"Do The Splits," 2/12/17

We came perilously close to a DNF on this one. I didn't like this puzzle, and I thought it was hard, so it wasn't much fun for me. Rex's column is quite cheery by comparison!

Time to finish/time I gave up: 47:17

Commentary:
At about 35 minutes we were still missing most of the bottom of the puzzle. It was looking grim. We took a break for several hours and came back to it with fresh eyes and more caffeine, and cracked it eventually.

I agree with Rex that FATALATTRACTION is kind of mean, and JUSTICEFORALL doesn't make much sense. Let's move on to some more specific complaints.

Clues I especially liked! Yay!

• I did like BRAINWAVES (55A Result of a serious wardrobe malfunction at the beach).
• 8 and 34D Longtime public radio host IRAGLASS. Talk about knowing your audience.

I'm too young for this $h*t

• Quo Vadis is a 1951 American epic film made by MGM in Technicolor.

Really?

• I don't like NUB for 83A Gist. Neither did Rex. It didn't help that we had "rattles" instead of NETTLES for 83D Annoys for a long time, which crosses on the N.
• This was also caught up in our error with 69D "Grand Hotel" star, 1932, where we had GA___ and went with Gable. Instead of Garbo, which crosses on the B. B is for Blah.
• 91A What's right in front of the tee? ESS. Not only are alphabet clues stupid, saying "the tee" makes this whole thing really awkward. S ('ess,' ugh) is in front of T, not "the tee." If there is some Boston mass transit thing going on here that I don't know about, I'll forgive it.
• ABBA again? (101A "Waterloo" band) I've already learned like 2 ABBA songs from writing this blog, and that was 2 more ABBA songs than I needed in my life.
• 5D "What's the ___?" DIF. NOOOOO, wrong, no one says this and even if they did it would be DIFF.
• Here's a word to the wise: don't Google the word PEENS. Trust me.

Things I learned today:

• The Organization of American States, or the OAS or OEA, is a continental organization founded on 30 April 1948, for the purposes of regional solidarity and cooperation among its member states. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS's members are the 35 independent states of the Americas.
• Also, it only gets 3.1 out of a possible 5 stars on Google.
• Does anyone else confuse the words "turbid" and "turgid"?
• Diane Arbus was an American photographer and writer noted for photographs of marginalized people—dwarfs, giants, transgender people, nudists, circus performers—and others whose normality was perceived by the general populace as ugly or surreal.
• We had a conversation about whether this was going to be DIANE or DUANE. Glad it turned out to be a female photographer!
• Fu Manchu is a "villain in comics" (although apparently the "comics" part is debatable).
• Also, the Fu Manchu is a category of competition in the World Beard and Moustache Championships. This is an event I would like to attend.
• Tam o' shanters are those Scottish hat things. The ones that bagpipe players wear. With kilts. Now I have exhausted my Scotland knowledge.
• The first hit on Google for Tam O' Shanter is location-based--not only is there a Tam O'Shanter golf course in Canton, OH, there's also "Sylvania Tam-O-Shanter" in Sylvania, OH, which is apparently an ice skating rink?
• Dava Sobel is a writer. I can see her appearing again in a crossword in my future.

Times I got to use my French major this week

• If I had learned more French history I guess I would have known Rene Coty, but zut alors, I didn't.

Fritz out!