Game of Thrones servant / MON 10-31-22 / Michelangelo sculpture whose name means compassion / Friend of Porthos and Aramis in The Three Musketeers / Hired pen or punnily the author / Small child's convenience for reaching a sink

Constructor: Emily Carroll

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: GHOST WRITER (59A: Hired pen ... or, punnily, the author of 20-, 36- and 43-Across?) — I don't think I get it, but I'll try: the answers are ordinary phrases reimagined as if they were Spoooky pieces of writing:

Theme answers:

• SCARE QUOTES (20A: Punctuation marks indicating irony)
• DOOMSCROLLS (36A: Binges on bad news, in modern slang)
• DEAD LETTERS (43A: Mail that cannot be delivered or returned)

Word of the Day: ATHOS (18A: Friend of Porthos and Aramis in "The Three Musketeers") —

Athos, Count de la Fère, is a fictional character in the novels The Three Musketeers (1844), Twenty Years After (1845) and The Vicomte de Bragelonne (1847–1850) by Alexandre Dumas, père. He is a highly fictionalised version of the historical musketeer Armand d'Athos (1615–1644). // In The Three Musketeers, Athos and the other two musketeers, Porthos and Aramis, are friends of the novel's protagonist, d'Artagnan. Athos has a mysterious past connecting him with the villain of the novel, Milady de Winter. The oldest of the group by some years, Athos is described as noble and handsome but also taciturn and melancholy, drowning his secret sorrows in drink. He is very protective of d'Artagnan, the youngest, whom he eventually treats as his brother. By the end of the novel, it is revealed that he is the Count de la Fère. He was once married to Milady de Winter and attempted to kill her after discovering that she was a criminal on the run, an event which left him bitter and disillusioned. However, during the course of this novel, he is able to get his revenge on Milady. (wikipedia)

• • •

It's Halloween, and it's Monday, so I would love to just keep it lighthearted, say "cute, nice," and move along. And that's mostly what I'm gonna do. But I have to say (as I say above), I don't really get the theme. Or I don't understand how "punnily" is being used. Is the "pun" that "ghost" here is being taken ... what, literally? OK but since when does a ghost bring "doom." SCARE and DEAD I get, but DOOM seems slightly off. Also, LETTERS has not been sufficiently reimagined, the way QUOTES and SCROLLS have. SCARE QUOTES are punctuation, but if you follow the revealer's logic, then they are something a ghost writes ("quotations," I guess). DOOMSCROLLS is a verb, but following the revealer's logic, "scrolls" becomes (again) something a ghost writes. But DEAD LETTERS are ... letters. Not alphabet letters, but actual postal letters ... so the revealer definitely reimagines "dead" but it does Not reimagine "letters." The "punny" meaning is still the same as the clued meaning. The connection between "ghosts" and the themers feels very tenuous, even if you stretch the meaning of "punnily" a whole lot. And DEAD LETTERS just didn't take "punnily" far enough. But again, it's Halloween, it's Monday, just take your very fast time, eat some candy, and be happy, I guess. 

The fill is also a problem. Below average, *especially* for a puzzle with such a light, undemanding theme. I hadn't even finished up the NW corner and I was already getting bad vibes. MEME MENSA NEMO MAMAS ASSAY ... it all felt very stale, very warmed over. ATHOS ADHOC SHAQ, same. And then ... HODOR??? A "Game Of Thrones" ... servant?? Look, maybe if your fill were sparkling, or at least butter-smooth, you could get away with HODOR—a little flourish to show off your "GOT" fandom. A little wink. Whatever. If you cross it fairly (as is the case today) who cares? And yet ... its comparative obscurity (on a Monday, in *this* tired grid) is somehow a little galling. I feel like you gotta earn HODOR, on a Monday, and this grid doesn't. ARIA SPA ALI PIETA IMAM IMAX EXES LASE EROS ATARI SNOOT ONTOE ESTD ELAN ERSE (!) ICARE (crossing IAGREE at the "I"!?). No, the grid just doesn't feel sufficiently polished for a Monday NYTXW with a low-density theme. The theme should be tighter and the fill should be cleaner. That's all. [scans the grid again] Yeah, that really is all. 

Go see TÁR, it's really good. Cate Blanchett is a STÁR! OK, bye.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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