Tannhäuser for one / FRI 7-6-12 / Voice actor Gary / What happened "at the Movies" 1965 Pauline Kael title / Irish whiskey brand / "Mountain Music" band

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Constructor: Peter Wentz

Relative difficulty: Medium-ChallengingTHEME: none

Word of the Day: KIKI DEE (40D: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" singer, 1976) —

Kiki Dee (born Pauline Matthews, 6 March 1947, Little Horton, Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England)^[1] is an English singer with a career spanning more than 40 years.She is best known for her 1976 duet with Elton John, entitled "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", which went to Number 1 both in the UK Singles Chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. (wikipedia)

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Started out in the northeast corner, plunking down NITPICK (8A: Go after little things), and after a few missteps - NPR for NBC (8D: Airer of "Dr. Kildare" and "Mr. Novak") and IT'S RARE for IT'S HERE (12D: Sign at a store with a hard-to-find item) - broke into the middle. I swear, this grid is going to give me nightmares about being in a trash compactor. Or that level from "Crystal Crazy" where you collect all the bonuses. Anyone? No?

The point is, this was like doing five mini puzzles, and four of them were fairly easy. One of them was extremely not. You know the one I'm talking about. It took me longer to fill in the southeast corner as it did the rest of the puzzle combined, and that's not counting the time it took to cry myself to sleep and get an adrenaline shot a la UMA (53: Actress Thurman) in "Pulp Fiction." Gary OWENS, Ms. Dee, Dr. DENTON'S, and I LOST IT are all from at least a decade before I was born. Eventually it was Apple's iKid that saved me from a DNF.

But if you average it all out, you get a pleasantly tricky Friday offering. Very few, if any, OOXTEPLERNON offerings. Good stuff, Mr. Wentz.

[Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes]:

• 1A: Popular gifts that make a distinctive sound when shaken (JIGSAWS) — I can see a jigsaw making a great Father's Day gift, but shaking it just sounds like a bad idea. Especially if it's on.
• 19A: Kemper of "The Office" (ELLIE)  — Just saw her in the "21 Jump Street" movie. She played a science teacher with a crush on Channing Tatum's character. I can't imagine why...

• 48A: Tap, as for luck (KNOCK ON) — Like wood, or if you're Richard Nixon, a phone. 

• 57A: "Mountain Music" band (ALABAMA) — Did you know? Alabama is also the name of a state. I'm dropping all kinds of knowledge over here.

• 37D: Just make the cut  (SNEAK BY) — I wanted SCALPEL, but that would be "JUST MAKE THE CUT!!," I guess.
• 41D: What happened "at the Movies" in a 1965 Pauline Kael title (I LOST IT) — It's country music takeover on the blog today. And there's nothing you can do about it.

Thanks for having me! I leave you in capable hands for Saturday's puzzle. Until then, BREATHE!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours, Erik Agard, [Flickertail St. secedes from a golfer's hazard (6)] of CrossWorld