Actor who won Oscar for 1950s Cyrano de Bergerac / TUE 3-10-20 / Radames's love in opera / Milky white mineraloid

Constructor: David J. Kahn

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (difficulty will vary widely depending on how familiar solvers are with the names) (3:20)

THEME: CALIFORNIA cities that start with "San" (58A: Its "saintly" cities include the starts to 16-, 28-, 37- and 43-Across) — themers are four men's names, where the first name in each case is also (following "San") the name of a California city:

Theme answers:

• 16A: Actor who won an Oscar for 1950's "Cyrano de Bergerac" (JOSÉ FERRER)
• 28A: Longtime rival of Roger Federer (RAFAEL NADAL)
• 37A: Dictator following the Spanish Civil War (FRANCISCO FRANCO)
• 43A: A founder of Mexican muralism (DIEGO RIVERA)

Word of the Day: FRANCISCO LINDOR (because dictators can get lost) —

Francisco Miguel Lindor (born November 14, 1993), nicknamed "Paquito"^[1] and "Mr. Smile", is a Puerto Rican professional baseball shortstop for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball(MLB). A right-handed thrower and switch hitter, Lindor stands 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) and weighs 190 pounds (86 kg). 

Lindor batted over .300 in both his first two major league seasons and provided outstanding defense. In 2016, he earned each of his first All-Star selection, Gold Glove Award, becoming the first Puerto Rican shortstop to win the Gold Glove Award. He won his first Silver Slugger Award in 2017. He placed second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2015 and was a selection to the 2017 All-WBC Team.

Born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, Lindor began playing baseball at an early age, and he moved with his family to Florida when he was 12. He became the Indians' first round selection, and eighth overall, in the 2011 MLB draft. In the minor leagues, he participated in the 2012 All-Star Futures Game, and by 2013, was rated by Baseball America as the Indians' top overall prospect. (wikipedia)

I don't think I've ever had less to say about a puzzle. These men have those saints' names. End of story. The themers skew unnecessarily old and unnecessarily male—you know there are major "saintly" cities in CALIFORNIA that start with "Santa," right? Like, a bunch. They are pretty famous. Way more famous than little San Rafael. Or were there no famous BARBARAs you could fit in the grid? Couldn't think of a famous MONICA? Yeesh. If your theme necessitates an all-male cast, go ahead, have at it. But if you really wanted to do this theme, do two SANs and two SANTAs, and if you keep FRANCISCO, for pete's sake ditch the brutal dictator and get with one of the very best and most entertaining players in baseball, FRANCISCO LINDOR. Also, if you are the Cleveland Indians, Pay Him. He's a generational player. And ... just look at him. He is the personification of baseball. He just *looks* baseball. I'm actually surprised that Kahn (today's constructor) didn't go with Lindor in that center slot, as Kahn (a baseball fan who once wrote an entire book of baseball crosswords) surely knows who Lindor is and how great he is. (Note: I am talking about baseball because it's far more fun (to me) than talking about this puzzle. My half-hearted apologies.)


SARDI FERRER EDSEL FRANCO DAS Rheingold STAN CASS etc. . . the cultural center of gravity on this one is very "of yore." Very little balance. I know that CAMERAMAN is a common word, but something about the clue's not indicating gender is bugging me. A CAMERAMAN is a *male* professional on a film set. You could go with the Buster Keaton film "The CAMERAMAN" and avoid the gender issue in the cluing entirely.


CLOSE / A SALE (!?) is awkward. ASALE is just bad fill, and here you've gone and painted the bad fill NEON colors by enlisting it into this gangly cross-reference gimmick. I don't understand why you'd do this, but clearly I don't understand most things about this puzzle. Whole thing feels like a shrug. Like a placeholder. Last week's Women's Week keeps looking better and better and better ...

[A SALE]

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