Impressive Basketball Feat

I have been reading the comments for a while and I am delighted with the wonderful and erudite community. I enjoy the side trips to YouTube too.

I didn't think of little wooden deer that might fit on a hearth. I thought of these lawn things - http://www.build-a-cross.com/reindeer-yard-art-4-deer-dad-mom-little-buc... - and I thought it was a fair clue. Those are really popular at Christmastime.

Some lively comments today; I don't really have a lot to add. Very fast start with SWEETTOOTH, GOODDEED and TRIPLEDOUBLE immediately. And then the whole north half filled in quickly. A bit slower in the south, mostly because of the two unfamiliar theme answers, though I was also baffled by 70a for a couple of long moments (HIDE F?). I agree that 3 of the themers were not quite as 'in the language' as I would normally expect. I'd rather have entries like that in the non-theme stuff, so it kind of jumped out. Still a nice puzzle and enjoyable solve overall. Was initially surprised that all of the vowels in the themers were E's and O's and then it dawned on me that it would probably be pretty hard to come up with anything else. Duh.

Thanks Ms. Amblen for the link to the forbidden island. I would be very grateful if an islander gave me one of their shell leis worth hundreds, or even thousands of dollars.

I didn’t leap from my bathtub shouting “EUREKA!,” but the TRIPLE DOUBLE reveal was a gimme for me. Even so, all the themers were easy enough to figure out regardless. Now that we’ve reached mid-November, there’ll soon be outdoor Christmas tree vendors on every other block in Manhattan (NY, not KAN), and most do sell those googly-eyed WOODDEER too. Wouldn’t have minded if the clue for 29A referenced some other USC alum. I recommend “LARS and the Real Girl.” Charmingly quirky. Rap pioneer Kurtis Blow made the Hot 100 in 1985 with “Basketball,” which name checks many NBA stars of the 70s and 80s. Gentle beat, no obscenities, nothing controversial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_shxzlTRK44 Twofer Tuesday: “Twilight DOUBLE Leader” by Jefferson Airplane. Live version, 1973: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0hIGyBgvOc

Got the theme right away, although not phrased the way the revealer did it. I remember TRIPLE DOUBLE here fairly recently -- don't remember whether it was in the puzzle or just in the comments. I'd never heard the term before, but it was kindly explained by another commenter. Of course, I promptly forgot what it meant, and had it in the wrong sport (baseball). So that was clarified, more or less, by Deb, but I've pretty much forgotten already, since I didn't really understand all the things that make up the feat. I was doubly puzzled by WOOD DEER: First, I'd never heard the term, and second, couldn't imagine what it would have to do with Xmas. A post-solve Google verified that it's A Thing, and that apparently the DEER in question is actually a reindeer. Also never heard of HEEL LOOP. I hesitated about FEED DOOR. I don't have animals that are in cages, but my grandfather raised canaries. Their cages just had the one door, and you reached through that to attach their feeding thingies to the bars. Didn't know MARIO or LARS as clued, and GMS took a while. But at least no "Star Wars" or {shudder} "Simpsosn" clues. Best wishes on the book, Jerry. Maybe when you hit that big block you can free up your mind by constructing another puzzle for our enjoyment. Thanks to all.

I can't help but notice that GWB, aka George W Bush, crossed with WMDS, despite the fact that they weren't actually found in Iraq.

Boy, don't we get caught in our interpretation of some letter sequences! I looked at HI DEF but saw HIDE F. I didn't understand it and couldn't see its relation to fuzzy, which I had interpreted as a tactile trait - a fuzzy toy bear, say. For me that ambiguity and misinterpretation is actually one of the deep pleasures of crossword puzzles.

Susan - HiDef is short for high definition. (I had to google it.)

Jeff lobs an alley-oop pass toward the basket and there is an airborne Jerry in perfect position to slam dunk the ball through the hoop. The amazing feat of this theme is having all the DOUBLEs running consecutively. "Back to back and belly to belly," as Yankee broadcaster John Sterling would vociferate when calling two or more consecutive home runs...I searched for a song with a triple double but that effort resulted in an air ball. I did find a song title with a built-in quadruple DOUBLE although the pairs of letters are staggered. This is Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly" at Muhammad Ali's 50th birthday concert. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK_jm3Hz1Wk REF was well played. I was a zebra until a case of hellish heel spurs put a damper on my board running days...Canadian born James Naismith is the architect of the sport of basketball. That congruent fact might have been another way to clue 61d, but hindsight is usually 20-20. Naismith was the athletic director and coach at UK...Sign up and sign in eventually fell with crosses. My only other strike-over was iuds when the George crossing initialism necessitated such a remedy...The late great Chuck Berry's '59 rocker completes today's twofer. Don't bother me, leave us 'lone, anyway we're "Almost GROWN." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPZ7AiY0C0k With Nothing But Net, Bru

Just back from Hawaii where we learned all about Niihau (but of course didn't visit). Worth a trip to Wiki to read up on it. (Also learned the Hawaiian "wikiwiki" means "quick, quick," and is supposedly the source of Wikipedia's name.)

Started looking for BOOKKEEPER as soon as I got the theme. Nice that our constructors saved it for the last theme entry.

What is hidef?

I side with previous posters who do not believe that a difficult to construct early week puzzle with a clever theme justifies the problematic fill that necessarily goes with it. I caught the theme immediately with SWEETTOOTH. True, I know about TRIPLE DOUBLES, several of which have been achieved in European basketball in recent years – including two by Maccabi Tel-Aviv’s Nikola Vujčić -- but guessing the theme hardly requires familiarity with basketball. The other themers were easily recognized, leaving the chore of clearing the chaff, much of it proper nouns and abbreviations (LARS, MARIO, NEMO, OZMA, AVEENO, LOBOS, LEI, LOGO, ACL, AFLAC, most of which were unfamiliar as clued. It was accomplished, but solving a puzzle should not feel like performing a chore.

Forbidden Island. Sounds like curmudgeon paradise to me. Or... perhaps the title of a book. Ha ha ha. Manhattan KAN. Good place to see silos of the Cold War era. On the topic of WOODDEER. Local crafts include deer constructed from birch logs. Took said deer and installed a red bulb, battery, small solar panel, etc. on its "nose." Little girl from up the street brought it bits of straw last year. My plan for this year is to put it in her yard on Xmas EVE. Thank you gentlemen, nice Tueday

The difficulty seemed just right for Tuesday to me; a little bite but not too much; fun to solve. I especially liked the answers WIELDS and LAND GRAB. I see there is a GROWN up (which fits the clue), and I smiled at the visual of a crossword puzzle with a SPOT AD in the middle (as this one has). Could that be the future of puzzles? This is an exciting day for your resident alphadoppeltotter, as I'm happy to report that the puzzle has 25 double letters -- highly unusual -- but alas, it comes with an asterisk, as it is directly related to the theme. Still, to an alphadoppeltotter's eyes, this grid is a beautiful thing to see, and the theme, to those eyes, is a dream.

Of course I thought of BOOKKEEPER as soon as I noticed the TRIPLE DOUBLE letters, so no trouble getting it in spite of the tricky but cute clue. This went a lot quicker than yesterday, as the theme really helped the solve, but I'm not complaining. Good luck with the book, Jerry.

Today's Google Doodle celebrates the 131st anniversary of the hole punch. Is that the WOOD DEER of Google Doodles?

A nice conceit, to build on the famous triple double, bookkeeper, but as Deb said, some are rather contrived. I wondered if one could do better. One can make 843 four-four compounds like WOOD DEER from words in Webster's Collegiate. Among them, I spotted a couple of dozen candidates that seemed at least as good. Here are the best. The most natural (in two senses): DEEP POOL. A couple of common doublings: PEEP PEEP and TOOT TOOT. A military vehicle unit: JEEP POOL. A leaky shelter: POOR ROOF. A rug stitch: WOOL LOOP. One contrived example is noteworthy for breaking with the VVCCVV pattern. A racetrack tout: ODDS SEER.

I'm not sure, by I believe that bookkeeper is the only world in the English language with three consecutive like pairs of letters.

and ELKe DRAT- this puzzle is tough to comment on with something clever. But EUREKA : If you happen to have a pet rat which you keep in a metal cage, that FEEDDOOR better not be a WOODDOOR, or your pet will gnaw its way to freedom.....and more food. Also, would a drinking buddy be a barROOmmate ? Just wondering. AT EASE (or better 'fall out'?) Time to feed my SWEETTOOTH. JM- lotsa luck with the book. Don't forget Eddie, and thank him for inspiration.

“Will thinks it might just be too hard to fill a grid like this with high quality.” I think it was, too. Sorry guys, just didn't care for this one. Too much of a stretch in some of the theme clues and some questionable fill.

I'm not following the Niihau / Lei controversy. The clue in my puzzle says "Niihau neckwear." On the island of Niihau as on the other islands, leis are given and worn as signs of affection, friendship, and respect. It has nothing to do with tourists with umbrellas in their drinks.

I don’t know much about basketball, and have even less interest in the subject. Even so, the grid was obvious enough that I was able to fill it with no hiccups. I didn’t see those double-triple letter sequences, but I wasn’t interested enough to look for them. Just a fill and run today. Deb is correct on the Niihau/LEI clue and fill being way off. Unless you are Hawaiian or an invited guest of one, you won’t be welcomed at all. FEEDDOOR is also a miss. Pet enclosures don’t have them. Perhaps the constructors were thinking of a zoo (or a prison?). HEELLOOP for part of a wheelchair makes no sense at all. I spent several months in a wheelchair a few years ago. I got pretty familiar with the thing, and I have no idea where you came up with that. Even WOODDEER is pushing it as a fill. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I have seen the film “LARS and the Real Girl.” It was super weird, but funny, in a quirky way.

As a pediatrician, I was disappointed to see CRETIN as the answer for “Dimwit”. Cretinism is a medical condition caused by congenital hypothyroidism. It’s extremely rare in the U.S. because of neonatal screening but is a continued cause of illness (including severe cognitive deficits) worldwide. I certainly wouldn’t expect to see the clue “Idiot” have the answer RETARD - this is equivalent.

As a note, BOOKKEEPER is the only one of the TD's that is also a single word. From the brain teaser (best spoken, not written): "A bookkeeper was indexing books at the library when she noticed a pattern of double-double letters in some of the titles, such as 'Tennessee' and 'Committee'. Can you name a word with three consecutive sets of double letters?"

The theme answer was a gimmie. I've never heard of including steals and blocked shots in the category, but that may be just in pro basketball, and I only watch college ball.

In crossword land, AT EASE is, indeed, an "Order to relax." In the real world, AT EASE is a slightly less formal position for standing in formation than is ATTENTION; an "Order to relax" is FALL OUT. Dismissed

got theme pretty quickly. Knowing theme actually helped me with some of the more obscure themers like HEEL LOOP. Fairly straightforward puzzle otherwise.