Three-stringed Eastern instrument / THU 4-3-14 / Young-adult fiction author Darren / 1942 title role for Rita Hayworth / Chorus starter in 1972 David Bowie song / One side 1967 war

Constructor: David Benkof and Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: CH- CH- CH- CH- CHANGES (58A: Chorus starter in a 1972 David Bowie song … or the theme of this puzzle, phonetically)— four theme answers all start with "CH-", but each one is pronounced differently from the others (hence "changes")


Theme answers:

• CHANUKAH MENORAH (17A: December display)
• CHAOS THEORY (24A: Mathematical field that includes the so-called "butterfly effect")
• CHARLOTTE BRONTË (36A: One of literature's "three sisters") (thought this might be OLGA, IRINA, or whatever the other one is called…)
• CHAIN-SMOKED (44A: Went from butt to butt?)

Word of the Day: FANBOY (9D: Many a sic-fi devotee) —

noun

1. 1.

   informalderogatory

   a male fan, esp. one who is obsessive about movies, comic books, or science fiction. (the definition that comes up when you Google [define fanboy] … I have no idea how to cite that or who, exactly, the authority is…)

I mostly enjoyed this. I very much enjoy Bowie, so that reveal was a lot of fun for me to fill in. It was also a nice revelation re: What The Hell The Theme Was. I was like "hmm … starts with CH- … that's a little thin." But the reveal nicely articulates what the theme is all about; and it's snappy in its own right. Nice. Super-segmented grid means lots of 3- 4- and 5-letter entries, i.e. a mostly easy solve. They squeeze a lot out of the few 6+- letter answers they do have, with COP CAR, "GET THIS," and FANBOY all winners in my book. Why you clue FISH that way I have no idea. I guess the puzzle was playing very easy, so they decided to use this one clue to toughen it up. I doubted FISH for a while because I thought "no way they go to *that* guy for such a common word" (35A: Hamilton ___, two-term secretary of state under Grant). Kept trying FISK. Kept getting AKEAD in the cross. Eventually stopped trying FISK. Did have problem with AVIAN FLU / UVM. I didn't even blink at AVIAN FLU, and then tried to rationalize UVM as some … veterans? Virginian? … thing I just didn't know. USM is terrible (7D: Mil. branch). If you google [Define "USM"] you will get jack squat. It's USMC. USM should be thrown in the trash along with other things we never use (and ENISLE; I mean, if you're throwing things away, why not?).


If you solve on paper, you might wanna check your LAILA ALI / SHAN crossing. I have this weird feeling that some folks will have LEILA / SHEN. Seems a not unreasonable guess.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld