Topkapi Palace resident / FRI 5-6-16 / Architect sculptor with eponymous New York museum / Home to naturally pink Lake Retba / Mamie Eisenhower hairstyle / Like atoms with full outer shells / Speedball component

Constructor:Julian Lim

Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium


THEME:none 

Word of the Day:Isamu NOGUCHI(36A: Architect/sculptor with an eponymous New York museum) —

Isamu Noguchi(野口 勇Noguchi Isamu^?, November 17, 1904 – December 30, 1988) was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces, some of which are still manufactured and sold. // In 1947, Noguchi began a collaboration with the Herman Miller company, when he joined with George Nelson, Paul László and Charles Eames to produce a catalog containing what is often considered to be the most influential body of modern furniture ever produced, including the iconic Noguchi table which remains in production today. His work lives on around the world and at the Noguchi Museum in New York City. (wikipedia)

This really looks like a face to me. Like a simian robot muppet face. I think it is benevolent, but that's what the cylons would want me to think so ... not sure. One unique thing about this face—its cheeks are made of proper nouns that I've never seen before (not in the grid, anyway). "West Wing" is one of those shows that people like to gush about, and that I know I'm just never ever going to watch. But I've heard people talk about it enough (you know who you are ...) that somehow Allison Janney's character C.J. CREGG crept into my brain and lodged there (33A: Allison Janney's role on "The West Wing"). Well, the "C.J." part definitely did. The CREGG part is only vaguely familiar, but except for the "C" it was easy to come up with. The other cheek is NOGUCHI, whose name I briefly forgot but whom I was once interested in because his designs are so cool. Very mid-century space age. He makes shapes that look a lot like the shapes I often see on the covers of the vintage scifi paperbacks in my collection. The artist Richard Powers in particular seems to have been highly influenced by NOGUCHI (or vice versa)?



This played very easy overall; I came in the low 6's, going at a very leisurely pace, and taking the time to take a screen grab at the point I hit one of my most-disliked abbrs.: ATH.

ATH is on my personal No-Fly List (6D: Sports person: Abbr.). I might actually let it fly, but the circumstances would have to be extraordinary. Also on that list: ATTU (51D: Battle of ___ (1943 U.S./Japanese conflict). REPEN wasn't on it, because I never fathomed such a word, but it's on the list now (15D: Transcribe). Otherwise, this grid is very solid. Those center parts were probably the hardest to get into, if only because of the aforementioned proper nouns ("cheeks"). Also, I don't consider BANGS a "hairstyle." More *part* or a hairstyle—the front part. Your overall hairstyle might be doing any number of things and also have BANGS.


Had HASSLES for 16A: Snags (LASSOES), which more than half worked out. Wanted SEABEDS instead of SEALABS (20A: Locales for deep investigaions?) and took way more time than I should've needed getting the last four letters of MAKE THE BEST ----. I could think of only OUT OF (too long) and OF (too short). But of course the actual answer (MAKE THE BEST OF IT) works perfectly for the clue (53A: Turn lemons into lemonade, so to speak).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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