Old Scandinavian poets / FRI 3-22-19 / Old World animals sometimes called toddy cats / Brian who was 1980 NFL MVP / Joint pain from playing too many video games / Producer of 1965's Doctor Zhivago / Record holding Italian soccer club whose name means youth / Long-haired cat with sapphire-blue eyes / Facts First sloganeer / Masterwork in philology for short

Constructor: Brendan Emmett Quigley

Relative difficulty: Challenging (not for me ... for you, though, probably, if initial Twitter reaction is any indication ... for me, maybe just north of Medium) (6:19)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Brian SIPE (19A: Brian who was the 1980 N.F.L. M.V.P.) —

Brian Winfield Sipe (born August 8, 1949) is a former professional American footballquarterback who played for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1974 to 1983. He then played in the United States Football League for two seasons.

Although mostly sidelined for the first several years of his NFL career, Sipe was eventually recognized as one of the better quarterbacks in Browns history, winning the league's MVP Award in 1980. He was a college football star under head coach Don Coryell at San Diego State University, where he studied architecture and became the team's quarterbacks coach in 2009, remaining in that role for five years, through 2014. (wikipedia)

I mostly liked this. But then I collected football cards the one year Brian SIPE happened to be a somebody, so ... yeah. Lots of you were probably like "........ uh, four random letters, then, I guess." That corner is definitely the ugliest part of the grid, in that it also has BAILORS :( and ESSE :( and not much of real worth. I sort of like CIVETS, but I recognize that that is probably an idiosyncratic take (22D: Old World animals sometimes called toddy cats). I did not remember SKALDS, though. Or THIEU (until I got it all from crosses—then it looked vaguely familiar). CARLO PONTI ... I mean ... it's a name I've heard (40A: Producer of 1965's "Doctor Zhivago"). I might've been able to tell you it had something to do with the movies, but I could just as easily guessed something to do with wine. managed to put PONTI together and guessed the CARLO part, so he must be somebody. But not a very identifiable somebody, to me. Cultural critic BELL HOOKS is far more familiar to me than CARLO PONTI (how's that for an apparent non sequitur!).


I also managed to piece together BALINESE without exactly knowing how (32D: Long-haired cat with sapphire-blue eyes). If I'd had to name all the cat breeds I know, I would not have remembered that I knew that particular one. And hoo boy, MOAI!? (42A: Easter Island statues) I'm stunned I don't know this. I wrote in TIKI (thanks, terminal "I"!). Oof. But I knew JUVENTUS (47A: Record-holding* Italian soccer club whose name means "youth") which really really helped, since before I saw that clue, I had 47D: Figure in some hymns (JESU) as THOU (thanks, terminal "U"!). So ... sports and obscure names, but roughly on my wavelength (like a radio station that comes in patchily but good enough to not change the channel).


I want, nay, demand that someone release a rap song about early English history under the name CARDI BEDE (40D: First woman to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album as a solo artist / 55A: Sainted English historian) I want, nay demand, that both OH ME and his brother AH ME take a flying leap. ONE SOCK is pretty weak. You know what would be great: ODD SOCK. Because that's what you mean. You've gone and shoved "ODD" right into SOCK (in the phrase AT ODDS), when it should be where ONE is. Weird. What was your first answer into the grid. Mine: WIIITIS (2D: Joint pain from playing too may video games). No joke. WIIITIS and JUVENTUS and SIPE were all gimmes and lifesavers, and got me through this puzzle relatively smoothly and in a relatively normal time. Good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*"record-holding" is a weird, largely meaningless descriptor for a soccer club. What Record???

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