Why Japanese tipplers anticipate afterlife / THU 4-20-17 / Designation for UK vessels / 1952 Bernard Malamud novel / Organic jewelry material

Constructor:Jeffrey Wechsler

Relative difficulty:Easy-Medium

THEME: Eh?— familiar phrases are clued as if one of their silent Es were accented; enter wackiness.

Theme answers:

• FOR HEAVEN'S SAKÉ (20A: Why Japanese tipplers anticipate the afterlife?) (I woulda said "look forward to" rather than the blander / less enthusiastic "anticipate"; they're tipplers, for pete's saké!)
  
• WHACK-A-MOLÉ (31A: Pound on some Mexican food?)
• LAMÉ EXCUSE (39A: "I didn't know you disliked shiny fabrics!," e.g.?)
• RUN FOR THE ROSÉS (48A: Quick trip to pick up white zinfandel and blush?)

Word of the Day:TOPE(25D: Emulate a 2-Down (WINO)) —

verb

archaicliterary

verb: tope; 3rd person present: topes; past tense: toped; past participle: toped; gerund or present participle: toping

1. drink alcohol to excess, especially on a regular basis. (google)

This mild-chuckle concept, like much recent NYT fare, feels dated, but honestly today it feels dated in a comfy sweater kind of way. It's a consistent, cute, well-made puzzle, with fill that skews old (i.e. familiar / slightly crosswordesey) but not painful. Solving this thing was a completely pleasant experience. Wait, there is one inconsistency, which is that the altered word is the last word in all the themers ... but one. That's a bit wonky. Not uncoincidentally, that is the one themer I had trouble with, the one that I flubbed at first. I had the last two letters (-SE) and once I dropped the "X" from LEX (33D: Law of ancient times), I took one look at 39A: "I didn't know you disliked shiny fabrics!," e.g.? and -----X--SE and (with the theme already known to me), confidently made that last word EXPOSÉ. I like the idea that some investigative reporter has figured out that you dislike shiny fabrics and is going to tell the world about it. Aha! Gotcha! EXPOSÉ would've made the theme execution thematically consistent. Coulda used OVEREXPOSE as the base answer and clued OVER EXPOSÉ ... some type of way, I don't know. [Having moved on from embarrassing press coverage?]. Something like that. But instead it's LAMÉ in the *first*-word position. Shrug. OK. Not a big deal.


Here are a few assorted thoughts I had while taking my leisurely springtime stroll through this grid:

Assorted thoughts:

• 7D: Certain trank (LUDE)— this took me multiple passes, mostly because I just kept wondering what kind of word "trank" was. Sincerely thought it was a clothing portmanteau (trousers + tanktop?)
• 1A: Departed (AWAY)— LEFT. Later, DEAD.
• 11D: Went to night school (TOOK A CLASS)— This is green paint. This is "EAT A SANDWICH." This isn't great.
• 42D: Reach by air (LAND AT)— needed every cross. Just didn't compute.
• 60A: Antihero of "A Clockwork Orange" (ALEX)— because it's a crossword, I flubbed the spelling (ALEC).  
• 61A: Influence for Enya, historically (CELT)— wait, so there's just this one CELT who influenced her? Like, just this one guy named Angus who's like "You should really make some ethereal New Age music, lass"?

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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