Thin Russian pancake / TUE 1-14-14 / Inscribed stone slab / Car with stylized caliper in its logo / Jimmy who wrote Galveston MacArthur Park

Constructor: Tim Croce

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: [Nonsense] — that's the clue for all the theme answers:

• JIVE
• JAZZ
• HOKUM
• PRATTLE
• TWADDLE
• HOTAIR
• BILGE
• BALONEY
• ROT
• TRIPE
• BUSHWA
• BLATHER
• HOGWASH
• HOOEY
• TOSH
• BUNK

Word of the Day: Jimmy WEBB (62D: Jimmy who wrote "Galveston" and "MacArthur Park") —

James Layne "Jimmy" Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling classics, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "The Worst That Could Happen", "All I Know", and "MacArthur Park". His songs have been performed by many popular contemporary artists, including The 5th Dimension, Glen Campbell, The Supremes, Richard Harris, Johnny Maestro, Frank Sinatra, Thelma Houston, The Temptations, Barbra Streisand, Art Garfunkel, Joe Cocker, Judy Collins, Donna Summer, Linda Ronstadt, America, Amy Grant, John Denver, Michael Feinstein, Rosemary Clooney, R.E.M., and Carly Simon.

According to BMI, his song "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" was the third most performed song in the fifty years between 1940 and 1990. Webb is the only artist ever to have received Grammy Awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration. (wikipedia)

No thanks. I'll admit that a list of these [Nonsense] words is fun to say, when you line them all up in a row, and yes, there sure are a lot of them in this grid. But this grid needed serious DERATting. That ANIGH PAPAW STELA section is dire, and I don't even understand the clue on the unfortunate ROWB. I'm pretty sure ROW B *is* prime-seating. What, is only one row "prime"? ROW A? Baffling. A huge lot of words ≠ theme. Not if it's gonna result in gunky fill all over the place. Please compare the fill in yesterday's puzzle to the fill in today's puzzle for a nice night/day contrast. OH SAY OCEDAR ODILE, oh no. What's the good of putting a whole herd of theme answers in your puzzle if they're just going to trample on your fill? I''m sure the avalanche of quaintness will be enough for some. Perhaps it will provide, let's say, a chuckle. A guffaw. A slapping of knees. I don't know. I just know this theme is not to my taste, especially given all the IBAR-UBER JIVE.


Til next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld