"A Century of Song," 4/23/17

Hello, readers! Did you miss me last week? I did not enjoy this puzzle, so if you read this blog primarily to get your own complaints validated, you'll be glad you came back. If you like Ella Fitzgerald so much that this puzzle was still ok for you, you might want to just quit now. Go read Rex, he thought it was average.

Time to finish/time I gave up: 34:04

Commentary:
This is my first of what Rex calls "once you've finished, draw on it!" puzzles. I was concerned, since we always do the puzzle on the computer, like normal people of our age bracket (and most others at this point perhaps?) (how else do you even know if you got it right??? what would you do, check an answer key? ew, too much work.) (let's be real, you would just assume you were right and move along with your day.) Luckily, the NYT website traces the shape for you. Less luckily, it starts with the wrong box.

Instead of "QUEEN OF JAZZ," I am led to believe the answer is "ZQUEEN OF JAZ." Maybe they are just trying to show me the crown shape, not the correct answer. Now, I won't be too picky about the shapes you can make by connecting the dots of a crossword puzzle, but I do have to point out that this crown looks very evil. More fitting for a Lannister (JAIME of 51A?) than Lady Ella.

Clues I especially liked! Yay!

• I kind of liked 87A Frank HOTDOG. We had the _OTD__ part first and were feeling really concerned about it, thinking of the adjective frank, of course. But it turned out we both hadn't made an error *and* got to think about hot dogs! Yummy!
• 34D Unlikely book club recommendation SMUT. Maybe it's unlikely in your book club...

I'm too young for this $h*t

• Dallas actress Sheree J. Wilson. Unless the clue is "Who shot ___?" I am going to be out of luck on Dallas-related clues. And I don't know the answer to that question, or who J.R. is.
• Record label KTEL. Lol records.
• Ok, we do have a record player, like good hipsters, but still.
• 3 things in one clue: Ovaltine, Little Orphan Annie, and radio shows.

Really?

• Agreed with Rex that ENNUIS is unacceptable, as well as ZTILES (as much as I like Bananagrams.)
• Also, did not know about ZLOTY. Did not like that section.
• 53A Stone Age relics NEOLITHS. As far as I can tell, a "Neolith" is something that is "Neolithic." This is a lame word.
• 60A Talk endlessly to JAWAT. We put in GABAT at first, because why not, when you are coming up with things no one ever says.
• TNUT. Just look at that. When that is in your puzzle, you know you've gone wrong.
• ARIOSI. Bleh. I guess this is the plural of "arioso," which is a word I am barely cognizant of to start with. I keep thinking of "wingardium leviosa" instead. (It's ari-OH-sa, not ario-SA.) 
• And, right next to ARIOSI, MISSEND, which is apparently what the rest of us call "reply all fail."
• 8D Close again, as a purse. RESNAP. Setting aside the annoyance of "RE-random verb" clues, is a purse really the snappiest thing you can think of?
• ACETAL. Not even acetyl, which I would have accepted.
• Skating champ Brian ORSER. Do people know this? Does this belong as something I learned, not to scoff at?
• Bubs = MACS. Whatever. But also, Lil Bub the cat:
  

Things I learned today:

• Et seq. I think it's kind of unfair that "et cet." also fits here. Come on, Latin. Although I do acknowledge that "et cet." is not a thing.
• Have we talked about Dad's on this blog before? Dad's is a root beer maker. I don't like root beer, and I don't know about Dad's. I do like my own dad though.
• "Sic parvis magna" means "greatness from small beginnings." I'm still not sure what "sic" means though--apparently not "always" or "tyrants," since there's not a lot of overlap between those two phrases.
• Reminding me of one of my favorite West Wing lines, regarding the meaning of "post hoc ergo propter hoc": "after hoc, therefore something else hoc."
• AGHA is a Turkish title. Although to be clear, it's from the Ottoman Empire and Turkish language, not modern Turkey. Now I know.

Things I have learned from previous crossword puzzles:

• ELHI
• EOS
• Rapa NUI

Times I got to use my French major this week 

• Nice is in the sud of France. I have been there and can attest that it is, in fact, nice.
• Edith Piaf songs, which I listened to as part of a teacher's lesson plan multiple times.

Fritz out!