  Several authors have recently considered the smallest positive part missing
from an integer partition, known as the minimum excludant or mex. In this work,
we revisit and extend connections between Dyson's crank statistics, the mex,
and Frobenius symbols, with a focus on combinatorial proof techniques. One
highlight is a generating function expression for the number of partitions with
a bounded crank that does not include an alternating sum. This leads to a
combinatorial interpretation involving types of Durfee rectangles.
