Smetana composition inspired by river / SAT 11-10-18 / Subject of class six-volume work by Edward Gibbon / Rebel fighter during Mexican revolution / Dog depicted by Monopoly's dog token / TV show created by Vince McMahon / Like landscape paintings that focus more on color lighting than fine detail / Woman's name meaning pleasure

Constructor: Will Nediger

Relative difficulty: Medium (8:37)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: "THE MOLDAU" (15A: Smetana composition inspired by a river) —

Má vlast (Czech pronunciation: [maː vlast], meaning "My homeland" in the Czech language) is a set of six symphonic poems composed between 1874 and 1879 by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. While it is often presented as a single work in six movements and – with the exception of Vltava – is almost always recorded that way, the six pieces were conceived as individual works. They had their own separate premieres between 1875 and 1880; the premiere of the complete set took place on 5 November 1882 in Žofín Palace, Prague, under Adolf Čech, who had also conducted two of the individual premieres. [...] Vltava, also known by its English name The Moldau, and in German Die Moldau, was composed between 20 November and 8 December 1874 and was premiered on 4 April 1875 under Adolf Čech. It is about 13 minutes long, and is in the key of E minor. (wikipedia)

It's a solid grid but not nearly as entertaining as yesterday's. I just couldn't get that excited about obscurish proper nouns like "THE MOLDAU" (?) and SIR PURR (?). As for TURNERESQUE (which I got reasonably quickly), once you've seen ZOLAESQUE, all the [name]-ESQUEs are kinda [shrug]. The SE corner is pretty hot, but the rest of it was just OK for, and much of the cluing seemed off or obnoxious. What kind of clue is that for EDNA? (7D: Woman's name meaning "pleasure"). In what language? (the answer is Hebrew—why not give that, at least? Otherwise, it's both tough *and* uninformative). A HOT DATE is only a HOT DATE if you already *have* chemistry, [Chemistry test?] is a bad clue. Technical terms like PLANER and OCTILE always seem sterile and blah. Flu shots don't really "target" the flue—they help you produce antibodies etc. whatever, you know how it works. [Target of some shots] just doesn't seem a very FLU VIRUS-specific clue. I assume that [Gambler's spot] was intended to mislead; I had PI- and went with PIT, an answer I prefer infinitely to PIP. I do not understand why anyone would put a "P" there over a "T"—if only because the cluing possibilities for PIP are so much more limited. Also, PIP is a far stupider word. The ogley / cutesy STRIPPERS clue I could probably do without, too (1A: Pole stars?).

Wasn't sure if it was WWE RAW or WWF RAW, because again, as with the NFL, I could give a ****. Football, pro wrestling, strippers. This puzzle was for some dude who is not me—though I do like the symmetry (and taste!) of SUSHI and GYOZA, and I am a big fan of comic books (MAGNETO) and the ROMAN EMPIRE (as a historical thing, not as a model of governance so much). Twice I thought the clue was going for a specific thing when it was going for a general thing, so that was annoying. Thought the "rebel fighter" in 62A: Rebel fighter during the Mexican Revolution would be one guy, and the "Dog" in 44D: Dog depicted by Monopoly's dog token was gonna be one, like, famous dog. But it's just a breed (SCOTTIE). Mad at myself for blanking on LUNA Lovegood, especially as I am working my way through the Harry Potter books now, in French (I read them once before in English with my daughter a decade+ ago). I was like "L.... AURA Lovegood? LARA? LENA?" Such a gimme, so wasted on me. CLINE and ANN and REID and DALEYS were all proper nouns I could handle. "I'M ALIVE!" is more an ELO song than a plausible "cry" (4D: Survivor's cry). And what the heck is up with that TSK clue (58D: [Oh, no you didn't!]). First, those aren't equivalent in the least. They don't have the same tone or meaning. Also, I think you're trying to do this:

... which, as you can see, is spelled and punctuated differently, and really doesn't convey, on any level, in any way, the quaint rebuke of TSK.


Final thoughts:

• 54A: Reminder of a hit (WELT)— takes advantage of word ambiguity; classic cluing move
• 61A: What sharks take interest in (USURY) —ditto, 2 times

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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