1977 Warhol subject / SUN 7-2-17 / Cinematic composer Andre / Zombie flaming volcano / Revolver song McCartney described as ode to pot / Old movie theater lead-ins / pommes frites seasoning

Constructor: Patrick Blindauer

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME:"The Long and Winding Road"— black squares form a long and winding road, of sorts, and then some answers need to go (or, maybe, "do it"?) in the road for one square to make sense. The road squares then spell out the name of another Beatles' tune: "DRIVE MY CAR" (as in, "Baby you can...")

Theme answers:

• "YOU REALLY GOT A HOLD ON ME" (22A: "With the Beatles" song written by Smokey Robinson)
• "GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE" (118A: "Revolver" song that Paul McCartney described as "an ode to pot")
• "AND I LOVE HER" (35D: "A Hard Day's Night" song that Lennon called McCartney's "first 'Yesterday'")
• "LADY MADONNA" (30D: "Hey Jude" song that mentions every day of the week but Saturday)
• "FIXING A HOLE" (48D: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" song whose title is followed by "where the rain gets in") (this ... is not themer-famous. The others are all iconic songs (even if one is iconic primarily because of Smokey). "FIXING A HOLE," on the other hand, is what we call "symmetrical...")
  
• "ALL MY LOVING" (40D: "With the Beatles" song playing in the E.R. when Lennon died)

Puzzle Note (.puz version):


Word of the Day: C.P. SNOW (91A: "Strangers and Brothers" novelist) —

Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow, CBE (15 October 1905 – 1 July 1980) was an English physical chemist and novelist who also served in several important positions in the British Civil Service and briefly in the UK government. He is best known for his series of novels known collectively as Strangers and Brothers, and for The Two Cultures, a 1959 lecture in which he laments the gulf between scientists and "literary intellectuals". (wikipedia)

I could see the road straight off. I figured this was some kind of anniversary tribute puzzle, but I don't know what the anniversary is. "Sgt. Pepper's" was released on *June* 2, 1967, so it's close to the 50th anniversary of that event. But I think this puzzle probably has nothing specific to commemorate. It's just a nifty little architectural feat. I don't quite understand the wording of the "Note": "... another example of the theme"? What is ... that? You mean "another song"? "Another theme answer"? What is happening, road-wise is much more complex and interesting than whatever "another example of the theme" suggests. You drive a car on a road (I mean, mostly, I assume), so that particular song is particularly apt in terms of its placement on the "long and winding road." The road did weird things to the grid. On the one hand, it gave it a cool, distinctive look. On the other, it created huge banks of short fill that were particularly awful to trudge through. The west has TAV (wasn't sure it wasn't TAVI or TAV-some other letter, as I have never ever ever in two+ decades of solving seen TAV in a grid (that I can remember). ELE is also rare (for a reason). Fill suffers, at least a little, all over—but then again, I can give the puzzle a lot of slack because of the virtuosic design. You're gonna have to eat some GDS if you want something this ornate.


I nearly failed to finish, as the tiny SSE portion was virtually impenetrable to me. Ran the song right through it, but ... Warhol painted ALI? Cape Horn is just a TIP!?!? (that is the one that irked me). TYPE (!?) used to be made of lead? Even getting SKIS (121A: Footwear for a run) and (esp.) LIST (109D: Officially go (for)) was brutal. And I was trapped. No help forthcoming. All I had was AROSE. I finally guessed SKIS, and that got me the traction I needed, but that was a harrowing 10-, 20, 30 seconds, whatever it was. Beatles songs were all familiar, so all the strangeness / weirdness / difficulty was effectively counterbalanced, resulting in a Sunday puzzle of average Sunday difficulty.


Two crossword tournaments are coming up very soon. First (well, chronologically second), there's Lollapuzzoola 10 (!), the greatest (and, now, onliest) crossword tournament in New York (Saturday, Aug. 19). 200+ solvers, zany and inventive puzzles, summertime in New York ... what more could you want? Then there's Boswords, a Boston-area crossword tournament happening a couple weeks earlier (Sunday, Aug. 6). It's the inaugural tourney. The constructors for that one are pretty great (OK half of them are my friends, but my friends make pretty great puzzles). I'm going to both tournaments, because why not? (Actually, I'm going to Lolla because I always go to Lolla (barring scheduling conflicts), and I'm going to Boswords because my friend and podcasting partner Lena lives in Somerville, MA, so I don't need much of a shove to get me out there—I'm headed out there today, in fact). OK, so, get in on the late-summer tourney fun. Come meet your fellow puzzle-dorks. They are lovely humans.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]