Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
THEME: Initial initials — familiar phrases are reimagined (via "?"-cluing) as wacky phrases wherein the first two letters stand alone:
L.A. DIES FIRST (18A: Cackling cry from a mad scientist before unleashing havoc on southern California?)
R.A. IN CHECK (33A: Dorm V.I.P. having to move his king?)
B.A. BY BOOMER (39A: Proud academic achievement of football star Esiason?)
B.O. ON DOCKS (50A: Evidence of longshoremen without antiperspirant?)
P.R. IS ON BREAK (64A: Why the press release has to wait?)
Word of the Day: E. J. DIONNE (70A: Political commentator E. J. ___) —
Eugene Joseph "E.J." Dionne, Jr. ( [...] born April 23, 1952) is an American journalist and political commentator, and a long-time op-edcolumnist for The Washington Post. He is also a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, a University Professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture at Georgetown Public Policy Institute, a Senior Research Fellow at Saint Anselm College, and an NPR,MSNBC, and PBS commentator. (wikipedia)• • •
What a weird and clever theme. Feels like the kind of theme that could go on and on (given how many two-letter abbreviations there are in the English language), but the fact that we could all come up with other answers doesn't take away from the pleasant wackiness of this set. I tore through this puzzle, with most of my time spent trying to get a handle on the theme in the NW. Once I figured it out, I found the theme answers all remarkably pliable (esp. if you know who Boomer Esiason is), and I ended up getting through this in a pretty normal time, which is actually a fast time given that the grid is extra-wide today (16x15). I feel like the potential for trouble was probably greatest in the NE, where ILIESCU holds many spelling perils (13D: Two-time president of Romania), where VAN DYKE is a feature that doesn't necessarily leap to mind with Lenin (14D: Vladimir Lenin had one), and where even HUSKIES (12D: Big East team) wasn't very intuitive (when asked for a team, I tend to think of the school name, not the mascot). I took an embarrassingly long time to get PIGLET; wasn't til I got the "G" that that answer became (painfully) obvious (31A: Hundred Acre Wood resident). Hesitated some at 29D: Not survive (DIE OF) because I read the "survive" as an intransitive verb; thus I wanted DIE OUT or DIE OFF, neither of which would FIT. But otherwise, there wasn't much bite to this one (though I'm seeing some longish times at the NYT site, so I wonder if I'm missing some potential pitfall). I didn't know (or didn't recall) DIONNE, but beyond that, everything else was somewhat-to-very familiar.
The SHIV / SHIVER duplication I could do without, but most of the rest of the grid, I liked. There are some pretty inventive long Downs in the grid today—specifically UNCLE LEO (24D: "Seinfeld" character wit the catchphrase "Jerry! Hello!") and BIKE TIRE (40D: 26" rubber band?). I was thrilled to learn some OKAPI trivia (57A: So-called "African unicorn"), the OKAPI being by far my favorite crossword animal. It's weird that it's called the "African unicorn"—is this to distinguish it from all the other "unicorns" out there? Also love the clue on the overly familiar TARA (63A: Fictional locale five miles from Jonesboro). My first thought was "pfft, how should I know?", but at just four letters, guessing the correct answers wasn't hard. It's good to add at least a little spice to the clues of the oft-appearing short stuff. Anything else? No. Happy Thanksgiving!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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