Nine-time presidential contender of 1940s-90s / FRI 7-16-16 / Island west of Mull / Mozart title starter / Musical group known for wearing red hats called energy domes / Lesser "Seinfeld" role played by Len Lesser / Prince in line to British throne after Beatrice / Word repeatedly spelled out by Franklin / Creator of Lawyer Perry / Superman catchphrase starter

Constructor:Matt Ginsberg

Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium


THEME:two pronunciations of UNIONIZED (36A: See 19- and 57-Across)—

Theme answers:

• 19A: One for whom 36-Across has four syllables (CHEMIST)
• 57A: One for whom 36-Across has three syllables (PLUMBER)

Word of the Day:Harold STASSEN(14D: Nine-time presidential contender of the 1940s-'90s) —

Harold Edward Stassen (April 13, 1907 – March 4, 2001) was the 25th Governor of Minnesota from 1939 to 1943. After service in World War II, he was president of the University of Pennsylvania from 1948 to 1953. He was a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, considered for a time to be the front-runner. He thereafter regularly continued to run for that and other offices, such that his name became most identified with his status as a perennial candidate.  [...] Stassen was later best known for being a perennial candidate for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States, seeking it nine times between 1944 and 1992 (1944, 1948, 1952, 1964, 1968, 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992). He never won the Republican nomination, much less the presidency; in fact, after 1952, he never even came close, but continued to campaign actively and seriously for President until just a year before his death. (wikipedia)

When I saw the constructor's name, I knew it wasn't going to be a straight themeless. A feeling of dread set in, as I enjoy my Friday themelesses. In fact, Friday is probably the puzzle day most likely to make me happy. So I braced for a theme, and I guess there is one—but at three words, it's one of those half-assed themes you see occasionally, where you have a themeless built around an idea too slight for a regular, themed puzzle. I mean, sure, it's a cute little bit of wordplay. PLUMBER feels pretty arbitrary as an example of a unionized worker (TEACHER fits, for instance), but it's fine. It's just fine. And then there's the rest of the puzzle. And that is also fine. Two days in a row now where I feel like the ambition level has been pretty low. This grid is fairly smooth, overall, but not very remarkable except in its weirder answers (like ALL-INDIA) and its mystery names (EUGENIE and STASSEN, for me). The SW corner is nice, if name-heavy. And I do enjoy DEVO (54A: Musical group known for wearing red hats called "energy domes").


I don't know from "Lyricists." Whenever a clue starts [Lyricist...] I panic and start hitting the R, L and S keys. I'm probably thinking of LOESSER. Is that a lyricist? Yes! "Guys & Dolls"! Good for me. Anyway, LERNER (38A: Lyricist who adapted "Pygmalion") ... I think he goes with LOEWE the composer, not to be confused with LOEWS the theater chain, or LOWE'S the home improvement store, or Derek LOWE the pitcher, or the otherDerek LOWE who is a medicinal [...wait for it...] CHEMIST! [takes bow, draws curtain, goes home]

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. wasn't til just now that I noticed that 40-Down did not read [Word repeatedly spelled out by Frankenstein] (RESPECT). Actual clue makes so much more sense.

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]