Old World blackbird / MON 7-1-13 / l'oeil (optical illusion) / Whodunit awards / Furniture finish / "Evil Woman" band, for short / Group for kids of problem drinkers / Regd. names

Constructor: Patrick McIntyre

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: SHOWDOWNS— Answers to starred down clues are also names of Broadway musicals.

Word of the Day: MERL (19A: Old World blackbird) —

The Common Blackbird (Turdus merula) is a species of true thrush. It is also called Eurasian Blackbird (especially in North America, to distinguish it from the unrelated New World blackbirds),[2] or simply Blackbird, where this does not lead to confusion with a similar-looking local species. It breeds in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to Australia and New Zealand. It has a number of subspecies across its large range; a few of the Asian subspecies are sometimes considered to be full species. Depending on latitude, the Common Blackbird may be resident, partially migratory or fully migratory. [Wikipedia]

I would have preferred the clue "Crossword constructor Reagle featured in Wordplay" for MERL (see Word of the Day). Crossing that with TROMPE (1D: ____ l'oeil (optical illusion)) is why I gave this a medium. I can imagine some might have failed the puzzle there. Perhaps MERL is crosswordese I should know by know, but alas I do not.

Add to that my start with BROKER instead of the correct TRADER (1A: Stock exchange worker), and I had a few minor bumps to overcome.



Tyler (not Hinman) Clark from Youngstown here to walk you through Monday's puzzle. It was an odd puzzle for me; when I wrote the answer RENT (6D: *Torn), I actually thought Hey, that's also a musical. But, when I wrote the theme revealer SHOWDOWNS (21D: Decisive confrontations ... or what the answers to the six starred clues are?) I was going too quickly to not take it literally, and even after writing the other theme answers, I still hadn't put it together. All told, the theme didn't affect my solving experience and was just something to enjoy once I had finished.



Theme answers:

• RENT (6D: Torn)
• HAIRSPRAY (8D: Salon supply)
• CHICAGO (10D: The Windy City)
• FOOTLOOSE (35D: Partner of fancy-free)
• CABARET (46D: Nightclub)
• CATS (63D: Jazz devotees, informally)

I was actually just listening to a live recording of the original 1971 Broadway cast of Follies, so I guess this is the perfect night for this theme for me. I was going to snidely remark that Footloose doesn't belong on this list, but when I looked up its run, it played over 700 performances, so I suppose you have to give it credit for that.



Bullets:

• KNAVE (53A: Scoundrel)— I just like the word and don't remember seeing it in many puzzles.
• EAVED (59A: Having a roof overhang)— I filled it in immediately, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
• YOO (48A: "___-hoo")— I wrote "WOO" before HAIRSPRAY told me that was wrong.
• BAD IDEA (69A: "Don't even think about it") — I don't know why, but I wrote BACK OFF as the first thing in that corner, with only "BA..." to start me off. Knew from DEA (70D: Narc's org.) that this was ... off.
• STD (7D: Benchmark: Abbr.) — You'll need to subscribe to The AV Club xwords to get a punchier clue than that.

Wishing you a great holiday week!

Signed, Tyler Clark, Fan of CrossWorld