Rhoda's TV mom / FRI 10-7-16 / Last of series of nicknames / Literary hero whose name is Turkish for lion / Quadrant separator / Alchemist's concoction / Interest of mycologist

Constructor:Robyn Weintraub

Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day:ACETONE(28A: Manicure destroyer) —

noun

Chemistry

noun: acetone

1. a colorless volatile liquid ketone made by oxidizing isopropanol, used as an organic solvent and synthetic reagent. (google)

Harry Potter, "Princess Bride," Narnia, and "Star Wars" all in one corner ... is bound to make a certain demographic squeal with glee.  I am not that precisely that demographic, but I did mostly enjoy this puzzle. There is some short-fill unfortunateness here and there, but the strength of the longer fill makes up for it, mostly. There's nothing wonderful here, but all the major parts are quite solid. Kick the tires, rev the engine—it'll run. I am none too happy to run (again!) into the lonely singular DORITO. They are plural or they are not. OTOS kinda sounds like a snack chip brand. I like that it crosses "OH OH" because combined they make up my imagined ad campaign slogan: "OH, OH ... OTOS!" [loud crunch sound, smiling child, wacky music, the end]. I get pretty irate when there are too many "?" clues crammed into a small space, so I got pretty irate in the NE corner, where *three* abutting / intersecting answers start acting cute. It's a claustrophobic space—I have no patience for smug cleverness in tight quarters. So go to hell, SPAMACONDAROID.


Blanked on HP's dad's name and got no help from the "Princess Bride" clue, which meant nothing to me (and I've seen that movie several times) (17A: Billy Crystal's role in "The Princess Bride"). I had "-IR..." and thus had Billy Crystal playing "SIR ... somebody." SIR O'CLIMAX? Something like that. But my 1-A Theory of Speed-Solving still pertained today, as knowing JEDI MASTER right off the bat helped me with all the other NW struggles and propelled me to a pretty good time. Had a very weird coincidence happen to me as I went to Spotify to find some classical music to blog to. I had a new recording of Stravinsky's "Petrushka" set aside to listen to, so I went to play it and noticed that the recording immediately following "Petrushka" was not Stravinsky but Debussy. Specifically, Debussy's "La boîte à joujoux," a work I hadn't even heard of until just that second. My mediocre French said to me, "Hey, doesn't that mean ...?" And yes. Yes it does. 


Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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