Secures as climber's rope / TUE 6-2-20 / Knickers wearer maybe / Cute pudginess in toddler / Science fiction her of 25th century / Al Capone chasers informally

Constructor: John Guzzetta

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (3:30, though I really fat-fingered this one, so it might've been easier ...)


THEME: PART COMPANY (56A: Go their separate ways ... or a description of 17-, 24-, 35- or 47-Across?) — each answer is part company (in the sense that a labradoodle is part poodle); the part that is the company appears in circled squares in the grid:

Theme answers:

• BISCAYNE BAY (17A: View off the coast of Miami)
• VOCAL COACH (24A: One who helps you hit just the right note)
• SAINT ELMO (35A: Patron of sailors)
• BUCK ROGERS (47A: Science fiction hero of the 25th century)

Word of the Day: BUCK ROGERS (47A) —

Buck Rogers is a fictional space opera character created by Philip Francis Nowlan in the novella Armageddon 2419 A.D., subsequently appearing in multiple media. In Armageddon 2419 A.D., published in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories, the character's given name was "Anthony". A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published in the March 1929 issue. [...] The adventures of Buck Rogers in comic strips, movies, radio and television became an important part of American popular culture. It was on January 22, 1930, that Buck Rogers first ventured into space aboard a rocket ship in his fifth newspaper comic story Tiger Men From Mars. This popular phenomenon paralleled the development of space technology in the 20th century and introduced Americans to outer space as a familiar environment for swashbuckling adventure.

Buck Rogers has been credited with bringing into popular media the concept of space exploration, following in the footsteps of literary pioneers such as Jules Verne, H. G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs. (wikipedia)

Crossword puzzles feel a little trivial right now, what with the country burning down and the full force of the military unleashed on peaceful American citizens, all because some of y'all thought electing a white supremacist / fascist / actually illiterate boob would be just fine, but diversions are diversions because they divert, so let's be diverted for a little bit, shall we? This puzzle wasn't good. I do not actually understand the revealer. Or, rather, I think I do understand it, now, but I did not, at first. I could not get my head around what the PART part of PART COMPANY thought it was doing. I thought maybe it was "part" like "part the Red Sea," because the "company" names in the answers are broken (i.e. parted) by the space between the two words in each answer. That is, the "company" names break across two words. Break into parts. But now I think it just means that the "company" name is "part" of the answer, so the answer is PART COMPANY in the sense that a skort is part skirt. *Partially*. Anyway, whatever, it's bad. "Company" is sooooooooo broad a concept that it's practically meaningless. This set of "companies" has nothing in common. And there's just four. Four Random "companies." Also, are KROGER supermarkets a nationwide thing? Never saw one in CA. They were all over MI. But haven't seen one in NY. Anyway, the revealer is a real let-down, the concept is pretty dull, and the fill overall feels stodgy. This feels like something from last century. Not cringey, just blah. VADIS OCHOA ISAAK OTO SRO EMIR blah blah blah. Cluing RAPS as a noun didn't really help. "Oh yeah, sure, I love RAPS. They're bitchin'," he said, convincingly.


A LAD wears knickers? I was thinking of knickers as a decidedly female undergarment (British), so I was slow there. I have absolutely no time to read your eternal clue for APT (10A: Like the anagramming of A DECIMAL POINT to make I'M  A DOT IN PLACE), and man I'm glad I didn't actually read it, 'cause what an enormous anticlimax. Wrote in FLOG before FLAY (29D: Whip). Could not relate to the clue on"SADLY, NO" (43D: Response to "Did you win the lottery?") because only people who hate having money and math play the lottery, so that whole deal didn't compute for me.  I think my favorite part of the solve was getting to this clue ...

... and looking down and seeing these letters in place:

I double- and possibly triple-taked on that one.

Hey, if you want to do some puzzles by some of the best constructors in the country *and* support the struggle against systemic racist violence in this country, here are a couple options.

• Erik Agard is raising money for 1StruggleKC, a bail reform group (to donate and for more info, go here). Send a screenshot of your donation to agarderik at gmail dot com and Erik will send you a bunch of unreleased crosswords. He doesn't really make bad puzzles, so I'd roll the dice with this one if I were you. Full info here. 
• Further, the great Paolo Pasco will send you a 17x17 puzzle (by him) *and* a 25x9 (!) puzzle (by Sid Sivakumar) if you send him a screenshot of your donation to *any* Black Lives Matter-related org (pascopuzzles at gmail dot com). And if it's over $50, he'll make you a midi (I think that's 11x11) with a clue/answer of your choice. That's crazy generous. Please overwhelm him now. Full info here. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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