Comeuppance for package thief / TUE 2-11-20 / Ballet position on tiptoe / Actress Merrill of "BUtterfield 8"

Constructor: Neil Padrick Wilson and Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Medium (in the mid/high 3's)

THEME: FLYING / COLORS (33A: With 35-Across, complete success ... or a hint to 18-, 23-, 46- and 51-Across) — things that feature literal FLYING / COLORS:

Theme answers:

• LASER SHOW (18A: Lighting display at many a rock concert)
• RAINBOW FLAG (23A: Symbol of pride)
• GLITTER BOMB (46A: Comeuppance for a package thief)
• PAINTBALL (51A: Sport that can leave you with welts)

Word of the Day: GLITTER BOMB (46A) —

Glitter bombing is an act of protest in which activists throw glitter on people at public events. Glitter bombers have frequently been motivated by, though not limited to, their targets' rape apologism or opposition to same-sex marriage.

Some legal officials argue glitter bombing is technically assault and battery. It is possible for glitter to enter the eyes or nose and cause damage to the cornea or other soft tissues potentially irritating them or leading to infection, depending on the size of the glitter. Whether a prosecutor would pursue the charges depends on a number of factors. (wikipedia)

[Comeuppance for a package thief]???? Please see the Word of the Day definition, above, to understand why this was the clue I struggled with the most today. I know glitter bombing only as a form of political protest. Are there really people who devote time to turning the foiling of porch pirates into a lavish art project? What insanely narrow context is this and why not just go with the much more common meaning of this word, especially since it's a modern / new term. Does the package literally explode in their face... with glitter? That still sounds dangerous. Bizarre. Seriously, just google [define glitter bomb] and every page will tell you it's a form of political protest. Too bad they bricked this clue so badly—the theme is actually very inventive. [update: I'm told this is some genre of youtube prank video ... ok] The fill in this puzzle, however, is all over the place. The long Downs give the grid much needed pizzazz, though the most original long Down, IT'S A BIG IF, feels out of tune (5D: "Things may well not happen the way you suppose")—you'd say THAT'S A BIG IF in response to someone else's "if." That may seem a small distinction, but not to my ear. I like what that answer was trying to do, though. Did not like the garbage dump of fill in the NW (ADWARE LEERAT singular ARREAR), but once you get out of there, things even out, and the objectionable stuff is less dense. Ultimately, this one is wobbly, but it holds up.


I've been in universities, and English departments specifically, for my whole adult life, and I can count the number of times I've heard the term "Lit CRIT" to describe a "class" (or, really, anything) on no hands. OK, maybe one, but honestly, it's not a thing. I promise you. It keeps showing up in crosswords because of inertia (this is suuuuuuuuuuch a common phenomenon), but it's good to reality-check your clues and answers every decade or so, and every time I see this clue on CRIT, I wince. I also wince because CRIT is just bad fill. So, double wince. There's a rapper called Big K.R.I.T. Maybe try him.


Jarring also to be told that I'LL BET is a thing when two-to-three hundred times a year (roughly) I'm asked to believe that I BET is a thing. What's next, I WILL BET! I SHALL BET! BET SHALL I! I WILL PUT A NOT INSIGNIFICANT WAGER ON THIS EVENT! Another word no one uses ever: OATEN (57A: Like granola, largely). We all tacitly agree to let it go 'cause we've seen it before and are 99% sure it's in a dictionary somewhere, and maybe we're just secretly glad it's not OATY (yes, OATY happens). But OATEN is a THUD for me. Every time. POPO is real enough slang, but somehow in the "mouth" of the puzzle it always feels ... well, like this:

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]