Corporate raider Carl / MON 12-4-17 / Falafel holders / Three-time Frazier foe

• "SAY IT AIN'T SO!" (17A: "Tell me the rumors are false!")
• PAY IT FORWARD (28A: 2000 Kevin Spacey/Helen Hunt film)
• "MAY IT BE" (38A: Oscar-nominated Enya song from 2001's "The Lord of the Rings")
• LAY IT ON THICK (48A: Offer effusive praise)
• PLAY IT BY EAR (62A: Improvise)

"May it Be" is a song from Irish recording artist Enya. It was composed by Enya and Roma Ryan for Peter Jackson's 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The song entered the German Singles Chart at number one in 2002 and was performed by Enya at the 74th Academy Awards. "May It Be" was acclaimed from music critics and received nominations for Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, Academy Award for Best Original Song and Grammy Award nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media. (wikipedia)

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Hi, everyone!

My name is Clare Carroll, and I’m filling in for Annabel, who has finals this week. (Good luck!) I’m a senior history major at the school that seems to be the most commonly chosen for crossword puzzles. Any guesses? Four letters… Ivy League… a student is an Eli...slogan is “lux et veritas.” Yale!

We also have maybe the cutest mascot in history, a bulldog named Handsome Dan.

Not to be a Debbie Downer or anything, but I thought overall this puzzle was very meh. Doing the puzzle, I thought the theme was something about common phrases with “it” in the middle. I didn’t even realize until I’d finished that all of the first words of the answers rhymed. That just didn’t strike me as very clever. Also, I have a bone to pick with the Times: Why is Kevin Spacey in this puzzle? First of all, I don’t know the movie. Second of all: NO! Spacey should not be allowed anywhere – including in puzzles – again.

There were a few good clues, but most were kinda flat. In general, I found a few parts of this puzzle hard because I’m still pretty new to puzzles and am getting used to some of the older references. For one, I had no idea that 36A: Leave rolling in the aisles was SLAY because I have never heard that expression before. I know that RCA is a fairly common crossword puzzle answer, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve never seen one. I also have no idea who Carl ICAHN is. I see he was big in the ‘80s – as in, a decade before I was born.

I didn’t get a couple of the pop culture answers that I’m usually pretty good at and felt like I should have known. I’m a huge country music fan, but I have no idea who Travis TRITT is. I kept trying to make Randy work there instead. And I feel like I should have known the 2000 movie with the person who shall not be named again, even if it isn’t a super-well-known film. I’m also an incredibly big Lord of the Rings fan, but I had no idea that MAY IT BE was a song in one of the movies. Plus, everyone who’s anyone knows that “Into the West” is the best LOTR song!

One of the clues I especially liked was 33D: Spears at the dinner table for ASPARAGUS. My first thought went to forks, but I pretty quickly realized what the answer was. Two others really fooled me. I LOLed for 7D: Neighbor of the radius being ULNA. My first thought again went elsewhere, because I assumed the answer had to do with the radius of a circle. Another one that got me was RANGE for 58A: Cowboys’ home. I could not get the idea out of my head that the clue had something to do with the (hated) Dallas Cowboys, AT&T stadium, Jerry Jones, etc...

My TV/movie knowledge helped me out in the puzzle. (See, Dad, I watch TV for a reason!) I recently watched an episode of “Friends” where Ross makes a reservation using Winona RYDER’s name. So, her name was fresh in my head. I also knew about Joe PESCI, of course, because “My Cousin Vinny” is my all-time favorite movie. And, I immediately knew ICE-T was the rapper turned actor, because I used to watch “Law and Order: SVU” all the time. Dun dun.

Anyhoo, thanks for letting me be a little part of CrossWorld! Having to really dissect what I thought about the puzzle and each clue individually was a fun experiment. Now, I’m off to write 10 pages for my senior thesis and another 10-page paper. This should be fun!

Signed, Clare Carroll, a happy Eli. 

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