First human character on Sesame Street / SAT 5-9-15 / First name among 1991 divorcees / Hamstrings kneecaps / John's accompanier / Royal who toured US in late 1970s / Main antagonist in Disney's Hercules / Marine mollusk named for its earlike tentacles

Constructor: Kristian House

Relative difficulty: Easy


THEME: none

Word of the Day: AGENA (61A: It was boosted by Titan) —

Mostly enjoyable, totally acceptable Saturday puzzle that also serves as a mini-primer in old-school crosswordese (the kind that you see somewhat less now than you did, say, a couple decades ago—god bless you, computers). I didn't mind the crosswordese this time—it was lightly sprinkled around the grid, and it was a bit like meeting old friends. Or former enemies who have now grown up and moved on and have kids and you're like "Hey, how's it going, long time no see, I don't hate you any more because we've both grown up and moved on to other things." Like that. I mean how am I gonna be mad at AMAH? She hardly gets out any more. And AGENA? Poor guy barely gets work these days. Even AGHA and OGEE are mostly retired. Now MOATED is borderline nonsense, and REHONE is All The Way nonsense, so them, I resent a little. But I'd sit down for a beer with AMAH and AGAH. Talk over the good/bad old days. Sounds like a good time.


There's some decent long fill here, though I would've appreciated a greater "Wow" factor. I likely feel this way largely because I am jaded—or, rather, experienced; I have seen MUFFIN TOP (1A: Effect of tightening an extra-tight belt, maybe) and BATARANG (12D: Weapon for the Caped Crusader) and DOCTOR WHO (58A: Long-running show about a Time Lord) and most of the rest of the grid's bouncy fill before. If not in the NYT, other places. So if I were a less constant solver, this might have impressed me more. AS IF I CARE, ironically, was the answer I cared about most: love it. And I really like most of the 8+-letter fill, though at first I didn't think things were going to go well. Here's what my grid looked like, right out of the gate:

So it's enough of a Thing that I got it instantly, but also enough of a non-Thing that I stopped to take its picture. I stopped again at REHONE because … well, because REHONE. You don't see that every day. Just like yesterday, I was fortunate to hit a cross-reference clue at Just the right moment, such that, instead of holding me up (as such clues usually do), it propelled me into another part of the grid. Crosses gave me D-RW-- at 42A: Champion of 11-Down, and without even looking at 11-Down, I wrote in DARWIN (what other name fits that letter pattern?). Quick glance at 11D: Change of life let me know the answer was EVOLUTION, which opened up the whole NE.

Hang-ups were few today. Forgot that NATAL was a port, and that it meant "Christmas," so I needed crosses there. ISADORE was a guess based on having the IS- and then getting the "D" from DUTCH (56A: Reagan nickname). Had WAY for FAR (47A: Considerably), as in "my dog's WAY better than yours." Oh, and I had MATURE before MUTATE (29A: Undergo change). But I still finished in just over 7, and that's with the clock still running while I took multiple screen shots. So, yeah, Easy.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld