1909 Matisse masterpiece / THU 4-7-16 / Big-picture approach to patient care / Onetime debater with Joe Biden / Golden galloper / Big name in foam-based weaponry / Quaker state city subject to lake effect snow

Constructor:John Lieb

Relative difficulty:Easy


THEME:"SAY HELLO TO MY / LITTLE FRIEND" (27A: With 48-Across, memorable Al Pacino movie line ... or a hint for this puzzle's theme) — "PAL" is squeezed into 6 boxes around the grid, thus "PAL" is a "little" friend that you encounter (or say "hello" to) 6 times.

Theme answers:

• SARAH PALIN / PALATIAL
• OPALS / PALOMINO
• SEPAL / PALLS
• NEPAL / PALED
• DE PALMA / RAP ALBUM
• APPALACHIA / FACEPALM 

Word of the Day:ILENE Graff(22A: Actress Graff) —

Ilene Susan Graff (born February 28, 1949) is an American actress and singer. [...] Graff's television work includes Barnaby Jones, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, Three's Company, Lewis & Clark, and St. Elsewhere. From 1985 until 1990, she played what is possibly her best known role, Marsha Owens, the wife of Bob Uecker's character, George, in the sitcom Mr. Belvedere. (wikipedia)

There's a very good idea at the heart of this puzzle. I really like the revealer. It really elevates what could otherwise have been a pretty ordinary rebus puzzle. Convenient that the (very famous) quotation broke into symmetrical parts! My only problem with the theme was that I got the entire revealer the instant I looked at the clue. Way way way Way too easy. You can't just hand me 24 squares on a Thursday. And by "me" I mean "surely a ton of people." I was lucky that by the time I got down to the revealer, I had already discovered a "PAL" square in the NW, so the quotation provided a nice little aha. But after that it was just a PAL hunt. Tougher clue on revealer would've made this theme even nicer, but it's pretty good as is. My only real hang-up came right off the bat, when I put PAUL RYAN right into the grid at 1A: Onetime debater with Joe Biden. That happened, right? Anyway, it's a nice little trap, but emphasis on "little." Got out easily, and never stumbled again except a little bit while getting into and out of the BEER TENT (64A: Oktoberfest venue). The BEER TENT is used to it, I'm sure.


The fill, though, hoo boy. That's another story. Yesterday's puzzle had a smattering of charming, old-school crosswordese. This one has more than a smattering of far less charming stuff. ALAEEIEIO are only fun if you run them together, making a kind of extended nonsense sound. On their own, not great. ABAS makes me want to say "À BAS, À BAS!" You know, 'cause "À BAS" means "down with"? ERIEPA remains my least favorite (and by far the most ubiquitous) "city+state code" answer. I remember the first time I saw it I thought it was one word. "Where the hell is AIR'-EE-EPP'-PA," I wondered. Then there's the highly awkward "city comma cross-referenced state" thing going on with LEHI (where?) UTAH (oh, there). An the less said ANENT ILENE, the better. And that's just the clearly suboptimal stuff. Your LAIC and LO-RES and ARA and ordinary filler like that, I can let slide. It's too bad that this thing is fleshed out so weakly. There are some winners here and there (most notably FACE PALM, PALATIAL, and PLAYBOY). But otherwise, a rough ride.


I'll put together a little ACPT recap by week's end. For now, here's one of my proudest moments of the tournament: seeing my two Binghamton University students there, geeking out as spectators (and future competitors), and then seeing them again in this picture at the NYT's "Wordplay" blog.

And one more moment—rolling around on the Marriott ballroom floor with my friend Jen's service dog, Emmy. (It's OK—Emmy was officially off duty):

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

PS [Brady bunch, in headlines] is a nice clue for PATS. (For the sports-challenged, PATS are the New England Patriots, and "Brady" is Tom Brady, their quarterback.)

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