Ron of Tarzan on 1960s TV / WED 11-11-20 / Lye in chemistry class / Suave 1991 hit / Converted into fuel as coal / Former gridiron org for Memphis Maniax Orlando Rage / Series of bookings across America

Theme answers:

• HOLYFIELD (18A: *Four-time heavyweight champ nicknamed "The Real Deal")
• WEDDING PRESENT (23A: *Gift that comes with a hitch?)
• VETERANS MEMORIAL (38A: *Place that honors those who've served)
• BUSINESS SCHOOL (51A: *Producer of a lot of suits?)

Word of the Day: HOBS (54D: Goblins, in folklore) —

• noun A shelf or projection at the back or side of a fireplace, used for keeping food or utensils warm.
• noun A tool used for cutting the teeth of machine parts, as of a gearwheel.
• noun Chiefly British A hobgoblin, sprite, or elf.
• noun Mischievous behavior. (American Heritage Dictionary, 5th ed.)

Either this one was much easier, comparatively, than either of the past two days' puzzles, or giving myself ten or so minutes to wake up in the morning before I start solving really makes a world of difference. Or both. This one has an oversized grid (16x15) and I still came in under my average Wednesday time. Since I struggled (again, comparatively) with the past two days' puzzles, I thought maybe acing a puzzle would make me like it more, but much as I wanted to like this one, there are just so many problems. The theme is not bad so much as bland. It's totally passable but not very interesting. This type of theme (both parts of an answer can precede / follow a word to make a familiar phrase) is old as the hills, and virtually every example of it that I've ever seen has two unfortunate qualities. First, the revealer doesn't have any "aha" magic in it. It definitely "reveals" what the theme is (and in today's case, you'd never know it without the revealer), but my reaction tends to be (as it was today) "oh..." rather than "oh!" Second, the theme answers, as a set, tend to be dull. I mean, HOLYFIELD looks *scintillating* next to all the rest of them. WEDDING PRESENT ... BUSINESS SCHOOL ... I almost fell (back) asleep just typing that last one out. VETERANS MEMORIAL is interesting only insofar as it makes the puzzle *look like* it's a Veterans Day-themed puzzle ... but then it isn't, which almost seems insulting. It's Veterans Day. Do a Veterans Day puzzle or don't (this is not the constructor's fault, btw). This puzzle just sorta waves at the holiday on its way to ... a publisher. Anticlimactic, in the extreme. Anyway, today, blandness reigns, themewise.

The fill is pretty weak all over, starting with COKED (!?!?!) (1A: Converted into fuel, as coal). I've only ever heard that used in phrases, usually preceding "up" or "out of his mind." Needed every cross to get it here. That whole corner should've been handled so much more smoothly. COKED is awkward, CAHN is crosswordese (especially unwelcome with ICAHN is somehow also in the grid), ELY is even more crosswordesey than CAHN, and DIF NEO OBOE aren't doing much for you up there either. Handling the "B" and the "K" seems to have presented real constructing problems, but these are problems worth working through. Smooth it out! Answers too often felt like they'd been grabbed out of a bag of Ye Olde Answeres of the Past. EPEE GOAPE ESS all in the same section, crossing the bizarre-looking "Var."ANTEED (borderline inexcusable, esp. in a grid that is already creaking under the weight of iffy fill). GYRE and NAOH and ENG and HOBS down below are not, esp. collectively, gonna brighten anyone's day. CAHN ICAHN ELY ELWES EVA ELON ... that's really too many overfamiliar faces. The most interesting thing in the grid was XIÈXIE, which I don't think I've ever seen and definitely needed every cross for (6D: Mandarin "thank you"). I'm not sure I *liked* it, I just know it broke up the monotony. I really hope you knew it, or remembered the XFL, because otherwise it really seems like you might have had a Natick* situation on your hands. Is that how you spell EYELETS? (31A: Holes in shoes). Wow, only just now realizing that EYELETS and aiglets are somehow both parts of shoes (well, aiglets are part of shoelaces, but same DIF). They could've made that less confusing (and by "they" I guess I mean "the word gods," I don't know). OK, that's all, Happy Wednesday.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

*uninferrable crossing of two not-universally-familiar answers, especially proper names

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