Whittaker player of first female Doctor on Doctor Who / WED 10-10-18 / Designer of attractions at Walt Disney theme parks / Onetime resident of Mauritius

Constructor: Alex Eaton-Salners

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (low Medium time on an oversized grid) (4:14) 

THEME: ALPHABET (67A: Series whose first seven members are sung to the starts of 18-, 26-, 41- and 54-Across)— the first seven notes of the alphabet song are represented in solfège at the beginning of the theme answers:

Theme answers:

• DODO BIRD (18A: Onetime resident of Mauritius)
• SO-SO REVIEWS (26A: They might have 2 1/2 or 3 stars)
• "LA LA LAND" (41A: 2016 Best Picture "winner" (for about two minutes))
• SO HELP ME GOD (54A: Swear words?)

Word of the Day: Daniel INOUYE (21A: Former Hawaiian senator Daniel) —

Daniel Ken "Dan" Inouye (井上 建 Inoue Ken, /iːˈnoʊˌeɪ/ ee-NOH-ay;^[1] September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was a United States Senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. A member of the Democratic Party, he was President pro tempore of the United States Senate (third in the presidential line of succession) from 2010 until his death,^[2] making him the highest-ranking Asian-American politician in U.S. history.^[3] Inouye also chaired various Senate Committees, including those on Intelligence, Commerce and Appropriations.

Inouye fought in World War II as part of the 442nd Infantry Regiment. He lost his right arm to a grenade wound and received several military decorations, including the Medal of Honor (the nation's highest military award). Returning to Hawaii, Inouye earned a law degree, was elected to Hawaii's territorial House of Representatives in 1953, and was elected to the territorial Senate in 1957. (wikipedia)

(He's also been credibly accused of sexual assault and harassment by multiple women, so there's that) (also, someone is being very vigilant about keeping this off his wikipedia page)

This is a lot of fuss for not a lot of payoff. And it's oversized? And it's pretty crosswordesey IN SPOTS? (I haven't seen BRAE in what feels like forever). Also, I prefer SOL to SO (it's not SO-fège), but there's no such thing as SOLSOL, I guess, so ... Look, this is a complicated theme, but it was no help to me while solving and feels like an elaborate joke that the teller has to explain, where you're like "Oh ... yeah, that's clever." But you didn't laugh. The premise is too thinky and awkward in its punch, and you really have to know what solfège is to fully appreciate the theme. I'm guessing there are at least a few solvers, possibly younger solvers, who are unclear on just how the DODO stuff works. Further, SO-SO REVIEWS is super-weak as a stand-alone answer. And a DODO is just a DODO. There's no DODO turtle or DODO car. I also found the last theme answer really annoying, because it's the one that *doesn't* have the repeated sound at the beginning. Just the SO(L). And then because they've also gone and given this outlier answer an equally outlier "?" clue, well, the whole SW all of a sudden became much rougher than it should've been.


I've never heard the phrase "a PRIORI" outside of grad school, and even then only seldom, so I never particularly enjoy seeing it in crosswords (where it is wildly over-represented, even considering how seldom it appears). I can never spell RIHANNA correctly, because Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night and wouldn't you love to love her, so that slowed me down. Wanted the [Designer of attractions at Walt Disney theme parks] to be an actual human being, so IMAGINEER, a horrid branded term, didn't drop as fast as it might have. I'm just gonna pretend the designer *is* an actual human being—a human being named IMA GINEER. Nice work, Ima. No idea about KOOPA, but put it right in based on inference (49D: ___ Troopa (Mario foe)). If this week is any indication, we can look forward to decades of Mario-related answers. [Cough]. Wonderful.


Again, the toughest part of the grid for me was the SW, where my two ways into that corner were blocked, one by a "?" anomalous theme clue, the other by ASH PLUME, which, man alive, I could not figure out. I had the ASH, but ... yeah, ASH. Volcanoes discharge ASH. I remember Mt. St. Helens. We drove up there that summer to visit relatives and there was ASH everywhere. But the phrase ASH PLUME, while it describes a real phenomenon, doesn't leap to mind with volcanoes, for me. ASH and LAVA and I'm out of ideas. Had to start over, unconnected, in that SW corner. Not easy. S AND P will surely trip a few people, as it's an ampersandwich, normally written "S&P," and people aren't usually on the lookout for those (they're pretty rare) (54D: ___ 500). And the clue on DILEMMA is not what I'd call strong (69A: To eat a late lunch or wait until dinner, say). Just eat, man. Eat a little now, a little later, what is your problem?

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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