Mon., 9/22 Marti DuGuay-Carpenter

[magus]

THEME:   first word of a phrase is the last name of "a guy named Bill"
   
GOOD ONES:     
Cop's night stick {& theme}   BILLY CLUB [the Billy's are in the same club for having the same name]   
Driver with a handle   CBER [a 70's fad that happily remains in the last century: a handle was a name]   
   
   
RATING:    
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun   

[Thomps2525]

CBER, which brings to mind C.W. McCall's 1976 hit Convoy, is one of several words from long long ago which continue to appear in crosswords. Some others are AFRO (recalling the Jackson 5 in 1974), AVA (Gardner), EVA (Gabor), OTT (1926-47 Giants outfielder Mel Ott) and ENIAC (the first computer, completed in 1946). Today's puzzle included TAILGATE ("Hold a parking lot party"). Many other neologisms, such as LOL and OMG and IPOD, appear in crosswords. If puzzle makers want to use neologisms, fine, but how about they quit using all the references from the 1940s-50s? Let's modernize!

[magus]

Hope they don't modernize --- I loved the 40's & 50's.  Much of the pleasure I get from doing a crossword is nostalgic: recalling people, songs, and terms from earlier times.  (See Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris.)