Satirist Tom / WED 4-4-18 / Shouts made with waving of white hankies / Cheesy 1992 military drama / Resuming the previous speed in music / Tolkien elf played in film by Orlando Bloom / Wall-E's love / Roman moon goddess

Constructor: Weird Al Yankovic and Eric Berlin

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: cheesy movies — old movies turned into cheese puns:

Theme answers:

• "A FEW GOUDA MEN" (20A: Cheesy 1992 military drama?)
• "FETA ATTRACTION" (28A: Cheesy 1987 thriller?)
• "THE PELICAN BRIE" (46A: Cheesy 1993 legal drama?)
• "MUENSTERS INC." (53A: Cheesy 2001 animated film?)

Word of the Day: Tom LEHRER (17A: Satirist Tom) —

Thomas Andrew Lehrer (/ˈlɛrər/; born April 9, 1928) is a retired American musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater. He is best known for the pithy, humorous songs he recorded in the 1950s and 1960s.

Lehrer’s work often parodies popular song forms, though he usually creates original melodies when doing so. A notable exception is "The Elements", where he sets the names of the chemical elements to the tune of the Major-General's song from Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance. Lehrer's early work typically dealt with non-topical subject matter and was noted for its black humor in songs such as "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park". In the 1960s, he produced a number of songs dealing with social and political issues of the day, particularly when he wrote for the U.S. version of the television show That Was the Week That Was. Despite their topical subjects and references, the popularity of these songs has endured; Lehrer quoted a friend's explanation: "Always predict the worst and you'll be hailed as a prophet." (wikipedia)

• • •

I love Weird Al. I grew up on Weird Al videos. I have been listening to Weird Al's "Hamilton Polka" fairly regularly for the better part of a month now. With him, the bar is pretty high as far as exceptionally clever wordplay is concerned. And these puns ... I don't know, man. Maybe these are the best cheese / movie puns out there—don't know, haven't brainstormed farther than a few low-hanging GOUDA puns. But these aren't groaners so much as shrugs. None of them seem particularly outrageous or inventive. "FETA ATTRACTION" is the clear winner of the bunch, in that GOUDA puns are old as the hills and BRIE for BRIEF is not exactly spot on, and MUENSTERS is plural, which is both awkward and not in keeping with the other cheeses. Yes, I am overthinking theme consistency here, but only because the puns are not undeniable winners. If they were, I would have to give into the force of the pun, succumb to the punniness, kneel before Punz. But because they're actually kind of tepid, their weaknesses stand out. Would've liked this much more if the puns *and the clues* had been much more outlandish. Maybe imagine the cheese titles as if they were real. The "cheesy" movie angle is clever, but it gives all the clues a bland uniformity. Better for the clues to have to imagine what "FETA ATTRACTION" or (dear god) "PELICAN BRIE" might actually look like. [1993 legal drama about the illegal trade in shorebird-flavored soft cheese?]. Think of the weird places you could've gone with titles like "BRIE ENCOUNTER" or "MUENSTER'S BALL". This version is just a little too staid, a little too dad joke, not quite Weirdish or Alish or Yankovician enough.


The fill skews a little old and a little old-fashioned, with more old-school crosswordese (ONAGER!) than I'd expect in a simple, four-theme-answers Wednesday grid. The grid design really limits the potential for interesting fill, as there are no non-theme answers longer than 7 letters, and only two of those. I am having very mixed feelings about BIC PEN, which seems both original and "original" (in the sense of weird, redundant, made-up). I mean, Bic makes pens, sure, but I'm having trouble imagining anyone saying BIC PEN in any context, nowadays. My favorite part of the puzzle is actually the inclusion of Tom LEHRER, a nice little nod from one song parodist to another. Hope you didn't think it was spelled LAHRER, and that Wall-E's love was EVA, because that would've been most unfortunate and I'm certainly glad I definitely definitely did not make that error.


Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Eric Berlin, this puzzle's non-Weird contributor, is one of the only people I know of making very high-quality puzzles (of all kinds) for children. You can get one (free) every week at puzzleyourkids.com, and if you wanna get your kids started on actual crossword puzzles (and, come on, you know you do), you can get a set of 20 mini-crosswords for kids for just $4.99 at Eric's store.

P.P.S. Eric is also the author of the Winston Breen series of puzzle/mystery novels, so you should probably go ahead and buy those for your kids, too.

P.P.P.S. this is what happens when you unleash the cheese pun concept on Twitter very late at night. Warning: it's not pretty.

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]