Caribbean island nation south of Martinique / MON 4-14-14 / Famous debate words from Reagan to Carter / Endorsement from Tony Ti

Constructor: Gareth Bain

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (I have no idea; I solved on paper because stupid .puz file was "corrupt," and can't really gauge Monday "difficulty" when I solve on paper … beyond "yeah, it's Monday, so of course it's easy…")

THEME: THAIR??? — homophones??? Is that it? I guess so.

Theme answers:

"THERE YOU GO AGAIN" (17A: Famous debate words from Reagan to Carter)
THEIR FINEST HOUR (37A: Churchill's description of the Royal Air Force during W.W. II)
"THEY'RE GRRRRREAT!" (58A: Endorsement from Tony the Tiger) (this spelling is either arbitrary or inaccurate. The cereal boxes I'm seeing have three "R"s. If you go with five "R"s, you should have some basis for doing so … perhaps there is one, but I have no idea what it is)

Word of the Day: ST. LUCIA (49A: Caribbean island nation south of Martinique) —

Saint Lucia

ⁱ/s eɪ n t ˈ l uː ʃ ə / (French: Sainte-Lucie) is a sovereign island country in the eastern Caribbean Seaon the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 617 km²(238.23 sq mi) and has a population of 174,000 (2010). Its capital is Castries. (wikipedia) • • •

I had to ask around about what the theme was because I couldn't believe it was just THERE / THEIR / THEY'RE, a concept so slight I can't believe it made the grade. Taken on their own, the theme answers vary in quality. Taken together as a theme … well, that's more USA Today-level stuff. Now, Gareth generally builds beautiful puzzles, and this one is more than solid, fill-wise—bit heavy on the short ordinary stuff, light on the longer interesting stuff, but in no way lazy or tiresome. Still, this puzzle has that first theme answer and not a lot else to recommend it. I have to call b.s. on that last theme answer. You can't just add "R"s to suit your fancy. This seems to be a case of "if wikipedia says it, it must be true." But the expression is in print enough that the three-R version should be taken as the established spelling. Picky? Yes. But accurate is accurate and verifiable is verifiable and made-up is made-up.

Gotta go eat and then make Tom Collinseseses because "Mad Men."

See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld