Milkman made famous by Zero Mostel / SUN 5-8-16 / Tricky start to tennis rally / 1982 coming-of-age movie / French suffix that's anagram of 4-Down / Second-largest moon of Uranus / Venetian dignitaries of old / Long-jawed fishes

Constructor:David J. Kahn

Relative difficulty:Medium-Challenging

THEME:"Trapped Moisture" ("Liquid Condensation"in the .puz version (!?))— "H20" rebus with "HHO" in the Down and "Water" added to wacky Across themers:

Theme answers:

• CHANGE YOUR [WATER] WAYS (27A: Advice to captains plagued by pirates?) / FIS[HHO]OKS
• [WATER] MAIN COURSE (35A: Direction taken by a large pipe?) / GROWT[HHO]RMONE
• DOGGY [WATER] BAG (63A: Container to keep a canine cool?) / WIT[HHO]NORS
• HOT [WATER] WIRES (72A: Telegrams sent by those in trouble?) / RANC[HHO]USE
• GOOD AS GOLD[WATER] (95A: Conservative's opinion of the Republican presidential candidates?) / JEWIS[HHO]LIDAY
• SALT [WATER] OF THE EARTH (108A: Oceans?) / RUS[HHO]URS

Word of the Day:ESTH(98D: Tallinn native) —

This theme is familiar. Perhaps because I've done puzzles with very similar themes at least twice before—one of them a NYT Sunday from just three years ago. This one has the minor twist of having the WATER answers (the Acrosses) be wacky, but it's not clear that that is an improvement over Finn's puzzle from three years ago, and anyway, the WATER in the Across / HHO in the Down conceit is simply a retread. I don't have too much trouble with the NYT repeating theme concepts if a. the implementation is really different and b. there has been a good amount of time between puzzles. Neither is really the case here. The wacky WATER answers were all pretty dull except GOOD AS GOLD[WATER], which puts WATER in an unexpected context. I don't even know what at "water bag" is (DOGGY [WATER] BAG). I also don't know what an ESTH is. Perhaps this is because they don't exist (see Word of the Day definition, above). They are bygone. Archaic. "Ancestors" of current Estonians. As if ESTH isn't bad enough as an answer, we have to endure this quintessentially Maleskan clue nonsense? Yikes. Just admit you have a biblical abbr. there and move along.

Cluing was either a little harder than usual or just generationally or otherwise slightly beyond my comfort zone. Missteps included ERIN for EIRE (4D: Samuel Beckett's homeland), OPEN for BITE (18A: Dentist's requent), ONION for BACON (18D: Burger topper), "DIG IT!" for "DID IT!" (53A: "Ta-da!"). I do not really know Bob KROFT (except perhaps by sight) (41D: Longtime "60 Minutes" reporter), so that whole RE MI (ugh) / KROFT area was tough for me. Do you have a single WILE? (73D: Magician's skill)?? Just seems weird. Not ESTH-weird, but weird. I have never ever heard of TROY weight (119A: ___ weight). That was my last letter, I think (the "R"). I would never call the [Noggin] a NOB, but then I wouldn't use "Noggin" either. As for "-IERE" ... man alive. As one crossword writer / editor told me last night: "Ugh, 104A. That was something outta suffix torture porn." But when your themer arrangement locks you into G-H--, you're asking for trouble. Actually, you're asking for GEHRY (97D: Designer of Spain's Guggenheim Museum) or GCHAT or cartoonist GAHAN Wilson. It's limiting, is what I'm saying. Anyway, -IERE is at the top of the Crossword No-Fly List. In red letters. And don't go trying to clue it as a part of a famous palindrome—I'm not falling for that.


Here is a puzzle you should do. It's called "Squished Bugs" and it's by solving / constructing phenom Erik Agard. It plays like a very clever, very tricky Thursday. So eventually you'll get the gimmick, and you'll "finish" the puzzle and you'll think "that was really good." And then ... maybe you'll notice ... something ... about one of the puzzle's answers ... but enough hints. Just go solve. The solver response to this one has been really remarkable. (I recommend solving in .puz / AcrossLite, though you can print out the .PDF and solve it with a pen/pencil, no problem)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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