Periodic Atacama occurrence / FRI 5-8-20 / Its exterior is edible mold Penicillium candidum / Actress Gina of Suits / Yves Saint Laurent perfume since 1977 / Space station section / Luke Skywalker sold his in Mos Eisley

Constructor: Daniel Larsen

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Atacama (19D: Periodic Atacama occurrence = DESERT BLOOM) —

The Atacama Desert (Spanish: Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,000 km (600 mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is the driest nonpolar desert in the world, as well as the only true desert to receive less precipitation than the polar deserts. According to estimates, the Atacama Desert occupies 105,000 km² (41,000 sq mi), or 128,000 km² (49,000 sq mi) if the barren lower slopes of the Andes are included. Most of the desert is composed of stony terrain, salt lakes (salares), sand, and felsic lava that flows towards the Andes.

The desert owes its extreme aridity to a constant temperature inversion due to the cool north-flowing Humboldt ocean current and to the presence of the strong Pacific anticyclone. The most arid region of the Atacama Desert is situated between two mountain chains (the Andes and the Chilean Coast Range) of sufficient height to prevent moisture advection from either the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean, a two-sided rain shadow. (wikipedia)

No fun at all for me. Too much stuff I just didn't know or care about. Too many clues that were "clever" in ways I couldn't appreciate. And the sense of "humor" on this one ... I guess I'm thinking specifically of the ATTIRE clue, which ... I just don't get (11D: Difference between a well-dressed bicyclist and a poorly dressed unicyclist, in a joke). I mean, a tire, ATTIRE? Is that it? They sound alike, so it's funny? Yeesh. I truly hated AT CAMP (37D: Where capture the flag is often played). That is just bad — a very random prepositional phrase, like OVERRICE or ONMARS. Boo. But mainly I didn't hate this, it just clearly was not at all for me. Nothing fun, and lots of clues that just meant nothing to me. The whole NE corner was just clue after clue of "?"—COSTAR, TORRES, BRIE, ATTIRE, FAR NORTH. Nothing clicked except CORGI and OWN. Nothing in NW clicked either except maybe REND and ALIAS. Clue on MODULE meant nothing to me. Same with OPIUM. ADIEU could've easily been ADIOS. No idea what "Atacama" is and even if I did know, DESERT BLOOM wouldn't have occurred to me (19D: Periodic Atacama occurrence). BY EAR was only a notch better than AT CAMP, random phrase-wise. I guess the LAND SPEEDER was supposed to be a "fun" entry, but it's a generic enough term that I didn't remember it was a thing, and I saw that movie seven times the summer it came out (14D: Luke Skywalker sold his in Mos Eisley). ONE'S answers are always lamentable (today, DID ONE'S PART). No idea what ANEROID is (2D: Kind of barometer that doesn't use liquid). Mom read MILNE to me all the time when I was a kid, but not, I guess, "Corner-of-the-Street," whatever that is (44A: "Corner-of-the-Street" poet). The grid doesn't seem bad, but it's got very little in it of interest to me, and the cluing just missed me, left and right.


Rolled my eyes at the clue on SUPERHEROES (33A: DC figures). I teach comics that feature SUPERHEROES on a regular basis, but the "DC" thing ... "tricked" me, I guess. Mad at myself for not remembering that little cluing chestnut. Getting fooled by truly clever stuff, fine. Getting fooled by the cheap stuff, yuck. Bad feeling. Jean HARLOW and Manet's CAFEs were about the only things that made me smile today. Oh, the CORGI too. Hard not to like a CORGI. But otherwise, just not enough winners for me. I had too many missteps to count, but notably I had COOING at 7A: Billing partner (CO-STAR). Wasn't sure if it was GCHAT or iCHAT (45D: Bygone messaging service). BOD for ABS (4D: Gymgoer's pride). SHOVEL for TROWEL (42D: Gardening tool), which I think of as more a masonry tool than a gardening tool, but since I don't really engage in either activity, I can't object too strongly.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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