Aladdin's monkey sidekick / MON 6-17-19 / Most widely spoken native language of India after Hindi / Gaelic spirit who wails to foretell death in family / RuPaul's purview

Constructor: Erik Agard and Yacob Yonas

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (3:02)

THEME: ___ IN THE ___— themers follow this pattern, and first and last words rhyme

Theme answers:

• FUN IN THE SUN (17A: Beach outing, say)
• MADE IN THE SHADE (31A: On easy street)
• BACK IN THE BLACK (39A: Financially afloat again)
• EYE IN THE SKY (57A: Traffic helicopter, e.g.)

Word of the Day: MACAU (10D: Asian gambling mecca) —

Macau or Macao (/məˈkaʊ/ (listen); 澳門, Cantonese: [ōu.mǔːn]; Portuguese: Macau [mɐˈkaw]), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is a special administrative region on the western side of the Pearl River estuary in southern China. With a population of 653,100 and an area of 32.9 km² (12.7 sq mi), it is the most densely populated region in the world.

Macau was formerly a colony of the Portuguese Empire, after Ming China leased the territory as a trading post/treaty port in 1557. Portugal governed the area under titular Chinese sovereignty until 1887, when it was given perpetual colonial rights for Macau. The colony remained under Portuguese control until 1999, when it was returned to China. As a special administrative region, Macau's system of government is separate from that of mainland China.

Originally a sparsely populated collection of coastal islands, the territory has become a major resort city and the top destination for gambling tourism. It is the ninth-highest recipient of tourism revenue and its gaming industry is seven times larger than that of Las Vegas. Although the city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, it has severe income inequality.

Macau has a very high Human Development Index and the fourth-highest life expectancy in the world [???? wikipedia elsewhere says 30th, so ????] [Oh, this list by the CIA has Macau at No. 4 ... weird]. The territory is highly urbanised and most development is built on reclaimed land; two-thirds of total land area is reclaimed from the sea. (wikipedia)

This might in fact be a Very Easy Monday, as I am half-drunk on a single (1) Rusty Nail, which undoubtedly affected my time, and I still got a very normal Monday time, and also the few early times I am seeing posted on Twitter are scorchingly fast (faster than mine), so, yeah, perhaps I am the only one who got weirdly held up by both of the 8-letter Downs because I just Could Not Parse Them. That is a very plausible scenario. Also, I just didn't trust the phrase BACK IN THE BLACK somehow, perhaps because BACK IN BLACK was such an iconic AC/DC album when I was in elementary school that the phrase in the puzzle just felt ... wrong. It's certainly the least ... tight ... of the themers. But it's fine. The whole thing is fine. Simple, sure, but it's Monday, and it all works fine, and the grid is not loaded with junk (except PENH, which is junk), and maybe WKS/MOS, but they had the same clue (10A and 38D: Calendar units, Abbr.), so I kind of think they're adorable instead of gross. Singsongy theme that follows the "___ IN THE ___" pattern perfectly. Can't complain.


OK, so MCESCHER, man did I screw that up (24D: Dutch artist known for his "impossible" drawings). M dot C dot ESCHER. I was like "It says Dutch ... why is it Irish ... why!?" Also, I would say "NO CLUE" for ["Beats me"]. "NOT A CLUE" is oddly slow and formal. I mean, it's correct enough, just ... I just couldn't pick it up without a bunch more crosses. Those two answers were responsible for virtually all my slowness. Well, those and the Rusty Nail. Oh, and EYE IN THE SKY, which is ... a category of thing? (57A: Traffic helicopter, e.g.) The clue says "e.g." Are there other EYE(S) IN THE SKY? My kingdom for an Alan Parsons Project clue!!!


Oh, and I forgot the consonant that went in A-U (8D: Aladdin's monkey sidekick). APU? No. ADU? No, he was yesterday. ABU just looked / felt wrong. But wasn't. Bah! ESIGN is bad, and EENY is also not great, and MACAU is a crosswordesey place and OKED with the "E" looks dumb, but I'm really just *trying* to carp now, and it's taking too much effort. It's a lovely little Monday puzzle. Perfectly Mondayish. Better than average. Huzzah.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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