Lily Potter's maiden name / THU 6-6-18 / Alternative to guillotine / Places where some house pets go / Father of Deimos Phobos / Bad role model for Oliver Twist / When doubled dance of 2010s / 1990s commerce pact / High point of To Kill a Mockingbird

Constructor: Sophia Maymudes

Relative difficulty: Easy (4:58)

THEME: KITTY CORNER (44A: Diagonally ... or a hint to four of this puzzle's squares) — "CAT" rebus, where "CAT" appears in each of the four corner boxes; there's this other theme answer, too: 34A: Places where some house pets "go," in both this puzzle and real life (LITTER BOXES) ... the implications of *that* answer ... well, let's just discuss it below ...

Theme answers:

• CATTLE / CATALOG (NW)
• FAT CAT / CATCHY (NE)
• SNO-CAT / CATERS (SW)
• MUSCAT / COPYCAT (SE)

Word of the Day: Frank CAPRA (5A: Three-time Best Director of the 1930s) —

Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Italy and raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, his rags-to-riches story has led film historians such as Ian Freer to consider him the "American Dream personified."

Capra became one of America's most influential directors during the 1930s, winning three Academy Awards for Best Director from six nominations, along with three other Oscar wins from nine nominations in other categories. Among his leading films were It Happened One Night(1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938), and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939); Capra was nominated as Best Director and as producer for Academy Award for Best Picture on all three films, winning both awards on the first two. During World War II, Capra served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and produced propaganda films, such as the Why We Fight series.

After World War II, Capra's career declined as his later films, such as It's a Wonderful Life(1946), performed poorly when they were first released. In ensuing decades, however, It's a Wonderful Life and other Capra films were revisited favorably by critics. Outside of directing, Capra was active in the film industry, engaging in various political and social issues. He served as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, worked alongside the Writers Guild of America, and was head of the Directors Guild of America. (wikipedia)

So... yeah, where to start? KITTY CORNER is a good revealer. LITTER BOXES ... is less ... good. It's ... what is it? A "litter" of cats? Those are called "kittens." If those are LITTER BOXES then either the cats all pooped in their corners, or the other meaning of "litter" must be what's being playfully suggested by the clue. But ... again, "litters" contain kittens, not cats. Also, the whole little cutesy play on "go" made me throw up in my mouth a little. If you could keep cat defecation gags (!) out of the revealer, that would be Great, thanks. As for the rebus itself: it was way way way too easy to get. Too basic. It's weird—the concept / KITTY CORNER revealer works, but it's so rudimentary that there's not a lot of challenge or fun. People are setting personal records left and right today because the whole concept here is about as close to a gimme as you're gonna get with a rebus puzzle. I finished quickly, but I'm kind of startled I didn't finish much more quickly. Once you realize that CATs are going to go in *every* corner, then you can just put them there and work your way back out of those corners—huge leg up, given that corners are often hard to get into. If you've got three letters deep in each corner ... well, that's just too much to hand the solver. I mean, people will be thrilled to shred a Thursday, probably, but there's not as much challenge here as the average Thursday solver is probably expecting, or looking forward to.


The trouble for me was that I filled the grid very ILLY right around ILLY. ILLY / LAID / DYE was a very, very rough patch. DYE was the real culprit, as I wanted about a thousand other three-letter things, including RYE, before I finally gave into DYE. Super strange to call DYE just an "Ingredient." Also, "many a breakfast cereal" is not nearly specific enough. None of the breakfast cereals that have ever been in my house have had DYEs (that I know of). [Ingredient in Trix], sure. But there you'd want DYES, plural. Maybe just avoid the breakfast cereal aisle entirely for this clue. Did you know other things are DYEd? It's true.


I also had trouble with the adjacent SW corner, as TAKEN OVER was somehow tough even with TAKE in there (36D: No longer independent), and then SHOVEL was bizarrely / awkwardly clued (57A: Eat quickly, with "in"), and EVANS, despite my having read all the HP books (some of theme twice), was just impossible for me (50D: Lily Potter's maiden name in the Harry Potter books). How prominent is her maiden name in the books? Do they make a big deal about it? When? No, don't tell me—I don't actually care. It's just a weird bit of minutiae to pull from a 7-novel universe. Nothing much else to talk about in this puzzle. Oh, I don't buy that a BEACH TOWEL is an "accessory" (30D: Sunbather's accessory). It's not a bracelet or a belt. It's not primarily about fashion. It's functional. Boo.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld (Twitter @rexparker / #NYTXW)

P.S.

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