IdolatrousHans

Might be a case of a puzzle that was too cute for its own good. Fun, nostalgic theme. But I was a bit thrown off by the fact that 'smile' in circles is actually smile shaped, and some of the others (hat for example) are just...there? Not to mention the obscure fill-in-the-blank nouns. This one had me rearranging my face a bit, trying to determine how I felt about it!

Fun Saturday! Northeast corner kept me from a solid time. I couldn't parse lunar module and Solti / Gnosis was just brutal. Rocket science crossing brain surgery was brilliant too. Good stuff all around.

I had never heard the theme phrase before so this didn't really land for me, but I learned something! Still a pretty breezy Monday (er, late night Sunday puzzle) to start the week off. Kudos to Mr. Locke on the debut!

Feeling a tad ashamed that I was foiled by two of the Italian clues. Had 'PAS' as in Personal Assistants for 45A, and Rome instead of Roma. I was feeling 24A and probably yelled out 26A before I figured it out (with a 53D of help).