Rock drummer whose last name is same as his band / MON 7-1-19 / Paul who played Crocodile Dundee / Falsett-voiced Muppet

Constructor: Damon Gulczynski

Relative difficulty: Medium (felt easy, but 3:04 is pretty Medium)

THEME: MAKE MINE A DOUBLE (39A: Bar request ... or hint to the letters in the circles) — answers contain alcohol names twice:

Theme answers:

• HARUM SCARUM (double RUM) (17A: Devil-may-care)
• HEAR YE, HEAR YE! (double RYE) (24A: Town crier's cry)
• ALEX VAN HALEN (double ALE) (?) (51:A Rock drummer whose last name is the same as his band)
• LOGGING INTO (double GIN) (62A: Accessing, as a password-restricted website)

Word of the Day: ALEX VAN HALEN (51A) —

Alexander Arthur van Halen (born May 8, 1953 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch American musician who is the drummer and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen. The band was formed in 1974 by Alex Van Halen; his younger brother, Eddie Van Halen; David Lee Roth; and Michael Anthony. Warner Brothers signed the band in 1977, and its debut album was released in 1978. Alex and Eddie Van Halen are the only members of Van Halen who have been in the band throughout its existence. (wikipedia)

Really felt like I was flying through this one, but my time was totally normal. What a bummer. I want to blame the drink I had just before solving—a particularly tasty concoction my wife invented called The West Side (think Manhattan but w/ maraschino liqueur instead of sweet vermouth)—but the drink was probably not the problem. The problem was probably the NW, where I started and where I (in true me fashion) just flailed around like an eel on land for what felt like minutes but was more likely just 15-20 seconds (i.e. enough to take me from a fast time to a normal time). No idea re: HDTVS; more than no idea re: HAHA (?) funny (1D: ___ funny (genuinely humorous)); without "V" no idea re: VOUCH (4D: Give personal assurance (for)); ADD for SUM (5D: Total). Really had to muscle my way out of there with TIRE ALEC AEIOU. Once free of that corner, I went on a tear, but apparently not enough of a tear to make up for the initial fumbling. As for the theme, I quite like it, actually, though ALE is a weird one here—you might conceivably order a double of all the other drinks, because they are liquor, but you don't really order ALE that way. It's like ... pint, half-pint. Still, the core concept works, and the grid is scrumptiously clean! I can definitely accept this Monday puzzle.


There were a few minor hiccups along the way. Confused my Seminoles with my Sooners and wrote in OSU at 9D: The Seminoles of the A.C.C. (FSU). Assumed 34D: Of the highest quality would be a superlative (i.e. something ending -EST) and so took Forever to turn up DELUXE, which was harder to turn up than it might've been because wait what there's an *ALEX* VAN HALEN now? Really could've used that "X." In fact, didn't get DELUXE until I got that "X." Do people still use DSL? I looked at 35A: Broadband letters and honestly the clue just didn't compute, and when I got the "D" it still didn't compute, and when I got D-L the non-computing continued, so I let ELSA bail me out and I moved on. I did manage to remember Paul HOGAN, though, so I'm pretty chuffed about that. OK, that's enough of that.


Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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