Guitar maker Fender / SAT 9-7-13 / Singer of 1987 #1 country hit Do Ya / Bygone yellow-roofed kiosks / Servant in Discworld novels / Champion between Holyfield reigns / Holy group in 17th-century literature / Largest river of southern California

Constructor: Julian Lim

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Riddick BOWE (1D: Champion between Holyfield reigns) —

Riddick Lamont Bowe (born August 10, 1967, Brooklyn, New York City) is an American professional boxer. He is a former two-time World heavyweight champion, first winning the WBA, WBC and IBF titles in 1992, becoming undisputed heavyweight champion. Bowe's second reign as heavyweight champion was in 1995 when he won the WBO title. Bowe retired in 1996 but made a return to the ring in 2004. He has currently been inactive since 2008.

Riddick Bowe became the first fighter to defeat Evander Holyfield when he beat him in 1992 for the world heavyweight title. He then became the first fighter to knock Holyfield out, when he beat him in their rubber match in 1995. Bowe's professional boxing record stands at 43-1-0 (1 NC) with 33 KO's. He has defeated every opponent he has fought except Buster Mathis, Jr. (their bout ended as a no-contest). Bowe was ranked as the 21st greatest heavyweight of all time by Boxing Scene. (wikipedia)

Had to work for this one. Thought my relative slowness (in the 12min. range) was due to dinner/beer (mostly beer), and that may be true, but times posted so far at the NYT applet are slower than normal as well. The funniest part of this puzzle (in retrospect—less funny mid-solve) was seeing 1A: World's tallest building and thinking "Oh, I just learned this! It was just in a clue for DUBAI! It's ... two words ... got a "Q" in it ..." I was half right. And a "Q" is *kinda* like a "J", so ... yeah. YEAH. This puzzle seems like it was made expressly for 1A. Nothing much else feels very special or flashy. Pretty standard. Middle is especially dull. I do like CAN'T HACK IT. Cringed at 24A: So-called "weekend pill" once I got the answer (CIALIS). Ew. I mean, use whatever drugs you need, god bless you, but "weekend pill"? ... who is "calling" it this? That's a euphemism that creeps me right out. "Boner pill" is preferable to me. At least it's honest and direct. Also ... never on weekdays? Really? Dishonest and/or sad.


So my first pass through the NW yielded virtually nothing. RASP and LIES (which I wasn't entirely sure of). My next answer shocked me—I got PG THIRTEEN with no crosses (12D; Like every Bond film since 1989). Just ... threw it down. And it fit? And was right? Hurray for good guessing (made up for that whole 1A fiasco). Moved thru the NE and then over to the NW and managed to get the latter into shape without too much trouble (though I spent far too long thinking what could possibly end "-ILOT") (ugh). Had hard time breaking open the bottom. Stupid mistake kept me stalled for too long—had ERA for EON, and so "Holy" SONNETS (which I will be teaching in about a month) were totally invisible to me (37D: "Holy" group in 17th-century literature). I had "Holy" SOA-something. Bah. Also, I thought 44A: Some partial appointments (CRONYISM) had to end in "S" (wrong) and so I had (ugh) SCAD at 48D: Whole bunch (MESS), which caused me to happily throw down QUE SERA SERA at 53A: "C'est la vie" while thinking "that's a great clue!" I was lucky enough to know that Sibelius was Finnish, so HELSINKI really helped get me into both the middle (which was oddly tough) and the SW (38A: Site of the Sibelius monument). Off that "H" I got CAN'T HACK IT, and the rest fell from there. Last letter = "L" in CIALIS/LAM.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld