Breezing Up Fair Wind artist 1876 / FRI 4-20-12 / Part of intro to piece of Champagne Music / Old game co that made D&D / Advertiser with computer-generated mascot / Passage to Marseille actor 1944

Constructor: Mike Nothnagel

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Winslow HOMER (50D: "Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)" artist, 1876) —

Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter andprintmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in American art.

Largely self-taught, Homer began his career working as a commercial illustrator.^[1] He subsequently took up oil painting and produced major studio works characterized by the weight and density he exploited from the medium. He also worked extensively in watercolor, creating a fluid and prolific oeuvre, primarily chronicling his working vacations. (wikipedia)

• • •

Tore this one apart in just over half the time it took me to do yesterday's puzzle. There's only one word in the puzzle that I can imagine not being common knowledge to a regular solver—SLOANE (9D: ___ Crosley, author of the 2008 best seller "I Was Told There'd Be Cake"). Luckily, I knew the name, not because I've read her, but because I remember being in Barnes & Noble and picking up her book and thinking "who is this writer I've never heard of who has these good blurbs" and "huh, SLOANE is a cool name for a girl." I know *of* books more than I know books, sadly. Kind of embarrassing for someone with a Ph.D. in English, but I'm working on it. Anyway, everything else in the grid is common / famous. This didn't have the overall sizzle that I've come to expect from Nothnagel puzzles, but it did have LIKE HERDING CATS (36A: Frustratingly difficult), which (given the otherwise clean grid) is enough for me. Got started with Fred's iconic ASCOT and mostly roared forward from there.

Had two minor hangups, one at the beginning and one at the end. First, I tried to make OMELET work at 19A: Light breakfast (ONE EGG). Then I remembered the last OMELET I had and thought "... light?" Was able to fix it when I realized that short people were probably not very well assisted by LOAMS (2D: Assistance for short people? = LOANS). If you say SLOANE's LOANS over and over you get this crazy infinite LOANS loop. Where was I? Oh, right, second hangup. Happened at the end, in the NE corner, where I Could Not get either BLEED (16A: Run) or COPAY (18A: Figure in a doctor's office) (esp. the latter) until I had all four of the first letters for each, and even then I had to think a bit. What, exactly, makes a cross-country trip an ODYSSEY? I mean, what's the magic ingredient that separates an ODYSSEY from a mere cross-country trip? Getting lost in rural Wisconsin? Getting caught in an epic, God's-Vengeance thunderstorm in Montana? (I've done both). Just curious.


Bullets:

• 23A: Old game co. that made D&D (TSR) — one of those crosswordy answers that I never quite feel I have a grasp on. "T ... something?" Today, I guessed and got it right on the first try. 
• 24A: Tree with catkins (ALDER) — off the "A." I don't think I even knew that an ALDER *was* a kind of tree until I started doing crosswords.
• 46A: Part of the intro to a piece of "Champagne Music" (A-TWO) — proudest solving moment of the night. Got it off the "W." Something about the cluing just shouted out "Lawrence Welk! "A-One and A-TWO and ..."; I've watched a complete episode of "The Lawrence Welk Show" exactly never. It Still Airs On My Local PBS Station, in all its creepily soulless glory.
• 47A: Area in front of a basketball net, informally (PAINT) — first thought: CREASE (wrong sport).

• 61A: Advertiser with a computer-generated mascot (GEICO) — way to ruin the illusion, Mike!
• 63A: Thomas Cromwell's earldom (ESSEX) — through a path too circuitous to retrace, I learned just now that "The role of Anne of Cleves was played by actress and singer Joss Stone in the Showtime cable television series The Tudors." (wikipedia)
• 7D: Intl. soccer powerhouse (ARG.) — I went with ENG. at first. That's not ... laughably wrong, is it?
• 8D: Original airer of "The Jetsons" (ABC) — had the "A" so ... yeah.
• 15D: N.F.L. All-Pro player Chris (SNEE) — Played alongside Mike Snick. Quite a team, those two.
• 25D: "Passage to Marseille" actor, 1944 (LORRE) — Had "L---E" and struggled to come up with the name LOREN only to realize that's ridiculous for many reasons. LORNE Greene? Also ridiculous. Then hit on Peter LORRE. Of course. 
• 60D: "___ Yu" (collection also known as "The Analects of Confucius") (LUN) — OK, so there's not *no* junk in this puzzle. Just very little. (side note: my Tigers are currently getting whipped by *Yu* Darvish—who will visit your puzzle one day, trust me—and the rest of the currently indestructible Texas Rangers)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Political writer Bai / FRI 4-6-12 / Grandnephew in 1960s TV / Six-time Tony winner of 1984 / Figure on front of Olympic medals since 1928 / Home to school of pre-Socratic philosophers

Constructor: Mike Nothnagel

Relative difficulty: Easy-Challenging

THEME: none

Word of the Day: USAID (57A: Foreign assistance org. since 1961) —

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the United States federal governmentagency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas authorized by the Congress in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.^[3] The Congress updates this authorization through annual funds appropriation acts, and other legislation. Although technically an independent federal agency, USAID operates subject to the foreign policy guidance of the President, Secretary of State, and the National Security Council.^[4] USAID's Administrator works under the direct authority and foreign policy guidance of the Secretary of State. (wikipedia)

• • •

Loved this puzzle. Do not love how badly I performed. At first, I was blazing through it, from the NW down through the middle and into the SE with hardly a problem. Then I tried to get into the SW. Now, if MATT Bai (33D: Political writer Bai) had meant anything to me, I would've been OK, but I'm not kicking myself over that. What I'm kicking myself over is not seeing "LA CAGE AUX FOLLES" for sooooo long. I had "GEAUX" and nothing. Then I CAN'T WAIT (32D: Words of anticipation) and BLOW A FUSE (30D: Lose it) gave me "L-C-GEAUX..." and still nothing. Why? Well, I was looking for an actor. Something about the clue, [Six-time Tony winner of 1984] made me think actor, despite the fact that six is a preposterous amount of Tony for one person to win in one year. But see, I'm only thinking that now. At the time, I was really only processing the first few words. Other big problem there was not knowing USAID and so having UMAID because I was sure that the [Contents of the rightmost column of a table] was some kind of GAMES. LOST GAMES was my first guess. ROAD GAMES? AWAY GAMES? Wasn't til I got LA (not LE) CAGE AUX FOLLES that I was able to see RARE GASES. After that, NE was a bit tricky, but more on par with the rest of the grid. So my time was pretty rough, but my overall experience was that this was on the easy side, and only my personal failings as a solver (and not the puzzle's intrinsic difficulty) are to blame for my below-average time.


Loved GOLDEN BOY (17A: Much-favored person) and actually exclaimed "Wow. Cool." when I got NOT MY CUP OF TEA (14D: Passing remark?). Wish the answer at 28A was DOG SIT and not DOGS IT [Loafs on the job], which is a phrase I know but never hear in real life. I thought OPIE was Andy's son (9D: Grandnephew in 1960s TV). Wow. Weird [OK, it's Aunt Bee—and yes, that's how you spell it—who is OPIE's great aunt; stop emailing me! :)]. Love the clue on ANN (6D: Rule among true crime writers), and as letteral clues go, [Comedic duo?] (for CEES) is pretty good. Had noooo idea NIKE was on Olympic medals (54D: Figure on the front of Olympic medals since 1928). That little answer was temporarily infuriating. I actually had to run the vowels after getting N-KE!


Helper monkeys of the day (that is, gimmes/footholds) were:

• LODES
• BRED
• ATRA
• EYRE (15D: "Gentle reader, may you never feel what I then felt!" speaker)
• ELEA (22A: Home to a school of pre-Socratic philosophers)
• ELY
• A NOSE
• GEOS
• AGT
• ESTES (63A: Rob of "Melrose Place")

Good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Happy 40th birthday to my little sister, who is home today with a sick child (I hope it's still just one...)