High-ranking Turkish officer / WED 2-9-22 / Mythical ship that sailed to Colchis / Uncle of 1960s TV / It changes length every four years / Leftorium owner on the Simpsons / They're chucked in a chuck and bored in a board

Theme answers:

• JELLY / FISH (1A: With 6-Across, underwater creature that's not actually a 6-Across)
• ELECTRIC / EEL (23A: With 25-Across, underwater creature that's not actually a 25-Across)
• MANTIS / SHRIMP (36A: With 38-Across, underwater creature that's not actually a 38-Across (nor a 36-Across, for that matter)
• SEA / CUCUMBER (47A: With 48-Across, underwater creature that's certainly not a 48-Across)
• ORCA / WHALE (64:A With 65-Across, underwater creature that actually "is" a 65-Across despite a common misconception)

Word of the Day: MANTIS / SHRIMP (36A) —

Mantis shrimp, or stomatopods, are carnivorous marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda, branching from other members of the class Malacostraca around 340 million years ago. Mantis shrimps typically grow to around 10 cm (3.9 in) in length, while a few can reach up to 38 cm (15 in). A mantis shrimp's carapace (the hard, thick shell that covers crustaceans and some other species) covers only the rear part of the head and the first four segments of the thorax. Varieties range in colour from shades of brown to vivid colours, with more than 450 species of mantis shrimp being known. They are among the most important predators in many shallow, tropical and subtropical marine habitats. However, despite being common, they are poorly understood, as many species spend most of their lives tucked away in burrows and holes.

Called "sea locusts" by ancient Assyrians, "prawn killers" in Australia, and now sometimes referred to as "thumb splitters"—because of the animal's ability to inflict painful wounds if handled incautiously—mantis shrimps have powerful raptorials that are used to attack and kill prey either by spearing, stunning, or dismembering. Some mantis shrimp species have specialised calcified "clubs" that can strike with great power, while others have sharp forelimbs used to seize the prey (hence the term "mantis" in its common name). (wikipedia)

Mmm, trivia. The one thing that keeps this theme slightly interesting is that it zigs and zags in a couple of clues, doubling up the "not actually" factor with MANTIS / SHRIMP and reversing the "not actually" factor with ORCA / WHALE. I guess the SEA / CUCUMBER one is supposed to be zig and/or zag as well, with the addition of the emphatic "certainly" to the clue, but that's essentially a decorative "certainly"— the SEA / CUCUMBER simply isn't a CUCUMBER, just like the FISH and EEL in the puzzle aren't FISH or EEL. I guess the idea is that CUCUMBER is *really* far afield from what you might think it is, but frankly I don't really know what it is ... I'm imagining a cucumber ... so I have nothing to chuckle at here. I also have no idea what a MANTIS / SHRIMP is (or didn't until I looked it up just now). You can't play on misconceptions that I don't have. The only bit of trivia that was at all informative to me today was the ELECTRIC / EEL info. I assumed it was an eel. I admit to not having given the matter a ton of thought. Apparently said "eels" are not closely related to eels at all—they are more akin to catfish. Anyway, I found all the cross-referencing in the theme clues fussy, though probably necessary (since isolating that "incorrect" word really highlights the impact of the theme concept, gives it some oomph). Mainly it was just kind of flat. "Huh, interesting" was the highest high. The "lowest low" was ORCA / WHALE, a term I am hearing for the first time ... right now? They are ORCAs. What crossword solver doesn't know what an ORCA is? When have we ever called them ORCA / WHALEs, why would you do that??? I guess I can see someone somewhere thinking they're sharks, but I can't imagine that same person thinking their name is ORCA / WHALEs. "Killer whale" is the common term, isn't it? Yes! The wikipedia entry begins: "The orca or killer whale is a toothed whale etc." What is this ORCA / WHALE nonsense? And for your closing themer!? That is a good example of *not* sticking the landing (to borrow some Olympic Games terminology, which seems fitting / timely, though I'm paying no attention to the Games at all this year). The most bizarre feature of the theme answers is that SEA / HORSE is not among them. I mean ... that's the King Aquatic Misnomer, but somehow the SEA / HORSE is just sitting this one out? Disappointing.

My biggest mistake today was having the EL- at the front of the second themer, knowing we were looking for "misnamed" creatures, and writing in ELEPHANT (it fits!). I mean, why not? Why not an ELEPHANT / EEL. There's apparently a MANTIS / SHRIMP, so ... ELEPHANT / EEL seemed like a good candidate for this theme. Cryptozoologists, add ELEPHANT EEL to your Life List. Only one other initial mistake today—the far more understandable ERIN-for-EIRE mistake (yet another klassic kealoa* for you) (2D: Cork's land). I guess EIRE is just a general name for the island, while ERIN ... is also that, but more poetic. There are various explanations of the alleged difference out there. They are never gonna help me much in crosswords, I'm afraid. No idea who / what EGGMAN is (I wasn't even sure if he's in the video game, or the cartoon, or comic books, or movies, or what part of the Sonic universe he operates in ... largely because I know absolutely nothing about said universe except that its video game platform is SEGA). Speaking of eggs, I thought ROE was sly for a couple of reasons—first because it added a bonus AQUATIC answer to the puzzle, and second because it symmetrically echoed OVA in the NE. Nice eggy wordplay. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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