER words that constructors try to foist on you from time to time, like GAGGER or DISLIKER. Without that "W,"LOW-END (an adjective!?) became near-impossible. And, ugh, I had so many wrong things for 21A: "No way" man (JOSÉ). most notably ANTI (?). Without the "J,"JULIAN became near-impossible (misspelling of LEEANN was also screwing things up there). And then the very fine DC COMICS clue was also hard. Phew. First thing to fall for me, into all that emptiness (besides CAV) was AEOLIAN (29A: Windblown)—I had had Coleridge's harp in my head from the second I looked at that clue, but somehow all my first thought were AER... something. This made terminal "S" problem look like a problem, and from there LOVE-INS fell. Usually, at that point, the whole corner crumbles. Not here. I inched my way, limply (and fittingly) back to LOW-END. At that point, I could remember none of the rest of the puzzle, and my time was up in the Saturday range. Oh well.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

PS in BOWL A STRIKE's ... let's say, defense ... artofmanliness.com (!!) says BOWL A STRIKE

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor:Roland Huget

Relative difficulty:Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day:"REAL TV"(31A: 1990s "caught on tape" series) —

Real TV (commonly known as America's Best Caught on Tape) is a reality television program that ran in syndication from September 9, 1996 to September 7, 2001. It aired footage of extraordinary events that were usually covered in mainstream news. It was often played on Spike TV and the Fox Reality Channel. It is currently airing on Decades.

• • •

Hey, this one was pretty good. Suitably tough, with clever, occasionally "?" clues that mostly landed. Def some gunk in the short stuff, but easy to ignore today. Solved in mostly the same pattern today as yesterday (starting in NW, swinging down and around and ending in the NE), but much more fluidly. Lots of wrestling, but no freefalls. As usual, the hardest part was getting off the ground. Thought I had it at first when I dropped TOILE RIFE URU in succession, but ... you can see the problem already. I do not know from fabrics and am Never gonna know. TULLE, toile, moire (is that one?), on and on. No hope. TULLE is netting (4D: Veil material). TOILE is canvas. But TOILE *sounds* like the netting one. It sounds light and airy, as opposed to TULLE, which sounds ... dull. You can see my brain has put up a terrible roadblock here. I also tried TRITE instead of STALE (19A: Overused), so that didn't help. Figured out I was dealing with a RUB, but straight-up MEAT never occurred to me. SPICE, DRY ... but no. Just MEAT. Broke through with SOULFUL and then the makes-me-feel-guilty-for-knowing-it ECOTYPE (2D: Subspecies of a distinct geographical variety). Most ECO- words (see also ECOCIDE, ugh) I have only ever seen in crosswords. This one included. Managed to finish NW in OK time, but as you can see, every corner is horribly sequestered (only two tiny ways in and out), so I essentially had four mini-puzzles left to solve.

A word about bygone pop culture. I have no problem with bygone, but bygone and utterly insignificant—there, I got problems. "REAL PEOPLE" was a big deal. "REAL TV" ... was not. Just reading the wikipedia description there makes me sad. It's the STALE Cinnabon of wikipedia entries. Like ... the show wasn't really good to start with, but *maybe*, in its day, you'd've eaten it just 'cause it was there ... but *now*? Nah. Pass. Don't remind me. Get that ISH up out of here. "REAL TV"? Come on, man.

I like SPACE-TIME a lot (21D: What a wormhole is a tunnel in). I like ARE WE GOOD? (35A: "No hard feelings?") though I usually hear it in its cropped form, "WE GOOD?" The ARE version is real enough, though, so no problem. WIFI ZONE feels odd to my ears. I think in terms of HOTSPOTS. I see that "zone" exists, but that answer didn't stick the landing. This is the result of trying to make gratuitous "Z"s happen, smh. All non-Morales EVOs are pretty bad, but the answer I want to add to the "Let's Not" list is our good old friend (that no one ever says except as a suffix) ADE(S). If I could ban, I would ban. Ooh, you can keep it if you clue it as [Nigerian musician King Sunny ___]. Otherwise, to the curb.

Bullets:

11D: Banquets (DINES)— what, you want me to believe "Banquets" is a verb? Don't be like that. That's just ridiculous.
42D: Old Scratch, with "the" (EVIL ONE)— Got held up because I confused Old Scratch with Old Sod and tried to make some form of IRELAND work. EVIL ONE is not a phrase any constructor would willingly use. It's a database suggestion with commonish letters, alternative vowel consonant. See also ANILINE, ugh.
39D: Ingredient in Pringles Light (OLESTRA)— this was a gateway answer, i.e. a long answer I was able to throw into an as-yet empty section that gave me all the traction I needed. See also IPAD APP in the NE (8A: Angry Birds starting in 2010, e.g.)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor:Peter Broda and Erik Agard

Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium

THEME:"The Downsizing of Nathaniel Ames"— familiar multi-word phrases where first word is reimagined as if it were first initial + last name of a famous person (this is also the key to understanding the title):

Theme answers:

CLOVE (i.e. C. Love) CIGARETTES (20A: Things smoked by singer Courtney?)
PROSE POETRY (31A: "Charlie Hustle is my name / I am banned from Hall of Fame," e.g.?)
SCURRY AWAY (56A: Hoopster Steph not playing at home?)
MALI EMPIRE (73A: The sport of boxing in the 1960s and '70s, essentially?)
CHART TOPPER (100A: Hat for pop singer Corey?)
THANKS IN ADVANCE (112A: Two-time Best Actor winner arriving early?)
CROCK POT (3D: Something smoked by comic Chris?)
SHARPER IMAGE (8D: Photo of Canada's former prime minister Stephen?)
CHANDLER BING (61D: Cherry for talk show host Chelsea?)
VICE UNIT (86D: Entourage of a 1990s white rapper?) (Vanilla Ice)

Word of the Day:SUN RA(18A: Old bandleader with an Egyptian-inspired name) —

Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, legal nameLe Sony'r Ra; May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993) was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1979. For much of his career, Ra led "The Arkestra", an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up. [...] Though his mainstream success was limited, Sun Ra was a prolific recording artist and frequent live performer, and remained both influential and controversial throughout his life for his music and persona. He is now widely considered an innovator; among his distinctions are his pioneering work in free improvisation and modal jazz and his early use of electronic keyboards. Over the course of his career, he recorded dozens of singles and over one hundred full-length albums, comprising well over 1000 songs, and making him one of the most prolific recording artists of the 20th century. Following Sun Ra's death in 1993, the Arkestra continues to perform. (wikipedia)

• • •

SPECIAL MESSAGEfor the week of January 8-January 15, 2017

Hello, solvers. A new year has begun, and that means it's time for my week-long, once-a-year pitch for financial contributions to the blog. The idea is very simple: if you read the blog regularly (or even semi-regularly), please consider what it's worth to you on an annual basis and give accordingly. In making this pitch, I'm pledging that the blog will continue to be here for you to read / enjoy / grimace at for at least another calendar year, with a new post up by 9:00am (usually by 12:01am) every day, as usual. Despite my regular grumbling about puzzle quality, constructor pay, and other things that should be better in the world of crosswords, I still love solving, I still love writing about puzzles, and I love love love the people I meet and interact with because of this blog. Well, most of them. Some I mute on Twitter, but mostly: there is love. The blog turned 10 in September, and despite the day-in, day-out nature of the job, I can't foresee stopping any time soon. The community of friends and fellow enthusiasts are all just too dear to me. You can expect me to be here every day, praising / yelling at the puzzle—independent and ad-free. Some people refuse to pay for what they can get for free. Others just don't have money to spare. All are welcome to read the blog—the site will always be open and free. But if you are able to express your appreciation monetarily, here are two options. First, a Paypal button (which you can also find in the blog sidebar):
Second, a mailing address:

Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton, NY 13905

All Paypal contributions will be gratefully acknowledged by email. All snail mail contributions (I. Love. Snail mail!) will be gratefully acknowledged with hand-written postcards. This year's cards are "Cookery Postcards from Penguin"—beautifully designed covers of vintage cookbooks, with provocative titles like "Cookery For Men Only " (!) or "Good Meals from Tinned Foods" (!?). Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just say NO CARD. As I say in every thank-you card (and email), I'm so grateful for your readership and support.

Now on to the puzzle!

---------------------------

Wow. A rollercoaster of emotions. First, I saw the byline and got Very excited, as Erik Agard is one of my favorite constructors. Peter Broda is also very good, but it seems like a long time since I've seen his byline. Anyway, I know them both and they are smart, funny, careful constructors, so I was psyched. Then ... the NYT had technical glitches with the puzzle. Again. "The World's Best Puzzle" everyone! So when I opened my .puz file I got ... this:

Just ... nothing. There's the title, but the grid, the clues ... not there. So I thought fine, I'll solve it in the browser. But not much more luck there. I did manage to see the clues, but grid: still gone. So I opted for the "Print newspaper version" option and solved on paper like some kind of animal. My handwriting is so bad that even I can't stand it. I mean look:

[AWK]

But the good news was that I *did* manage to get the puzzle and it was delightful. Simple, quirky, funny, weird, incredibly dense with themers, clean, modern, interesting. Just nice. I will say that SNES (68A: Sega Genesis competitor, in brief) is a terrible answer to look at, and ERM (104A: "Uhh..."), while real, is almost too improvised for my tastes (though I've been reading a lot of "Krazy Kat" lately, so I'm getting acclimated to improvised spellings). But any infelicities in the grid are pretty minor, *especially* when you consider the insane layout of the themers. They interlock like mad. I can't remember seeing anything like it. Six Acrosses, four Downs, and every themer intersects at least one other. Bonkers. S.HARPER IMAGE intersects Three Other Themers (ditto C.HANDLER BING, obviously). And then there are these weird red decoys in the NE / SW, long Downs that look like they're going to be themers for sure ... but then aren't. The whole enterprise is unusual, original, and very well crafted.

I did not fully grasp the theme at first. I got C.LOVE CIGARETTES fast, but I didn't get that "C." was an initial (for "Courtney"). I saw LOVE in there, but wondered what C. CIGARETTES were and what kind of wordplay was going on. Further, I thought the theme was going to be smoking, because the first two themers I saw were clued that way ([Things smoked by ...] and then on C.ROCK POT, [Something smoked by ...]). Plus the initial letter of both those themers was "C." So I started with 2 x smoke and 2 x "C" and just shrugged and plowed on. Wasn't til S.HARPER IMAGE that I got the whole first-initial idea. I don't know what the M.ALI EMPIRE is—that answer seemed like a big familiarity-outlier. But everything else was solid and funny, esp. the P.ROSE POETRY clue.

Bullets:

98D: Dude, in British lingo (BRUV)— I think this is like "bro" or its variant "bruh"; its appearance in the grid makes me happy. Fun with language! I also enjoyed NUJAZZ (though I wanted NUJACK, for reasons known only to early '90s me) and MIX CDS (a lovely phenomenon and lost art). I am just trusting that URL HIJACKING is a real thing because the puzzle tells me it is; I'm not mad because it was highly guessable.
46A: Televangelist Joel (OSTEEN)— I could see this guy's horrid mug but his name was blocked because of *&$^&$*% Haley Joel OSMENT.
17A: Fish whose name is a celebrity's name minus an R (OPAH)— I love this clue so much I want to adopt it. If you gotta use some crosswordesey fish, give us a clue so good-naturedly absurd that I don't even mind.
26A: Game involving sharp projectiles and alcohol (BEER DARTS)— Is this like BEER POOL and BEER YAHTZEE and BEER GAMES I PLAY WHILE DRUNK? Seriously, how is this different from just drinking beer while playing darts? As with URL HIJACKING, I'm just gonna trust that it's a real thing.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Annabel has been blogging the first puzzle of every month for over two years now, but only today (Saturday) did I finally get to meet her in person. She and her mom just happened to be driving through. We had a lovely long lunch.

[Bell and me]

[lady in the middle is Bell's mom, Liz; they brought me Bergers cookies, which are apparently some kind of a Baltimore thing—lots of chocolate icing. Pretty delicious.]

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor:Neville Fogarty

Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium

THEME: BED HEAD (39A: Result of failure to comb the hair after sleep, maybe ... or a feature of 17-, 25-, 49- or 61-Across)— theme answers all start with a size of bed, thus there's a BED at the HEAD of each answer:

Theme answers:

TWIN PEAKS (17A: 1990s TV series about a murder in a town in Washington)
FULL HOUSE (25A: K-K-K-5-5, e.g., in poker)
QUEEN ANNE (49A: English monarch with a "lace" named after her)
KING COBRA (61A: Hooded snake)

Word of the Day:NOAA(14A: U.S. weather agcy.) —

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA; pronounced /ˈnoʊ.ə/, like "Noah") is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. NOAA warns of dangerous weather, charts seas, guides the use and protection of ocean and coastal resources, and conducts research to improve understanding and stewardship of the environment. In addition to its civilian employees, 12,000 as of 2012, NOAA research and operations are supported by 500 uniformed service members who make up the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps. The current Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere at the Department of Commerce and the agency's administrator is Kathryn D. Sullivan, who was nominated February 28, 2013, and confirmed March 6, 2014. (wikipedia)

• • •

SPECIAL MESSAGEfor the week of January 8-January 15, 2017

As first-words themes go, this one was cute. Very nice wordplay in the revealer, and nice progression of bed sizes from smallest to largest. You could do this theme with FLOWER something, FEATHER something, OYSTER something, etc. But this incarnation has the virtue of simplicity and size progression. It's a tight theme. Simple, tight. That said, I had no idea what the theme was until I was done. I mean, I got BED HEAD and saw that it was the revealer, but was on to the next answer so fast that I didn't think about how the revealer worked. Sometimes going too fast has consequences, such as causing you, ultimately, not to go as fast as you would've liked. Today, though, no real issues w/ speeding past the revealer. Had real trouble right off the bat with NOAA, of which I have never heard. It has never been in a NYT crossword, I don't think. There's only one instance in the cruciverb database, and that's from a Boston Globe puzzle from almost 15 years ago. I couldn't even begin to guess what most of those letters stand for without looking NOAA up, so that answer is a Weird One, esp. esp. esp. for a Monday. It's a very real agcy., but ... looks more like the answer to the clue ["Does this take a D battery?" response, perhaps]. And yet, once I got it from crosses, I crossed my fingers and moved on. Quickly. Only hesitation/slowness came at the end because I typo'd UNSHORE instead of UNSHORN and so had the end of of the [English monarch...] themer as -NANEE (?). Had to back into that SW from the tail end of BORN FREE. Could not come up with AUGER from the terminal "R" (59A: Drilling tool) But I knew KYRIE (yay, sports) (67A: N.B.A. star ___ Irving), and so all was soon clear. 2:47. Just south of normal Monday time.

Here's a problem: Two SETs. A SET of SETs. Two SETs is one SET too (!) many. ALL SET. PRE-SET. Probably should've SET one of those aside. I bet NIKKI Haley is a debut (52D: Republican pol Haley from South Carolina). Might've been tricky, spelling-wise, but I already had the double-K in place before I looked at the clue. The AREA of REST AREA caused me to stop because STOP fits right where AREA sits and I was unsure (47A: Place to pull over on an interstate). I would say "when's the next REST STOP?" But I'm from California originally and we do weird things like put "the" before our highway numbers so you probably shouldn't listen to me. This was a solid puzzle. Nice Monday. See you Tuesday. Pray for atypical (i.e. good) Tuesday!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor:David Poole

Relative difficulty:Challenging (solid minute over my normal time)

THEME: OTHELLO (23A: Disc-flipping board game hinted at by a word ladder formed by the answers to the nine starred clues), also known as REVERSI (50A: Another name for 23-Across)— word ladder going from BLACK to WHITE because those are the colors on either side of an OTHELLO piece

Theme answers:

you can figure it out, I'm not even deigning to type the damn steps on the stupid ladder

Word of the Day:DANELAW(42D: Rules in force in England before the Norman Conquest) —

The Danelaw (also known as the Danelagh; Old English: Dena lagunema; Danish: Danelagen), as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the Danes held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. Danelaw contrasts West Saxon law and Mercian law. // Modern historians have extended the term to a geographical designation. The areas that constituted the Danelaw lie in northern and eastern England. // The Danelaw originated from the Viking expansion of the 9th century AD, although the term was not used to describe a geographic area until the 11th century AD. With the increase in population and productivity in Scandinavia, Viking warriors, having sought treasure and glory in the nearby British Isles, "proceeded to plough and support themselves", in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 876. (wikipedia)

• • •

SPECIAL MESSAGEfor the week of January 8-January 15, 2017

This was a quintessential Tuesday, i.e. a train wreck. Its wreckiness was worsened (for me) by being far tougher than it ought to have been, for all the wrong reasons (namely LEMAT—??????—and that entire NW corner, ugh). Bad fill, bad clues, and a godawful theme. I thought we agreed the word ladder was dead. Dead. Bye bye. Go away. There is no joy in you, word ladder. "Oooh, look how it goes from WHILE to WHITE!" said no one except LOCOS (which is not a word anyone uses at all, btw). GENL!? What is happening!? The fill is soooo bad. The NW is a disaster all on its own. LEMAT goes straight to the "Let's Not" list, where it will join ... LEK!!? Well, whaddya know? I've had the "Let's Not" list only one week and *already* a banned word has returned. LEK. I mean, LEK. Just ... LEK. Twice in 2017 already. LEK. AGA LEK. NIA LEK. EEO LEK. ERN LEK. ENIAC LEK. TEL LEK. MII LEK. ENT LEK. EPH LEK. ANO LEK. I can keep doing this! And why are we enduring this bad fill avalanche? Well, for one, no one cared to polish this thing. And for two, it's the damned joyless theme, which is dense and therefore taxes the grid tremendously. SLAPDASH, DANELAW, and KISSERS are the only things I would rescue from this thing.

[OMG this video! Macaulay Culkin and George Wendt!?]

But back to that NW for a second. On first pass I had AMASS (17A: Aggregate) and absolutely nothing else. Clue on KGS is absurdly vague (5D: Metric measures: Abbr.). Thought VAST might be RIFE (20A: Widespread). Couldn't come up with BRAVO at all (1D: "Congratulations!"). Wanted CASTE but didn't trust it. And about REBAG(14A: Switch from plastic to paper, say) ... OK, first, it's just bad fill. Second, [Switch from plastic to paper] is a tuh-errible clue. The switch from plastic to paper is a broad switch, a general switch, not a rebagging. Who actually literally removes things from a plastic bag to put them into a paper bag. What is the context of that? That is idiotic. Why did you put *&*%# in the plastic bag in the first place? And what are you gonna do with the empty plastic bag now, ya wastrel? It's nonsense. Like a sane person, I wanted some answer related to being eco-conscious. Also ... wait ... I'm sorry, I just caught plural TSKS (!?!?!) out of the corner of my eye and suddenly realized I can't go on expending energy on this puzzle. Inexcusable, this thing. STALE sits in the center of the grid, as if the puzzle knows. It knows exactly what it is. It knows.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor:Peter A. Collins

Relative difficulty:Medium

THEME:DNA— a single (?) strand of repeated letters "DNA" runs in a vaguely helical shape down the middle of the grid.

Theme answers:

WATSON (47D: Co-discoverer of the contents of the circled letters)
CRICK (4D: Co-discoverer of the contents of the circled letters)
DOUBLE / HELIX (11D: With 55-Down, form of the contents of the circled letters)

Word of the Day:BRINDISI(36D: Port city at one terminus of the Appian Way) —

Brindisi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈbrindizi] (listen); in the local dialect: Brìnnisi; Latin: Brundisium) is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Historically, the city has played an important role in trade and culture, due to its strategic position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city remains a major port for trade with Greece and the Middle East. Brindisi's most flourishing industries include agriculture, chemical works, and the generation of electricity. (wikipedia)

• • •

SPECIAL MESSAGEfor the week of January 8-January 15, 2017

Look, it's either DOUBLE / HELIX or it's not, and this isn't. Double, that is. You can't put DOUBLE / HELIX in your grid and then offer up a DNA strand that, while passably helical, is not in any way double. So the theme is D.O.A. It's a no. Doesn't work. Start over. Further, just putting CRICK& WATSON and DOUBLE and HELIX in the grid isn't very interesting. Add in a lot of cringe-worthy fill (MDLI over ROIS, for example) and you get a phenomenally mediocre Wednesday. I mean, LIBBER / ERO!?!? Gag. Seriously, was there no way to make that NE corner even minimally presentable? The worst part of this puzzle, however, was the BRINDISI / REAL GNP crossing. I've never heard of BRINDISI. It has 88K people—why on god's green should I have heard of it? Consider that ANCONA (another Italian city I've never heard of) has *408K*, and you can see how (comparatively) insignificant BRINDISI is. It's a jumble of letters. Fine, you're desperate, put it in your puzzle I guess ... but make sure the crosses are fair. Are you sure? Real sure? Because if I go to Google and type [real g], *this* is what happens:

That's because the infinitely more common concept / phrase is REAL GDP, not REAL GNP (52A: Inflation-adjusted econ. stat). And so you cross your obscure Italian town with an economic concept precisely at a fundamentally unguessable letter: Congratulations. Thousands upon thousands of people will screw this up, not because your puzzle was clever, or fiendish, or whatever you'd like to believe it to be, but because it was poorly constructed. Obscure towns are tolerable only if all crosses are fair. One of these crosses wasn't. The end.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor:Joe Krozel

Relative difficulty:Easy

THEME: Across the Grid Divide— in three rows of the puzzle, two sequential 3-letter Across answers are to be taken (per the clue of the following Across answer) as 6-letter words that have been divided.

Theme answers:

BUS TED APART (1st row)
BAN ANA SPLIT (8th row)
BRO KEN INTWO (15th row)

Word of the Day:MASERS(42D: Atomic clock components) —

A maser (/ˈmeɪzər/, an acronym for "microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation") is a device that produces coherent electromagnetic waves through amplification by stimulated emission. The first maser was built by Charles H. Townes, James P. Gordon, and H. J. Zeiger at Columbia University in 1953. Townes, Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov were awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for theoretical work leading to the maser. Masers are used as the timekeeping device in atomic clocks, and as extremely low-noise microwave amplifiers in radio telescopes and deep space spacecraft communication ground stations. (wikipedia)

• • •

SPECIAL MESSAGEfor the week of January 8-January 15, 2017

Fantastically underwhelming for a Thursday. A very straightforward and somewhat tired theme. The only vaguely interesting thing about the puzzle is the grid, with its unusual top/bottom symmetry and *non*-all-over interlock, i.e. the two sides of the grid are themselves "divided." I tried to make some sense of the shape of the black squares that divide the two sides from one another, hoping there was some deeper meaning here, but all I could come up with was some kind of awkward, asymmetrical ≠ sign. And so what are we left with? There are only three theme answers here. A non-whopping 33 squares of theme activity. Fill seems fine, but also completely unremarkable / uncurrent / uninteresting. And the the first and third themers are particularly weak. You could swap their final elements and the answers would seem equally adequate. BUSTED IN TWO. BROKEN APART. Yep. Same. BANANA SPLIT is the only one that's spot-on. Also, BUS/TED and BRO/KEN are self-descriptive. BUS/TED is busted, BRO/KEN is broken. Don't even need the following word. Then there's BANANA, which does. So you can see (I hope) how BANANA SPLIT is, in every way, the superior answer, putting the other ones to shame. That's a problem. I expect a ton more on a Thursday. Ambitious failures are better than this. There's barely a concept here, and not nearly enough thought and craftsmanship has been brought to bear to make this thing as intriguing as an NYT Thursday ought to be.

Sometimes I solicit opinion from 10 o'clock solvers (like me) on Twitter. The verdict tonight seems to be overwhelmingly "played like a Wednesday" and [shrug]. The only answer I had trouble with was MASERS (seen the word but had no idea what it meant til I looked it up just now), but the crosses were so easy that my progress wasn't slowed down much. I wrote in ECHO for 51D: Voice-activated assistant (SIRI), so that added a bit to my solving time as well. Would've been cool if the long Down (TRANSISTOR RADIO) could've had *something* to do with the theme (it does cross alllll the last words in the theme answers). But I don't think it's related to the theme. I think it's just an answer. I had TRANSISTOR RADIO in the '70s. Not sure what's so '50s about it. But sure, '50s, whatever. I did enjoy the clue on ARMHOLE (59A: What you might accidentally try to put your head through when getting into a sweater), but not much else. Here's hoping something livelier comes around the bend tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor:Andrew J. Ries

Relative difficulty:Easy

THEME: none

Word of the Day:WES Montgomery(13D: Jazzman Montgomery) —

John Leslie"Wes"Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of stroking the strings with the side of his thumb which granted him a distinctive sound.
He often worked with organist Jimmy Smith, and with his brothers Buddy (piano and vibes) and Monk (bass guitar). His recordings up to 1965 were generally oriented towards hard bop, soul jazz and post bop, while circa 1965 he began recording more pop-oriented instrumental albums that featured less improvisation but found mainstream success and could be classified as crossover jazz or early smooth jazz. (wikipedia)

• • •

SPECIAL MESSAGEfor the week of January 8-January 15, 2017

Wow, this was a treat. Clean, wide-ranging, current. Entertaining, or at least interesting, at every turn. I solved at 3am, having fallen asleep on the couch at 8:30pm the night before (half a large pizza and two glasses of wine will do that to me ... now), so I was deliberate and methodical in my solving (that's fancy-talk for "slow"). And even Frankenstein-monstering my way through this grid, I was done in five minutes. It was right in wheelhouse, and I only hesitated writing in answers a handful of times. Normally stacks (like the one mid-grid) take some doing—some hacking at the Downs before the Across components become visible. Not today. Got BUYER'S REMORSE (35A: New homeowner's feeling, maybe) from the B-Y, and PARODY ACCOUNT (39A: @fakechucknorris, for one) and MUSEUM EXHIBIT (40A: Diorama, maybe) fell almost immediately thereafter. I actually own "BORN THIS WAY" (27D: Grammy-nominated 2011 Lady Gaga album), so that was weird. I will always remember which March girl dies because of the "Friends" episode where Joey and Rachel spoil "The Shining" and "Little Women" for each other, respectively. "Beth DIES!""Nooooooo!" So I threw BETH up in the NE and took that section out no problem. Occasionally I had to stop and think about something, like when I wrote in OSCAR and sort of thought it referred to the Sylvester Stallone movie of the same name ... (?!) ... (I know it doesn't) ... (now) ... or when I did the thing where you (wrongly) assume [President...] means "US President..." (48A: President who said "If you want to see your plays performed the way you wrote them, become president" => HAVEL). But those were just minor hiccups.

There was, however, one genuinely tough (albeit tiny) patch in the NE that stands out less for toughness than for uneven editing. I'm talking about ASHTON-over-PABLO (22A: Family name in Sir Walter Scott's "The Bride of Lammermoor") (26A: One of the renters in Steinbeck's "Tortilla Flat"). Why would you stack literary obscurities like that? Virtually anyone solving this puzzle would put both those clues at the top of the list of either "things I didn't know" or "things I wouldn't expect others to know." Either clue on its own is OK, I guess, but stacked character names from not-terrifically-famous books?! Proper nouns are always dicey—if you're going to make them abut, at least draw from different spheres of knowledge. It's not like PABLO or ASHTON can't be clued other ways. PABLO, for instance, can go to rap (Kanye West's 2016 album "Life of Pablo"), art (good old what's-his-name), '70s pop music (Pablo Cruise), etc. Dollars to donuts at least one of the ASHTON / PABLO clues isn't the constructor's original clue. Oh well, very small, technical, editorial blemish on an otherwise really vibrant and pleasing puzzle.

Bullets:

17A: Very much (A TON)— I really hate ATON and ALOT because ugh, right, I know it's one of you guys, why are you making me guess, I hate this game... I guessed wrong this time, but I guessed MME right somehow (23A: Fr. title), so I could see 2D: Fall had to be AUTUMN, and thus changed A LOT to A TON. Pivotal yet boring, this moment.
54A: Ricoh rival (EPSON)— I actually did OK this time. Normally on a clue like this (as I've said), I just get an EPSOM EBSEN EPSON pile-up in my brain and don't know what to do. Terrible vowel trouble. See also EFR( )M (24A: Zimbalist of old TV).
21D: "Toodles" ("SEE YOU SOON")— "SEE YA LATER!" also fits here. Perhaps you found that out yourself.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. like LEK, ADE has recurred (32A: Sweet pitcherful). Already. Clearly my "Let's Not" list is having no effect. Gonna be a long year.

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor:Andrew Kingsley

Relative difficulty:Easy

THEME: none

Word of the Day:SPRAT(19A: Anchovy or sand eel) —

noun
noun: sprat; plural noun: sprats
a small marine fish of the herring family, widely caught for food and fish products.
any of a number of small fishes that resemble the true sprats, e.g., the sand eel. (google)

• • •

SPECIAL MESSAGEfor the week of January 8-January 15, 2017

Like yesterday, this was phenomenally easy. Unlike yesterday, this wasn't terribly interesting. It just has manifestly lower overall fill quality—the highs aren't very high, and the lows (CERT OPCIT TOATEE) are lower than yesterday's lows. RETROCHIC is probably the nicest thing in the grid (nicely positioned at 1-Across—where marquee long answers belong on Fri and Sat) (1A: Back in). HARE-BRAINED also has charm (22D: Cockamamie). The rest is quite bland—not terrible, just bland. Longer answers like WEED-EATER (?) and WEEKENDER and GRASS STAINS are largely there to provide lots of convenient letters. OPEN SINCE is terrible as a stand-alone answer. And everything else is ... everything else. Adequate, but not sizzling, not funny, not entertaining. I've seen BROMANCE too many times now to credit it with novelty (38D: Bond seen in "Wayne's World"). It's had its moment, and should probably be shelved for a few years, at least. Except for the thrill that comes from crushing a Saturday, I can't imagine this puzzle providing solvers much in the way of enjoyment. It will do ... but "it will do" should not be NYT-standard.

The only difficulty today came in just getting off the ground, i.e. in the NW (where I start every puzzle). RED (4D: Like the lower half of Haiti's flag) and ONES were gimmes (how many three-letter flag colors are there? And [Georges] seems very clearly a plural and very clearly related to money, a la Benjamins and occasionally, though suspectly, Abes). But SPRAT (19A: Anchovy or sand eel) and CERT. (9D: Warrant, e.g.: Abbr.) and especially CRAPS (as clued) (6D: Game with an official called a stickman) were beyond me, so I had to hack around to get those Acrosses in the NW to come into view. But after the NW was sorted, nothing else in the puzzle put up a fight. Having HARE made BRAINED obvious. Having STAINS made GRASS obvious. THE POPE off the TH-, TOATEE off the TO-, and then all the SE Acrosses from there. TORRID pace, without even speeding. Just over 6 min. without trying. Not all easy puzzles bring joy, unfortunately. There's just not enough that's original or bold or risky or ambitious or artful here. It's not that it STANK, it's that more brio or elan or one of those words was NEEDED. How does a puzzle with TORRID SEX and RAW MEAT manage to be tepid? Weird.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor:Joel Fagliano

Relative difficulty:Easyish

THEME:"Grammar Lesson"— phrases related to grammar that are reclued super-wackily ("?"-style)

Theme answers:

FUTURE PERFECT (24A: Utopia?)
INDEFINITE ARTICLE (31A: Piece still under consideration for a magazine?)
PASSIVE VOICE (50A: "Village" newspaper that's namby-pamby?)
RELATIVE CLAUSES (66A: Santa's nieces and nephews?)
PRESENT TENSE (89A: Like shoppers worrying about getting the right gift?)
SENTENCE STRUCTURE (103A: Jailhouse?)
OBJECTIVE CASE (113A: The Prada that one really wants?)

Word of the Day:FIG WASP(43D: Insect that spends its larval stage inside a fruit) —

Fig wasps are wasps of the superfamily Chalcidoidea which spend their larval stage inside figs. Most are pollinators but others are herbivores. The non-pollinators belong to several groups within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, while the pollinators are in the family Agaonidae. While pollinating fig wasps are gall-makers, the remaining types either make their own galls or usurp the galls of other fig wasps; reports of them being parasitoids are considered dubious. (wikipedia)

• • •

THANK-YOU MESSAGEfor the week ending January 15, 2017

Hello, solvers. Just wanted to thank everyone who made a financial contribution to the blog this week. The messages (both e- and snail-) of support, and the various solving war stories, have been entertaining and occasionally inspirational. I never have a very clear of who my audience is, where they live, etc., so it's thrilling (and somewhat educational) to have that audience suddenly become visible. Material. Actual. Real. Thank-you cards are forthcoming for those of you who sent me snail mail (and emails for everyone else). You are, of course, free to contribute at any time during the year. The mailing address...

Rex Parker
℅ Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton NY 13905

And the Paypal button...
... live full-time in the sidebar of the blog. But this is the last direct pitch you'll hear from me for 51 weeks. It's been a lovely week. Thank you thank you thank you.

----------------------------------------

I like grammar. This puzzle, though, was something less than enjoyable. I solved it around my dinner table with my wife and visiting friends Lena and Brayden, and there was much gnashing of teeth (and swearing) and very few happy sounds and pleased comments. The theme type is very old (take a bunch of terms from any field, reclue them as if they are not from that field), but done well, common theme types can still be wonderful. But this one ... two answers basically ruin this theme. The first is SENTENCE STRUCTURE, which is a total outlier. The other theme answers are distinct, specific grammatical terms, but SENTENCE STRUCTURE is just a very vague, general concept. You can point to all the others. You can't point to SENTENCE STRUCTURE. It's loose. It's a category, and a big one. It can *contain* the other themers (e.g. RELATIVE CLAUSES are part of SENTENCE STRUCTURE). It just doesn't belong. The bigger problem, however, is the clue on OBJECTIVE CASE. First, the connection between Prada and "case" is so loose as to be laughable. If I asked you to name the top ten things you associate with Prada, first, you wouldn't get to ten, but second, however far you got, "case" would not be on the list. If you search [Prada case] you come up with random things like iPhone cases and sunglass cases (not iconically Prada). You also come up with "Prada gender discrimination case." Prada is a terrible, completely inapt point of reference for "case." Further, ironically, I can't make the answer make grammatical sense. Is "objective" an adjective or noun here? Even for fun and hoots and question-markical glee, it doesn't work. The case is your objective, fine, but OBJECTIVE CASE makes zero sense. No sense, on no level.

77-Down is disgusting, and continues the trend of the editor (and constructor, I assume, since they work together) gratuitously shoving neo-Nazis and neo-Nazi sympathizers into the puzzle at every opportunity. Oh, and this puzzle has an actual Nazi too, for good measure. There are any number (i.e. innumerable) ways to clue VON, you know? It's not like you had to clue WERNHER, in which case you'd pretty much have to use this Braun guy. It's all just so gross. TACKY, even. I really don't know what he thinks he's doing. But then I don't get how anyone can justify CSIS. "Oh, I watch many CSIS!" someone somewhere apparently says. Ridiculous.

Bullets:

102A: Specimen, for example: Abbr. (SYN.)— "Specimen" is a SYN(onym) of "example"; tricky.
43D: Insect that spends its larval stage inside a fruit (FIG WASP)— both Lena and Penelope (my wife) knew what this was. I read the clue and both said "wasp!" I said "... something WASP" and both said "FIG!" I didn't know there were wasp types.
6D: Toddler garment (ONESIE)— I wondered aloud if toddlers wear ONESIEs. Apparently some do. I associate the garment with babies. Newborns. Neonates.
84A: Also-ran for the golden apple, in myth (HERA)— my first thought was HARE (as in "the tortoise and the"), so I was ... close.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor:John Wrenholt

Relative difficulty:Medium

THEME: SIX WAYS TO SUNDAY (63A: Completely ... with a summation of 17-, 30- and 47-Across)— previous three themers start with ONE WAY, TWO WAY, and THREE WAY, respectively, for a total of "six ways":

Theme answers:

ONE WAY OR ANOTHER (17A: Somehow)
TWO-WAY RADIO (30A: Walkie-talkie)
THREE-WAY TIE (47A: Rare occurrence of "Jeopardy!")

Word of the Day:SWAG(15D: Lavish party favors) —

The freebie swag, sometimes also spelled schwag, dates back to the 1960s and was used to describe promotional items. According to our files, early swag was everything from promotional records sent to radio stations to free slippers for airline passengers. In short order, this particular meaning of swag broadened and soon referred to anything given to an attendee of an event (such as a conference) as a promotional stunt. // This swag didn't gain much use until the 1990s, but it also didn't appear out of thin air. The newer meanings were based on an older, more established meaning that referred to goods acquired by unlawful means. (merriam-webster.com)

• • •

I do like the revealer phrase, and have been known to use it (or the "from Sunday" variation of it) from time to time. It is a weird idiom with a complicated history (read about it here). [Completely] is not how I use it. I think of it as meaning "all kinds of different ways," but I guess by extension you could get to "in every way imaginable" and thus "thoroughly." At any rate, "Completely" is certainly an accepted definition. But it's a wriggly phrase, in which (according to World Wide Words) the number "six" was only the most common number to be used (probably because of alliteration). All kinds of other numbers can be found in six's place over the years. One place I looked had "Forty ways to Sunday." It's a lively idiom. The theme is clever but also flawed. Adding up the numbers of the ways was strange (not necessarily in a bad way). I'm more concerned that the revealer has this totally non-thematic extra part to it, i.e. "to Sunday." It's fine for themers to have only one phrase part (first word, last word, etc.) involved, but a revealer is supposed to work from stem to stern. A good revealer snaps, and *all* of it is involved in indicating what the hell was up with the theme. This puzzle has zero to do with Sunday. If you want that phrase as a revealer, then it should mean something in its complete form. "To Sunday" just hangs out there ... left over. Unnecessary. Abandoned. Not great.

[Debbie Harry starred in a 1997 crime drama called ... "SIX WAYS TO SUNDAY"]

There was one hard patch in this where the cluing seemed both off and vague. The trouble started with SWAG, specifically a. the fact that the clue indicates a plural so I wanted it to end in "S," and b. the word "lavish." The fake-out on the plural is fair enough, but "lavish" ... ? I guess if you are an Oscar nominee and are at some party hosted by the MPAA, then sure, they'll give you an iPad or whatever, but SWAG is just slang for party favors. A gift bag. A bunch of promotional stuff. Anyone who's ever been given "a bunch of promotional stuff" (yeah, I just quoted myself), knows that ... "Lavish" doesn't enter in. Totally unnecessarily limiting adjective. Also, PEANUTS, in my world, needs "Packing" in front of it to make any sense in this context (4D: Alternative to bubble wrap). Also also, when I finally got SWAG, off of that initial "G" at 22A: Intestinal fortitude (GUTS), I wanted GRIT. I also was very tentative about the second vowel in DIVOT (32D: Golfer's gouge), and couldn't nail either ___ SAFE or GET ___ at first shot. Both of those were access points to other parts of the grid, and both required me hacking a crosses fill them out. Ended with a time slightly, but not significantly, north of normal.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor:Timothy Polin

Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium

THEME: A CARRIE / FISHER memorial puzzle (I think)— stuff related to her role as PRINCESS LEIA (53A: Iconic role for 2-/51-Down) in "Star Wars" (a title spelled out in the circled squares):

Theme answers:

CINNAMON BUNS (23A: Hairstyle for 53-Across, colloquially)
HELP ME OBI- / WAN KENOBI, / YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE (18A: With 61- and 37-Across, famous line by 53-Across in [see circled letters])

Word of the Day:OLEAN(7D: Brand of artificial fat) —

Olestra (also known by its brand name Olean) is a fat substitute that adds no fat, calories, or cholesterol to products. It has been used in the preparation of otherwise high-fat foods such as potato chips, thereby lowering or eliminating their fat content. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) originally approved olestra for use as a replacement for fats and oils in prepackaged ready-to-eat snacks in 1996, concluding that such use "meets the safety standard for food additives, reasonable certainty of no harm". In the late 1990s, Olestra lost its popularity due to side effects, but products containing the ingredient can still be purchased at grocery stores in some countries. (wikipedia)

• • •

I want to pretend like this puzzle didn't happen, so I'm going to say only the bare minimum and then move along. Tribute puzzles should be great. Memorial puzzles should be especially great. Average, mediocre, OK—these are not good enough. The puzzle should kill, or it should not run. I suppose it's possible this puzzle was already in the pipeline (?) and they just ran it with a clue for her name that acknowledges her passing. But that doesn't seem too plausible. The whole thing feels slapdash. She's reduced to a single (albeit iconic) role; her character's hairstyle (from the original movie) (which I have never heard called CINNAMON BUNS—it's always "PRINCESS LEIA hair") is randomly thrown in, apparently just for symmetry (?); the circled squares are awkwardly close-to-but-not-quite centered (and aren't that impressive a trick to begin with); OBI-WAN is divided at the hyphen (!?); and the quote is out of order (again, for symmetry's sake). Throw in the fact that the fill quality is below-average (which is to say, Tuesday-average), and you have a puzzle that isn't really worthy of its subject. It's not tight enough. There's no real hook. The circled squares are just a tacked-on bit of artifice. CARRIE / FISHER was iconic for many reasons, and I wish more of those reasons were here, and that the core concept in general was just ... better. Tighter. As amazing as she was.

I like RAP DUO (9D: Rae Sremmurd, e.g.). It's probably important that you commit Rae Sremmurd ("ear drummers" backwards) to memory now, as it is likely to be the RAE of the future (if there must be one, and I assume there must). Take that ... Actress Charlotte of "Facts of Life" and ... Arctic explorer John! Aren't "old, neglected sweaters" MOTH-EATEN? I am having trouble buying MOTHY. Especially having trouble buying it on top of ALLÉE (garbage fill, esp. for a Tuesday, esp. w/ ALPE, ugh, already in the grid). And crossing OLEOLE (o-lazy) and FETTLE (!) ... maybe MOTHY belongs in that corner. It's certainly "neglected."

Bye.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor:Matthew Sewell

Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium

THEME: FAST BREAK (57A: Dynamic basketball sequence represented by the starts of 17-, 23-, 30-, 40- and 49-Across)—just what it says:

Theme answers:

BLOCK HEEL (17A: Platform sandal feature)
REBOUND GUY (23A: Boyfriend after a breakup, perhaps)
PASS JUDGMENT (30A: Render a verdict)
DRIBBLE GLASS (40A: Novelty shop buy)
SHOOT'EM UPS (49A: Space Invaders and Asteroids, for two)

Word of the Day:SHOOT 'EM UPS(49A) —

Shoot 'em up (also known as shmup or STG) is a subgenre of the shooter genre of video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player character engages in a lone assault, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up. Some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character movement; others allow a broader definition including characters on foot and a variety of perspectives. Shoot 'em ups call for fast reactions and for the player to memorize levels and enemy attack patterns. "Bullet hell" games feature overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles. (wikipedia)

• • •

I had to look up whether recovered BLOCKs were actually scored as REBOUNDs, and they are, so play on, I guess. As first-words-sequence themes go, I like this one fine. The theme answers themselves are also lively / unusual. I'd never heard of a BLOCK HEEL, though the HEEL part was easy enough to infer. The concept of the "rebound" in dating is familiar enough to me, but the phrase REBOUND GUY felt slightly off, like there was another "rebound" phrase more commonly used ... and yet I can't come up with it. I think of SHOOT 'EM UPS as westerns, and I played Space Invaders and Asteroids as a kid and literally never heard anyone call 'em SHOOT 'EM UPS. Love the phrase, but to this Gen X'er's ears, the '70s/'80s video game clue seemed INAPT. But again, basic theme concept here is sound and the answers generally pleasing. The fill on this one is a mixed bag. Excellent pair of Downs in the NW corner (I'm partial to olde-timey sports slang, and PALOOKAS definitely fits the bill) (2D: Inept boxers, in slang). Most of the rest is just OK, but there are several pretty awful parts. I consider SECADA (21A: Jon with the 1992 hit "Just Another Day") and OSSIAN (35A: Bard of Gaelic legend) desperation fill, and there shouldn't have been any need for desperation today. And I consider SURETÉ beyond desperation (21D: ___ du Québec (police force)). You've fallen into the foreign word vat and can't get out. Not at all a commonly known word, even for someone like me who had many years of French in school. It *is* crossed fairly, but that SURETÉ / TEACUP cross held me up more than anything by far (36A: ___ Chihuahua (tiny dog)) . SECADA could easily have tripped me (his brief period of fame quite behind us now) but as I said: Gen X'er. Still listened to radio / watched MTV a lot in 1992. I know SECADA. Guiltily.

So, yeah, OK puzzle. If there hadn't been all this dumb Scrabble-f***ing around the margins of the puzzle, maybe the fill could've been stronger, but maybe not. Except SURETÉ, none of it was particularly egregious. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor:Jacob Stulberg

Relative difficulty:Medium

THEME: CHECKERED PAST (36A: Liability for a political candidate ... as depicted four times in this puzzle?)— PAST is depicted, in unchecked-letter / checkerboard patterns, four times in the grid.

Word of the Day:ROBBY Mook(37D: ___ Mook, Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign manager) —

Robert E."Robby"Mook (/mʊk/; born December 3, 1979) is an American political campaign strategist and campaign manager. He was the campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, which lost to Donald Trump. // Mook worked on state campaigns, leading up to Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. Mook then joined the Democratic National Committee, and worked for Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign as a state director in three states. // Mook managed Senator Jeanne Shaheen's campaign as she ran in New Hampshire for election to the U.S. Senate in the fall of 2008, served as the executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2012, and as the campaign manager for Terry McAuliffe's successful 2013 gubernatorial campaign. (wikipedia)

• • •

This puzzle must've been constructed a while a go. At least a couple years ago. Because it's basic premise is manifestly false—a point that would be more glaring only if this puzzle ran *tomorrow*.

But let's pretend it's still the 20th century and grant the puzzle the truth of its essential claim. It's a neat concept, though it doesn't really pop, visually, the way a pattern-based theme ought to. Looks *very* cool in the thumbnail (i.e. tiny icon) version of the grid on my desktop. But full-sized, the effect isn't as great, and it's weirdly at its greatest when the grid is completely empty. As you solve (or as I solve, on screen), the filling in of white space dilutes the checkered effect by marring B/W contrast. I didn't see checks so much as these little spits of land (unchecked letters) sticking out from the mainland of letters. Still, conceptually, cool, especially as the PAST rotates clockwise a tick at a time if you move clockwise from NW to SW (i.e. P starts in the N position and ends up in the W position).

["I won't let you down / I will not give you up"]

I'd like to thank George MICHAEL for getting me going today (30A: George who sang "I Want Your 7-Down"). He was the first answer (besides the incidentals KEEP, SES, and OFA) that I got, and he gave me SEX (!), which (along with MATT Groening) opened the NE up quickly. Mostly I found the puzzle tough, though the clock says my time was quite normal. Botany and fabric and other topics I'm bad at seemed to keep coming up, and those southern corners are horribly sequestered. Teeny tiny narrow entry points. I actually needed the theme to get going in the SE (felt like cheating), because the only thing I knew cold down there was NORIEGA (61A: Leader targeted in 1989's Operation Nifty Package). The long Downs down the middle were great (STEEPLE CHASES / TOP O' THE MORNIN') (14D: They present hurdles / 15D: Cork opener?)—interesting phrases, cleverly clued—which somewhat offset / distracted from a little roughness in the short stuff. Worst cross for me was SHOCKS / CPI. The latter (4D: Economic benchmark, briefly) I can now infer (Consumer Price Index)—now that I guessed SHOCKS, which is super hard to get to from [Blows]. Yikes. But I guessed right, my time was normal, the theme works pretty well, so I'm calling it a good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor:Angela Olson "PuzzleGirl" Halsted

Relative difficulty:Easy

THEME: none

Word of the Day:PITTI Palace(52D: Florence's ___ Palace) —

The Palazzo Pitti (Italian pronunciation: [paˈlattso ˈpitti]), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker. // The palace was bought by the Medici family in 1549 and became the chief residence of the ruling families of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. It grew as a great treasure house as later generations amassed paintings, plates, jewelry and luxurious possessions. // In the late 18th century, the palazzo was used as a power base by Napoleon, and later served for a brief period as the principal royal palace of the newly united Italy. The palace and its contents were donated to the Italian people by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1919. // The palazzo is now the largest museum complex in Florence.

• • •

A woman constructor! First of the year! Who had January 20 in the pool? I love this puzzle, both because it is good, and because Angela is my good friend and I haven't seen her name in the NYT for a long time, and because the central crossing in this grid is perfect for today. That is surely a coincidence, but sometimes God smiles on your puzzle. If only 23-Down were TONY ORLANDO (it fits, Angela!!!). I have been to ORIOLES games with Angela. I have been to Yankee Stadium with Angela and seen MARIANO Rivera give up TWO home runs to my Tigers in the top of the ninth, only to see the &$^%ing Yankees win it in the bottom of the inning on Some Guy's walk-off homer (you see, Angela, I've repressed that part of the memory. I only remember Miggy hitting one out off your beloved MARIANO—one of the greatest baseball things I've ever seen live). Oh my god I just want to keep talking about baseball. It's so much more pleasant and hopeful and soothing than anything else I might be forced to think about today.

I did not know PITTI Palace, but the rest of this felt pretty easy. I had issues with ENTICE ([Decoy] is a verb??) ("Sirens decoyed sailors to their deaths ..." Sounds off). I also had issues with the REPS / RETCH crossing, as I misread 25A: Training tally as [Training rally]. I also sometimes thing RETCH (25D: [Gag!]) is spelled with an initial "W." And it is. Just not with this meaning (either spelling makes a perfect cross for 38-Across today, tbh). We're probably gonna see a new HUAC soon, so that's timely. Obama (aka MR. RIGHT) EXITS, so that's sad (I just this second Unfollowed @POTUS on Twitter). SOP UP ... yeah, sure ... bribery, corruption. That works. That's coming. INANITY. Obviously. It's hard not to tea-leaves this thing. I mean, CAD / LEERS!? That's pretty spot-on. Change LEERS to GRABS and bingo. Or, hey, rebuild the grid and go the full SEXUALLY ASSAULTS (15!). So many appropriate options.

As with George Michael yesterday, I managed to make the cross-referenced clues work for me today, as the TOPAZ clue (50D: 1967 Cold War suspense novel by 9-Down) sent me teleporting into the NE via URIS (9D: See 50-Down). I'm totally biased, but I honestly don't see much here to sneer at. ESS? I guess. PSS. Yes. But that is nitpicking. I know from nitpicking, and that is nitpicking. There is no doubt this will be the most enjoyable part of my day today, so thanks, Angela. Love ya. XO.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor:James Mulhern

Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day:TARPONS(33A: Prized game fish) —

noun
plural noun: tarpons
a large tropical marine fish of herringlike appearance. (google)

• • •

This was pretty enjoyable. Had to wrestle with it A WEE BIT, and fell into many traps along the way, but in the end it was slightly more tractable than your average Saturday fare, I think. Couple of nice long Downs, for sure, and then a very solid, serviceable grid, with little in the way of junk. I'd call EDESSA junk (it's certainly high on the list of 6-letter crosswordese), buuuut it really helped me solidify traction in the north, so I'll just give it a polite nod and move along. The proper nouns are a little dated at times (NEVE over BOYER!) but then there's Paul RUDD and BIG PAPI, so maybe things balance out. Oh, ANI. ANI is not good. You can clue it however you like (Skywalker, DiFranco ... some violinist ...), it's always gonna be crosswordese. But the overall state of the grid is strong.

[RUDD]

How many holes did I fall into? Let's count

Had the -OW at the end of 2D: Words of understanding and was *certain* that answer ended in KNOW.
Had the O (from YOKO) and U (from RUDD) in the answer for 27D: Works of a lifetime and *confidently* wrote in OPUSES.
Opened the puzzle with an amazing run of Downs (KTEL! BOO! ADREP!) and then, after getting the -UM part ... PODIUM!! (8D: Oration location).
I don't even feel bad about the MARLINS-for-TARPONS mistake, tbh. I'm only human.
RYE before ALE ... never fail?
Aaaand my favorite wrong answer of the day: for 57D: Appropriate answer for this clue, I had: ANS.

That'll do for today.

AS EVER,

Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Indiana/Illinois separator / MON 1-2-17 / Invaded in large numbers / "I understand," facetiously / Classic Eric Clapton song about unrequited love / To be, to Tacitus

Czech-made auto that's part of Volkswagen Group / TUE 1-3-16 / Pope said to have died from heart attack while in bed with his mistress / Chain of children's stores founded by Kaufman brothers hence its name

Congo ape / WED 1-4-16 / Albanian currency / Plum used to flavor gin

Half of Wall Street firm since 1882 / THU 1-5-16 / Tesfaye aka R&B's The Weeknd / Scallop-edged cracker / William physician who championed bedside training

Aladdin character who's transformed into elephant / FRI 1-6-16 / Targets of snuffers / Synagogue holding / Hit Fox drama starting in 2015 / Weekly magazine publisher since 1896 / Venomous swimmer

1990s caught on tape series / SAT 1-7-16 / Synthetic dye compound / Subspecies of distinct geographical variety / Alternative to Food Lion Piggly Wiggly

Old bandleader with Egyptian inspired name / SUN 1-8-17 / Entourage of 1990s white rapper / Headwear NBA banned in 2005 / Literary device used to address plot inconsistencies

Republican pol Haley from South Carolina / MON 1-9-17 / Black covert doings / English monarch with lace named after her / 1990s tv series about murder in town in Washinton

Rules in force in England before Norman Conquest / TUE 1-10-17 / Disc-flipping board game / Perfumer Nina / Creator of logical razor

Port city at one terminus of Appian Way / WED 1-11-17 / Farmworker in Millet painting / Inflation adjusted econ stat / Infomercial pioneer

Japanese flower-arranging art / THU 1-12-17 / Old video game maker / Voice-activated assistant

One of renters in Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat / FRI 1-13-17 / Family name in Sir Walter Scott's Bride of Lammermoor / First one was modified Ford D-Series truck / Author with restaurant at Eiffel Tower named for him

Anchovy sand eel / SAT 1-14-17 / Topper for Chaplin's Tramp / Obviously Catholic person in snarky rhetorical question / Bond seen in Wayne's World / Tools descended from alpenstocks / Game with official called stickman / Mock wedding setting in Shakespeare

Uber-owned company that makes self-driving trucks / SUN 1-15-17 / Nickname for gilded age businessman with penchant for jewelry / Also-ran for golden apple in myth / Fashion guru Tim / Signal meaning no disease on this ship

Lebanese city that was once enter of Phoenician civilization / MON 1-16-17 / Penny Dreadful channel for short / Intestinal fortitude informally / Arrested suspect informally

Tree-lined walkway in France / TUE 1-17-17 / Nubian heroine of opera / Makeup of planet Hoth / Deviate during flight as rocket / Deal with broken teleprompter say

Bard of Gaelic legend / WED 1-18-17 / Boyfriend after breakup perhaps / Inept boxers in slang

Native-born Israeli / THU 1-19-17 / Leader targeted in 1989's Operation Nifty Package / Bill Haley's backup band

Better adversary to deal with in saying / FRI 1-20-17 / Genres for Ladysmith Black Mambazo / Eponymous physicist Ernst / TV character who fronted as a waste management consultant

Violinist Kavafian / SAT 1-21-17 / Bulbous perennial / Xmas for Jimmy Buffet / First name in infamy / Dumb Dumber drive destination