Tonkatsu coating / THU 10-16-25 / What allows Neo to disconnect from the Matrix / Certain Windows hard drive malfunction / Horned creature in "Pan's Labyrinth" / Novelist Charles who wrote "The Cloister and the Hearth" / Prefix with botanist / Performed amazing, in slang

Constructor: Kareem Ayas

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: ROCKS OUT (35D: Enjoys oneself uninhibitedly ... or a punny title for this puzzle) — answers to the starred clues appear to be inapt, but they just lack "ICE" (or, in bartenderspeak, "rocks"); that is, they're served NEAT (61A: How whiskey might be served ... with a hint to the answers to the seven starred clues):

Theme answers:

• BENTO (5A: *Treat with kindness) ("be nice to")
• PRY (24A: *Expensive) ("pricey")
• SLR (48A: *Deli device) ("slicer")
• DROLL (62A: *Risky endeavor, idiomatically) ("dice roll")
• NOTABLE (3D: *Conspicuous) ("noticeable")
• OFF HOURS (10D: *Chance to meet one-on-one with a professor) ("office hours")
• APPENDS (41D: *Book addenda) ("appendices")

Word of the Day: Charles READE (30D: Novelist Charles who wrote "The Cloister and the Hearth") —

Charles Reade (8 June 1814 – 11 April 1884) was a British novelist and dramatist, best known for the 1861 historical novel The Cloister and the Hearth. (wikipedia)

The Cloister and the Hearth (1861) is an historical novel by British author Charles Reade. Set in the 15th century, it relates the travels of a young scribe and illuminator, Gerard Eliassoen, through several European countries. The Cloister and the Hearth often describes the events, people and their practices in minute detail. Its main theme is the struggle between man's obligations to family and to Church.

Based on a few lines by the humanist Erasmus about the life of his parents, the novel began as a serial in Once a Week magazine in 1859 under the title "A Good Fight", but when Reade disagreed with the proprietors of the magazine over some of the subject matter (principally the unmarried pregnancy of the heroine), he curtailed the serialisation with a false happy ending. Reade continued to work on the novel and published it in 1861, thoroughly revised and extended, as The Cloister and the Hearth. (wikipedia)

• • •

Double revealer! This one definitely got better as it rolled along. Up front, I was wading through iffy fill (IOERROR, DOASIDO, Charles READE back from the dead...) and wondering why NOTABLE was the answer to a starred clue, when there didn't seem to be anything off or weird about it. Brain: "If something is [Conspicuous], it's NOTABLE ... works for me." Even after I got BENTO, I thought the "N" stood for "NICE" somehow and was trying to figure out what letter in NOTABLE could be doing something similar: "NICE-OTABLE? Hmm. Unlikely." At some point the "missing ICE" conceit dawned on me, and the starred clues were much easier from there on out, but merely taking "ICE" out of answers didn't seem all *that* interesting. Then I got to ROCKS OUT, and thought, "well, that's a good revealer at least. It's got the punny repurposing of the phrase, and the slang of "rocks" ... cool." At that point, I was reading the "ICE" as diamonds ("rocks" is also slang for diamonds), which is what made running into the second revealer (!?!?!?) doubly cool. First, I had the "aha" of realizing that the governing metaphor was literally ice, not diamonds, and that, when viewed in that light, all of the answers are served NEAT (i.e. without ice, like some whiskey). So the whiskey lover in me and the crossword lover in me were simultaneously satisfied. I honestly didn't even see the second revealer (NEAT) until after I was done and started doing the post mortem. It was like the puzzle going "psst, hey, I'm better than you think, look!" So despite the fact that the fill felt a little rough around the edges, I liked the concept here, and I really liked the 1-2 punch of the revealers. 

The puzzle was very easy, with only the ice-lessness posing a consistent solving challenge. I got slowed a little here and there, starting with IOERROR. I haven't used a Windows operating system in ages, but even if I used one currently, I can't imagine finding IOERROR a pleasant answer (2D: Certain Windows hard drive malfunction). I guess if you have one of those malfunctions, you could call an ITPRO (another answer I'm never that happy to see). I'm looking the grid over now and can't really see any significant sticking points. Had no idea there was such a thing as a PALEObotanist, but why not? PALEO is at least a recognizable prefix, and that's all I needed it to be. Crosses helped me figure it out. READE was not difficult for me (any very longtime solver knows his name), but I did slow down in a rubbernecking / "really?" kind of way. "We're still doing READE? And we're still cluing it via Charles? OK." No one reads Charles READE any more (put that irony in your clue!). I was an English major and then an English Ph.D. and even though the Victorian Era was not my thing, I had a passing familiarity with the period and I never once heard or saw his name during my entire formal education. I learned him from crosswords, some time in the '90s. If you want to know one of Shortz's main contributions to the NYTXW has been, it's (largely) turning off the Charles READE pipeline:

Those are READE appearances over the years. The blue represents when Shortz took over. Pretty dramatic, right? I mean, he was at war on all "crosswordese," but the history of READE serves as a good illustration (man, Maleska really liked READE—ten reads in a year!? That's too many READEs, man). And at least a handful of Shortz's READEs refer to the pharmacy chain Duane READE. I wonder who the first person was to clue READE via the pharmacy chain [... looks it up ...]. Well, what do you know—it was me ([Duane ___ (New York city pharmacy chain)], Dec. 22, 2010). Apparently Charles READE wrote not just The Cloister and the Hearth, but also something called Peg Waffington (the most commonly referenced work in ye olde READE clues). Some of those 20th-century clues for READE are rough. [Griffith Gaunt's creator]!?!?! 

Griffith Gaunt, or Jealousy is an 1866 sensation novel by Charles Reade. A best-selling book in its day, it was thought by Reade to be his best novel, but critics and posterity have generally preferred The Cloister and the Hearth (1861).

Is there a Charles READE fandom out there? Where's my Charles READE hive at? Should I bother with the guy? Lemme know.

Bullets:

• 35A: Practice chiromancy (READ PALMS) — one of the best answers in the grid. So funny to have a long answer sitting dead center and not have it be part of the theme. "Chiro" = "hand," "mancy" = divination or magic. [some fun TRIVIA: No one knows what Charles READE's palms looked like.]
• 40A: "Central Park in the Dark" composer (IVES) — I know IVES but do not know this work. Gonna listen to it today. A Charles READE novel seems like a big undertaking, but IVES I can do.

• 25D: What allows Neo to disconnect from the Matrix (RED PILL) — this term has found its (unfortunate) way into modern political discourse. "Individuals who identify as "red pilled" often espouse conspiracy theories, antisemitism, white supremacy, homophobia, and misogyny" (wikipedia)—you see, these chuds believe they're enlightened (i.e. disconnected from the oppressive and conformist "matrix" of ... I don't know, human decency, I guess), so they identify with Neo, which is a wild and flagrant misreading of the movie's politics (a movie made by two trans women), though no one ever accused these folks of being particularly literate. 
• 28D: Whom you might greet with open arms, for short? (TSA) — this made me laugh a kind of grim laugh. "Well if it isn't my old friend, Big Surveillance! Give me a hug!" But yeah, you do have to hold your arms out (open) when you go through that scanner dealie, so ... nice wordplay.
• 54D: Performed amazingly, in slang (ATE) — def a younger (than me) thing. I think I learned it from crosswords. I was familiar with the term "cooking" (slang for doing a great at something); then at some point "eating" followed. Seems logical. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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Hobbled, in gamer slang / WED 10-15-25 / Llama's head? / Tidbit popular in Thai cuisine / Lead-up to a ski jump / Like some briskets and pork ribs, informally / General Motors subsidiary / Sister network of Paramount+, for short

Constructor: Nick Offerman and Christina Iverson

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging 

THEME: "WHAT A TOOL!" (59A: Something you might exclaim when talking about 17-, 24-, 36- or 50-Across) — familiar phrases that are clued as if they are assessments of tools: 

Theme answers:

• QUITE A BIT (17A: Really spectacular drill component?)
• JIGGETY JIG (24A: Lively kind of saw for cutting intricate shapes?)
• BOSS LEVEL (36A: Truly awesome implement for ensuring stability?)
• MODEL PLANE (50A: Ideal instrument for shaping wood surfaces?)

Word of the Day: jiggety (24A) —

: jerky, unsteady (merriam webster dot com)

• • •

Well I'm not criticizing the work of TV's Ron Swanson. That's just a fool's errand. Offerman is, famously, a handy man (if not literally a handyman)—woodworking, I think, is the thing he does (and writes about) professionally. I heard him talk on a podcast once about Offerman Workshop, and it sounded really cool. I struggled with this puzzle, not because I don't know anything about tools (although I don't), but because the cluing in general was just beyond me much of the time. And some of the answers were, uh, inventive. I don't think I've ever seen BBQED before (it's a debut) (1D: Like some briskets and pork ribs, informally), and WWIIVET ... well that is quite a letter string (3D: One who may have stormed the beaches at Normandy, in brief). Double "W"s and double "I"s! And both those answers come at you right out of the box! INRUN? (15A: Lead-up to a ski jump). No idea. ANT EGG? Double-no idea. "Tidbit"? It's not a literal ANT EGG is it, because that would be the smallest "tidbit" I could imagine. Smaller than an ant, I would think, and an ant's already small. Hang on, gonna do some culinary googling ... huh. ANT EGGs "refer to both the eggs and pupae of weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina, known in Thailand as red ants) eaten in several countries across Southeast Asia, especially Laos and Northeastern Thailand (Isan). They are high in protein and enjoyed for their sourness and pop when eaten along with salads" (wikipedia). Well I can honestly say I had no idea. I know a TURTLE is a kind of candy but getting from that clue to TURTLE was rough for me (32A: Pecan-chocolate-caramel candy). I had ELL before ELS, which definitely slowed me down (33D: Llama's head?). The VANE clue was tough in its vagueness (38D: It's blowing in the wind). I had no idea ON*STAR still existed (48A: General Motors subsidiary), or that TMC was related to Paramount+ (45A: Sister network of Paramount+, for short). So while the theme was of a fairly standard and familiar type, the fill on this one was often clued in ways that were not familiar, or at least not readily apparent, to me at all. So: slowness. Mild slowness, but slowness. 

As for the theme, I have only one question. What (the hell) is JIGGETY? Like, as an adjective? I did look it up, as you can see (Word of the Day, above), but "lively?" Do you really describe anything lively as "jiggety"? I know the word ("word"?) JIGGETY from precisely one context: "... home again, home again, JIGGETY JIG," which is what today's answer is referring to (presumably), but the idea of JIGGETY acting as a real word, modifying anything, let alone a JIG, seems preposterous to me. Unless JIGGETY is Gen Alpha slang, in which case I'll defer to the 12yo linguists among you. This answer feels like an outlier not just because JIGGETY doesn't mean anything to me, but because whatever it means, it doesn't appear to mean the same thing that "MODEL" and "BOSS" mean. All the other theme answers are clued as if they express admiration for the tool in question. Is JIGGETY a term of praise? "Those are some JIGGETY shoes you got there." "He's a real JIGGETY dancer." I've heard of "hot diggety!" (sp.!?). I've not heard of JIGGETY anything (except JIG, as we've established).

I loved the revealer ("WHAT A TOOL!"), which was the easiest themer of the lot. By the time I got down there, it was clear that TOOLs were involved. Nice, lively (jiggety?) way to bring the whole theme together. I thought the fill was pretty jiggety as well, in general. The inventive spellings on BBQED and WWIIVET threw me, but they're fun. CRAFT BEERS and FRONT LINES and THE TUBE and ALT TEXT all add spark. Lots of names today, all of which I was lucky enough to know. I realized just now, typing that last sentence, that I was confusing LORD JIM with LUCKY JIM (the Kingsley Amis novel). The clue even clearly says "Joseph Conrad novel," so I don't know why my brain insisted on changing it, but it did (11D: Joseph Conrad novel made into a 1965 film starring Peter O'Toole). I've heard of LORD JIM, but I have not read (or seen) it. I was surprised that the SEDARIS clue didn't even give you "David" as a helper (41D: Humorist who describes his stint working as a Macy's Christmas elf in "Santaland Diaries"). Even people who know David SEDARIS could probably have benefited from the push. And anyway, there's more than one humorist named SEDARIS, although I guess the "his" in the clue does make clear(er) which one we're dealing with (in a weird coincidence, his sister Amy was namechecked in an episode of Somebody Somewhere that I watched just last night). 

Bullet points:

• 4A: Sign of justice (LIBRA) — a timely answer. My wife is a LIBRA. Her birthday was yesterday. Happy birthday month, LIBRAs!
• 14A: Acknowledgment of applause, maybe (BOW) — my acknoweldger was much more modest. She merely NODded. 
• 34A: Noted chairman? (EAMES) — I thought the EAMES chairs were designed by Charles and Ray EAMES. He would still be the chair man (or "chairman?") but I just wanted to acknowledge the fact that there's also a chair woman.

• 21A: Hobbled, in gamer slang (NERFED) — outside my field of knowledge, but I've heard of it. This is the second bit of gamer terminology in the puzzle, after BOSS LEVEL (a level of video game play where you confront a significant enemy).
• 67A: Cerulean expanse (SKY) — me, a genius: "Ooh, 'cerulean' is blue, so ... SEA!" ("cerulean" is literally SKY blue)
• 33D: Llama's head? (ELS) — "letteral" clues can be tricky in general, but this one was extra tricky since "head," which usually means "first letter," here means "first two letters." Since the head (first letter) is "L" and ELL is how you spell "L" and ELL fit, I wrote in ELL. 

• 35D: Description of an online image (ALT TEXT) — I add ALT TEXT to every image I post on social media and I still didn't get this answer easily. Nothing about the clue suggests the fact that ALT TEXT exists primarily to make digital content accessible to people with visual impairments (although you can also think of it as a way to add bonus commentary to your posted pics).

This was tough but fun. Hope you enjoyed it. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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• Finger Lakes Crossword Competition (Ithaca) (Sat., Oct. 18, 2025)

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Read more...