"Married Couples," 12/25/16

Time to finish/time I gave up: 34:14
Did I finish it without help? Yes! With some guest star solvers at my side!
Did I check puzzle? If yes, how many letters were wrong? N/A

Commentary:
Merry Christmas! I completed this puzzle with my dad and sister since we are all holidaying together, and it was a delightful experience. The puzzle didn't give us much of a challenge, and sadly, it had nothing to do with Christmas. It didn't really have much to do with anything, including its purported theme, "married couples." Ah well, it's always fun to puzzle with family. Here are some of the entertaining ideas we had:

The first theme clue (22A Play by heart) is supposed to be an overlap of "dramatic pieCE" (play) and "CEnter" (heart). Before we understood that it was an overlap, though, I thought it was a "dramatic pie center..." perhaps a HUMAN HEART??? Think Arya Stark's revenge... 

25A Monastery title is FRA, but we were also hoping for BRO, or perhaps BRA (alt. of BRAH, obviously)

70A Cry at a surprise party just before the honoree arrives Sadly we couldn't make "Oh my god...she's going to be so surprised..." fit. (Wiig's SNL character)

I'm too young for this $h*t

• 90D "Well, Did You ___?" (Cole Porter tune) The answer is EVAH, and this song is from a 1939 musical. At first we had in EVER (which is a real word), and when that looked wrong, we were kind of hoping it would be EVEN (Cole Porter can't even) (yes I just linked back to my own blog. A throwback reference for my faithful readers, that's how you build loyalty.) But alas, it was the non-word, evah.

Really?

• 56D "Quite true" ITISSO. It is so? Who is the speaker here? Spock? My sister really wanted this to be INITDO, as in, "innit, tho/doe?" Excellent try, Fran.
• 63D Toward the back AREAR and 66D Very loud AROAR. Maybe the crossword creator was hoping that the proximity of these clues would make us think they were a cute little pair. He was wrong, because instead we think they are nothing.

Things I learned today:

• Fasces: (in ancient Rome) a bundle of rods with a projecting ax blade, carried by a lictor as a symbol of a magistrate's power, and used as an emblem of authority in Fascist Italy.
• Vänern is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake entirely in Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. More interesting than that is the fact than in the year 530 there was an epic Battle on the Ice of Lake Vanern. Ice battle! No mention of how many people fell through into the lake. 
• Eileen Fisher is a fashion designer. I don't really do high fashion, but I have to say, from what I see on Google Images, I'm not impressed. 

Crosswordese fails

• 100D Hawks' hangouts AERIES. I knew this one from my years of inconsistent crossword puzzling, and also from the American Eagle spinoff store called Aerie. What a yawn of a clue.

Fritz and Holomans out. Enjoy your Christmases and/or other holidays!