Old World blackbird / FRI 11-23-18 / Relative of malt shop / Important item for '50s greaser / 1970 title lyric after Simple as do re mi

Constructor: Temple Brown

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (4:48)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: MERL (58A: Old World blackbird) —

The common blackbird was described by Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae in 1758 as Turdus merula (characterised as T. ater, rostro palpebrisque fulvis). The binomial name derives from two Latin words, turdus, "thrush", and merula, "blackbird", the latter giving rise to its French name, merle, and its Scots name, merl. (wikipedia)

Hello, fellow eaters! I had a solid postprandial nap this afternoon, so I was well awake and rarin' to go for this puzzle. And for the most part, I torched it. Was headed to a Very Easy time, but the SE made me trip all over myself, starting with SABERS (43A: Things drawn during the Napoleonic Era), and then SPURS (46A: Urges), both of which proved effective blocks to my entry into that corner. Luckily, "ANIMANIACS" was a gimme, so I got some help down there, but even so: I really only knew the -MA part of PADMA (47D: Lakshmi of "Top Chef") and had no idea about ELSE (first guess there was NOTS) or AWE, which has a great clue—just baffled me (wanted ASL at one point) (51A: State without words?). Still, that corner wasn't exactly arduous, and the rest of the grid fell into place pretty easily. I will admit that I straight lucked-out with a few answers. Knew BBC AMERICA right off the bat (used to watch "Orphan Black" before it got confusing and tiresome). Got TIME TRAVEL off just the T-M. Also (and here's where I feel mildly guilty) I knew MERL. First response to [Old World blackbird]: "aw, crap, who knows this stuff?!" Second response: "Hey, wait ... is it MERL? It is! OMG *I* know this stuff!" MERL is some super-duper crosswordese, y'all. Store it away for future use, you will most certainly need it when it is scheduled to appear again in [checks calendar] February 2021. If you knew MERL, high-five yourself. (And if you knew MERL Reagle, well you are a lucky human being indeed.)


I have to guffaw and scoff and other disdain-related verbs at SQUILLIONS, a "word" I'm seeing for the first time right now. JILLIONS and GAJILLIONS and BAJILLIONS and ZILLIONS and GAZILLIONS ... all fine by me. SQUILLIONS is bleepin' stupid (17A: Ginormous quantities). Unauthorized. Baloney and balogna, simultaneously. I know of a specific place called MILK BAR, and maybe, possibly, I've seen one shop somewhere between here and Ithaca that calls itself a MILK BAR, but the disparity between MILK BAR and "malt shop," name recognition-wise, is vaaaaast (5D: Relative of a malt shop). [Word before sign...] is a truly terrible way to clue CENT. If you're gonna go the [Word before this or after that] route, there should be excellent reason to do so. Had the -OMB part of 26D: Important item for a '50s greaser and assumed some kind of BOMB would be involved. PICKLE BOMB? POMADE BOMB? But POCKET COMB, that's good. Also good: [It covers the floor] for C-SPAN. Also good: BOYO! The whole NE corner was Monday easy. I never even saw some of the short Acrosses, which ... thank god, because seeing NRA once a-f***ing-gain would've really harshed my vibe. I will never not complain when you put this white supremacy- and terrorism-abetting org. in your puzzle. Good puzzle otherwise, though.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

(Twitter: @rexparker / #NYTXW)

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