Virtually silently, in a classic poem / SAT 8-3-24 / 1962 war epic loaded with A-listers, with "The" / M.L.B. team that's played in three different stadiums since its inception in 1962 / Abbr. in French business names

THEME: None - Happy Saturday!

Word of the Day: AMAHL (2D: Title hero of a Menotti opera)—

Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti with an original English libretto by the composer.^[1] It was commissioned by NBC and first performed by the NBC Opera Theatre on December 24, 1951, in New York City at NBC Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, where it was broadcast live on television from that venue as the debut production of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. It was the first opera specifically composed for television in the United States.^[2]

Hello Crossworld! Rex is back on vacation so you've got Eli again, today and tomorrow, then more Rexplacements the rest of the week. I'm not sure if it's because I was paying extra attention knowing I had today's blog, but the puzzle played a little harder than usual for me. I fumbled around quite a bit before getting a toehold on this one. Fittingly, that toehold came with ON LITTLE CAT FEET (57D: Virtually silently, in a classic poem). I was able to drop it in off of just a couple of crosses, but I imagine if you're not familiar with Robert Frost's poem Fog, this one will play even harder for you.

Even though I made it my word of the day, AMAHL was pretty much the only thing I was able to put in confidently in the north of the puzzle my first pass through, along with the crossing LYNX (21A: Minnesota W.N.B.A. team). I couldn't remember if a Buckwheat noodle (9D) was UDON or SOBA, so I needed some crosses that just weren't coming. I got a little bit of traction on ST. TROPEZ (31A: French resort town) entirely because of personal history. St. Tropez is the setting for the musical La Cage Aux Folles (which is also the basis of the movie The Birdcage), which I acted in after college. Drag performing was a unique experience for a cisgender straight man, but I had a blast. Drag is not a crime.

Thankfully, my poetry brain kicked in and got me 57A and I was off and running. Looking at the grid as a whole, the only long across that doesn't really do much for me is ACCESS TIME (5A: Retrieval speed of a computer). I spend a lot of time on computers, and this wasn't a phrase I knew off-hand. It's legit, but it's a bit of a snooze as answers go. I liked the cluing on PIANO TUNER (16A: Professional pitcher?), and it made me put "AD" (as in "Ad Executive") in for way too long. CARE TO ELABORATE (17A: Request for details) is snappy and very natural language, and both I DON'T GET IT (60A: [shrug]) and LONGEST DAY (62A: 1962 war epic loaded with A-listers, with "The") are both solid entries. 

On the whole, I liked the puzzle. Pretty straightforward, not too flashy, but solid.

Stray thoughts:

• 40A: Home run, informally (DINGER) — If you've been paying attention to my write-ups, it will come as no surprise that the first thing this makes me think of is a Simpsons reference.

• 27D: Sticks figure (YOKEL) — Sigh. Do I have a choice?

• 51D: Drinks mistakenly invented by a Dairy Queen owner in 1958 (ICEES) — I liked this trivia! It's mostly surprising to me because it feels like an Icee, which is just syrup and crushed ice, would pre-date Dairy Queen. I feel like a Blizzard is a modern smartphone to the Icee's fax machine.
• 22A: Cousin voiced by Snoop Dogg in two films (ITT) — The original Addams Family TV show is well before my time, but I don't remember Cousin Itt speaking in it. Didn't he just kind of chirp or something? I guess he talks now, and he apparently talks like Snoop. 

Signed, Eli Selzer, False Dauphin of CrossWorld

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