Pulitzer-winning poet Conrad / TUE 11-8-16 / Queen of jungle in comics / Number of hills in Roma / Conger catcher / First instrument heard in Beatles' she's leaving home / Ribbed pants informally

Constructor: Michael J. Doran

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: OPEN HOUSE (61A: Realtor's big day ... or what each word in the answers to the starred clues can do) — both parts of two-part themers are words that can precede (i.e. "open") "house" to make a familiar word/phrase:

Theme answers:

• STATE BIRD (17A: *Carolina wren, for South Carolina)
• TOLL ROAD (20A: *Turnpike)
• GREEN LIGHT (27D: *Approve)
• WHITE TEA (9D: *Highly antioxidant beverage)
• TREE ANIMAL (11D: *Sloth, for one)
• ART STORE (38D: *Place to buy paint)
• SMOKE OUT (55A: *Force from a hiding place)

Word of the Day: Conrad AIKEN (10D: Pulitzer-winning poet Conrad) —

Conrad Potter Aiken (August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973) was an American writer, whose work includes poetry, short stories, novels, a play, and an autobiography. [...] Named poetry consultant of the Library of Congress from 1950–1952, Conrad Aiken earned numerous prestigious national writing awards, including a National Book Award, the Bollingen Prize in Poetry, the National Institute of Arts and Letters Gold Medal and the National Medal for Literature. Honored by his native state in 1973 with the title of Poet Laureate, Aiken is remembered there as the first Georgia-born author to win a Pulitzer Prize (in 1930, for his Selected Poems). (wikipedia)

• • •

Ah, the both-words-can-follow/precede theme. The jello mold of themes. Timeless. Strange. Not what anyone really wants. The revealer is clever (which deserves praise) and the theme is very, very dense (which deserves ... well, noting, anyway). There is nothing much else good to say about this. The fill is terrible. Couldn't even get out of the NW without getting hammered by crosswordese, including and ERMA / UMA crossing (?). Move east and it gets worse, with Italian SETTE and French CONTE and abbr. ATT all huddled up, and then Conrad-not-Clay AIKEN shopping at multiple IKEAS (?) ... plus SESS. *Then* I'm asked to accept that TREE ANIMAL is a thing. The wheels are off at that point. And yet more wheels somehow come off later, specifically at the bewildering non-word ROILY (39D: Turbulent), the ridiculous elision 'OME (37A: Kipling's "Follow Me ___"), and the idiotic plural IAMBI. IAMBI ... I mean, IAMBI? The only way I would accept this answer is if it were clued [Coming-out phrase]. I lectured on IAMBS last week. See how I spelled that there. Yeah, you see. What pretentious $^%& is calling them IAMBUSES, let alone IAMBI? Stop the madness. Also, stop EELER. Lastly GAEL LITRE NSEC ETDS TECS ONT TSAR NYSE ESPYS IVE NAIF MAE [passes out]


Puzzle was easy enough. Trouble at 1A: First instrument heard in the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home" (HARP)—doesn't leap to mind somehow. But after I got that sussed out, no real troubles. Spelling HANSON (E or O?), always an issue (24D: "MMMBop" band). But I actually knew Conrad AIKEN (not everyone will, that's for sure), and with the exception of ROILY, which I actually guessed early but Refused to believe, this one didn't have many tough spots. That's all for today. See you on the other side ... tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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