Mid-Long Island community / SUN 6-12-16 / Hunger Games star in tabloids / Noted sexologist in her infancy / Controversial TV personality's magical sidekick / Resolve dispute in modern way / Frequent James Franco collaborator / Rock whose name sounds good? / 1961 Michelangelo Antonioni drama

Constructor:Finn Vigeland

Relative difficulty:Easy

THEME:"Attending Physicians"— "DR." added to familiar phrases to create wacky phrases with "?" clues... (there's also an unnecessary revealer: THE DOCTOR IS IN (113A: Sign on Lucy's "Peanuts" booth ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme)

Theme answers:

• DR. PEPPER SPRAY (23A: Result of shaking a soda too hard before opening?)
• BABY DR. RUTH (34A: Noted sexologist, in her infancy?)
• DR. WHO'S YOUR DADDY (48A: "The paternity results are in ... it's the protagonist of a long-running BBC sci-fi show!"?
• DR. J. CREW (64A: 1970s-'80s Sixers star and friends?)
• THE WIZARD OF DR. OZ (85A: Controversial TV personality's magical sidekick?) (I love that he's clued as "controversial," though even that is euphemistic)
  
• DO DR. NO HARM  (98A: Hurt a Bond villain?) (I thought the phrase was "*First* do no harm...")

Word of the Day:SYOSSET(119A: Mid-Long Island community) —

Syosset/saɪˈɒsᵻt/ is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, New York, United States, in the northeastern section of the Town of Oyster Bay, near the North Shore of Long Island. The population was 18,829 at the 2010 census. It is served by the Syosset railroad station, the Syosset Post Office, the Syosset Central School District, the Syosset Public Library, the Syosset Fire Department, and the Jericho Water District. // Syosset is located approximately 32 miles (51 km) east of Midtown Manhattan. Service is accessible to New York City by the LIRR and the Long Island Expressway by car. (wikipedia)

Hey, it's my friend Finn. I just saw him at the Indie 500 crossword tournament last week. He looks like this (or at least he did last week):

I didn't really dig this theme—not because simply adding "DR." to familiar phrases is too simple (simple can be wondrously effective), but because only one of the themers made me smile (specifically, "DR. WHO'S YOUR DADDY!") (which was also the first themer I got). After that, nothing really landed for me, and considering the rather limited number of famous DR.s, uncovering those themers was astonishingly easy. The grid as a whole, however, I quite enjoyed. It was very Finny in both its professionalism and its boyish cuteness. Thought the FRAT BROS HUGging IT OUT was kind cute (though I had the more common "FRAT BOYS" there at first), and both SUPER BOWL MVP and "OH BOO HOO!" were lovely. Same with "MAY I SEE?" (no, you may not). ISN'T HOME isn't good, but there's not much in the way of junk here, I must say. I wish the themers had been funnier, and I wish the puzzle had been 50% harder. But I can't say I didn't have a pretty good time.


Bullets:

• 66D: "The Hunger Games" star, in tabloids (J-LAW)— for Jennifer Lawrence. Just saw this answer (for the first time, I think) this past week in one of Caleb Madison's Buzzfeed crosswords. 
• 56D: Frequent James Franco collaborator (SETH ROGEN)— pretty easy, though I did make sure to leave that final vowel blank until the cross confirmed it (never sure if it's "A" or "E"). 
• 48D: "You sure got me pegged!" ("DO I!")— I had "MOI?" and I swear it felt right. But then I was like "Who ... is MR. WHO?"
• 63D: With 65-Down, technological escalations (ARMS / RACES)— the "technological" part really threw me. I was thinking of tech companies engaged in some kind of tech ... battle. With competing products and what not. But I guess nuclear bombs and other weapons are "technological" too.
• 119A: Mid-Long Island community (SYOSSET)— a random conglomeration of letters, as far as I was concerned. This is where I finished the puzzle, and I just shrugged as I entered all of the letters from crosses. I kept expecting a recognizable place name to come into view. That did not happen.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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