Tuesday, February 10, 2015, Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette

0:10:06

The theme answers today were something of a mixed bag, all "humorously" completing a sentence about a worker being sick with a pun. The best of the bunch was 38A: The ailing meteorologist was … (UNDERTHEWEATHER). The worst was 24A: The ailing rock star was … (FEELINGPUNK). Is that something anyone has ever said or heard? "Feeling punk?" for feeling sick? As Grumpy Cat would certainly say, "No."

In addition to the so-so theme, we've got such crossword gems as HAWS, ROTO, ODON, OLES, OSAY, STEN, DOHA, YSL, EEN, and APER, among others. And do you, like me, very much dislike clues that ask for slightly longer abbreviated forms of abbreviations? As in 29A: Part of N.B.A.: Abbr. (NATL)?

The one bright spot, for me, was ASTEROIDS (3D: Popular 1980s arcade game), which was a favorite of mine. Yes, I used to put quarters and/or tokens into large video game machines. And what fun it was! More fun, I dare say, than this puzzle. I don't mean to be a SNOOT, but this seemed WAYBELOWPAR, even for a Tuesday.

- Horace