In the Underworld Offenbach opera / SUN 7-14-19 / Trendy superfood / Numerical prefix from Grek for monster / Gloria in Madagascar films / Bygone monitor for short / Classical personification of ideal human beauty / Overlord for battle of Normandy / Computer guru informally / Old dentist's supply

Constructor: Caitlin Reid

Relative difficulty: Easy (9:02)

THEME:"Are We Finished?"— "R" is added to the end ("finish") of familiar phrases, creating wacky phrases, clued wackily:

Theme answers:

• "IS THIS A BAD TIMER?" (23A: "Should I not use my oven clock?"?)
• WORKS FROM HOMER (35A: The "Iliad" and the "Odyssey"?)
• PICK UP THE PACER (52A: Give a ride to an Indiana hoopster?)
• WATCH YOUR TONER (75A: Printer's low-ink alert?)
• TOOK THE PLUNGER (89A: What a plumber did for a clogged drain?)
• FIVE-SECOND RULER (105A: World's shortest-reigning monarch?)

Word of the Day: APPLET (48D: Mini-program)—

noun

COMPUTING

1. a very small application, especially a utility program performing one or a few simple functions. (google)

   
   

   "there's a useful control applet which can be used to center the picture"

Hello. It is I, the Rex Parker of "Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle," newly returned from the hinterlands of the U.S. southwest, tired but rejuvenated and ready to resume blogging duties, sir. Was supposed to be back yesterday (i.e. Friday) afternoon, but got a text early Friday morning saying "sorry, your flight was canceled, no, we have no explanation, we've rebooked you for tomorrow, enjoy your extra day in Colorado, no we won't reimburse you the cost for another day of rental car, have a nice day" (paraphrasing). So we went on a long walk in Longmont, CO (home of my sister) and saw blue herons and killdeer and literally hundreds of prairie dogs, most of whom just stared us down with a "keep moving, pardner" kind of gaze. Then we watched three episodes of "Stranger Things 3" and read our respective books and later bought my whole family pan-Asian takeout for dinner, then got up at 3:45 a.m. today (Saturday) to catch a plane back to NY. And that's just the last 36 hours of unplanned vacation—there were 10 days of planned vacation before that: Boulder! Santa Fe! Flagstaff! MOAB! (4) I solved the puzzle most days, and was happy to see the guest bloggers had it all pretty well covered—I didn't have to deal with a technical emergency once! Though one writer did worry that their write-up was "too short" (!?). I just laughed and ignored that concern. People will write and complain about allllllll kinds of stuff, but "too short"—nah, haven't heard that one yet. Anyway, I really enjoyed hearing so many different voices (especially since they were by and large judicious, i.e. in agreement with me). I'm back to blogging for two weeks, then away again for an other-side-of-the-family trip to Montreal, then home for good after that. I'll tell you about my trip out west here and there, as it occurs to me, over the coming week or so, as it seems relevant. But for now, back to puzzle-blogging.


Yes, we are finished, and not a second too soon, as this one wore out its thematic welcome pretty quickly. Hard to think of a simpler theme concept (it's just an add-a-letter), and the parameters aren't narrow at all, i.e. there are way more potential themers than one could ever use in one puzzle, e.g. phrases ending in BONE/R, STONE/R, LIFE/R, GAME/R, etc.). Because the theme is so simple and loose, I expect the theme answers to *kill* every single time, but the only one that really struck me as  funny and original is FIVE-SECOND RULER. Everything else is more of a shrug. Yeah, it works, but so what. The wackiness just isn't wacky enough. You can't carry a Sunday-size wacky-phrase theme with so little in the way of wacky. On the plus side, the grid is very clean, and the longer non-theme stuff is often quite good (see, for example, PET PROJECT, PHOTO BOMBS, COMBO MEALS, "OH, GROW UP!"). So I didn't groan and ugh the way I often do when puzzles are poorly filled. But I never got over my initial theme-inspired ENNUI (38D: It makes you yawn) (btw I think of ENNUI as somewhat deeper and more existential than mere boredom, but we'll leave that hair to split for another time).


Not much in the way of difficulty here. Most of my trouble, such as it was, came in the middle of the grid, specifically at the end of PICK UP THE PACER (which I initially thought ended in "HOOSIER"). I didn't know that ISLAM's calendar began in A.D. 622 (maybe 622 CE is more appropriate for this clue) and so APPLET, CLOTHE (oh, a verb!) (54D: Attire), and esp. MAU (49D: Egyptian ___ (cat)) gave me mini-fits. I also had BETTER and RICHER before POORER (64D: Comparative in a wedding vow).


Five things:

• 114A: Sign of a packed house (SRO) — Sold Right Out!*
• 66D: Computer guru, informally (IT PRO)— not great, but sooo much better than ITGUY
• 35D: Got taken for a ride (WAS HAD) — me, for what felt like hours: "WASH AD ... WASH AD ... what is a WASH AD? ... wait, is it WASHED? ... no, it's definitely LAMA (57A: Teacher of the dharma), so ... WASH AD? ... what is a WASH AD?"
• 79D: Old dentist's supply (ETHER) — yeesh, how old *is* this dentist?
• 85D: Powerpoints? (OUTLETS)— I had OUTAGES. Speaking of OUTAGES, hope my NYC readers are surviving today's. Stay cool and safe, Gothamites!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*I know this isn't technically "correct," please, no letters

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]