Big name in retirement community development / TUE 5-17-16 / Company that invented newsreels / Beings in Bretagne / Obsolescent mobile device briefly

Constructor:Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty:Medium-Challenging (*for a Tuesday*)

THEME:GO ON AHEAD (62A: "Don't wait for me to proceed" ... or what either part of the answer to each starred clue can do) — either part of the answer to each starred clue can GO ON A HEAD (i.e. precede the word "head"):

Theme answers:

• 17A: Especially memorable, as a day (RED LETTER)
• 21A: Campground amenity (HOT SHOWER)
• 33A: Feature of a carpenter's level (AIR BUBBLE)
• 44A: Beef alternative in many countries (HORSE MEAT)
• 53A: Basic china color (BONE WHITE) 

Word of the Day:DEL WEBB(4D: Big name in retirement community development) —

Delbert Eugene "Del" Webb (May 17, 1899 – July 4, 1974, aged 75) was an American real estate developer and a co-owner of the New York Yankees baseball club. He is known for founding and developing the retirement community of Sun City, Arizona, and for many works of his firm, Del E. Webb Construction Company. (wikipedia)

I didn't understand (at first) or even think about the theme, even after I'd finished. I was too thrown off by the puzzle's apparent self-parody, and by the feeling that I was being trolled. The fill is quite stale (SRTAS, ETRES, ORNE, YSER, on and on) but that's not at all surprising— DEL WEBB, on the other hand ... that is an elephant that is in the room that is this puzzle, both because it appears to be the one really original answer in this puzzle, and because it is an answer that embodies every cliché about crosswords and the people who solve them. It is an obscurity that is going to be known almost exclusively by those in retirement communities. You want to be dated or dwell in the past, fine. Obsolescent mobile devices and quaint affirmatives, are one thing, but ... Who or what is DEL WEBB? Why ... seriously, why ... would you make the one moment of real originality in your puzzle be a "big name in retirement community development" when I can guarantee you that it will be the least known answer in the grid, By A Longshot? Why not make your originality snappy, original, interesting? ... it's baffling. DEL WEBB. It is the only thing anyone is likely to remember about this puzzle—a completely foreseeable issue. DEL WEBB? And on a *Tuesday* ... you got me, NYT. I concede, that is some RED LETTER trolling. DEL WEBB!—it's Dell Curry + Spud Webb ... in retirement community form! I mean, the very idea that there is any such thing as a "big name" in retirement community development is itself hilarious. If someone had walked up to you 24 hrs ago and said "hey, what's a big name in retirement community development?," you would've said "what?" because the question makes no sense. [You see what I mean about not even noticing the theme]


PATHE (6D: Company that invented newsreels) was also unknown to me (and apparently unknown to the NYT crossword for nigh on 13 years), so that also struck me as well beyond Tuesday-level fare, though less hilariously so. The theme ... it's a "both words can precede/follow X"-type theme, with the added bonus of a cleverish revealer. Feels like there are an awful lot of ___ HEADs that are essentially synonymous insults: meathead, bubblehead, bonehead, airhead. I have no idea what a horse head is beyond the literal head of a literal horse. Is that legit because of "Godfather"? There are, of course, infinite other words that can precede HEAD in a familiar phrase (give or take). No matter. Maybe you liked this puzzle or maybe you didn't, but you can't deny that DEL WEBB is in it, and that's what really matters.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]