Game similar to hide-and-seek / TUE 7-1-14 / Mass of crystallized magma / Reproach from Buckinghams, 1967 / Plea from Human League, 1982 / Reassurance from Beach Boys, 1964 / Encouragement from Journey, 1981

Constructor: Gary Cee

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium


THEME: DON'T — songs that start with DON'T, at least a few of which you will have heard of:

Theme answers:

• "DON'T BE CRUEL" (18A: Appeal from Elvis, 1956)
• "DON'T WORRY BABY" (25A: Reassurance from the Beach Boys, 1964)
• "DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'" (39A: Encouragement from Journey, 1981)
• "DON'T YOU WANT ME" (52A: Plea from the Human League, 1982)
• "DON'T YOU CARE" (64A: Reproach from the Buckinghams, 1967)

Word of the Day: RINGALEVIO (12D: Game similar to hide-and-seek) —

Ringolevio (also spelled ringalevio or ring-a-levio)^[1] is a children's game which may be played anywhere but which originates in the teeming streets ofNew York City, and is known to have been played there at least as far back as before World War I.^[a] It is one of the many variations of tag. It requires close team work and near-military strategy. In Canada, this game is known as Relievio. In Boston and Ireland in the 1960s, it was also called Relievio and is mentioned in Roddy Doyle's Booker prize-winning novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and Bill O'Reilly's book, A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity. (wikipedia)

I have another DON'T for you—DON'T put RINGALEVIO (Whatever That Is) in a Tuesday puzzle if you want people to remember anything else about your puzzle. I've never heard of it. It googles terribly poorly. It is so patently, obviously, manifestly *not* a word for an easy, early-week puzzle that I have no idea WTF the constructor / editor was thinking here. If you had clued this as [Harry Potter spell used three times in "Harry Potter and the Temple of Doom"], I would've believed that at least as much as I believed this clue. I got every letter from crosses, though "well, *that's* wrong," and then finished the puzzle and Ding! it was right. So at least the crosses were fair, I guess, and the puzzle was certainly easy otherwise, so no real harm done, but sweet lord o'mercy that is nuts. Bananas. Just a magnificent error in calibration and judgment. On a Friday or Saturday, I can see throwing this answer at us. But Tuesday? Ha. The contrast between that answer and Every Other Answer In The Grid, in terms of familiarity, is bone-jarring. "DON'T YOU CARE" was unknown to me too, but at least those are recognizable words strung together.


Oh, I didn't know PLUTON either (8D: Mass of crystallized magma). Cool word, but not sure why it's here. It's not holding together a very good (or very hard to refill) section of the grid. AFC POR TIERRA and APPTS are all subpar. You have to really *love* PLUTON not to rewrite that whole area, and I can't really believe anyone loves PLUTON. PLUTO, sure. But not PLUTON. And then there's everything else, which was pap—child's play. Fast-as-you-can-write stuff. I did enjoy remembering the songs, mostly, and I guess the oversized grid gives us more bang for our buck, but with a theme that's just OK, that RINGALEVIO answer makes this thing a pretty badly wounded duck.


Hey, I do know "DON'T YOU CARE." Weird. Totally forgot about it. And now here it is. Cool.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld