General Mills corn snack bit / THU 11-9-17 / James Luther of R&B / Orator who declared laws are silent in times of war / Battle of 1797 Napoleon victory

Constructor: Bruce Haight

Relative difficulty: Challenging (though once you grasp the theme, it's not hard at all)

THEME: BACK— phrases ending in "BACK" have, instead of the word "BACK," the penultimate word in the phrase turned "BACK" around (i.e. reversed)

Theme answers:

• "WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK" --> "WE'LL BE THGIR" 
• "I TAKE THAT BACK" --> "I TAKE TAHT"
• "THERE'S NO TURNING BACK" --> "THERE'S NO GNINRUT"
• "GUESS WHO'S BACK" --> "GUESS SOHW"
• "... AND DON'T COME BACK" --> "... AND DON'T EMOC"

Word of the Day: UBS (36A: Credit Suisse rival) —

UBS AG is a Swiss global financial servicescompany, incorporated in the Canton of Zurich, and co-headquartered in Zürich and Basel. The company provides wealth management, asset management, and investment banking services for private, corporate, and institutional clients worldwide, and is generally considered to be a bulge bracket bank. In Switzerland, these services are also offered to retail clients. The name UBS was originally an abbreviation for the Union Bank of Switzerland, but it ceased to be a representational abbreviation after the bank's merger with the Swiss Bank Corporation in 1998. The company traces its origins to 1856, when the earliest of its predecessor banks was founded. UBS has over CHF 2.8 trillion in invested assets, and remains a leading provider of retail banking and commercial banking services in Switzerland. It is the biggest bank in Switzerland, operating in more than 50 countries with 59,387 employees around the world, as of 2016. (wikipedia)

This managed to combine being very hard with being very stale (theme-wise). Me, after spending a long time trying to figure out the theme: "Oh ... you just turn the answers ... back ... great." I've actually seen variations on this reversal sort of thing before, though maybe not quite in this way. The whole thing is deadly, until you "get" it, and then it's just a boring sprint to the end. Took me about 8 minutes (ridiculously high for a Thursday), of which 5 or 6 were probably spent just trying to understand the theme. After I got it, the rest was no sweat. I knew something was off, so I went looking for a rebus. I kept thinking of the phrase "We'll be back after this" and kept trying to see how that concept might fit into the space for the first theme answer. Then wanted "I take it back" for the next theme answer, but couldn't make that do anything either. I could see "back" was involved, but didn't know how. Then ... honestly, I don't know the exact moment the concept snapped into focus. It was probably after having finally worked out most of the end of the third themer, checking All the crosses, realizing they were all unimpeachable, and then ... there it was. Turning, back. It was a legit "aha" moment, which is nice to get, but it was less "wow" and more "ugh, jeezus, how did I not see that hack idea earlier!?" Shame on me.


I think INGRAM (5A: James or Luther of R&B) might create problems for some; crosses ultimately seem fair, but if you don't know that name, that part UP TOP could get very, very rough.  So many things I didn't know. MORDECAI? Big whiff. Needed tons of crosses. I just stared at 8D: Agcy. issuance wondering a. if an uglier clue had ever been written, and b. what the hell it meant. I had RE- and *still* no idea what letter was supposed to round it out. Had SPORT instead of SHIRT for 23A: Polo, for one (as the clue writer clearly intended). Didn't know who wrote "The Black Tulip." Barely know UBS (Are there a lot of three-letter banks? It seems like there are). Getting to DECAL from [Transfer] took me forever. Things were just rough all over. But all that struggle came before I got the theme. Afterward, no sweat. There's still too much junk in this grid (PSY, ONAT, REG, HOOHA (!), ICER, NIA, NOL, OER... YARNED?!!?), but overall it's at least NYT average. All the longer Downs are just fine. I just wish the payoff on this theme had been more ... rewarding.


The only thing really amusing me is the crazy menu in the center/east, where a BANANA EGGO is being served with a side of BUGLEs and a shot of STOLI. I am not sure those things GO WELL together. If anyone wants to try that combo out, please report back.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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