Nemesis of Clanton gang / THU 8-3-17 / Modern home of ancient Tripolitania / Drawings seen in France's Rouffignac cave / President whose initials were also his dog's name / Code broken by rats

Constructor: Timothy Polin

Relative difficulty: Medium, leaning Medium-Challenging? (no idea—I had an ultra-slow time due almost entirely to a spelling error ... and then Another Spelling Error)

THEME: BELT LOOP (61A: Waistband site ... or what 20-, 39- and 55-Across each have?)— circled letters contain types of belts, and those belts (AMMO, LAP, TOOL) "loop" from the east side of the grid back to the west.

Word of the Day: VOIT (10A: Basketball brand) —

The Voit Corporation is a sporting goods company founded by German American entrepreneur William J. Voit of Worthington, Indiana (1880–1946). // Voit began in Los Angeles in 1922 as a tire retreading products factory. In the late 1920s Voit developed and patented the first full-molded, all-rubberinflatableball and the first needle-type air retention valves. (wikipedia)

My brain just came unglued during this one, not because the concept was so tough to grasp (it wasn't), but because I committed to multiple misspellings. The last one, PIMIENTO, was the least bad. I went PIMENTO (and then ELSA instead of ILSA, just like in all my crossword-confusion nightmares!!!), but in pretty short time realized that that wasn't going to work. I had the theme by then and could approach those circled letters more methodically. But the first misspelling, holy moly. I figured if something is like unto wool it is WOOLY. Blogger just red-underlined it, so obviously it's wrong. Its STEELY, it's MOODY, dagnabbit it should be WOOLY!  So anyway I had WOOLYMAMM written in there and just ... died. *Died*. Basketball brand? Total blank. ILIAD, from *that* stupid generic clue? No way (12D: Long, old yarn). And don't get me started on the clue for CAL (16D: Nutritional label abbr.). There are so many amazing CAL options, how in the &$(^#$ing world do you make it an abbr., and the most boring abbr. imaginable. Ugh. Eventually, somehow, I realized that the circled squares were probably connected somehow, and MMMO made no sense, but AMMO did. So I went to WOOLLY and whaddya know, everything fell into place.


I dig the weird-shaped grid, but the overall theme concept is kind of a letdown. The wraparound conceit is well-worn, and I found this particular incarnation kinda anti-climactic. Just three ... belts, only one of which really really lands (TOOL). Is an AMMO belt like a bandolier? LAP belts barely exist any more, except in old cars, in the back seat. SEAT is more in-language. GARTER mighta been nice. Coulda gone BLACK. Coulda gone metaphorical and tried RUST or BIBLE. Shrug. Three belts. And we have to endure non-answers like STOCKSCOLL (that was my first "what do I have wrong!?" moment). Cluing overall seemed pretty hard. LIVES as [Video game *units*] was rough. Same with clue on VENT (53D: Magma conduit) and ONSET (26D: Dawn) and KABOOM (14A: Big report) and on and on. Very Friday/Saturday, this cluing. Which is fine. Got totally confused on ASK NO quarter (29D: ___ quarter (refuse mercy)) because I was reading "refuse mercy" as "refuse to extend mercy," not "refuse to be the beneficiary of mercy." So this was just rough for me all over, with no real pleasure spots. It's conceptually OK, and the grid shape is innovative. I dunno. Neither good nor bad for me today.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. I am being told that the grid is supposed to be a graphic depiction of a belt. Huh ... nope. Not seeing it. I'm seeing something vaguely beltish, maybe, but only because someone told me to look for it. Therefore: graphic fail (assuming it was even a graphic attempt).

P.P.S. TEDS LOL no (66A: Spreads, as straw). I'm so glad I never saw that answer because that is one stupid word.

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