Stuntwoman kitty known as fastest woman in world / SUN 6-7-20 / Sadistic feline character in Scott Adams strip / Montana in the 1980s / Put bluffer in tight spot / German city where Charlemagne was buried / Appetizer often served with mint chutney

Constructor: Andy Kravis

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (13-ish)

THEME:"Surplus Store"— "Sur" sound is added (+) to beginning of familiar phrases, creating wacky phrases clued wackily (i.e. "?"-style):

Theme answers:

• SURGERY VERDICT (23A: "The operation was a success," e.g.?) (jury verdict)
• SURPRISE FIGHTERS (36A: People who start arguments out of nowhere?) (prize fighters)
• SURLY MAJORS (54A: Officers who woke up on the wrong side of the cot?) (Lee Majors)
• SURFER BALLS (69A: Soirées where everyone is dressed in their finest board shorts?) (furballs)
• SURPASSED PERFECT (86A: Got 101% on an exam, say?) (past perfect) 
• SURFEIT OF ANGER (105A: Why someone might practice deep breathing every five minutes?) (fit of anger)

Word of the Day: Kitty O'NEIL (93A: Stuntwoman Kitty known as "the fastest woman in the world") —

Kitty Linn O'Neil (March 24, 1946 – November 2, 2018) was an American stuntwoman and racer, known as "the fastest woman in the world." An illness in early childhood left her deaf, and more illnesses in early adulthood cut short a career in diving. O'Neil's career as a stuntwoman and race driver led to her depiction in a television movie and as an action figure. Her women's absolute land speed record still stands. (wikipedia)

This was a slog and the past few days have been slogs and I just don't understand what is happening. Yes, the National Mood is awful and it's affecting my mood for sure, so we can ascribe some of the downer feelings to that, but honestly there is a dismal quality to the voice of the puzzle (that is, the editorial voice—the editor is the one who shapes the final look of the puzzle, esp. the clues). The whole vibe of the puzzle this past few days has been somebody's idea of a good time but not mine. There's no daring, no joy, no bounce. Difficulty without joy is so miserable. I guess there are people who just like difficulty for its own sake, but if I don't get that pop of "oh cool" from breaking through on a difficult puzzle, then the whole experience feels very much not worth it. This puzzle lost me from the jump—literally from 1-Across: Sadistic feline character in a Scott Adams strip (CATBERT). It was a gimme (well, I could infer the answer from the clue) but please hear me when I say F*** that guy, he was never funny and now he's a right-wing Trumpist dipshit of the highest order. And at 1-Across! This is the Tom Cotton editorial of 1-Acrosses. Like ... how did this happen? Why? Who needed this? (also BERT is in the puzzle, and even if it's not technically a dupe it *feels* like a dupe, i.e. a duplicated word)


Then the theme. It's surs. Yes, sir, it is. That is surely the theme. I kinda liked SURLY MAJORS. The rest, pfffft. It's so repetitive, which just adds to the overall grinding feeling. I kept knowing what was coming, but then having serious trouble figuring out what the theme clues could be going for, then eventually getting them and going "OH, OKAY" (btw I had "OK OK OK" there at first) (104A: "Well, all right then"). BILLOWY is kind of a cool word. SQUIRT GUN is fun and has a clever little "?" clue (73D: Water heater?) ("heater" is slang for "gun" in case that was somehow not clear). BIG DANCE is nicely colloquial and original (4D: March Madness tourney, with "the"). So there were moments of entertainment, but there weren't enough of them.


Mistakes:

• 22A: The Red Baron, for one (AIRMAN) — me: AIRACE ... :(
• 32D: Off the beaten path (AFIELD) — me: ASTRAY ... :(
• 30D: Go on a rampage (RUN RIOT) — me: RUN AMOK ... :(
• 72A: "Holy guacamole!" ("WOWIE!") — me: "ZOWIE!" ... :(
• 58D: Gets going, so to speak (ROLLS)— me: ................. [shrug]
• 71D: They often end on a low note (BASSOS)— ooooof this one. BASSI is the plural, which I know as it was In The Puzzle On Friday. Sigh. So I wrote in BASSES, which also a plural of the low singing voice, and then I didn't check the cross, and ended up with Kitty ENEIL, whom I'd never heard of and whose clue is written real weird (why would a "stuntwoman" be known for being "fast"??? I mean, I know now, but the clue is weird as is). So that was (un)fun. 
• 107A: ___ Mae (SALLIE) — me: FANNIE ... :(
• 82D: Frequent result of wearing a bike helmet (HAT HAIR) — me: HAT HEAD (following the example of "bedhead"). So, yeah ... :(

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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