"Mishmash," 1/22/17

I don't want to get too cocky, because some week coming up will probably be a disaster, but we nailed this puzzle. We've been pretty on top of things for a few weeks in a row now. Maybe it's time to try some Thursday/Friday/Saturdays? Then again, Rex says this puzzle was easy and I thought it was kind of hard, so again: check yourself, self. I have a lot of gripes with this puzzle, so let's get going.

Time to finish/time I gave up: 38:47
Did I finish it without help? Indeed
Did I check puzzle? If yes, how many letters were wrong? N/A

Commentary:
We got off to an extremely ugly start on this one. Nothing in the top half was immediately obvious. After almost 10 minutes this was all we had:


You'll note that several of those paltry few answers are wrong, so it wasn't promising. I'm proud to say that it was not long after this photo that I got the first of the theme clues (66A "America"? OFTHEEISINGSONG), which cracked open not only how to do the theme but a lot of the surrounding fill. Unfortunately, that was my favorite of the theme clues--the rest of them are either not funny or nonsense. I take particular issue with 81A Grant a girl permission to dis Drake? LETHERRIPRAP. "Drake" does not equal "rap." Drake is a rapper. Grant a girl permission to dis Drake's genre, I guess? Also, what is riprap? (Answer: this rock stuff. Thanks, internet.) Rex does a lovely job of complaining about 3 of the other themers.

I did think a couple of the clues were cute, especially 38D Half of a swinging couple? JANE and 52D One lifting spirits? TOASTER.

I'm too young for this $h*t

• I'm slightly too young for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but I have seen it, and also it's not that hard to guess that Daffy dueled with Donald, so this one is ok.
• Cale Yarborough is a NASCAR racer from the 60s to 80s. To be fair, I don't think I can name any current NASCAR drivers either.

Really?

By Isaiah Thomas - A Little Pretty Pocket-book, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3205574

• What is ONEACAT??? (19A Baseball-like game) The picture on Wikipedia is from 1767. And it's from the article called "Tip-cat." One-a-cat is the 4th name on the Wikipedia article for this stupid game. It's particularly cruel because it has the same number of letters as "cricket," which is something that people have actually heard of.
• 26A Copies, informally REPROS "Hey dude, those are some sweet repros you made of the Mona Lisa. How much you charging?"
• 27A It shows who's who or what's what IDTAG. Nametag, yes. ID card, maybe. ID tag, blech.
• 65A A- NINETY. I am still not sure what this is, even after googling. I guess probably this plane thing? That is the first hit for the search "a-90." However, first I searched "a-ninety," (which, let's recall, is what the puzzle actually says) and Google provided me with:
• the definition of the word ninety (a number that is ten times nine, in case you weren't sure)
• the definition of nonagenarian (a 90-year old person)
• an article called "45 Life Lessons Written by a 90-Year-Old Woman," from the esteemed PopSugar
• an article called "Trump and Clinton Get Ready for a Ninety-Minute Campaign," from The New Yorker. If only I could go back in time and tell Hillary to opt for a slightly longer campaign.
• EDIT (later that day): My loving father has explained this to me--not "A (dash)" but "A minus"! Aha! This is sadly ironic because I tried to fit "minus" into the spot for "ninety" at least once, even though that doesn't really make sense.
• 77D It lies between Cleveland, O., and Buffalo, N.Y. Having made this drive many times in my life, I didn't have any trouble coming up with Erie, PA. My question is--why O? Why not OH? I happen to live in O. and I can tell you that people don't call it that.
• 88D Relative of "Aargh!" ACK This clue brought to you by Cathy.

Things I learned today:

• An alienee is one to whom or to which ownership of property is transferred. Can someone explain the root of this to me? Is it alien? Lien? A cursory online dictionary search was unhelpful. (I get the -ee part.)

• Julie Chen is someone from TV.

• Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the 9th Prime Minister of India, from 1991–1996.

• "Rostra" is the plural of "rostrum," which is a platform or stage for public speaking.

• That T (crossed with 119D Poland's main airline LOT) was the last letter we filled in, and a good guess by my husband. Can't wait to fly LOT air sometime!

• Terri Lyne Carrington (born August 4, 1965) is a three-time Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer, composer, singer, record producer and entrepreneur.

• Lorna Doone is not just a cookie.

• Thyroids need iodine. I know both of these words, but I'm so tired of looking things up that someone will just have to tell me the science about this later.

Times I got to use my French major this week

• Semaine
• 104A French ___ FRY. Just kidding.

Fritz out!