Stay outdoors overnight with some of the comforts of home / TUE 7-20-21 / Bygone holder of Apple pics / Kind of headlight on older cars / Old-time comic Caesar / Actress Hedy of old Hollywood / Jerry's partner in cartoondom / Observation deck feature not for the squeamish

Constructor: Sam Buchbinder

Relative difficulty: Medium (with an oversized grid, 15x16)

THEME: WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS (6D: Olympic sport whose all-around competition is composed of the last parts of 19-, 26-, 44- and 52-Across)— last words of themers are all WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS events:

Theme answers:

• SEALED BEAM (19A: Kind of headlight on older cars)
• GLASS FLOOR (26A: Observation deck feature not for the squeamish)
• IN THE VAULT (44A: Stored deeply and securely)
• KIT KAT BARS (52A: Chocolaty treats that you might "break me off a piece of")

Word of the Day: NELLA Larsen, Harlem Renaissance novelist (4D) —

Nellallitea "Nella" Larsen (born Nellie Walker; April 13, 1891 – March 30, 1964) was an American novelist. Working as a nurse and a librarian, she published two novels, Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929), and a few short stories. Though her literary output was scant, she earned recognition by her contemporaries.

A revival of interest in her writing has occurred since the late 20th century, when issues of racial and sexual identity have been studied. Her works have been the subjects of numerous academic studies, and she is now widely lauded as "not only the premier novelist of the Harlem Renaissance, but also an important figure in American modernism." (wikipedia) 

Passing is a novel by American author Nella Larsen, first published in 1929. Set primarily in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in the 1920s, the story centers on the reunion of two childhood friends—Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield—and their increasing fascination with each other's lives. The title refers to the practice of "racial passing", and is a key element of the novel; Clare Kendry's attempt to pass as white for her husband, John (Jack) Bellew, is its most significant depiction in the novel, and a catalyst for the tragic events.

Larsen's exploration of race was informed by her own mixed racial heritage and the increasingly common practice of racial passing in the 1920s. Praised upon publication, the novel has since been celebrated in modern scholarship for its complex depiction of race, gender and sexuality, and is the subject of considerable scholarly criticism. As one of only two novels that Larsen wrote, Passing has been significant in placing its author at the forefront of several literary canons. (wikipedia)

Well, the Olympics have started, so this is timely. Looks like WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS competition gets started in earnest next week. I like the idea of this theme. The really noteworthy aspect of the grid is architectural—namely, that the revealer drives right down through every single one of the themers. A very tricky thing to get all those crosses worked out while maintaining theme-answer symmetry. Maybe that's why some of the theme answers feel a little wobbly. SEALED BEAM, yeesh, no idea. I don't know how "old" these alleged "older cars" have to be to have these headlights, but I've never heard of them. Got SEALED B- and wrote in SEALED BULB. There are many other ___ BEAM phrases, but because this set of themers has to not only fit symmetrically in the grid, but also have the crossing letters for WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS in the right place, the constructor clearly had to get, let's say, inventive. "Inventive" is the charitable word for it. Again, BANK VAULT is definitely something. IN THE VAULT ... hrrrmm, yes, that is a prepositional phrase, but it's vague and not particularly vivid and you might say someone won the gold medal IN THE VAULT, and so it's not really far enough away from gymnastics to make a good themer phrase today (it's important that the themers do not evoke gymnastics in any way; see, for instance, especially, KIT KAT BARS). Again with FLOOR, we can imagine lots of floors, but the one we get is GLASS ... and GLASS FLOOR is indeed a feature of some observation decks (so I hear), but I know the phrase "glass-bottom boat" and so I was looking for something complete and snappy like that. This is all to say that the theme idea is sound, and making the revealer a center Down that runs through all the other themers is kind of impressive, but it definitely and discernibly affects the quality of said themers. It's just very hard to build a theme this way. That the puzzle pulls it off without too much awkwardness is remarkable.