Toy company behind Frisbees and Hula Hoops / TUE 2-3-26 / Burger chain with custard-based drinks / Exceptionally good, in Gen Z slang / The ___ Project (mental health organization for LGBTQ+ youth)

Constructor: Nate Cardin

Relative difficulty: absurdly easy

[3D: Pair orbited by the fictional planet Tatooine]

THEME: INSIDE VOICES (62A: What children should use at the library ... and a literal description of the circled letters in this puzzle) — singers (i.e. "voices") can be found "inside" four answers (in circled squares):

Theme answers:

• TUNNEL VISION (18A: Narrow, focused perspective) (Elvis)
• WET PAINT (38A: Sign near a freshly applied coat) (T-Pain)
• SHAKE SHACK (12D: Burger chain with custard-based drinks) (Kesha)
• GRADE LEVEL (30D: Stage of education) (Adele)

Word of the Day: WHAM-O (16A: Toy company behind Frisbees and Hula Hoops) —

Wham-O Inc. is an American toy company based in Carson, California, United States. It is known for creating and marketing many popular toys for nearly 70 years, including the Hula hoop, Frisbee, Slip 'N Slide, Super Ball, Trac-Ball, Silly String, Hacky Sack, Wham-O Bird Ornithopter, and Boogie Board, many of which have become genericized trademarks. // In 1958, Wham-O, still a fledgling company, took the idea of Australian bamboo "exercise hoops", manufactured them in Marlex, and called their new product the Hula Hoop. The name had been used since the 18th century, but until then was not registered as a trademark. It became the biggest toy fad in modern history. 25 million were sold in four months, and in two years sales reached more than 100 million. "Hula Hoop mania" continued through the end of 1959, and netted Wham-O $45 million (equivalent to $485 million in 2024). // Shortly thereafter, the company had another huge success with the Frisbee. In 1955, inventor Fred Morrison began marketing a plastic flying disc called the Pluto Platter. He sold the design to Wham-O on January 23, 1957. By June they had learned that students back east were calling them a "Frisbee." In early 1958, Wham-O added the name "Frisbee" to the top of the Pluto Platter – and once again a Wham-O toy became a common part of life through the 1960s.

In the early 1960s, Wham-O created the Super Ball, a high-bouncing ball made of a hard elastomer Polybutadiene alloy, dubbed Zectron, with a 0.92 coefficient of restitution when bounced on hard surfaces. Around 20 million Super Balls were sold that decade, and the NFL named the Super Bowl games after it.(wikipedia)

• • •

A perfectly ordinary theme inside a childishly easy puzzle. I think I paused for the first and possibly only time when trying to parse "EYES ON ME" (39D: "Look this way, class") with very few letters in place, but the "Y" from YEAR eventually took care of that. Otherwise, it was read clue, write answer, as fast as my fingers could type. I don't time myself any more, the way I did when speed-solving mattered to me, but I know I was well under three minutes on this one, probably closer to two-and-a-half, which is lightning-fast for me on a Monday. On a Tuesday ... this might've been a record, which is especially stunning given that today's grid is over-sized (16 wide). The theme is somewhat interesting, but those "voices" are entirely arbitrary—why these voices? What do they have in common except being five letters long? Is there a roman numeral vision pun? "V"oices? Five-letter-long voices? Seems like I'm reading into things there, possibly, but this theme could really use something to enhance its general coherence. There are so (OH SO?) many singers you could hide inside longer answers that the "feat" here just didn't seem that impressive to me. CAMDEN YARDS. EPIC HERO. Even if you restrict yourself to mononymous singers, seems like there are lots of other options left on the table. 

As for the fill, like the theme, it is perfectly ordinary—not cringey or rough, rarely interesting either. The most original parts of the grid are the themers, two of which (GRADE LEVEL and SHAKE SHACK) are debuts. The revealer is also a debut, but in the plural, a slightly awkward one. I guess a teacher talking to a class might use the term in the plural. "Let's use our INSIDE VOICES!" But the singular seems like it would be infinitely more common than the plural. But back to the "children" part of that revealer clue—first of all, why "children"? Yes, it's a phrase you would use with a child, but everyone should use their INSIDE VOICES in the library (unless you're in a part of the library dedicated to cooperative or group activities). This is not a special rule for children. The clue got me thinking about how much of this puzzle seems to have been written with a grade-school class in mind. It's not just the puzzle telling kids to be quiet in the library. There's the teacher telling their (presumably grade-school) class, "EYES ON ME!" The term GRADE LEVEL keeps us in elementary school. Kids are playing musical chairs at one point (12A: Advanced to the next round of musical chairs, say (SAT)). Parents are barking nonsense at their kids (31A: Parent's curt response to a kid's "But why?" ("BECAUSE!")), probably because the kids aren't putting their WHAM-O toys away quickly enough. It's a weirdly grade-school-oriented puzzle. Appropriate, I guess, since it was grade-school easy. Ok, actual grade-schoolers would probably struggle with this puzzle ("Mommy, who's T-PAIN?"), but even novice solvers probably won't. Not much.

Notes:

• 53A: Beyond well done (BURNT) — this got me thinking "what the hell is the difference between 'burned' and 'BURNT'?" and it turns out merriam-webster dot com has some answers:

If you're describing things—that is, using the past participle of burn as an adjective—you very well may find that burnt sounds better to your ear. Burnt sugar and burnt toast, for example, are both significantly more common in published, edited text than burned sugar or burned toast are. (Burnt also features in the color names burnt umber and burnt sienna. // But if you're using the past tense of burn as a ho-hum verb, talking perhaps about the toast you've just overtoasted, burned is likely to be your choice. Unless you're a speaker of British English or have been binge-watching "Sherlock." In American English, burned is usually past tense. // Usual or not, though, both burnt and burned are acceptable forms. // There was a time, by the way, when brent was a legitimate past tense too. That form seems to have peaked in the 1500s, but if you want to throw it into conversation just for fun we won't criticize. (merriam-webster dot com) 

They're right about "brent," you know. Here's the opening of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (ca. 1400):

SIÞEN þe sege and þe assaut watz sesed at Troye, 

Þe borȝ brittened and brent to brondeȝ and askez ... ("Since the siege and assault was ceased at Troy / The city destroyed and burned to brands and ashes ...")

• 70A: Feel remorse about (REGRET) — came at it from the back and before looking at the clue thought "EGRET!" then realized "nope, R-EGRET," which now has me thinking about a Republican Egret. (Sung to the tune of "American Woman" by the Guess Who): "Republican egret / Stay away from me! / Republican egret / Mama let me be!"

• 56A: Exceptionally good, in Gen Z slang (FIRE) — I've heard this a lot, but still paused slightly at "-IRE" thinking "... wait, do they say DIRE now?"

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. since the TREVOR Project is in the puzzle (51D: The ___. Project (mental health organization for LGBTQ+ youth)), I will once again plug the puzzle pack that has been produced in association with the upcoming ORCA Awards (the crossword equivalent of the Oscars). The (massive) pack of puzzles is available to anyone who donates to the TREVOR Project. Here are the deets. 

All funds raised support The Trevor Project, a suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ youth. Although suicide rates for LGBTQ+ youth are surging (39% seriously considered suicide in 2024), HHS terminated its contract for FY2026. // The puzzle pack includes 76 ORCA-nominated puzzles from 44 outlets plus five original puzzles from the Constructor of the Year nominees. (from crosswordfiend.com)

To donate to the TREVOR Project and get your puzzle pack, click here. And here's some more information on the ORCA Awards themselves:

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Cult classic co-starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell / MON 2-2-26 / Film about which Harold Ramis said "He goes from being a prisoner of that time and place to being master of that time and place" / Inspiration for a 2017 Tony-nominated musical / 1993 film that featured "I Got You Babe" / Animated film featuring the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" / Actress Claire of "The Crown" / Horse with a reddish coat / African grazer / "How ___ the little busy bee ..."

Constructor: John Ewbank and Colin Thomas

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (solved Downs-only)

[25D: ___ Knight ("Star Wars" fighter)]

THEME: GROUNDHOG DAY — a holiday puzzle for today, February 2. Four theme answers, all of them GROUNDHOG DAY (the movie in which Bill Murray relives the same day, the titular day, every day, ad (almost) infinitum):

Theme answers:

• GROUNDHOG DAY (20A: Cult classic co-starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell))
• GROUNDHOG DAY (33A: Inspiration for a 2017 Tony-nominated musical)
• GROUNDHOG DAY (41A: 1993 film that featured "I Got You Babe")
• GROUNDHOG DAY (56A: Film about which Harold Ramis said "He goes from being a prisoner of that time and place to being master of that time and place")

Word of the Day: ENCANTO (9D: Animated film featuring the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno") —

Encanto is a 2021 American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It was directed by Jared Bush, and Byron Howard and written by Charise Castro Smith and Bush, with original songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a score composed by Germaine Franco. The film stars the voices of Stephanie Beatriz, María Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo [es], Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitán, Diane Guerrero, and Wilmer Valderrama. Encanto follows a multigenerational Colombian family, the Madrigals, led by a matriarch whose children and grandchildren—except for Mirabel Madrigal—receive magical gifts from a miracle, which they use to help the people in their rural community, called the Encanto. When Mirabel learns that the family is losing their magic, she sets out to find out why and save the family and house. [...] The film was nominated for three awards at the 94th Academy Awards, winning Best Animated Feature, and received numerous other accolades, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature and the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. // The film's associated merchandise has seen significant success, and its soundtrack became a breakout sensation, reaching number one on the US Billboard 200 and UK Compilation Albums charts; "We Don't Talk About Bruno" and "Surface Pressure" were its two most successful songs, with the former topping both the US Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart for multiple consecutive weeks. A theme park attraction based on the film is set to open at Disney's Animal Kingdom in 2027. (wikipedia)

• • •

Happy GROUNDHOG DAY, I guess (which means happy birthday to my father (85)). Kinda glad I solved this Downs-only, because the cluing scheme on the themers today is not great, and watching that second GROUNDHOG DAY come into view as I was solving Downs-only definitely added to the "wait, this can't be happening!?" vibe. But back to the themer cluing: we get four different "facts" about the movie, but none of them having anything to do with the core premise of the movie, which is also the core premise of this puzzle, which is that Groundhog Day literally repeats, over and over and over. The clue that should've been the "revealer" is just some quote from the director. Random quote. Again, nothing directly to do with the concept of repetition. I feel bad for whoever has never seen Groundhog Day, because this puzzle really really Really assumes you have, which is weird for a movie that the puzzle itself is calling a "cult classic." It's either universally known (which is what you'd expect a movie that's the basis of a Monday puzzle to be) or it's a "cult classic," it can't be both. This puzzle assumes it's universally known. Not only doesn't it mention, ever, the main premise, it also doesn't even tell you that Harold Ramis is the director. How hard is it to add "director" to that clue? It's not like you're going for concision; that clue is massive—the longest one in the puzzle. In short, I think the premise is pretty cute (I had a big "aha" while solving Downs-only and I realized what was going on), but the random trivia in the themer clues is unimaginative. Why not really commit to the bit and have all the theme clues be the same. I know it's hard to write a clue about how Bill Murray relives the same day over and over without using the word "day" (a no-no, since "DAY" is in the answer), but there's gotta be a way: [1993 movie about a weatherman doomed to relive the same 24-hour period over and over and over again], something like that. The cluing scheme should've been more clever, and it definitely should've mentioned the repeating-day thing. Somewhere. (I say all this as someone who adores the movie and has seen it probably a dozen times).

If the theme answers were very easy (once I got the second one, I filled the remaining two in immediately), the rest of the puzzle was a little more challenging, esp. from a Downs-only perspective. On my first pass at the Downs up top, I could not get: EVERSO (2D: Really, really), SCOUR (4D: Scrub), LEADSTO (5D: Results in), ENCANTO (9D: Animated film featuring the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno"), or BOOYA (10D: Triumphant cry). I'm just lucky I'd at least heard of ENCANTO. Eventually, once I'd inferred a few of the crosses, I was able to see it, but I haven't voluntarily watched a big-budget animated movie in ... forever. Once my daughter aged out of animated kids' fare, I checked out. The song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" was apparently a no. 1 hit but today is the first I'm hearing of its existence. Worse for me was ... whatever this stupid bee song is supposed to be. Is it a poem? "How DOTH (!?!?) the little busy bee..."??? DOTH was probably the hardest thing in the grid for me. Did not expect a little children's rhyme (is that what it is?) to go all ye olde Englishe on me. And ugh, TUSHY, first of all, spelling (?!!), and second of all, cutesy childish anatomical euphemisms, not my favorite (30D: Rear end, informally). Spent more time than I ever wanted to spend (i.e. more than zero seconds) trying to think of slang for "butt." Considered BOOTY, but then decided "just wait for crosses." Once the themers all went in, the solve got a lot easier, since I had at least one letter in place for every remaining Down. In fact, nothing in the bottom half of the grid gave me any trouble at all—huge contrast to the top half. 

The fill was average. Any time a puzzle has no long (8+) answers besides the themers, the fill is likely to be meh at best. ITT and ATT are bad on their own and quite bad when they team up as successive answers, but there's really not much to make you wince today. You can take back ON A JAG, a prepositional phrase that's pretty meaningless without context (what kind of jag?), but I don't have strong feelings about most of the rest of it. Just wasn't that interesting. My favorite thing about the grid (besides the "aha" I got when the theme dropped) was the juxtaposition of DONALD and STENCH (52- and 54-Across). It feels weird saying that the "DONALD STENCH" was my "favorite" part of the grid. You'd have to be a real sicko to actively enjoy DONALD STENCH. But I do appreciate the puzzle's subtle acknowledgment of moral rot in the White House. I'm sure the puzzlemakers would disavow the political commentary, but ... that doesn't mean it isn't there.


Bullets:

• 17A: Clownfish in a 2003 Pixar film (NEMO) — you already had your animated film moment with ENCANTO. One is enough. Choose another NEMO.
• 43D: Bird that scientists are trying to bring back from extinction (DODO) — please stop. First of all, stop trying to bring back species that you (human beings) killed off. It's grotesque and it won't go well. Maybe focus on protecting remaining species!? Second, this clue is lazy, as it essentially repeats a recent clue for MOA ([Down Under bird that scientists are working to "de-extinct"] (Fri., Dec. 26, 2025)). Third, I was staring at a DODO just yesterday! At Yale's Peabody Museum, they have a DODO skeleton on display, as well as a full-color model of what a live DODO would've looked like. I believe my exact comment was, "Pixar-ass bird." 

• 59D: Spun records, for short (DJED) — I got this easily enough, but my brain almost short-circuited as it tried to reject "spun" as the simple past tense of "spin." In short, my brain wanted a different form between SPIN (present tense) and SPUN (past participle)—like ... there's drink drank drunk, so ... I wanted spin [something] spun. "Spinned?" "Span?" I dunno. Minor glitch. All better now.

Thanks to Rafa and Eli for covering for me while I went off to visit my daughter at Yale and see two of the shows she's been working on (Is God Is (Fri.) and Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha (Sat.)). Whoa, there's a film adaptation of Is God Is coming out in May, starring (among others) Sterling K. Brown, Vivica A. Fox, and Crossworld's own Janelle MONAE (eleven NYTXW appearances since 2019). Definitely gonna look for that. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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