Site of Herculean feat / THU 9-19-19 / Stats for eggheads / Track that hosted Seabiscuit's final race / Futuristic assistants / Isolates in business speak

Constructor: David Kwong

Relative difficulty: Easy (untimed clipboard solve)

THEME: PRI(ME) TI(ME) EMMY (62A: What each of the programs in this puzzle has won at least once) — a "ME" rebus where the "ME" squares are all inside shows that have won an Emmy (phonetically represented by the M, E):

Theme answers:

• 9A: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 ("MAD (ME)N")
• 18A: With 71-Across, 2016, 2018 ("A(ME)RICAN CRI(ME) / STORY")
• 24A: 2015, 2016, 2018 ("GA(ME) OF THRONES")
• 40A: 2012 ("HO(ME)LAND")
• 53A: 1949 (first winner) ("PANTOMI(ME) QUIZ")

Word of the Day: "PANTOMIME QUIZ" (53A) —

Pantomime Quiz, initially titled Pantomime Quiz Time and later Stump the Stars, was an American television game show produced and hosted by Mike Stokey. Running from 1947—1959, it has the distinction of being one of the few television series—along with The Arthur Murray Party; Down You Go; The Ernie Kovacs Show, The Original Amateur Hour; and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet—to air on all four TV networks in the US during the Golden Age of Television. // Based on the parlor game of Charades, Pantomime Quiz was first broadcast locally in Los Angeles from November 13, 1947, to 1949. In that format, it won an Emmy Award for "Most Popular Television Program" at the first Emmy Awards ceremony. The competition involved two teams of four contestants each (three regulars and one guest). In each round, one member acts out (in mime) a phrase or a name while the other three try to guess it. Each team had five rounds (in some broadcasts there were only four); the team that took the least amount of time to guess all phrases won the game.

Home viewers were encouraged to send in suggestions for phrases to be used in a telecast. Those that were actually used earned cash or a prize for the people who sent them. A bonus was given if the team trying to solve it could not do so within two minutes. (wikipedia)

Let's start with the theme concept, which I like a lot. The fact that "ME" appears twice in PRIME TIME adds some sparkle to what could've been a much more tepid revealer, i.e. just EMMY or EMMY AWARD. The rebus was easy to pick up, and once I realized the rebus squares were going to be the same every time, things got even easier. Very breezy, as rebus puzzles go. This particular set of themers, though, makes for a bunch of odd bedfellows. Actually, the only odd one here is "PANTOMI(ME) QUIZ," which ... what? All the others are from the last decade, and then there's this ridiculously obscure ancient program just dropped in from outer space to complete the set. So everything is from the last ten years, except this answer which is *seventy years old*. Jarring. It's also in a completely different genre from the other shows (which are all dramas) (at least I think they are: I have actually never heard of "A(ME)RICAN CRI(ME) / STORY" unless, now that I think of it, it's that documentary about that murderer dude that was controversial for some reason I forget, and that I had no interest in at all... is it that? ... whoa, no, what? It's the *anthology* series, of which "The People vs. O.J. Simpson" and "The Assassination of Gianni Versace" are installments!?!? I know those show titles very well. I had *zero* idea they were part of an anthology called "A(ME)RICAN CRI(ME) / STORY." I am also very familiar with "American Horror Story," which was created by the same people, but is very very very much known as "American Horror Story" (even abbr. "AHS" in recent advertising), unlike (as far as I can remember) "A(ME)RICAN CRI(ME) / STORY." This makes this themer set even weirder, in that I'd've said "The People vs. O.J. Simpson" won the Emmy. That's certainly how everyone talks about that show. Me after getting "A(ME)RICAN...": "Horror Story! No ... Vandal! No ... dammit!). Anyway, unsurprisingly, the only difficulty I had in this puzzle came with the titles I didn't know. Again, theme concept great, themer set weird).


My main issue was just getting the word "QUIZ," as two other confusing / problematic clues were adjacent to that word, making it harder to turn up than it should've been. First, I had the DRO- at 51A: Futuristic assistants (DROIDS) and wrote in DRONES, which ... felt right. I mean, I guess DRONES are "assistants" now, but they still seem "futuristic" to me. But the bigger (and certainly ickier) problem for me in this area of the grid was IQS (52D: Stats for eggheads). First of all, it's a stat. It's just a stat. It's not a stat *for* anyone. People with very low IQS still *have them*. Ugh. Also, as everyone knows by now, it's a discredited stupid stat that has no bearing on anything meaningful in life, and if you are one of these MENSA-joining types who somehow takes *pride* in your IQ, seriously, what is wrong with you? I feel bad for all the "eggheads" out there who have been so badly and awkwardly represented by this clue and answer.


Five things:

• 37D: Chain letters? (S & M)— whoooaaaa ... racy! (presumably the "chain" part refers to the proverbial "whips and chains" of sadomasochism)
• 67A: Half of nine? (ENS) — the letter "en" makes up half of the word "nine," you're welcome, ugh
• 23A: Here, in Havana (ACA)— yeesh, really? You coulda made this AAA or MCA but you went with this foreign word that isn't even the best-known word for "here" in its own language? Odd choice. 
• 11D: "___ and the Lost City of Gold" (2019 movie) (DORA) — nice, current way to clue our old friend the Explorer
• 60A: Principal (STAR) — lol me. I had STA- and just gawked at the answer for a few seconds wondering what the hell. "STAY? Like ... mainSTAY?" Sometimes the misfires are very, very bad

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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