Bygone Chryslers / WED 5-2-12 / Atlas go-with / Bygone US Postal Service mascot / Novy Russian literary magazine / Watson's creator / Upright swimmers / Q-U string

Constructor: Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: CROSS (38A: Out of sorts ... or what completes the answers to the nine starred clues) — starred clues have answers that make no sense unless you imagine the word CROSS in front of them

Word of the Day: GAZETTEER (17A: Atlas go-with) —

A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or directory, an important reference for information about places and place names (see: toponymy), used in conjunction with a map or a full atlas.^[1] It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup of a country, region, or continent as well as the social statistics and physical features, such as mountains, waterways, or roads. Examples of information provided by gazetteers include the location of places, dimensions of physical features, population, GDP, literacy rate, etc. This information is generally divided into overhead topics with entries listed in alphabetical order. (wikipedia)

• • •

A variation on the "words that can follow"-type theme, only here there are no real Theme Answers per se, just ... words. Nine short words. There is longer fill, utterly unrelated to the theme, and it's ... fine. Occasionally entertaining (I like BUYS TIME, GAZETTEER, AUSTERITY, and BEAR CLAW). Solving experience was a nice diversion, but the whole missing-word theme adds difficulty without also adding interest.  Also, CROSS is perhaps too easy a word to combine other words with. Hatch, section, country, beam ... I could go on.


Theme answers:

• 14A: *Features accompanying the comics, often (WORDS) — "features" is not a word I'd use. Really threw me. [They accompany the comics, often] would've worked Just fine. This habit of gumming up clues with off-phrasing can be seen again in the ARMOR clue (1A: Pieces of mail). ARMOR and "mail" are synonymous. The "pieces of" part of the clue is a borderline nonsensical attempt at misdirection.
• 16A: *Like some tennis volleys (COURT)
• 62A: *Labradoodle, e.g. (BREED)
• 64A: *Symbol on some flags (BONES)
• 2D: *Intersection (ROADS)
• 12D: *Appear as Tootsie, e.g. (DRESS) — this is oddly specific. In fact, it appears to be a clue that relates only to Dustin Hoffman. 
• 34D: *Weapon for William Tell (BOW)
• 48D: *Scope lines (HAIRS)
• 52D: *Bygone Chryslers (FIRES)

I (somehow) got most of these theme answers without knowing the theme, i.e. before I got CROSS. A labradoodle's a BREED ... I figured FIRES were just some car I'd never heard of. William Tell certainly used a BOW. There are BONES on flags. If comics are pictures, then yes, those pictures are accompanied by WORDS. I muddled through OK. Not a big fan of intersecting foreign words (MISSA / SEI) or the word IDEATE, and there are two MR.s in the grid (MR. ZIP and MR. PINK) (3D: Bygone U.S. Postal Service mascot + 46D: Steve Buscemi's role in "Reservoir Dogs") ... but overall the fill seems fine.


Bullets:

• 6A: Watson's creator (IBM) — Wanted only Doyle, though for a ridiculous half-second I second-guessed myself and considered POE.
• 8D: Cousteau's milieux (MERS) — There's something noxious about the plural "milieux." Of all the ways to clue this basic word, the puzzle goes with "gratuitously frenchy."
• 29D: Olympics competitor of NZL (AUS) — in the Olympics, you compete against ... everyone. So ... whatthehell? This clue is terrible. I asked my NZL wife. She agreed: terrible. "They *do* have a competitive relationship, but ... *everyone* competes in the Olympics." Me: "What about [Rugby rival of NZL]?" My NZL wife: "[Rugby rival] would've been Good."
• 35D: Novy ___ (Russian literary magazine) (MIR) — oh dear lord. As if people know American literary magazines, let alone Russian ones.  MIR is a spacestation. Or the Russian word for "peace." Or a typo of MRI. And that's all it is. [FYI: apparently MIR also means "world," and "Novy MIR" means "New World"]

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Statistic method for checking means / SUN 4-22-12 / Adams with 1991 hit Get Here / Faddish 1970s footwear / Conditional construct in programming / Actor Paul of American Graffiti / Ali trainer Dundee / Chile de hot pepper / Frontiersman Boone informally

Constructor: Paula Gamache and Ed Stein

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "Letting Go Of" — shockingly, these are familiar phrases missing their "of"s. Hilarity ensues?

Word of the Day: T TEST (33D: Statistics method for checking means) —

A t-test is any statistical hypothesis test in which the test statistic follows a Student's t distribution if the null hypothesis is supported. It is most commonly applied when the test statistic would follow a normal distribution if the value of a scaling term in the test statistic were known. When the scaling term is unknown and is replaced by an estimate based on the data, the test statistic (under certain conditions) follows a Student's t distribution. (wikipedia)

• • •

Weak theme, weak fill, no fun. Always hate junk like LEMAT (36A: Actor Paul of "American Graffiti") and really resent it when it runs into more obscure junk like T TEST (33D: Statistics method for checking means). And ARBOL as your 1-Down!? (1D: Chile de ___ (hot pepper)) Is there really no way you couldn't have drastically cleaned up that entire NW?? It's very rare that I see a grid with Nothing that I like, but this has Nothing that I like. I might like EARTH SHOES (39D: Faddish 1970s footwear) if I knew what they were. At least they're interesting-sounding, unlike the rest of the olden dreck in this grid.

Theme answers:

• 23A: Diet? (BATTLE THE BULGE)
• 31A: Be very successful at fishing? (LAND PLENTY)
• 37A: Do a clerk's work at a morgue? (BOOK THE DEAD) — I'd've gone with something like [Arrange for Jerry's band to play at your party?] or the like.
• 50A: Throw large bank notes around? (CAST THOUSANDS)
• 67A: Take advantage of Good Samaritans? (MILK HUMAN KINDNESS)

• 86A: Forge some personal notes? (DOCTOR LETTERS) — ugh, lame base phrase
• 94A: Outdo one's buddies? (BEST FRIENDS) — UGH, THIS IS A NORMAL PHRASE!!! "Battle the bulge" might, conceivably, make someone, somewhere, laugh, or at least smile; BEST FRIENDS, on the other hand, will not.
• 103A: Be a sadistic masseuse? (POUND FLESH)
• 118A: Send for a special bridal accessory? (ORDER THE GARTER)

Some of these theme answers were mildly tough to get (BOOK THE DEAD), others I filled in without even looking at the clue (ORDER THE GARTER).  There's really not much to say here. I was annoyed at ESKIMO DOGS ("They're called SLED DOGS," I thought) until I realized that an Eskimo dog is a *breed* of dog—a breed sometimes used as sled dogs, I guess (44D: They're mushed). Well, the Canadian Eskimo dog (or "Qimmiq"!!!) is. American Eskimo dog looks far more ... domestic.

Bullets:

• 64D: Adams with the 1991 hit "Get Here" (OLETA) — if there weren't so many ughy names, I wouldn't bother with her; but throw in PEREC (103D: Georges who wrote "Life: A User's Manual") and DAN'L (71D: Frontiersman Boone, informally) and LEMAT and come on.

• 22A: Wife of Alexander the Great (ROXANA) — with one N? Sure, if you say so. Why not? She's fame...ish.
• 82D: Veg-O-Matic maker (RONCO) — kind of odd / cool how this intersects BRONC (81A: It may be broken on a ranch). If you put them together, you have an actual word (and car model, and professional football player).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. It's possible that I'll be on the CBS News tonight during 6pm broadcast, UNLESS golf goes long, in which case, who knows? [UPDATE: just got official word—the piece is, in fact, airing tonight] [UPDATE: just got MORE official word that it is not, in fact, airing tonight] [I give up—just know that some Sunday in the near or distant future, CBS News will air a story about crosswords, featuring me. Maybe by Christmas?]

Urban myth debunker / TUE 4-3-12 / Old Volkswagen seven-seater / Feature of gladiator sandal / Mosquito Magnet flypaper

CConstructor: Paula Gamache

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: MOVING PARTS (53A: Working components of an engine ... or what the ends of 18-, 23-, 34- and 47-Across are?) — ends of theme answers are anagrams of PARTS

Word of the Day: SNOPES.com (44D: ___.com (urban myth debunker)) —

Snopes.com ( /ˈsnoʊps/), officially the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is a web site discussing urban legends, Internet rumors, e-mail forwards, and other stories of uncertain or questionable origin. It is a well known resource for validating and debunking such stories in American popular culture, receiving 300,000 visits a day.

Snopes is run by Barbara and David Mikkelson, a California couple who met on the alt.folklore.urbannewsgroup. The site is organized by topic and includes a message board where stories and pictures of questionable veracity may be posted. The Mikkelsons founded the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society and were credited as the owners of the site until 2005. (wikipedia)

• • •

Place holder. Seat filler. Not that imaginative, and the first two theme answers are duds, in-the-language-wise. Fill is perfectly adequate. Not much to see (or say) here.

Theme answers:

• 18A: Mosquito Magnets and flypaper (INSECT TRAPS)
• 23A: Campers' lightweight cover-ups (NYLON TARPS)
• 34A: Eater of lean, in rhyme (JACK SPRAT)
• 47A: Feature of a gladiator sandal (ANKLE STRAP)

Got held up in a few places. First two theme answers (esp. the second) just didn't cohere for me. Misread the STEPMOM clue as [Second hubby...], I think, because I had STEPDAD in there at first (phrase "the hubby" makes me gag, but I guess it's there to cue the informal STEPMOM as opposed to STEPMOTHER) (36D: Second wife, to the hubby's kids). Finished in the SE, which was oddly thorny for me, as neither BARISTA (40D: Coffeehouse server) nor ON AND ON (41D: Endlessly) wanted to show up. Also, had MOI for TOI at first (59A: French pronoun). Also, don't think of an ANT as a "runner" (62A: Six-foot runner?) That clue is designed to make you think EMU. DEPOSIT (42D: Withdrawal's opposite) made that impossible, but still ... ANT? Runner? Whatever.


Bullets:

• 17A: Top prize in the Juegos Olímpicos (ORO) — never saw the clue. Would've guessed ORO. Don't know "Juegos" (I'm guessing "Games").
• 40A: Gymgoer's pride (BOD) — such an ugly, '80s word. Melanie Griffith is hot in "Working Girl," but when she says "I've got a mind for business and a BOD for sin," I kind of throw up a little. 
• 52A: Modern sight on many an Indian reservation (CASINO) — got this one easily, though I've never been to a reservation CASINO, or any CASINO, now that I think of it. Not my scene / cup of tea / what have you.

• 4D: Source of the headline "World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100 Percent," with "The" ("ONION") — along with SNOPES, another very up-to-date reference.
• 12D: Disney-owned cable news broadcaster of game highlights (ESPNEWS) — reliable go-to channel when Absolutely Nothing was on. Got rid of cable TV and haven't missed it. 
• 37D: Bette Midler film loosely based on Janis Joplin's life ("THE ROSE") — I remember this being pretty good. I certainly like the title song. I am in a group called "Screening 1987," which is watching 1987 movies all year long. We watched Bette Midler in "Outrageous Fortune" (with Shelley Long and Peter Coyote and George Carlin). I don't recommend doing the same.
• 38D: Old Volkswagen seven-seater (EUROVAN) — Had the "EU-" and the rest came surprisingly easily. It's a great name. Much better than the TOUAREG or the TIGUAN or whatever the stupid hell they're calling their cars now.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld