Angler's supply / MON 10-28-24 / Energy, idiomatically / Eight-armed creatures / Nursery rhyme about the hazards of decaying infrastructure / Pass idly, as time / Beverage with a Big Mac, perhaps / Valvoline competitor

Constructor: Michael Lieberman

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: FALL CLASSIC (59A: Nickname for the World Series ... or what you might call 17-, 28- or 45-Across) — "classic" nursery rhymes that involve some kind of "fall":

Theme answers:

• JACK AND JILL (17A: Nursery rhyme about a disastrous trip up a hill)
• HUMPTY DUMPTY (28A: Nursery rhyme about the perils of sitting on a wall)
• LONDON BRIDGE (45A: Nursery rhyme about the hazards of decaying infrastructure)

Word of the Day: EDNA St. Vincent Millay (8D: Poet St. Vincent Millay) —

Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She wrote much of her prose and hackwork verse under the pseudonym Nancy Boyd.

Millay won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her poem "Ballad of the Harp-Weaver"; she was the first woman and second person to win the award. In 1943, Millay was the sixth person and the second woman to be awarded the Frost Medal for her lifetime contribution to American poetry.

Millay was highly regarded during much of her lifetime, with the prominent literary critic Edmund Wilson calling her "one of the only poets writing in English in our time who have attained to anything like the stature of great literary figures.'' By the 1930s, her critical reputation began to decline, as modernist critics dismissed her work for its use of traditional poetic forms and subject matter, in contrast to modernism's exhortation to "make it new." However, the rise of feminist literary criticism in the 1960s and 1970s revived an interest in Millay's works. (wikipedia)

• • •

One of the easier puzzles I've ever solved Downs-only. I went from 1D: Angler's supply (BAIT) all the way through 34D: "Submit by" dates (DEADLINES) before I finally hit a Down I couldn't get on the first guess: 35D: Beverage with a Big Mac. Just couldn't think of a coherent 9-letter answer right away. My main problem there was having LOUD-- at 33A and not being able to infer the ending (i.e. the -LY, which would've given me the first letter in LARGE COKE). Or, rather, I could infer an answer, but sadly that answer was LOUDER (or even LOUDEN (?)). Why LOUDLY didn't occur to me in the moment, I don't know. Anyway, one answer later, I had 36D: Christmas season ... which I definitely wrote in as NOEL, which made me think "... LOUDEN? Really?" But then I remembered that the Christmas season could also be YULE, and the "Y" made LOUDLY feel very right, which it was, and that "L" got me to LARGE, and the COKE part just seemed obvious after that (although SODA or COLA were both plausible, I guess). The latter half of the solve was definitely bumpier than the first half, but not too much. Had SUNBEAMS before SUNRISES (39D: They brighten everyone's days). And then AS YET before SO FAR (48D: To date). Every other Down went right in, either with no help, or with help from the themers I was able to infer. I had to think a little bit before I got KILL (44D: Pass idly, as time). I had the "I" and wanted "WILE" ... as in "WILE away the time" ... only that's spelled "WHILE," so ... that wasn't gonna work. I got to KILL by running the letters that could go at the front of -ARL, and realizing that "K" was one of those letters. "C" and "E" also worked, technically, but they weren't so promising in the Down. I guess technically "M" could've worked too, but MARL? On a Monday? In this economy? Unlikely.

Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae.

Marl makes up the lower part of the cliffs of Dover, and the Channel Tunnel follows these marl layers between France and the United Kingdom. Marl is also a common sediment in post-glacial lakes, such as the marl ponds of the northeastern United States.

Marl has been used as a soil conditioner and neutralizing agent for acid soil and in the manufacture of cement. (wikipedia)

As for the theme, it seems just fine. A simple little Monday theme with a clever and surprising revealer. Not just clever and surprising, but timely! The FALL CLASSIC is underway as we speak. The Dodgers are up two games to none on the Yankees, but Shohei Ohtani (the Dodgers' best player, and the best player in baseball) partially dislocated his shoulder while trying to steal second base in Game 2, so ... who knows what effect, if any, that will have on the Dodgers. Will Ohtani sit out Game 3? Will he be back on the field? If so, will he be at full strength? Will it even matter? I mean, the Dodgers have plenty of talent, they can probably win two without him. Annnnnnyway, FALL CLASSIC! That's what's up. I love that it's Dodgers / Yankees, as that was the World Series matchup the year I got into baseball (1977), as well as the following year, the year I got into baseball cards (1978). I lived in California and, despite having been born in San Francisco, immediately became a Dodgers fan. Yes, I learned the bitter taste of disappointment early as a sports fan. It was weird seeing Reggie Jackson at a restaurant in Monterey a few years back, as I realized a. he is smaller than I imagined (my not being 8 years old any more may have something to do with that), and b. I still hate him (just kidding, he seemed very nice).

Notes:

• 2D: Eight-armed creatures (OCTOPUSES) — hurray, an answer for the pluralizing purists! None of this OCTOPI baloney. Here's a handy explanation of how to pluralize (and not pluralize) "octopus," from the good folks at Ocean Conservancy:

[Sadly, OCTOPI is in dictionaries and constructor databases and therefore isn't going to die any time soon]

• 23A: Susceptible to sunburn (PALE) — I resemble that remark! (note: I wouldn't put "sunburn" in the clue when SUNRISES is in the grid, but as with "octopus" pluralizing, I tend toward persnicketiness in these matters).
• 48A: Energy, idiomatically (STEAM) — never saw this clue (obviously, because I solved Downs-only), but it's the kind of thing that would've slowed me down. It's funny that STEAM hangs around as a metaphor for energy. I assume it comes from STEAM-engine trains. Yes, that appears to be true. Earliest evidence of its use as a metaphor for "energy" in the OED (that I can see) is the 1830s, and as "first usage" quotations go, it's a good one:

1. 1832

   I have..a way of going a-head, by getting up the steam..—and the fuel is brandy.

   F. Marryat, Newton Forster vol. III. iii. 39

• 43A: "My Zoom joke flopped ... I guess it's not remotely funny," e.g. (PUN) — what if your joke about your Zoom joke flopping also flops? Sadly, this joke was not on "still on mute."

• 5D: How often many people brush their teeth (avert your eyes, dentists!) (ONCE A DAY) — such a weirdly worked-up and judgy clue. With the histrionic parenthetical aside to dentists at the end, I thought the answer was going to be way more alarming than ONCE A DAY. Like NOT AT ALL. And "many"? "Many people"? How many? If you've got an actual statistic, by all means run with it, but this "many" assertion is absurd.
• 61D: Valvoline competitor (STP) — clue: "Valvoline." brain: "Vaseline ... has 3-letter competitors?"

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Europe's highest volcano / SUN 10-27-24 / Nearly succeeded ... but there's a catch! / Steak option in northern Canada / Do-to-do delivery? / Hair-lightening brand / Millimeter-wide photo used for conveying secret messages / Montreal hockey player, to fans / Horned antelope of southern Africa / Add milk to a customer's coffee, in diner lingo / What's mined in a stannary / Nintendo antagonist in purple overalls

Constructor: Jeffrey Martinovic and Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "Working the Night Shift" — an elaborate moon phase puzzle, where circled squares (representing phases of THE MOON (84D: This puzzle's subject)) orbit THE EARTH (66A: Apt central entry for this puzzle). Phases are represented by waxing and waning spellings of "MOON"—from a blacked out circle representing a new moon, through "M" "MO" "MOO" "MOON" (for full moon) then "OON" "ON" "N" and back to the blacked out circle again. There are also a handful of punny moon-related themers:

Theme answers:

• ROUND TRIP (19A: Complete journey ... or what 84-Down makes in this puzzle?)
• GOING FULL CIRCLE (37A: Completing a cycle, like 84-Down in this puzzle?)
• IT'S JUST A PHASE (111A: "They'll grow out of that" ... or a description of eight squares in this puzzle)

The "MOON" phases:

• EMAILED / ARM (43A: Like many verification codes / 35D: Slot machine lever)
• KEMO SABE / SMOOCHED (67A: The Lone Ranger, to Tonto / 63D: Gave a big kiss)
• MOOSE MEAT / "MAKE IT MOO" (91A: Steak option in northern Canada / 55D: Add milk to a customer's coffee, in diner lingo)
• HONEYMOON SUITE / THE MOON (97A: Newlyweds' booking / 84D: This puzzle's subject)
• "I CAN'T GO ON" / HIRED GOON (88A: Weary cry / 53D: Mob enforcer)
• LONDONER / SONORITY (64A: Sherlock Holmes, e.g. / 58D: Feature of James Earl Jones's voice)
• WAR SONG / INN (40A: "Battle Hymn of the Republic," for one / 31D: Stopover)

Word of the Day: ELBRUS (39D: Europe's highest volcano) —

Mount Elbrus is the highest mountain in Russia and Europe. It is a dormant volcano rising 5,642 m (18,510 ft) above sea level, and is the highest stratovolcano in the supercontinent of Eurasia, as well as the tenth-most prominent peak in the world. It is situated in the southern Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria in the western extension of Ciscaucasia, and is the highest peak of the Caucasus Mountains.

Elbrus has two summits, both of which are dormant volcanic domes. The taller, western summit is 5,642 metres (18,510 ft); the eastern summit is 5,621 metres (18,442 ft). (wikipedia)

• • •

I should give this puzzle its due. I tend not to like puzzles with elaborate visual gimmicks, as they usually result in a solving experience that is slightly to very painful. Everything bends to the will of the gimmick, and the puzzle itself (the fill quality, the overall enjoyability) tends to suffer. The stunt is a monster and makes the actual solving experience bad—that is my general experience, more or less, to varying degrees. And today's puzzle isn't really an exception—I got the theme gimmick, all of it, early, so most of what I remember has nothing to do with the unfolding of the theme gimmick and everything to do with the weirdo answers that pepper the grid (more on those later). There is so much ink on my printed-out grid, and hardly any of it is directly related to the theme, which is, I have to say (finally, after all that) impressive. I mean, the moon does its waxing and waning thing in a very clever way, with "MOON" waxing from "M" to "MOON" and the waning from "MOON" to "N"; it wanes from the front, so every phase actually looks different (i.e. every square has different letters in it). The visual representation of the phases, with the EARTH at the center, that is all very nice. Not so huge a fan of the THE in THE [MOON]—I had "MOON" and thought "what could possibly go in front of it?" ... only to have the answer be a mere definite article. Total thud. But generally, everything inside and including the circled squares = good. 

The theme gets weaker as it tries to cram in theme answers. It probably should've stopped at "IT'S JUST A PHASE." That's the perfect revealer, and the only one the puzzle really needs. ROUND TRIP is OK but meh. And then there's ... man, I can barely look at it ... sigh ... and then there's GOING FULL CIRCLE. How do I say this? To put it bluntly: that is ... not the phrase. GOING FULL CIRCLE, not a thing. Or, rather, perhaps a thing, but a very off-brand, weak thing. Things do not go full circle. They come full circle. Google it. ["Come full circle"] = 4.53 million results. ["Go full circle"] = ... [drum roll] ... 151K. So ["Go full circle"] gets roughly 3% (!?) of the number of hits that ["Come full circle"] gets. COMES FULL CIRCLE would have fit! It would've been perfect here. The choice of GOING FULL CIRCLE is baffling. The most tin-eared thing I've seen in the puzzle in a while (and I saw ACNED just yesterday!). Jarring. Bizarre.

The fill is generally OK, but there are a number of answers that clanked for me, ranging from the ugly to the obscure. DOASET was the first thing that made me visibly wince (25A: Complete some reps). Big EAT A SANDWICH energy on that one, but less bold than EAT A SANDWICH, so ... worse, somehow. Both MOO answers are kind of contrived, but "MAKE IT MOO" is painfully so (55D: Add milk to a customer's coffee, in diner lingo) ("diner lingo" always feels largely fictional; I've spent a lot of time in diners and never heard any of it). Then we get into what, for me, was a fairly lengthy list of "what the hell?" answers today, starting with the ELLEN (who?) / STEENBOK (what?) crossing (109A: ___ Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female head of state / 87D: Horned antelope of southern Africa). As my wife said while she was solving, "If the -bok is not a springbok, I have no idea." Then there's ELBRUS ... I ... I just ... yeah, absolutely no clue. If it's an important European mountain, especially in six letters or less, I figure the crossword would've told me about it by now. But do you know when the last time was that ELBRUS appeared in the NYTXW? Answer: not in my solving lifetime. In fact, not in my lifetime lifetime. It last appeared in one of Margaret Farrar's puzzles back in 1957. Needless to say, I needed every cross there. Next, we have MICRODOT, which is ... a "photo?" (73A: Millimeter-wide photo used for conveying secret messages). That one eluded me (though it's been in the NYTXW a few times before—roughly once a decade since the Shortz Era began). And then there's the "Bake Off" winner (93A: Celebrity chef Hussain who won "The Great British Bake Off"). Man, I watch that show and I still had absolutely no idea. There are too many seasons, too many winners, dear lord, my brain has no room for this stuff. [Note: while I was solving, I hated EYEBALL IT, but I have since (in the past half hour or so?) come to like it, maybe even more than like it (79D: Guesstimate). Sometimes stuff just grows on you. Quickly].

NADIYA was particularly rough for me, as I had -ADIYA and no idea what the cross was supposed to be. I thought I was staring down a Natick at LI-EDOUT / -ADIYA—my very last square. I ran the alphabet to make LI-EDOUT work (81D: Nearly succeeded ... but there's a catch!). LIVED OUT? No, it's LINED OUT, which I only accepted because NADIYA really felt right. See, the problem is that the clue for LINED OUT, in trying to be clever, ends up being wrong and bad (the eternal risk of attempted cleverness). There is nothing about a line-out (in baseball) that suggests "Nearly succeeded." Zero. Nothing. Yes, the implication is that you have hit the ball hard (or hardish), but people line-out into easy, uneventful outs all the time. Lots of liners are pretty soft, actually, or else are hit directly at a defender, in which case no, you did not "nearly succeed." You merely put the ball in play. And then quickly went back to the dugout. I get that the puzzlemakers really, Really wanted that "catch" pun in "... but there's a catch!" It's a good pun! But it falsifies the clue in order to make it "work." So it doesn't work. 

Bullets:

• 40A: "Battle Hymn of the Republic," for one (WAR SONG) — such a weird answer. Weird because it never appeared in a puzzle until 2023, where it was clued via "Over There" (WWI). I guess those are songs associated with wars ("Battle Hymn" with the Civil War), but I did not know there was a category of song called WAR SONG. If it was a thing, you'd think it would've appeared in puzzles back ... well, closer to the wars those songs are associated with. The twentieth century, anyway. FIGHT SONG, yes. WAR SONG, I dunno.
• 53A: Montreal hockey player, to fans (HAB) — I learned this from crosswords. And yet I apparently partially unlearned it, because I had -AB and wanted only TAB and FAB but didn't really want either, so had to run the alphabet. To my very small credit, when I hit "H," I knew I'd hit it. HAB is short for "Habitants," early French settlers in Québec.
• 28A: Do-to-do delivery? (OCTAVE) — excellent clue ("do" is a musical note here, as in "do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do")
• 63A: Hair-lightening brand (SUN-IN) — I haven't thought about this brand since the 80s—except when the puzzle has reminded me (three times now since I started blogging). If I hadn't known SUN-IN, I could easily have screwed up ELBRUS. If the pattern in S-NIN, then SUN-IN seems the obvious choice, but only if you are parsing it correctly (as two words). If not ... seems like any vowel could go there (assuming you didn't know ELBRUS, which I'm guessing you probably didn't) (not you, you're a genius, obviously—I'm talking to the other people).  I nominate this ad for "Worst Use of Rap in a TV Commercial, Ever":

• 20D: Roman numeral that anagrams to part of the eye (DLI) — Random Roman numerals (RRNs) are terrible, obviously, but I guess this is slightly more fun than [551, in Old Rome] and much more gettable than [Year of Jordanes's Origin and History of the Goths], say.
• 64A: Sherlock Holmes, e.g. (LONDONER) — That "ON" square was where I first realized what was going on with the theme. I was a little thrown, since I already had one circled square filled, and it held just one letter. But LONDONER would not be denied, and suddenly I realized "oh, the circled squares are parts of the word "MOON"! Again, a nice aha moment, though it came very early and made all the circled squares very easy to fill in:

• 116A: "___ Affaire de Femmes" (1988 French classic) ("UNE") — easy enough to infer, but what the heck is this "classic"? Are there "classics" from 1988 now? Seems ... too recent. [looks it up] Oh, hey, it's a Claude Chabrol film (translated in its US release as Story of Women) starring Isabel Huppert—one of my favorite actresses and biggest movie crushes. It's the true story of a woman guillotined in 1943 for performing abortions. Wow, definitely one of those "glad to learn something from the puzzle" situations. Might watch this soon. I don't think I've ever seen a Chabrol picture (???!). I've probably seen a dozen or so Huppert movies. The Trout (1982), White Material (2009), Coup de Torchon (1981), Amour (2012), and Amateur (1995) are among my favorites. Amateur completely broke my brain in the mid-90s. I think it was the first VHS tape I ever bought.  I played the soundtrack nonstop. It's the movie that made me fall in love with Huppert, which is semi-hilarious, as she plays an ex-nun with a terrible haircut. Didn't matter. I was absolutely done for. God bless you, Hal Hartley.

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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