Detroit debut of 1903 / MON 8-24-15 / Wrinkly-faced Chinese dog / Directive to Kate in Cole Porter musical / Preceder of Brown Robinson in 1960s #1 hits / Shape-shifting Norse trickster

Constructor: Lynn Lempel

Relative difficulty: Medium-ish (maybe *slightly* harder than avg *for a Monday*)


THEME:IT'S UP TO YOU (28D: "I'll defer on this one" ... or a hint for what's found in 3-, 9-, 21- and 24-Down) — circled (or perhaps shaded) squares in theme answers (all Downs) read USTI, which is "IT'S" running UP TO the letter "U"

Theme answers:

• EXHAUSTIVE (3D: Leaving no stone unturned)
• PETER USTINOV (21D: Actor with Oscars for "Spartacus" and "Topkapi")
• CAUSTIC (24D: Acid, as criticism)
• CHIEF JUSTICE (9D: John Roberts, for one)

Word of the Day: ROMANESQUE (57A: Architectural style of medieval Europe) —

adjective

adjective: Romanesque

1. 1.

   of or relating to a style of architecture that prevailed in Europe circa 900–1200, although sometimes dated back to the end of the Roman Empire (5th century).

noun

noun: Romanesque

1. 1.

   Romanesque architecture. (google)

This is a loopy idea that somehow I'm OK with. It took me a few beats to figure out what was up (so to speak!). I was wondering why the circles, read upwards, said "ITSU" and not "ITSUP," while simultaneously wondering why "UP" would going "up" since, presumably, "UP" was already being represented in the grid by the fact that the letter string was traveling "up." But then my cornball wordplay detector kicked in, and I got that the "U" was a pun on "YOU." Really should've noticed that "?" at the end of the revealer clue. Anyway, once I figured it out, I thought about it a second, and shrugged, and said "sure, why not?" It's Monday—better loopy and clean than boring and stale (which is always an early-week possibility). I came in with a pretty normal Monday time, but I can see PETER USTINOV giving some (esp. younger solvers) trouble, and I can see someone making the mistake of putting in EXHAUSTING instead of EXHAUSTIVE (I can see it because I did it). Also, I was a medievalist once and ROMANESQUE was not a gimme for me, so that could take some work. Monday work. So, "work." You know what I mean.


Would be better if "USTI" spanned two-word phrases/names, but that would be virtually impossible, I think, so these are all non-spanners, which is its own kind of consistency. There were a couple of interesting "Whaaa?" moments, the first being THE DOLE (56A: Government assistance), first because "look out, it's a definite article!" and second because I don't live in the UK. Do people say THE DOLE here, non-twee-ish-ly? It's a fine phrase, but not a US phrase, in my experience. The other "Whaaa?" answer was JUICE for 27A: Apple product. That clue has been used hundreds of times, almost always in computer-related contexts. I had SANE for CALM (29D: Unruffled) and had real trouble coming up with the icky ENGR (13D: One who pulls a train whistle: Abbr.), which I always think of in terms of building, not train-driving, possibly because I'm not a kid any more and honestly when's the last time you actually *saw* your train's ENGR?

OK, that's all.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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