Zippo output / FRI 5-11-18 / Product whose original slogan was it floats / Groundbreaking 1990s sitcom / sparta's foe in 300 / Chewy fruity candy /

Constructor: Sam Ezersky and David Steinberg

Relative difficulty: Medium to Medium-Challenging (a few little things somehow slowed me down a lot) (6:59)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: INGEMAR Johansson (17A: 1950s heavyweight Johansson) —

Jens Ingemar Johansson (Swedish: [ˈɪŋːɛmar ²juːhansˌsɔn]; 22 September 1932 – 30 January 2009) was a Swedish professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1963. He held the world heavyweight title from 1959 to 1960, and was the fifth heavyweight champion born outside the United States. Johansson won the title by defeating Floyd Patterson via third-round stoppage, after flooring him seven times in that round. For this achievement, Johansson was awarded the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year—the only non-American to do so in the belt's entire 27-year existence—and was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year.

Johansson also held the European heavyweight title twice, from 1956 to 1958 and from 1962 to 1963. As an amateur he won a silver medal in the heavyweight division at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He affectionately named his right fist "toonder and lightning" for its concussive power (it was also called "Ingo's bingo" and the "Hammer of Thor"), and in 2003 he was ranked at No. 99 on The Ring magazine's list of the 100 greatest punchers of all time. (wikipedia)

This played old and not terribly exciting. The grid shape did not lend itself to flashy fill. Lots and lots and lots of 7-letter words = not a recipe for scintillation. Also the fill had a few too many flirtations with overused fill: IWO UEY (ugh) EGGO ORE (esp. as clued) UMA etc. I mean, GUMMY BEAR is cool, and PTA MEETINGS is interesting to parse, but honestly you can keep SNIPER RIFLE. PTA MEETINGS / SNIPER RIFLE is one of the more unfortunate symmetrical pairings I've seen. Like pairing HIGH SCHOOL and SHOOTINGS. I think my favorite thing about the grid is BILIOUS (insert "well that's fitting, coming from you, ya jerk!"-type comments here) (15D: Peevishly ill-natured). It's a great word. Nothing much else about the grid excited me, though.


I started with UEY, which is really bad (6D: Quick turnaround?) (it's "quick" because it's a shortened form ... of "U-turn"). I mean, it sets a bad tone. That word always looks stupid written out, and it's impossible to know if the puzzle is going to go with the UEY or the UIE spelling (yes, both exist, which is part of what makes this answer loathsome). Perhaps because of the shape of the grid, I was never really able to pick up speed, and got stymied pretty badly a few times because of seemingly small things. Misspelled INGAMAR (thusly) and needed every cross to see that 10D: "1" preceder: Abbr. (!?!?!) was RTE. As in ... RTE 1 ... which is a Route ... somewhere? Yikes. Could not at all remember (olde-tyme crosswordese) SHERE Khan at 50A: ___ Khan, antagonist in "The Jungle Book"—CHAKA kept running interference. But the two things that held me up most today were INDUCTS (37D: Initiates) and (weirdly) PRAISE (7D: Tough love rarity). The first problem is (I hope) obvious—I had INDUCES, and so seeing ON TRACK was really hard (56A: Proceeding as planned). Wasn't til I got the "K" from RECHECK that I figured out my mistake. INDUCTS? I guess the meaning of "Initiates" was lost on me. I was thinking of beginning, not installing, as into a Hall of Fame. And then with PRAISE ... I think that clue is all kinds of off. "Tough love" is not about withholding PRAISE. I just don't understand the correlation here. Requiring someone to take responsibility for their actions does not mean you don't PRAISE them. "Coddle" and PRAISE are not the same words. Enabling is not praising. Anyway, I had PRA- and absolutely no idea what the word was supposed to be. Bizarre cluing.


Bullets:

• 47A: Sound from a sock (WHAM) — was thinking of the sound one *makes* when socked. Had the "W" and wanted ... well, nothing. Maybe WOOF. Missed opportunity here for a musical clue. 

• 50D: "Oh, you got me!" (SNAP) — I think of this as much more "cool!" or "wow!" or else something you say acknowledging that someone *else* (besides the speaker) has been insulted. Also, it's commonly preceded by "Oh," as in "Oh Snap!" See here.
• 36D: Compadre (PAISANO) — Had the "-AI-" which led to my triumphantly throwing down the best wrong answer of the day: MAIN MAN!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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