Gangland rival of Dutch Schultz / WED 8-31-16 / Victims of Morlocks in sci-fi / Mineral used for insulation / Bow-toting deity

Constructor:Ned White

Relative difficulty:Easy (maybe Easy-Medium)


THEME:MAKE IT LAST (62A: "Use this sparingly" ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme)— familiar phrases have "IT" tacked on to the end; wacky clues follow:

Theme answers:

• YES WE CAN IT (17A: Hormel's assurance that Spam is packed safely?)
• SWING BANDIT (29A: Playground equipment thief?)
• SHORT STOP IT (38A: "Enough!" as opposed to "You quit that right now!"?)
• EMILY POST IT (48A: "Miss Dickinson, put your poem on Facebook"?)

Word of the Day:LEGS DIAMOND(25D: Gangland rival of Dutch Schultz) —

Jack "Legs" Diamond (born John Thomas Diamond; July 10, 1897 – December 18, 1931), also known as Gentleman Jack, was an Irish American gangster in Philadelphia and New York City during the Prohibition era. A bootlegger and close associate of gambler Arnold Rothstein, Diamond survived a number of attempts on his life between 1916 and 1931, causing him to be known as the "clay pigeon of the underworld". In 1930, Diamond's nemesis Dutch Schultz remarked to his own gang, "Ain't there nobody that can shoot this guy so he don't bounce back?" (wikipedia)

This is a conceptual disaster. First, you can put "IT" on the end of seemingly infinite phrases, so who cares? Second, there is Zero consistency to how the "IT" addition, and the cluing, are done today. CAN IT is a phrase meaning STOP IT (?), but it's clued as "put stuff in a can." STOP IT is a phrase meaning STOP IT and it is clued ... as STOP IT. So ... no attempt to clue it differently. But then POST IT, which is only a thing when hyphenated, is (like CAN IT) clued in a way that takes it away from its familiar meaning (here, just "put something on Facebook"). And then there's BANDIT, which is the outlier of outliers, being the only really interesting version of this theme (where "IT" is added To Create An Entirely New Word). So ... I don't understand why the CAN IT and POST-IT answers didn't get clues related to those actual, stand-alone terms (when STOP IT did get such a clue) and I don't understand why BANDIT is so sad and alone when it's the only one that's actually doing its job, i.e. being interesting. Coulda done stuff with, DIGIT, CUBIT, LEGIT, ORBIT, PERMIT (!?! why is that word in this grid!? No "IT"-enders in non-theme words! That's just sloppy), PULPIT ... pfff. Pretty maddening how poorly executed this theme is.


The fill is also subpar today. BEAHERO!? (42D: Come to the rescue) Yipes. If you're going to do something that iffy, go all in and clue it ["Billy, Don't ___"]. Song partial! It shows you don't care ... With Gusto.



APA ADE ELOI ANO INT OTYPE :( Things just aren't working today. I actually really like MERCH (5A: Stuff for sale at concerts), and (even though it slowed me right down) LEGS DIAMOND. Not much else about this was pleasing. Wanted TAX AUDITORS instead of IRS AUDITORS (which is my bad—"tax" is in the clue—but TAX AUDITORS does outgoogle "IRS AUDITORS" 3-to-1). Otherwise, no issues anywhere. Sub-4 minute time on a Wednesday is def. on the fast side for me. I can tell you with some assurance that tomorrow's puzzle is a good one. See you then.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]