Comic relief role in Tarzan / SAT 2-12-22 / Parent of a cygnet / Three-beat gait / Italian for tied together / Russian dumplings / Group whose logo is a mirror ambigram / A sculpture of a three-legged one is considered lucky in feng shui / Figure skating move based on the arabesque in ballet

Constructor: Mary Lou Guizzo

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium 

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: ELMORE James (42A: ___ James, the so-called "King of the Slide Guitar") —

Elmore James (January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and bandleader. He was known as "King of the Slide Guitar" and was noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice. For his contributions to music, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. [...] James played a wide variety of "blues" (which often crossed over into other styles of music) similar to that of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and some of B. B. King's work, but distinguished by his guitar's unique tone, coming from a modified hollow-body acoustic guitar that sounded like an amped-up version of the more "modern" solid-body guitars. [...] James influenced many slide players, such as blues guitarists Homesick James, Hound Dog Taylor, and J. B. Hutto. His single string playing also influenced B.B. King and Chuck Berry. Rock guitarists Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Jeremy Spencer, and Frank Zappa have acknowledged his influence. In the Beatles' song "For You Blue", John Lennon plays a slide solo on a Höfner lap steel guitar; George Harrison encourages him with "Go, Johnny, go ... Elmore James' got nothin' on this, baby". (wikipedia)

• • •

Solid but without much spice. I think CONTEXT IS KEY is supposed to be the mar ... quee answer in this thing, but the phrase keeps not quite landing when I say it over and over to myself (43A: "You have to look at the bigger picture"). I see that it is a thing that people say, so I don't mean to cast aspersions on its validity, but if you say "CONTEXT IS..." my brain goes "?" and then goes "EVERYTHING?" Certainly CONTEXT IS KEY is the coolest and most-original-looking thing in the grid, with that "X" and "K" kind of flirting with each other, and it is definitely a parsing adventure if you happen to come at it, as I did, from the middle and back end ("... something about WHISKEY?"). Beyond that, you've got STACEY ABRAMS, a worthy public figure whose first name I can never spell right the first time, but none of the banks of longer answers have much to offer in the way of zing. I do like the song "HE'S A REBEL," for sure, but I've seen it in grids before so it wasn't exactly a surprise (15A: 1962 #1 hit for the Crystals featuring a biker on the record sleeve). The main feature of this puzzle—the one that stood out the most for me—was the repeated alt-spelling of foodstuffs. I was first introduced to PIEROGI by my Aunt Sue, I'm pretty sure ... no idea where that memory is coming from ... but anyway, I'm pretty sure there was an "E" in there. My blogging software seems satisfied with the "E" spelling, so ... let's see what it does with the spelling in this grid: PIROGI (30A: Russian dumplings). OK, it seems to like that too. I guess the transliteration from Russian admits of two spellings. I think the "E" spelling is more common, but I'm also not Russian so who the heck knows? Actually, wikipedia kinda knows—it's got PIEROGI as the main entry, and lists PIROGI as one of the "alternative names." I don't know if PIROGI helped me because I "knew" it or hurt me because I wasn't sure of it. It definitely gave me pause. A similar thing happened with SATE SAUCE (58A: Condiment made with peanuts). I want to put an accent aigu on that "E" in SATE but apparently it doesn't have one. I know SATAY SAUCE very well, so when I got SAUCE I assumed I was going to be dealing with some new-to-me peanut concoction, since SATAY obviously didn't fit. But then it did fit. "SATE" is apparently the Indonesian and Malay spelling of the term. I'm now wondering how SATE SAUCE would taste on PIROGI. I mean, I wouldn't put SATAY SAUCE on PIEROGI, but who knows what taste combinations lurk in these alternative spellings!? Throw in some PEAS, maybe a side of PHO, mwah! Beats DEL TACO.

The appearance of CHEETA made me depressed, as all apes-used-for-human-amusement situations tend to make me depressed. I can't imagine standards for animal handling were so great back when "Tarzan" was on the air. There is no CHEETA in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan books, but LOL humans love anthropomorphic "comedy" of chimps who think they're people. Ugh. Not my kind of APERY (also, ugh, APERY, why?). I thought PEAS were legumes ... and they are; turns out that "botanically" legumes are fruit. Don't like it?—take it up with your local botanist. The YA in SEE YA SOON feels awfully arbitrary. I would say SEE YA, but I'm not sure I'd extend that abbr. / slangy spelling into the full phrase "SEE [YOU] SOON. When I say SEE YA and SEE YOU SOON, even if I rush that one and run everything together, the vowel sound in "YOU" is distinctly different from "YA." There are a couple of common clue tricks in this puzzle—misdirection you get good at picking up on over time. The use of "spelling" in 29D: Noted spelling expert, for instance. I would never say that a wizard "spells." I would say a wizard casts spells. But this is the NYTXW and quaintness and alt-ness are the order of the day; therefore, "spelling" is "spell-casting" (unless MERLIN has volunteered to take his friend's shift on wizarding night watch—a very different kind of "spelling" (verb (3)). The clues also try to get you with "fancy" at 36D: Not fancy in the least (HATE). Looks like an adjective, but acts like a verb. 

I had UTE before LAO (22A: People with a language of the same name) but the only real trouble I had with the grid came right around PIROGI, at the bottom ends of those long Downs in the NW. I had both CAMEL and OPERA and no idea what came next for either of them (1D: Figure skating move based on the arabesque in ballet / 2D: Theatrically exaggerated behavior). I thought the OPERA- answer was going to be a two-word phrase, some "behavior" I'd never heard of like OPERA HIPS or OPERA LIPS or OPERA TICS ... and that is the story of how I finally realized it was one word. From OPERA space TICS to OPERATICS. As for CAMEL, well, I'm not watching the Winter Olympics at all this year, so my figure skating terminology is rusty. I just couldn't come up with the word that follows CAMEL. I wanted LOOP but then I thought "no, it's TOE LOOP," so then I thought CAMEL TOE, which was an unfortunate mental digression to say the least. Really hard to shake. You can really convince yourself that CAMEL TOE is a skating move if you say it a bunch of times. For decades I convinced myself that skaters did maneuvers called "triple sow cows" (it's "Salchow"). Anyway, SPIN was so basic that it never occurred to me. Until it did. That's it for trouble. And that's it for me today. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]