Mike In RI

The construction of this was clever, but the cluing was too CUTE by half, with some stretched past the breaking point. Seriously, MARE? None of the moon’s maria are a “side,” nor are they necessarily dark. Too many entries seemed designed not merely to challenge solvers but to frustrate them. I solved it (in twice my average Friday time), with a minor ASSIST (just a confirmation via the solving tips of my guess on EASY READ), but can’t say I’m looking forward to 10 more like this one.

23D is a great fact to know, except that in 1960 the country was still officially called Ceylon.