Mathematician whose name sounds like fuel ship / MON 7-31-17 / Radioer's word after Roger / Pesters repeatedly / Liberal's favorite road sign

Constructor: David Steinberg

Relative difficulty: Challenging (so, like, 30 seconds north of normal)

THEME: SEATTLE (68A: City that's the subject of this puzzle)— things related to SEATTLE and then a child's menu-quality connect-the-dots Space Needle thingie...

Theme answers:

• RAIN (2D: Common 68-Across forecast)
• PIKE PLACE MARKET (17A: Downtown 68-Across attraction) (really thought PIKE'S ... cost me valuable seconds) 
• MARINER (42A: 69-Across baseball player)
• COFFEE SHOP (27D: Business on every block in 68-Across, so it's said) (there's a COFFEE SHOP on every block of every city in America; this clue is dumb)
  
• PUGET SOUND (31D: Body of water that 68-Across is on)

Word of the Day: MOLESTS (42D: Pesters repeatedly) —

verb

verb: molest; 3rd person present: molests; past tense: molested; past participle: molested; gerund or present participle: molesting

1. 1.

   assault or abuse (a person, especially a woman or child) sexually.

   
   

   "he was charged with molesting and taking obscene photographs of a ten-year-old boy"

   
   

   synonyms:

   (sexually) abuse, (sexually) assault, interfere with, rape, violate; More informalgrope, paw, fondle; literaryravish "he molested a ten-year-old boy"

2. 2.

   dated

   pester or harass (someone), typically in an aggressive or persistent manner.

   
   

   "the crowd was shouting abuse and molesting the two police officers"

   
   

   synonyms:

   harass, harry, hassle, pester, bother, annoy, beset, persecute, torment; informalroust "the crowd molested the police"

(google) (emph. mine)

Hi everyone. Just back from the OBX, which you don't see in puzzles very much (in fact ... [checking] ... never in the NYT), though you do see it a lot on the rear windows of cars owned by people who want you to know where they've been on vacation. At least in the northeast you do. Nags Head (wheres the apostrophe!!!?) was lovely. Gorgeous. If you depopulated it completely: perfect. Populated, it's got a certain Horribleness that's like Southern "heritage" meets New Jersey. I mean, #notallOBX of course, but ... yikes. I tend to like my vacations Confederate-flag-clothing-free. I'm a coastal elite that way. But geographically, it was astonishing. Woke every morning before 5:30 to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic. Walked for an hour or two every morning on perfect beaches that went on forever. The key was being up when almost no one else was. Under those conditions, OBX is heaven. Under normal working-hours conditions, it's a lot louder / whiter / racister / drunker / cheesier. I mean, the first night we ate at a restaurant that was essentially venereal disease-themed.

So, all in all, a mixed bag, but the good was Very good. This puzzle, on the other hand, wasn't very good, *especially* for how Much was going on. Why are we celebrating SEATTLE? Because the Space Needle is, uh, 55 years old this year? RAIN? Really? You're tryna theme that one? Is TRIO themed? No? OK, then no. I love Seattle. My whole family is from the Pacific NW. My dad went to med school at UW. My niece starts undergrad there next month. My mom lived there briefly in the '90s. It's great. But this puzzle is blah. The payoff is ... well ... I mean, *this* is the payoff:

Are you happy? No, you're not happy. Nobody's happy.


Further, there is some serious ugh in the fill and clues. Clue on KEEP LEFT is corny dad humor (4D: Liberal's favorite road sign?). It's wrong and dumb and unfun. I mean ... who the hell has a "favorite road sign"? The very concept is idiotic. Further, let's talk about words and what they mean. First, "chivalry." There is nothing—literally nothing—"chivalrous" about PERMIT ME. See, chivalry relates to horses and horsemanship and (actual) knightly conduct; affected archaisms from goateed dudes in fedoras and cargo shorts Do Not count as "chivalrous." Also, anyone could say PERMIT ME? Also, No One Says PERMIT ME? Maybe, *Maybe*, ALLOW ME. That answer/clue was so bad I almost didn't notice the pitiful ELIE/ELKE cross. And the nearby ALAS BNAI ADMEN STPAT NEE make-it-stop. But back to definitions. Second, MOLESTS... look, I get that the theme kind of pens you in down there, but MOLESTS? With *that* clue?! (42D: Pesters repeatedly). Again, No One uses it that way. Dictionary says "Dated" for a reason. Disingenuous clue only serves to highlight the fact that you've got MOLESTS in your grid. 99% of solvers are going to have a moment of "Really?!?" right at the word MOLESTS? How, from a design standpoint, is that smart? Now it's not the SEATTLE puzzle, it's the MOLESTS puzzle? Are you happy? No, you're not happy. Nobody's happy.


Ah(h), it's good to be back. See ya tomorrow. And big, big thanks to Laura Braunstein (on Twitter @laurabrarian) for holding (down) the fort during my absence.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. ELKS🙁 🦌🦌🦌

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]