Side note: didn't like the clue on the revealer, NO UNDERWEAR. ROSSSEA ( 46A: Body of water named for an English explorer) is like ARIANA to me - all I see is "exotic crutch." It's hard not to love a puzzle with a GOLD PIANO ( 55A: Elvis instrument now in the Country Music Hall of Fame) and NO UNDERWEAR, but I didn't love this one. Peter's Basilica + 58A: Muscovite prince known as "Moneybag") to the apostrophized WEARIN' ( 50A: "The _ o' the Green" (old Irish ballad)) to the bizarreness of an alleged god named NOTUS ( 54A: God of the south wind). That is one ugly mixture, from the insanely improbable-looking GIING (dear lord) to the random pope+Roman numeral *crossing a prince+Roman numeral* (!!!) ( 44D: 10th-century pope interred at St. My dislike for the SW corner is going to be harder to write off. PHENOL crossing wasn't lovely either ( 24A: Embalming chemical).īut let's write my reaction in that NE corner off to personal prejudice. The NE felt a little icky - ARIANA ( 11D: Afghanistan's national airline) is one of those answers constructors know and (speaking for myself) try hard not to have to use because it's a relatively obscure proper noun and a massive grid crutch, giving you lots of handy letters in a handy arrangement. one of that length) being a suitable stand-alone answer in the grid. I want to love WE ARE DEVO ( 20A: End of a 1978 new-wave album title), but the constructor in me balks at the idea of the "end of a. I just didn't think the fill was, in general, up to the quality of the theme. I didn't care for the construction of the grid overall, though, which is disappointing, because I really want to like this puzzle. People will probably like this one for its sassy theme - which is undeniably clever.