Actress Wells has just entered the scene / TUE 1-5-21 / TV father Cleaver has just left the starting line / Classic NYC punk rock venue / Petite pooch familiarly

Constructor: Amy Schecter and Christina Iverson

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: famous people doing things — familiar 3rd-person verb phrases are clued as if they express what someone famous is currently doing; that is, the first word (a 3rd-person verb ending in "S") is clued as if it were preceded by an apostrophe:

Theme answers:

• PAT'S DOWN (16A: Singer Benatar feels blue)
• SUE'S OVER (20A: Author Grafton has arrived for dinner)
• DAWN'S ON (26A: Actress Wells has just entered the scene)
• JACK'S UP (!) (37A: Actor Nicholson will bat next)
• WADE'S IN (48A: Baseball's Boggs has agreed to join us)
• CHUCK'S IT (53A: Actor Norris got tagged)
• WARD'S OFF (59A: TV father Cleaver has just left the starting line)

Word of the Day: TERN (35D: Relative of a sea gull) —

Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consist of eleven genera. They are slender, lightly built birds with long, forked tails, narrow wings, long bills, and relatively short legs. Most species are pale grey above and white below, with a contrasting black cap to the head, but the marsh terns, the Inca tern, and some noddies have dark plumage for at least part of the year. The sexes are identical in appearance, but young birds are readily distinguishable from adults. Terns have a non-breeding plumage, which usually involves a white forehead and much-reduced black cap.

The terns are birds of open habitats that typically breed in noisy colonies and lay their eggs on bare ground with little or no nest material. Marsh terns construct floating nests from the vegetation in their wetland habitats, and a few species build simple nests in trees, on cliffs or in crevices. The white tern, uniquely, lays its single egg on a bare tree branch. Depending on the species, one to three eggs make up the clutch. Most species feed on fish caught by diving from flight, but the marsh terns are insect-eaters, and some large terns will supplement their diet with small land vertebrates. Many terns are long-distance migrants, and the Arctic tern may see more daylight in a year than any other animal.

Terns are long-lived birds and are relatively free from natural predators and parasites; most species are declining in numbers due directly or indirectly to human activities, including habitat loss, pollution, disturbance, and predation by introduced mammals. The Chinese crested tern is in a critical situation and three other species are classed as endangered. (wikipedia)

***HELLO, READERS AND FELLOW SOLVERS!**. The calendar has turned on another year (thank God), and while that might mean a lot of things to a lot of people, for me it means it's time for my annual week-long pitch for financial contributions to the blog. Every year I ask regular readers to consider what the blog is worth to them on an annual basis and give accordingly. Last year at this time, I wrote about what a melancholy year 2019 was; my oldest dog had died and the world was kind of a wreck. And then 2020 happened, and I learned what a real wreck looks like. In February, my other dog died (R.I.P. Gabby). And then, well, COVID. And let's be honest, even with a new president, 2021 is going to be, uh, challenging as well. But I hope that the regular ritual of solving crosswords brought some solace and stability to your lives this past year, and I hope that my blog added to your enjoyment of the solving experience in some way. This year my blog will celebrate its 15th anniversary! I feel so proud! And old! A lot of labor goes into producing this blog every day (Every. Day.) and the hours are, let's say, less than ideal (I'm either solving and writing at night, after 10pm, or in the morning, before 6am). Most days, I really do love the writing, but it is work, and once a year (right now!) I acknowledge that fact. As I've said before, I have no interest in "monetizing" the blog beyond a simple, direct contribution request once a year. No ads, no gimmicks. Just here for you, every day, rain or shine, whether you like it or, perhaps, on occasion, not :) It's just me and my laptop and some free blogging software and, you know, a lot of rage, but hopefully some insight and levity along the way. I do genuinely love this gig, and whether you're an everyday reader or a Sunday-only reader or a flat-out hatereader, I appreciate you more than you'll ever know.



This theme mostly works, except for the one place it doesn't. No, let me rephrase. It works, roughly, on its own terms, but those are not the only terms it feels like it's working on when you're solving, so (to my ear) there is one big clanker in this themer group. I wonder if I did a poll and just asked, "Which of these ... [counting] ... seven (!) is substantially not like the others?" there'd be a consensus. Anyway, the problem is CHUCK'S IT. All the other final words are prepositions. Conspicuously, obviously so. And "IT" ... is not. It's just not. The preposition thing felt absolutely crucial the entire time I was solving, as one after the other of the themers was built that way: famous person + apostrophe S + preposition. On and on. And on. Until Chuck. Poor Chuck. Also, poor Dawn Wells. She was the first themer I got, and so the whole endeavor started out slightly sad; in case you hadn't heard, Dawn Wells died just last week. Dec. 30, 2020. Dawn Wells was of course famous for playing Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island." I always hated that whole Ginger *vs* Mary Ann thing, since there's no reason to pit women against each other like that. And yet the answer was always Mary Ann :)