Sacred text of Zoroastrianism / SAT 12-5-15 / Colored sunfish / Daily show filmed in Burbank Calif / Role played by Richard Gere John Cleese / His first major screen appearance was in 1940 / Company whose name paradoxically means shelter with no walls / World's oldest one is in Tunisia

Constructor:David J. Kahn

Relative difficulty:Medium-Challenging


THEME:sort of PINOCCHIO / JIMINY CRICKET but not really (33A: His first major screen appearance was in 1940 + 15D: Partner of 33-Across)

Word of the Day:REDEAR(45D: Colored sunfish) —

The redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus, also known as the shellcracker, Georgia bream, cherry gill, chinquapin, improved bream, rouge ear sunfish and sun perch) is freshwater fish native to the southeastern United States. Since it is a popular sport fish, it has been introduced to bodies of water all over North America. This species of sunfish is well known for its diet of mollusks and snails. (wikipedia)

 
Not feeling this one. First of all—theme or don't theme. This in-between stuff is annoying. After the central crossing in this one, the rest of the puzzle feels like a (Giant) afterthought. You sometimes see these half-ass pseudo-themes in late-week "themeless" puzzles. It's like the constructor noticed that two answers could intersect or parallel one another in some way, but then ... hand no idea what to do beyond that, and so built a themeless puzzle around the stunted theme. It's an oops theme. Or a coy theme. "Is it a theme? [Wink!] I'll never tell." Blargh. Second, it's a highly name-y grid, resulting in a solving experience that felt overwhelmingly trivial. I count 12 names of people or characters, many of them taking up a lot of real estate. I mean, ["Be Cool" co-star, 2005]?? [Co-author of "The Yankee Years"]. That's a lot of "co-" and a lot of name and a lot of dull trivia cluing. Then there's the rank obscurity of AVESTA (!?!?) (42A: Sacred text of Zoroastrianism). And what is RED EAR ... REDEAR? (45D: Colored sunfish) Is that two words or one? Sunfish have ears? (yes: red ones—they appear to be this fish's distinctive physical feature). Looking over the grid, it's possible that it's not as bad as it felt while I was solving. My first answer into the grid was ATTU (double blargh) (6D: Island whose battlefield area is a U.S. National Historic Landmark), and that *may* have colored the whole experience a skosh.

"Conan" is not a "Daily show." It's weekdaily. Somehow, this difference seems Very important. I take the clues seriously. Also, it's nightly, but that's another, lesser issue. I think the answer I liked (discovering) best was RFK STADIUM (52A: Field near the Anacostia River). I had noooo idea what / where the Anacostia River is, and the idea that a "Field" could be a STADIUM didn't occur to me at all. I had to jump into that SE corner blind in order to work out STADIUM, and then the "K" made the RFK part clear. Without that RFK part, I am Dead in the SW. CONAN, AVESTA, all the Downs, everything is impossible until I get RFK, which gets me APRILS (again!?!?! two days in a row WTF?) and IF NOT, which gets me LANCELOT. Even then, I struggle a bit to get the rest of that corner. Best / most ridiculous wrong answer is LEY for LEE (55D: Victor at Fussell's Mill). I just know LEY is some crossword general. I don't even remember what war he's from. . . oh crap, I'm thinking of NEY, who was Napoleon's marshal. Willy LEY was a science writer. Bob LEY is an ESPN anchor, most recently / notably for "Outside the Lines." I hope you enjoyed this lesson in crossword names. I know I did.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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