Big outdoor gear retailer / MON 4-15-19 / Evergreens with fragrant wood / Tax org undergoing some reform in this puzzle's circled squares / Where heads of Pacific are found

Constructor: Patrick Blindauer and Samuel A. Donaldson

Relative difficulty: Easy (2:43) (one second off personal record)

THEME: "I.R.S." reform (69A: Tax org. undergoing some "reform" in this puzzle's circled squares) — IRS has been "reformed" (scrambled) all five different ways inside of today's five long theme answers:

Theme answers:

• GANGES RIVER (18A: It flows from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal)
• TENNIS RACKET (20A: Piece of sports equipment with strings)
• "AS I RECALL..." (36A: "If memory serves...")
• EASTER ISLAND (55A: Where heads of the Pacific are found?)
• DOLLAR SIGNS (60A: $ $ $)

Word of the Day: Cumberland GAP (19D: Cumberland ___) —

The Cumberland Gap is a pass through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains, near the junction of the U.S. states of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee.

Famous in American colonial history for its role as a key passageway through the lower central Appalachians, it was an important part of the Wilderness Road and is now part of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.

Long used by Native Americans, the Cumberland Gap was brought to the attention of settlers in 1750 by Thomas Walker, a Virginia physician and explorer. The path was used by a team of frontiersmen led by Daniel Boone, making it accessible to pioneers who used it to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee. (wikipedia)

"Tax reform" is a thing (13.6 million hits). "IRS reform" is not (22.9 thousand hits). That pretty much kills this theme. I mean, I actually liked it fine as a themeless. The grid is fairly clean. The so-called "theme" answers are colorful enough. But when you have a theme like this (actually, with any theme) you have to stick the landing. The revealer here just tries to get cute, tries to apply a term ("reform") to a word ("I.R.S.") it doesn't properly go with. Also, o my god please let me renew my Hatred of "?" clues on themers when they are not all "?" clues. If your theme is one of those wacky themes, then yeah, bring on the "?" clues. But don't put a "?" on a lone theme clue with wackiness is absolutely not part of the theme. It's just confusing. I know you believe your clue is clever and needs to be heard, but save it for the proper time. In a stray "?" themer is not the proper time. Now, they get in literally every IRS permutation possible, which is nice. And, I mean, it's timely, as today is tax day. But this one whiffed on the revealer and leaned a Little heavy on the crosswordese (SSTS *and* SSR?? Not to mention the ostentatiously anagrammed crosswordese pair of SRTA and TSAR). So I give it a MIDDLE C. Neither rave nor pan. A do-over. Or LET, if you will (65A: Serve that nicks the net).


Came straight down the west coast on this one and didn't have a second's hesitation until ... well, actually, I don't know when. I can never remember which is EINE and which is EINS, so I left that last letter blank at first (54A: German article). I balked at "AS I RECALL..." and LAPEL at first pass. I hesitated slightly at MIDDLEC because I had the back end of it first (-LEC) and it just looked weird. Oh, and of course the "?" on EASTER ISLAND. 95% of this puzzle's difficulty (such as it was) lay in that one "?" clue (55A: Where heads of the Pacific are found?). One of the good things about this puzzle's being so easy was I actually never saw that NRA was in the puzzle. I missed it. Completely. Ignorance is bliss! But now I'm not ignorant, only angry that constructors are still using this answer when they don't have to, and the editor keeps on letting them. Boo, hiss, etc. Why shill for that murderous org. if you don't have to? Cut it out.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. re: 63A: PBS-funding org. (NEA)—the CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) funds PBS. From the CPB's FAQ: "PBS is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned by its member public television stations. PBS distributes programming to nearly 350 locally owned and operated public television stations across the country and is funded principally by these member stations and by CPB" (emph. mine)

P.P.S. If you like stories of editorial incompetence, please read this behind-the-scenes account of yesterday's crossword and how it came to be published. Truly inspiring stuff ...

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