Libertarian pundit Neal / SUN 8-6-17 / Malodorous animal / Governess at Thornfield / 1997 action film set on plane / Fruit mentioned in Odyssey / Choice for online gamer / Pharma watchdog / Chicago based fraternal order / Longtime retailer hurt by Amazon / Revolver in roaring twenties slang

Constructor: Patrick Berry

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME:"Anchors Away!"— boat puns, (ah)oy...

Theme answers:

• GALLEONS OF MILK (gallons) (24A: Sailing vessels that Cap'n Crunch might commandeer?)
• WARSHIPS AT THE ALTAR (worships) (31A: Heavily armored vessels getting married?)
• ROCK 'EM SOCK 'EM ROWBOATS (robots) (54A: Kids' game in which small vessels attack each other?)
• SEMI TRAWLER (trailer) (66A: Fishing vessel that can pull only half a net behind it?)
• AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YACHT (yet) (76A: Recreational vessel that's never left the harbor?)
• DIRTY DOUBLE CRUISER (crosser) (100A: Luxury vessel with a pair of decks, both of which need swabbing?)
• APPLE FREIGHTER (fritter) (111A: Cargo vessel full of iPads?) 

Word of the Day: Neal BOORTZ (12D: Libertarian pundit Neal) —

Neal A Boortz, Jr. (born April 6, 1945) is an American author, attorney, and former Libertarian radio host. His nationally syndicatedtalk show, The Neal Boortz Show, which ended in 2013, was carried throughout the United States. It was ranked seventh in overall listeners, with more than 4.25 million per week. The content of the show included politics, current events, social issues, and topics of interest, which Boortz discussed with callers, correspondents and guests. Boortz touched on many controversial topics and referred to himself as an "equal opportunity offender." [ooh, original] (wikipedia)

Wow, this is startlingly mediocre work from the Best Constructor On The Planet™. Terrible boat puns. Just ... off. Unfunny. Dumb. I guess ROCK 'EM SOCK 'EM ROWBOATS has some charm, but SEMI-TRAWLER? GALLEONS OF MILK? These are bad. Come on. They are. Even if  you like puns, you shouldn't like these that much. This is the kind of puzzle I associate with people whose skills never made it out of the '80s. AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YACHT doesn't even make sense grammatically. Also, if it's AIN'T, then it's NOTHIN', that's the rule. The worst part for me, from a purely personal taste standpoint, was that the place I struggled most was made strugglesome by some libertarian guy I'd never heard of. "He has [...] caused a stir among some Southerners, by coining the term "Flaggots" during his frequent jabs at them and at Confederate issues (such as governmental support of the Confederate flag)" (wikipedia). Great. Great. Sure. Lovely. Wonderful. "He has repeatedly stated his belief that global climate change is not man-made" (wikipedia). Wow, you don't say. Fascinating. Keep these wonderful folks coming, NYT. They make the puzzle delightful. (sidenote: if the puzzle had been better overall, I wouldn't have had the time or inclination to care about one stupid name).


Beyond BOORTZ, that NE corner was rough for me. Stupidly put in AMA at 26D: Pharma watchdog (FDA). Couldn't make sense of [Testing times]'s frame of reference (ORDEALS). Couldn't parse NUMEROUNO. Thought it was D.C.'s National PARK (baseball?) (15D: MALL). Rough all over. But the rest was pretty dang easy. No idea what "soubise" meant, so ONIONY took some doing (64D: Like soubise sauce). No idea Houdini's actual last name was WEISS (69D: Ehrich ___ ak.a. Houdini). Never thought of SEARS as particular hurt by Amazon, any more than every other retailer on the planet has been "hurt by Amazon." Had SAKE on my mind (from yesterday's puzzle) so I managed to put that in instead of SUMO this time (119A: Staple of Shinto rituals). Best clue / answer was probably 77D: It may help remove a curse (TAPE DELAY). Very tricky, very satisfying wordplay. Bravo. You can scuttle the rest of this puzzle, though.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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