Famed batter in 1888 poem / WED 4-11-12 / Muckraker Tarbell / TV host with college degree in speech therapy / Radical Mideast group / Rangers on sports ticker

Constructor: David Kwong

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: Three Strikes — Clue [Strike] is used for three answers, with a tie-in to the poem "CASEY at the Bat" (38A: Famed batter in an 1888 poem) and the phrase "NO JOY IN MUDVILLE" (from the poem's penultimate line) (58A: Result of three strikes for 38-Across)


Word of the Day: PLEB (32D: Commoner) —

n.
A commoner; a plebeian.

[Short for PLEBEIAN, or perhaps back-formation from PLEBS.]

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/pleb#ixzz1rh8HWm4E

• • •

Well I didn't care for this at all, but at least it's a passable puzzle. Coherent theme, plausible answers for [Strike], semi-interesting revealer. I was briefly confused when I got the revealer and thought "strike out? But strike is in the clues? Is something being taken out? ... no, I'm just making that up." Definition answers are always dull, and the fill and clues in general here are particularly dull. Maybe if the pangram (a pointless, joyless goal) hadn't been so important, things could've been punched up a little. There's CHICKLIT (4D: Women's fiction, slangily) and then ... the rest. Anyway, this puzzle happened. Tomorrow is another day.


Strikes:

• MILITARY ASSAULT
• LABOR PROTEST (I had PROBLEM at first)
• BOWLING SCORE

Scintillating.

Bullets:

• 11D: One in a mint? (UNUM) — this is my favorite clue (though not my favorite answer), and the one part of the puzzle that slowed me down. I somehow went with REDO over UNDO (16A: "Go back," on an edit menu) at first, and that didn't help matters up there.
• 33D: TV host with a college degree in speech therapy (LENO) — still not funny.
• 59D: Muckraker Tarbell (IDA) — Crosswordese royalty. I do like the word "Muckraker."

• 25D: Religious mosaic locale (APSE) — I had no idea APSEs were known for their mosaics. I don't spend a lot of time in APSEs. Or QUAINT Disney shops, or ZALES, for that matter.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld