Flag carried on knight's lance / FRI 9-20-13 / Fox relative / Relatives of spoonbills / Blake's burning bright cat / Positive thinking pioneer / 1959 #5 hit with the B-side I've Cried Before / Watch brand once worn by 007 / 50s politico

Constructor: Mangesh Ghogre and Doug Peterson

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: none

Word of the Day: OSKAR Werner (4D: Werner of "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold") —

Oskar Werner (13 November 1922 – 23 October 1984) was an Austrian actor.

He is known for his film performances in Jules and Jim (1962), Ship of Fools (1965), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), Fahrenheit 451 (1966) and The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968). Werner received anAcademy Award nomination in 1966, two BAFTA award nominations in 1966 and 1967, and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture in 1966. (wikipedia)

Overate. Didn't feel like I was overeating. Felt measured and sensible, my eating. But I was out at a restaurant, and I'd had a drink, and I kept trying stuff, and by dessert, ugh. And now several hours later. Ugh. 43-year-old me simply canNot stuff his face without consequences, the way 23-year-old me (or even 33-year-old me) could. Maybe that's a good thing, but it does Not feel so good right now. I tell you all this mainly to explain how little I trust myself judging the puzzle's difficulty level tonight. I psyched myself out early on, then realized it wasn't that hard, then got ridiculously stalled in the bottom half of the grid. Came out with a higher-than-avg time, but it just can't be trusted. I'm not myself. Looking at it right now, I can tell it's a pretty normal Friday. My problem was that I couldn't bust into those long Acrosses down below, even after I totally busted into their middles via PEALE BEIGES MUSKET PASTORAL. Couldn't get SNIT from [Pet] — obvious now, but that meaning of "pet" is something I see exclusively in crosswords, and it just wouldn't come. Had DDE for IKE (47D: '50s politico). HONOR for VALOR and, off of that, HEMI for V-TEN. Got LEERERS early, but it didn't really help. Tried to get into the SW of the grid from above, but after I wrote in BIZET (27D: "L'Arlésienne" composer), I hit a wall. Nothing west of BIZET. Just, nothing. Many minutes later, after striking out in the SE, I returned to BIZET crosses and instantly got AMAZED (32A: Staggered) and AT IT (39A: Going ___). Where were you the first time, guys!? After that it was ARAPAHO and then (32D: Fox relative), with their front ends in place, the long Acrosses down there fell quickly. Done and done.


Thought the grid was OK, but deeply and obviously reliant on -ER and -S and -ERS words (esp. there in the SE—HEAVER crossing LEERERS kind of hurt). The 15s are very nice up top and just OK down below. The rest of it is solid but not impressive. Doug's stuff usually amazes me more than this puzzle did.

Off to stare at the TV, or the wall, until stomach pain subsides and I can sleep. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld