Middle Corleone brother / MON 3-17-14 / Burma's first prime minister / Orioles Hall-of-Fame pitcher who modeled Jockey underwear / 1945 Alamogordo event / Poacher's nemesis

Constructor: John Lieb

Relative difficulty: Medium (i.e. perfectly Mondayish)

THEME: G-M vowel progression (including "Y") — theme answers follow G-M pattern, from GAM- thru GYM-

Theme answers:

• GAME WARDEN (18A: Poacher's nemesis)
• GEM STATE (23A: Idaho's nickname)
• GIMME FIVE (35A: Request for some skin)
• GOMER PYLE (41A: Mayberry resident who became a Marine)
• GUMBALLS (49A: Round candy in a vending machine)
• GYMNASTICS (58A: Sport that includes the pommel horse and parallel bars)

Word of the Day: AIMEE Mann (19D: "Save Me" singer Mann) —

Aimee Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist. In the 1980s, Mann sang in the Boston New Wave band 'Til Tuesday until she left to begin a solo career in the early 1990s. In 1999, Mann recorded original songs for the soundtrack to the Paul Thomas Anderson film Magnolia, for which she was nominated for Academy Award and Grammy Award nominations. She has released seven solo albums. (wikipedia)

This is a reasonable Monday theme. "G" changes from soft to hard, vowels change from short to long, but from a purely visual standpoint, the theme works; those vowels between the "G" and "M" sure do change. Fill is pretty decent, long Downs add some nice glitz. Big thumbs up for JIM PALMER and his underwear clue (34D: Orioles Hall-of-Fame pitcher who modeled Jockey underwear). Très SEDUCTIVE (11D: Alluring). I had #speedsolverproblems a number of times during this one. Came in a hair's breadth under 3, so, you know, it was still pretty easy, but I'm capable of going 30 to 40 seconds lower, so where were the bumps? First, dumbass me wrote in GEMSTONE (instead of GEM STATE) without even looking at the clue. Dumb dumb dumb. Then my brain paused to consider where Kabul was. Ugh. Clue for GIMME FIVE was in no way transparent, so that took many, many, nearly all crosses to get. Could not see COVER for the life of me. Had it down to CO-ER before I got it. GUMBALLS also was not quick in coming. Brain said "gumdrops" and then wouldn't allow anything else in. Making things worse—a couple of crosses that were not immediately apparent, namely IN B (43D: Bach's "Mass ___ Minor") (I should've known this, the Mass is famous, but still, I see IN [blank], I let the crosses do the talking), and 'SPOSE (53D: "Assuming it's true…," informally).


I like that the puzzle contains the homophones GUYS and GUISE. For some reason, this AMUSES me.

That's enough for today.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld