Thumb drive port, for short / MON 4-1-2019 / Gymnast Korbut / Old Venetian rulers / Peter Fonda title role of 1997

Constructor: Joel Fagliano

Relative difficulty:Easy







THEME: APRIL FOOLS— Theme answers are just strings of letters.

Theme answers:

• TTTTTTTTTTTTTTT (20A: Tea set?)
• GGGGGGGGGGGGGGG (36A: G-string?)
• BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB(50A: Beeline?)

Word of the Day: EBBETS (45D: ___ Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers) —

Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball stadium in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. It is known mainly as the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team of the National League, from 1913 to 1957, but was also home to three National Football League teams in the 1920s. Ebbets Field was demolished in 1960 and replaced by apartment buildings.

Hi everyone, it's me, Rex, and I thought this puzzle was poorly constructed. Always unfortunate when I don't have a lot to say about a puzzle, and that's the case here. The theme answers fell flat; the answers didn't even form an acronym. I would have loved to see more diversity in cluing as well; too many baseball clues, overused clue-word connections, etc. This one just did nothing for me.

Wait, it's the first Monday of the month! It's been me, Annabel, this whole time! April Fools! That being said, I think the puzzle's trick worked; I totally slapped myself in the forehead when I entered my fourth T. I actually do wish the answers had formed an acronym. In fact, it seems like it would have been easy to do without changing too many of the clues--G, B, and T were all there, and with the LGBTFLAG clue it seems like a natural progression to add LLLLLLL or something.  But other than that, having words that aren't actually words is a good April Fool's prank in my book!

Anyway, the rest of the puzzle. Not to linger on LGBTFLAG too long but I don't know anyone who doesn't just say "Rainbow flag" or "pride flag," making that terminology feel a little forced. I didn't have a ton of difficulty with this one, which IMO makes it a good Monday overall! My one other major gripe with the puzzle was that the cluing tended towards straightforward, which would normally be fine but doesn't feel right for an April Fools' Day puzzle. Play around with some words a little! I mean, getting BUSS right away did validate my English major, but give me something else to work with too!


Bullets:

• BLAH (50D: When tripled, "and so on and so forth")— I'm feeling the opposite of this right now! I just got back on campus after my last spring break ever (until graduate school but that's different), and I've been applying to a bajillion jobs. I'm like, super nervous, guys, but also super excited. So yeah, anything but blah.
• AEIOU (59A: "...and sometimes Y" preceder)— Oh man, talk about a blast from the past. 
• OUIS (40A: French assents)— I think the constructor was just being a ouise guy with this one. [Loud groans] 
• EARWORM (25A: Tune you just can't get out of your head)— It was too hard to pick just one, so I'll leave you with this comedy bit about an earworm instead. 

Signed, Annabel Thompson, tired college student.

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]