Word spoken before after James / TUE 9-4-18 / Pair of skivvies / Sporty Pontiacs of old

Constructor: Bruce Haight

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (3:12)

THEME: THE EIGHTIES (58A: When Pac-Man and Rubik's Cube were popular ... or a phonetic hint for 17-, 23-, 37- and 48-Across) — two-word answers, first word starts with "A," second word starts with "T":

Theme answers:

• ALL TOGETHER (17A: In unison)
• ATOMIC THEORY (23A: The idea that matter is composed of small, distinct components)
• AIRPORT TERMINAL (37A: Common taxi destination)
• ANCHOR TENANT (48A: Big department store in a mall, e.g.)

Word of the Day: ANCHOR TENANT (48A) —

In retail, an "anchor store" (sometimes called an "anchor tenant", "draw tenant", or "key tenant") is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. With their broad appeal, they are intended to attract a significant cross-section of the shopping public to the center. (store store store store store) (wikipedia)

What a bizarre set of answers. You could do A.T. answers all day long, and *these* are the ones you settle on??? ARMORED TRUCK, APPLE TREE, ANN TAYLOR, ANIMAL TRAINER ... etc etc etc. I'm particularly floored by the off-brand ANCHOR TENANT, which is ... I mean, the wikipedia entry is for ANCHOR STORE because that is what people call them. Our local mall is dissolving, largely because ANCHOR STOREs are moving out. Why are you dipping into the "sometimes called" jar for answeres when the world is literally teeming with other, more interesting, more in-the-language A.T. answers. Not coincidentally, the only trouble I had with this puzzle happened *entirely* along the length of TENANT. AND HOW made it worse. Super-annoying that I got thwarted by language out of a Norman Rockwell painting. AND HOW is exacerbated by "keister" and "skivvies" and other things Andy Taylor might say. All that aw-shucks nostalgia-talk is cloying enough as it is without its being involved in the whole TENANT-area train wreck. I have no problem with the theme concept here (though it feels awfully familiar ...), but choose better answers. Real answers.


There is nothing else memorable or remarkable about this puzzle except that the themers were an odd, arbitrary set, and the theme derailed at TENANT. The only marks I have made on the grid that are not in the TENANT region are:

• The last two letters in I'M OFF (I had I'M OUT) (as in "I'm out (of here)") (1A: "Gotta go!")
• The second word in PIANO TUNER (question-mark clue meant I needed a couple crosses to figure that one out) (11D: One involved with a grand opening?)
• The last letter in AMAS (got my first / second / third persons all turned around in my head and forgot which way second person was supposed to go—I might've tested a "T" there) (27D: You love: Lat.)
• The second letter in MITE (I had MOTE) (54D: Smidgen).

The end. I thought I was at least headed toward a smooth, non-disastrous solving experience with this one, but then TENANT happened (AND HOW!) and that dream ended. I should add that I could've gotten back on track a little more quickly if a. I had known what kind of [Racket] I was dealing with at 51D: Racket (NOISE), and b. I had figured out what the hell the context was for 53A: Word spoken before and after "James" (BOND). Clue makes it sound like anyone might "speak" it. Also, BOND here is not a "word," it's a name. You aren't encouraging James to get closer to his child. He is naming himself. UGH.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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